Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (175 page)

“There’s an operation?” Haley squeaked out. She did not like what she was hearing. Not. At. All.

“Yes.” Amber sat back in the cushioned chair, sipping on a can of soda. “And for the record, I voted for a different name.”

“I’m sorry but ‘Operation Get Haley Laid’ is not happening,” Haley said flatly.

Amber shrugged, seemingly unfazed by the rejection.

“Look”—Haley put her hands up—“I
really
appreciate the fact that you guys want me to…
meet
…someone. But, honestly, I’ve got it covered.”

“I beg to differ. I know that I’ve only been back in town for a couple of years, but I haven’t seen you go out with the same guys more than a couple of times.” Katie pulled her long blond hair up in a ponytail holder. “On a side note, is anyone else melting out here?”

All the girls murmured their agreement. For a brief, naïve moment, Haley thought that the subject might have actually moved on from her fledgling love life. She should have known better.

“Did you tell her who we picked?” Katie clapped her hands together, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Not yet, but—” Chelle began,

“I know who it is.” Haley leaned forward, trying desperately to convey that she did not, under any circumstance, want them interfering. “You guys,
seriously
, I’ve got it covered.”

“Wait.” Katie narrowed her eyes. “Are you already seeing him?”

“What?” Haley shook her head back and forth, hoping that she looked taken aback by the question and not guilty as charged. “No.”

Of course
Katie
would ask that question. Haley loved her cousin’s wife, and she was happy that Jason, who had been in love with Katie since kindergarten, had ended up with
his
soul mate. Especially since during middle school and high school Katie had dated Jason’s best friend Nick. The two of them had definitely taken the long road to happily ever after, and Haley was over the moon that they had found their way back to each other.

The thing about Katie, though, was that she did have a tendency to go all Sherlock Holmes when it came to people and their relationships. In fact, Katie’s nickname growing up had been Sherlock. Katie had always maintained that she just liked putting facts together like puzzle pieces. Which, Haley was sure, came in handy in her chosen profession of law. Normally, Haley
loved
when Katie went all super sleuth, especially if it had to do with someone’s romantic relationships. However, now that all that detection prowess was laser-focused on Haley, well, she didn’t really appreciate it so much.

Katie’s eyes widened as she pointed her forefinger accusatorily at Haley. “Yes! You are sooo seeing him.”

“Shhh,” Haley shushed them, looking around to make sure that Eddie was not in hearing range. Luckily, he was on the other side of the yard manning the bouncy castle with Riley, Jason, and Seth. She was safe. For now.

“Why?” Katie lowered her voice, looking around. “Is he
here
? Does he have kids?”

“What are you talking about? Of course he—” Haley shut her mouth mid-sentence, utilizing her own Nancy Drew detective skills, when she saw all three of the girls looking at her with confusion written all over their faces. Uh oh. “Wait. Who are you guys talking about?”

“Who are
you
talking about?” Amber and Katie both chorused in unison.

Haley’s stomach dropped to the wood planks below her. She wanted to throw up. The girls just stared at Haley expectantly. She had no idea how she was going to dig her way out of the deep hole she’d just blasted open with a large piece of her homemade stick of foot-in-mouth dynamite.

“Emily wants to bounce with Mya in the bouncy castle.” Riley made his way up the steps to the deck and held his hands out to his baby girl on Chelle’s lap. “Come see Daddy.”

The baby smiled happily as Riley pulled her into his arms. Riley turned to go back down the steps but then slowly pivoted back around and eyed all four of the women sitting in the circle.

“Everything okay?”

“Yep,” Haley answered quickly. Amber, Chelle, and Katie also responded with yeses or nods of their heads.

Riley’s expression turned skeptical. “Was I interrupting something?”

Haley again shot off a rapid fire response. “Nope.” The other three all indicated ‘no’ as well.

Pulling his daughter up higher in his arms, Riley got a small half smile on his face. “What were you four talking about?”

“He’s not going to drop this,” Chelle announced before sighing. “We were just suggesting to Haley that she might want to think about going out with—”

“Oh,” Riley said as realization dawned on his face. “Operation Set Up Haley.”

