Gabrielle yanked off her filthy gardening gloves and plunked her hands on her hips.“Because you’re acting just like I did when I was trying to hide my relationship and feelings for Maverick.Has something happened between you and Lennox?”
Sighing, I climbed down the ladder and met my cousin’s eyes.“We are taking things slow.”
Her gaze widened and she didn’t blink.“Do the kids know?”
“Mine do.I’m assuming he has told Mabel since they don’t keep secrets from each other and he said he was going to tell her.And …” I exhaled, and my shoulders rounded.“Jolene knows.”
“The Island Mouth?”Tom exclaimed.“How the hell didthatwoman find out?Wejust found out.”
As I’d told Lennox earlier, Tom had been one of Jolene’s victims earlier this spring, so he held a bit of extra resentment toward the woman than the rest of us.
“I was at Lennox’s yesterday and she did the pop-in.”
“Fuckin’ hate the pop-in,” Gabrielle muttered.
I nodded in agreement.“Anyway, she wanted to meet Mabel and offer him an official island welcome.”
Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes.
“Of course she did,” Gabrielle said.“Typical Jolene.”
“We … we were at Heaven’s Leap, just sitting in his truck talking—” My face was hot and it had nothing to do with the sun beating down on me, or the fact that we weren’tjusttalking in his truck.“And she pulled up.I managed to duck down and hide, but she saw him and basically followed him back to his house, since she didn’t know where he lived until then.She was very upset that Lennox wasn’t ready to introduce Mabel to the island.”
Tom murmured several Italian curses under his breath and shook his head.Danica and Raina approached, carrying a big potted fern between them.“What’s going on?Everyone looks pissed,” Raina asked.
They plopped the fern down in the shaded corner and joined us.
“Jolene knows that Nay and Lennox are dating, and she’s pushing to meet Mabel,” Gabrielle said, catching them up.
“You and Lennox are dating?”Danica exclaimed.“Since when?”
“We’re taking it slow,” I replied with annoyance.
Even behind her aviator sunglasses, I could tell Raina’s yellow-green eyes were wide as saucers.“And Jolene knows?Before us?Damn, she works fast.That woman is a—”
“Witch,” Tom interrupted.“A nosy witch.”
We all bobbed our heads.
“I think the bigger concern here is protecting Mabel,” Maverick said.“If Jolene is pushing to meet her, what’s stopping her from showing up at Lennox’s house while Len is at the school and Mabel is home alone?We all know Jolene won’t stop until she gets what she wants.And what she wants is gossip.It’s like oxygen for her.”
More nodding.
I was burning to explain to them more of Lennox’s apprehension.That he didn’t want his child to be judged because he had her at thirteen.Or for the islanders to go digging into his past.I already felt bad that Gabrielle had started to dig.But he’d changed his name; he’d been a minor, so documents were sealed and his name had been redacted where it mattered.
None of that mattered though.If someone wanted to find something—or someone—the internet was the cesspool to sift through and find it.And while Jolene wasn’t exactly tech savvy, that might work in her favor.She could post a photo of Mabel or Lennox to Facebook, with innocuous intentions, and then Kyla could find it andboom,their safety goes up like a spark on dry tinder.
“Maybe we could invite Mabel over to the house and she could do her homeschooling here?”Gabrielle suggested.“She and Damon could sit at the table together.At least until Lennox has figured out how to keep Jolene from doing the pop-in and upsetting Mabel.”
Honor’s comment about Damon having a crush on Mabel popped into my head, but I shoved it away quickly.“We could certainly mention it to him.I’m not sure if she’d go for it, but we need to protect her privacy—theirprivacy.”I glanced around at all of them.“We all know what it’s like to have our secrets and safety violated, and if we can prevent that from happening to others, then we need to do what we can.”
Heads bobbed in our little circle.
“I will get his number from Mabel,” Tom said, pulling out his phone and stepping to the side to text.“Help him source materials for a gate and security system.”
Maverick stepped away to continue sweeping, but my cousins remained, all of their gazes burning into me with equal heat and curiosity, not to mention a healthy dose of concern.
“While I am definitely on board with you finding your happily ever after, Nay,” Raina said softly.“Be careful with this one.Do you know his story?”
