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“Did you start without me?” she heard.
Hadley turned and wondered who this was walking on the deck. He was almost too polished to be with this group, but she knew it had to be a Bond by his coloring. The woman with him looked to be pregnant too.
“Griffin would never start without his bestie,” Alex said.
“Ass,” the man said. “And you must be Duke’s new lady. My wife wanted to come and talk babies with Penelope and Emily. I’m Eli and this is Bella. The little nugget in her belly is going to be Adrienne.”
Okay, now she was really out of place. Eli was from one of the billionaire sides and here she was trying to pay off credit card debt so that she could someday get a loan without having too high of an interest rate.
“That wasn’t horrible, was it?” Duke asked her several hours later when they were back at his house.
“No,” she said. “I was nervous though.”
“I know you were,” he said. “There was no reason to be.”
“Easy for you to say. You grew up with all those people.”
“Not really,” he said. “Most of them here today grew up in Boston. Or spent more time there than here. Alex and I went to school here.”
“It’s funny that some of them ended up here then if they grew up off the island.”
“Things are different now than when we were kids. Eli’s brother, Egan, has the charter service and it’s much easier to get on the chopper back and forth. There are more jobs and opportunities here. The island is growing.”
“But the school still isn’t big, right? Like when you wanted to play sports?”
“That is an issue. But there are some sports now and the ferry brings the kids to Cape Cod. There are schools there that are in the same division. They are making it work more than it could have when I was a kid.”
“I remember thinking that it was a great place to visit but not a place I’d like to live.”
“What do you think of it now?” he asked.
“I think it’s an awesome place to have a life. If you can afford it,” she said.
“There is that problem,” he said.
Even though Duke was paying her well, more than she made at her other job, she knew it’d be tight if she tried to live on her own.
Her debt was slowly getting manageable. She might be close to only paying back eleven thousand dollars right now. Her goal was to try to do it within six months as long as she stayed with her parents. The holidays could cause it to be tight, but it wouldn’t be much longer.
Then she could breathe much easier.
“So you think my family isn’t all that intimidating now that you met them?” he asked.
“I met your parents already and Kelsey. Your sister is funny. Alana is quiet. Penelope likes to be the center of attention and she and Griffin are funny together. He’s almost two different people. Maybe three. He’s funny and sarcastic with his wife and sister, but then super sweet and kind with his daughter.”
“And sweet and kind with his sister and wife too,” he said.
“I think it goes without saying the Bond men cherish the women in their lives. But then even the way the Bond men are with each other is funny too.”
The wit between Eli and Griffin, then Alex added in. Duke wasn’t immune to their busting either.
She took it all in stride because it was just so much fun to be part of this group.
Then the praise she got for her desserts and the pie that was all but licked clean on most plates was enough to have her floating high above the sky on some clouds.
“Yes, the Bond men do cherish the women they love,” he said, moving close to her. He pulled her into his arms and held her. “You know that, right?”
“I saw it today,” she said.