Oh. My. God.
Riley knew about this!

“I don’t know, cuz. I met coffee boy today and I was not impressed. I think you could do better.” Riley put in his two cents before taking the steps two at a time and heading over to the bouncy castle.

Coffee boy? Ohhhh, that makes sense now
. “You guys wanted to set me up with Trenton?”

Trenton Marsden owned The Daily Grind coffee house. Which was “across the street” from Tempting. He seemed nice enough and was good-looking, but there were no sparks, and Haley really didn’t want to get involved with someone who worked on the same street with her. But the main—only!—thing that he and any other guy had working against them was…they weren’t Eddie.

“Well now you know who
we
were talking about. Who were
you
talking about?” Katie leaned forward.

“Cake time!” Eddie called out and the kids all ran in the house.

Ahhh, saved by the cake.

All the girls stood, and as the children ran up the deck and into the house like a herd of wild geese, the guys followed after them. Haley felt Eddie’s eyes on her as the adults all made their way inside the house.

“Oh. My. Gosh,” she heard Katie whisper.

Haley turned around to find Katie’s hand over her mouth and her eyes wide and darting between Haley and Eddie.

Great
. So Katie knows.

* * * * *

EDDIE MOVED INTO the kitchen and pulled the princess cake out of the refrigerator. He hadn’t planned on doing the cake yet. He had planned to give the kids another hour or so to play in the bouncy house. But he had reassessed his plan when Riley had come back to report that Chelle, Amber, and Katie were all working on ‘Operation Set Up Haley.’ Eddie decided that little cupid powwow needed to be disbanded immediately.

What better distraction at a kid’s birthday than cake?

“Ooeee,” The Colonel said loudly as he made his way inside the house. “It’s so hot out there I saw two trees fightin’ over a dog.”

“Trees were fighting over a dog?” Emily asked, looking like her little mind had officially been blown. She wasn’t alone either. Eddie saw that all of the kids at the party had similar expressions on their faces.

“It’s just an expression,” Haley smiled down at Em. “Like break a leg, remember?”

“Do we need to Google it?” Emily asked in all seriousness.

Eddie shook his head. “Nope.”

“Well then what does it mean?” His daughter propped her skinny arms on her hips and stuck one hip out.

When had she started challenging everything he said? And more importantly, when was it going to
stop
?

“It
means
that it is so hot that both of the trees want the dog to pee on them so they can cool off,” Eddie explained as he brought the cake to the dining room table.

There was a mixed reaction from the under-ten crowd. The boys all started laughing, and on the girls’ side, there were a lot of “Eww” and “Gross” remarks.

He had to smile.

“Hales, can you grab the knife and a lighter?” Eddie pulled the candles out of his pocket.

“Sure,” she answered.

He noticed that her voice was a little high. When he looked up to see if everything was okay, Haley was already in the kitchen. He did notice, however, that Katie, Amber, and Chelle all had strange looks on their faces.

That’s weird
.

“Here you go,” Haley chirped in the same high-pitched voice.

He reached out to take the knife and lighter from her, wrapping his hand around hers and holding it for a moment, not letting her go. When he did, her eyes lifted to meet his. He didn’t know if she’d been intentionally avoiding eye contact with him all day or if it had just been in his imagination and she’d been acting perfectly normal. But he did know this was the first time all day that they’d looked into each other’s eyes.

“You okay?” he asked quietly. He was fairly confident that no one had heard his question since the noise level in the room was at an all-time high with all the kids and adults talking and laughing.

“Yep,” she answered cheerily—a little too cheerily for his liking. Then she pulled her hand out of his grasp and moved back, blending into the crowd of people.

Em pulled on his shirt. “Cut the cake, Daddy.”

“First, you have to blow out your candles,” he explained as he took them out of the cardboard box and gently placed them around the cake.

He lit all eight and then the entire room sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Em. He was trying his best to focus on enjoying his little girl’s birthday. It was driving him crazy that what he really wanted to do was take Haley upstairs, strip her out of that fluffy dress she was wearing, and kiss every inch of her body.

