“Why didn’t you tell me Elise showed up at your place yesterday?” Jenna stared at me from the passenger’s seat. “You called me and told me about Danielle but didn’t say one word about your boyfriend’s pregnant wife threatening to destroy your business. That’s the kind of thing you might want to mention to a friend.”

I made a dismissive gesture with one hand. “It wasn’t important. Not as important as telling you about your sister.”

“Bullshit,” Jenna said evenly. “I think you didn’t want to tell me because you’re still in denial over this whole baby thing.”

“I’m not in denial,” I said, feeling myself bristle. “Elise cheated on Jalen and lied to him multiple times. I think it’s actually smart of me to be skeptical about her claim of being pregnant, let alone who the father is.”

“Are you going to tell Jalen?” she asked. “He should know that she’s threatening you.”

“What good’s that going to do?” I asked. “She’ll deny it, and then he’ll have to decide who he believes. If he says he believes me, it’s going to make things tense between the two of them, and if they’re going to have a kid together, it’ll just make things harder for them, and I don’t want to do that.”

“Rona.”

I heard the warning in her voice and I looked over at her. “It’s not just about her. What I do and say will affect Jalen too.”

She sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I suppose we can’t go tattle to Jalen.” She grinned at me. “If she shows up when I’m there, can I slap her?”

“Will Rylan bail you out of jail if she presses charges? Because we both know that if you touch her, she will.”

“I’m sure I can convince him.”

We made small talk the remainder of the drive, and while she didn’t sound nervous, I saw how often she ran her fingers over the scar on the inside of her left arm, the reminder of when she’d tried to take her life as a child. I’d noticed it was something she did whenever she was anxious or talking about something difficult.

“This is a nice house,” she said as we pulled into the driveway. “Nice neighborhood too. Not overly rich, but nice.”

The curtains over the front window moved, but no one opened the door. I had a feeling Scott and Michael were keeping Danielle inside to give Jenna the time to come to the door herself. I resisted the urge to look behind me to see if I could spot the person Clay had following me. I hadn’t told Jenna about that part of my conversation with my friend. She had enough on her mind already.

“Are you ready or do you need a minute?”

“I’m good.”

She touched her arm again, but I didn’t call her on it. If she said she was ready, she was ready.

We walked up the steps together, and the door opened as we stepped foot on the last one. Scott smiled at us, and behind his back we could see Danielle bouncing on her toes.

“Come in.” He stepped out of the way, putting his arm around Danielle, holding her back so we could go inside. “What can I get you to drink? Tea, coffee, cocoa? It’s a bit cold out there.”

“The cocoa’s really good,” Danielle piped up, ducking out from under her dad’s arm. “Papa makes it himself and puts synonyms in it.”

“Cinnamon,” Scott corrected.

“Right,” she said with a frown. “Synonyms are the words that mean the same thing.”

He smiled down at her, then turned to Jenna. “Hi, I’m Scott.”

“Jenna.” She shook his hand, then took Michael’s pro-offered hand.

“Michael.”

“And I’m Danielle.” She darted forward and wrapped her arms around Jenna’s waist. “You’re my sister.”

Jenna looked startled, but not discomforted by the contact. She hugged the little girl back. “Yes, I am. My name’s Jenna.”

“That’s a pretty name,” Danielle said as she grabbed Jenna’s hand. “Do you want to see my room? It’s purple, and I have a poster of Hope Solo on my wall. She’s the best soccer player in the world.”

“We still have about fifteen minutes before dinner will be ready,” Michael said. “You’re welcome to join me in the living room, or you can go see Danielle’s room if you want.”

One look at those big brown eyes and there was no doubt in my mind where Jenna was going. With a squeal of delight, Danielle pulled Jenna toward the stairs, leaving me with Michael and Scott.

“I’m happy to help with dinner,” I said before the silence could get awkward.

“I’ve got everything under control, but you’re welcome to come into the kitchen and keep me company,” Michael said.

Scott and I both followed Michael into the kitchen where the most amazing smells were coming from the stove. The taller man took the lid off a large metal pot and stirred the contents.

“Scott may be the superhero paramedic, but he’s useless in the kitchen,” Michael said. “Everyone always seems surprised that the mechanic is the cook, but what can I say? My mom taught me well.”

“I checked out the website for Burkart Investigations,” Scott said as he pulled out a chair for me. “I’m sorry about your partner.”

I’d completely forgotten that Maggie had updated the website after Adare’s death. “Thank you.”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking this but was Ms. Burkart your business partner only or…” Michael sounded as concerned as he was curious.

“Mentor and boss,” I said with a tight smile. “And a friend, but nothing romantic.” I nudged the conversation away from painful thoughts of my friend. “It was my boyfriend who introduced me to Jenna, actually.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sure the loss of your friend isn’t something you want to talk about,” Michael said. “Sometimes my curiosity gets away from me.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “It makes sense that you want to know about me. I showed up in your life out of nowhere. You wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to hurt your family.”

“We just want to do what’s best for Danielle,” Scott said.

“That’s what Jenna wants too,” I assured them.

“Then today, we’ll make a toast to a new member of the family,” Michael declared. “Two new members. Scott, get out the wine. You know which bottle.”

Scott grinned with the slightest hint of an eye roll. “I know which bottle because he always has one pre-selected anytime we have guests ‘just in case’ we need to make a toast.”

I laughed as he moved to a wine cabinet. Some alcohol and relaxing conversation were exactly what I needed.