Well, that stopped him. It also stopped the Saint Thomas vestry members, too, who were seated at the table next to their booth. Reverend Fisk gave her an appreciative wink, then redirected the rest of them back to their budget woes.

“A thong, huh?” Jack said.

“Yes. Enjoy the visual, because I’m never doing it again.”

“If it’s that uncomfortable, you can take it off.” He grinned, the cheeky man.

“Sucks to be a girl, let me tell you.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it. But I’m glad you are.”

A slow roll of squeezing warmth encompassed her stomach. Just then, Hannah set down their nachos, and Prudence Vanderbeek flopped into the seat next to Jack. “Hey, Useless! Hey, Em! Can I have some? I’m starving.” She helped herself to a heavily laden chip and bit into it. “Are you guys on a date?”

“Just friends,” Em said at the same time Jack said “Yes.” Aha. So maybe the thong had been worth it after all.

“Ooh. I like the conflict,” Pru said. “Keeps things lively. Enjoy all this friction when it’s new, children, because when you’ve been married for a quarter of a century, you start having to be a little more creative in the boudoir, if you know what I mean.”

“I don’t want to know what you mean,” Jack said. “I’ll pay you not to tell me what you mean.”

“Em, ignore him,” Pru said. “I can give you a lifetime’s worth of tips.”

“Do not take sex tips from my sister,” he said. “Pru, get out of here, okay? You’re ruining my game.”

“You have no game,” she said. “He’s a sad, smelly bachelor, Emmaline. And have you seen his cat?” She shuddered. “You can do better.” She took another slab of nachos, smacked Jack on the shoulder and left, her work boots thudding on the wooden floor.

“Deep down, she loves me,” Jack said.

“I can tell.”

He smiled. Em did, too, and for a second, they just looked at each other until she broke.

Damn. Dates were hard. It probably explained why she’d been on so few.

“You like being a cop, it seems,” Jack said.

Good. Work. She loved talking about work. “Yes. Very much.”

“Is Levi a good boss?”

“Will you tell him if I say yes?”

“Nah. Don’t want him getting too full of himself.”

“Me, neither,” she said. “But he’s a great boss. Is he a good brother-in-law?”

“Sure. Except that he’s sleeping with my sister, I’m almost positive.”

“Yes, Faith’s tummy seems to indicate that.”

Hannah brought them their burgers, ruffled Jack’s hair (it seemed to be the law that if you were female, you had to touch Jack), and they were alone again.

And the thing was, it was nice. She was almost relaxed.

Except when she stopped to look at him for too long. Because, you know, he was just so...good-looking. Everything about him was perfect—his wide, lovely smile, his mouth (every time she thought about kissing, she nearly choked on her food). And his eyes...those sky-blue eyes were just the icing on a very fine cake.

Whereas she was okay. She was not unpleasant to look at. She also had a good smile, thanks to Dr. Warren’s skill at replacing her front teeth. Her hair was behaving today, courtesy of the ingenious Sicilians.

She reminded herself to sit up straight, which exacerbated the thong issue. Tried to smile. Did smile. Tried to think of entertaining stories to tell him and came up empty.

Surely she had entertaining stories. Uh...yeah, she was almost sure she did, but could she tap into those right now? No. There was something about a cat, wasn’t there? Oh, yeah, the cat story! That was a winner!

“So the other day, I was on a call, and—”

“Hi, guys!” It was Faith, rounder and prettier than ever. “How are you?” She beamed, hands on her belly.

“Good,” Emmaline said, ignoring Jack’s groan. “You and Levi here for dinner?”

“No, I’m here with my sisters,” she said. “We’re spying on Jack.”

“You better not be,” he said.

“Pru says you have no game.”

“Should I be more like her, then?”

“Please, God, no. You know what she told me the other day? She and Carl were watching a Walking Dead marathon, which of course put them in the mood for love, so—”

“Stop! Come on, Faith, you’re as bad as she is.”

Faith winked at Emmaline, and Em felt a warm rush of affection. She’d always liked Faith.

“Oh! The baby’s kicking. Feel.” She grabbed Em’s hand and put it against her stomach, and sure enough, there was a mysterious roll and then another.

Wow.

There was a baby in there. Okay, obviously, there was a baby in there, but feeling the little thing move around... “That’s really amazing,” Em said, and her voice was husky.

“Faith, come on—leave them alone.” Honor Holland came over and gave a rueful grin. “Sorry for the parade of sisters, Jack. How are you, Emmaline?”

“Just fine. Nice to see you.”

“You, too. Come on, Faith. Your nachos just came out.”

“Oh! Gotta go! Eating for two and all that.”

“Honor, you’re my favorite sister,” Jack called as they left.

“What?” Faith said over her shoulder. “Who’s making you godfather to her firstborn child?”

“I take it back, Honor. Faith is my favorite,” he said. Honor waved.

“You have a very nice family,” Emmaline said.

“They’re okay,” he said. “A little overwhelming, but they’re pretty great.”

Then his gaze jerked to the door.

Em looked, too.

Of course. Hadley had just come in, wrapped in a glamorous ivory coat and high caramel leather boots, a green-printed scarf tied in a complicated knot. Her hair was in a ponytail, making her look fresh and energetic. She took off her coat in a graceful swirl, revealing dark green leggings and a really adorable lacy top. Sophisticated yet fresh, casual yet elegant. Maybe Emmaline should take a photo and use it as a reference for how to dress for a date, because suddenly, her basic black dress felt both incredibly boring and pathetically ambitious at the same time.

She sighed. In another minute, Hadley was going to come over and say hello and make Emmaline feel like a gorilla who’d been allowed to dress up for the evening and play with the humans.

“So you had a story about a call?” Jack asked, looking back at Em.

“Do you want to go say hi to your wife?”

“Ex-wife, Emmaline, and no. Tell me about the call you went on.” But his gaze drifted back toward Hadley, and he was frowning.

“You’re frowning,” she said.

“I’m irritated,” he said.

“Sorry, Grumpy Cat.”

“Not at you. We should’ve stayed at Hugo’s.”

“I’m sure she would’ve tracked you wherever you are. It’s that computer chip she put in your neck.” Emmaline took a nacho and waited for Hadley to float over and coo at Jack.

But much to her surprise, Hadley didn’t come over. She did see them, gave a nod and a smile and took a seat at the bar. Not directly in Jack’s line of vision, but not out of it, either.