Shit
. He had to stop thinking like that. Especially since kids were present.

As he cut the cake, Haley stepped beside him and started distributing the slices, placing a fork on each plate as she did. He looked over at her and a realization hit him that she’d been doing the same thing for years now. Since her return to Harper’s Crossing over four years ago, whenever he cut the cake, she passed it out.

Eddie remembered exactly how it had started the first year she was home from college. He’d handed her the second piece after giving Em the first, since it was Haley’s birthday too. She’d in turn given it to a kid. When he’d told her that he’d meant that piece to be hers, she’d scrunched up her nose and waved her hand dismissively, saying, “I’ll get mine after everyone gets a piece.”

That was Haley. She always put others’ needs before her own. Never put herself first. Never asked for what she wanted.

But
she had asked for what she wanted in the dressing room. Had that really been all she wanted? One night with him? Or was that all she’d asked for because he’d been such an asshole about the whole thing that it was all she knew she could get.

Highlights of the last few weeks ran through his head like the ticker tape on the NYSE. Haley telling him she loved him. Haley turning guy after guy who’d asked her out down. Haley saying that she hadn’t been with anyone in four years because she’d only wanted him.

Other things started popping up too. Haley braiding Em’s hair. Haley doing homework with Em. Haley painting Em’s fingernails for the party.

Every time he or his daughter needed her, Haley was there. No questions. No complaints. Haley had been there for him and his daughter day or night.

And what had he done to thank her? Flirted with her. Made love to her in her store. Grabbed her and kissed her outside of his house. All while telling her they couldn’t get involved.

What in the
hell
was he doing?

A soft hand touched his arm and he jumped.

“Are you okay?” Haley asked, repeating the same question he’d posed to her not five minutes before.

He nodded but didn’t answer. There was so much he wanted to say to her. The only problem was that he didn’t know what it was exactly or where to start.

Her expression grew even more concerned. He was just about to reassure her when he felt a
hard
slap on his back. Without even looking, he knew it was The Colonel AKA Grandpa J. That man might have been pushing ninety, but he was stronger than half the guys on Eddie’s crew.

Colonel James Hunter was Sophie Sloan’s grandfather. Sophie was married to Bobby, the youngest Sloan boy. He was Sophie’s grandfather, but since he’d come to town almost twenty years ago, he’d basically adopted all of the kids who’d hung around his grandkids as his own.

“Well now, young lady, I hear you’re opening up a store.” The Colonel lifted his brow as he tilted his head towards Haley.

Haley smiled affectionately. “I am, Grandpa J. Are you coming to the grand opening?”

“Isn’t it a ladies’ store?” The Colonel asked. “I don’t think you want old men in there, stinking the place up.”

Haley’s head fell back as she laughed. Then she threaded her arm in his and said, “You are not old. And yes it’s a
ladies’
store, but I would love for you to come.”

The Colonel patted her hand and said, “Well, I suppose I could stop by. I’ll just divert my eyes from the unmentionables.”

“Thanks, Grandpa J.” Haley leaned over and kissed The Colonel on his cheek. “It’s really beautiful. There’s an amazing view of the river. Eddie’s been there all week.”

“It is beautiful,” Eddie agreed, staring straight at Haley as he spoke. He saw a blush rise up on her cheeks, and she ducked her head slightly and tucked her hair beneath her ear. He’d been seeing her do that a lot, and he liked it. A lot.

“Can we do presents now?” Emily asked as she bounced up and down beside him, riding out what looked to be a sugar high. Eddie knew that she would crash tonight, which did make him feel a little bit better about having agreed to the sleepover.

Earlier in the day, Emily had asked if she could spend the night at Chelle’s house for her birthday. At first, Eddie had to admit that he had been a little hurt. It’s a hard pill to swallow for a parent when your kid wants to spend her birthday or any other special occasion with someone else. Of course he’d said yes to the impromptu slumber party because…it was her birthday.

“Yes. We can do presents,” Eddie said to his little girl’s great delight. She squealed, ran around in a circle, then took off like she’d gotten shot out of a cannon.