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I stood there, overwhelmed by her declaration. I glanced at Aiden. I didn’t know what I’d expected to see…but it wasn’t the heat in his eyes.
Relaxing a bit, I started to assure him again that I would never replace Lisa, but he shook his head and took my hand in his. He kissed the back of it, flashing me a smile so sexy, I felt a breath catch in my chest.
“I’ll see you in a bit, Emma.”
All I could do was nod.
He drew me to him, glanced in the direction of his daughter, then quickly kissed me. When he turned to walk toward Hadley, my hand reached out for something to steady myself, and what I found was Tammy.
“My goodness,” she said softly. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that man look at a woman the way he just looked at you. I think he forgot we were in a church.”
I felt my cheeks heat as Tammy laced my arm with hers and pulled me in the direction of our little women’s church group.
“Circle is going to beveryinteresting today, Lord willing,” Tammy said and pulled me toward the meeting as fast as she could.
When the doors opened and Tammy and I walked in, all eyes swung our way. I abruptly stopped in my tracks.
“I wasn’t sure you were going to come,” Patty said, all calm and collected.
Tammy nudged me to keep moving, and I made my way to the circle of chairs. Now all eyes were solely onmeand judging by the knowing smiles on each of the ladies’ faces, they all saw Aiden holding my hand. I’m pretty sure that they couldn’t have seen the kiss since they were already gathered in here.
As if my lips were triggered by that thought, they started to tingle. My hand rose involuntarily, fingers lightly brushing over my lips.
“Something you’d like to share with us, Emma?”
My eyes jerked over to Shannon. Then I jumped when the flash of her camera went off. She instantly started to write in her journal. I could only imagine what she was scribbling in that thing.
“Do I dare even ask if anyone did devotionals?” Patty said.
When no one replied, she sighed. “Okay, well, then we should?—”
Before she could go on, Shannon practically fell onto the mat. She stared up at the ceiling and let out a long, dramatic sigh.
No one said a thing as we waited for her to speak. After a couple of minutes, I whispered to Tammy, “Is she okay?”
She nodded. “She’s waiting to get her emotions in check before she talks. She doesn’t want to cry.”
My gaze snapped back Shannon. “Poor thing! What happened?”
Patty leaned toward her. “Do you need a drink, maybe?”
Cara gasped. “Patty, it’s barely noon!”
“I could use one, I’m not going to lie.”
All eyes turned to Erin. She was due any day, so I couldn’t blame her in the least bit.
“Come to think of it, I could use one myself,” Landy stated as she reached into her oversized bag.
“You did not!” Patty exclaimed as she stared wide-eyed at Landy.
Frowning, Landy pulled out her phone and made a show of putting it on silent. “You really think I’d bring booze to our church group?”
Looking embarrassed, Patty sat back and lifted a shoulder.
Shannon sat up. “This morning. I didn’t think it could get worse.”
“Worse than the time Bailey had a blowout in the brand-new car and Belle threw up at the same time?” Rose asked.
