He’d always thought he was a pretty smart guy. An advanced degree in chemistry from an Ivy League school, right? But it seemed he was pretty f**king stupid just the same.

Hadley asked for ten grand in exchange for an uncontested divorce, and Jack paid it. One lump sum and nothing else. She made noise about laying claim to the house and her “investment” in it, but apparently her father talked her out of it. Throughout it all, she insisted that she hadn’t been unfaithful, despite what Jack had seen, and his discovery that there was no book club...all those nights out when he’d been so happy his wife was making friends had been spent with Oliver.

New York state law said they had to be separated for six months before their divorce could be finalized, so Jack sat back and waited. Worked. Went home. Repeat.

One thing Hadley hadn’t foreseen—cheating on Jack made her a pariah. The one time she and Oliver went into O’Rourke’s, Colleen, who’d practically grown up in the Holland house, told them to get lost. When Hadley sputtered and gasped, Connor opened the door and told them they had three seconds to leave before he would ask Levi Cooper (also present) to escort them out. This was gleefully reported to Jack by Prudence, who only belatedly heard him ask her not to tell him about it.

He couldn’t avoid the gossip. Gerard Chartier, a firefighter-paramedic who saw Jack often on ambulance runs, told him that Oliver and Hadley were seen arguing at the antiques store. Honor said she’d run into Hadley, and she’d seemed absolutely manic, bouncing around the grocery store like a bee trying to get out of a car. At the Crooked Lake Spring Fling Wine Tasting, Oliver showed up to represent Dandelion Hill, but Hadley was nowhere in sight.

And then, three months after Hadley had left, on a night when the owl family had decided to serenade Jack as he sat on the deck with Lazarus, his phone rang.

It was Hadley, her voice a stunned whisper. “Jack, I don’t know who else to call. I can’t...I can’t wake Oliver up. I’m not sure he’s breathing.”

He told her to call 911 and said he’d be right over.

It was three o’clock in the morning.

But Hadley didn’t have anyone else. Frankie was an hour away at least.

So Jack went to Dandelion Hill and drove Hadley to the hospital, following the ambulance, then waiting in the relentless lights of the E.R. with his not-quite ex-wife. Got her a bottle of water from the vending machine, and when her cold hand slipped into his, he let it stay.

And when the doctor came out and said they’d done all they could, but unfortunately the patient didn’t make it, he put his arms around Hadley and held her as she shook.

Oliver’s parents came to town, heartbroken and furious at finding a gold digger living in their son’s house; they kicked her out. She called him once more, her voice subdued and small, saying she didn’t have any money (the ten grand must’ve slipped through her fingers like fog). Her father was furious with her, she couldn’t ask her sisters for anything and all she was asking was if she could stay with him until after Oliver’s funeral.

He said no. But he paid for her room and meals at the Black Swan B&B.

She came up to the house a few hours after the funeral to say goodbye and tell him she’d pay him back for the stay at the inn. Her face was white, her eyes too big and utterly terrified.

He almost wanted to take her in his arms and tell her it would be all right, that she could stay with him for a while.

Almost. It was disturbingly hard not to say the words.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“SO HOW WAS the wedding, Officer Em?” Tamara asked as Emmaline walked into the basement of Trinity Lutheran Church.

“We’re not going to talk about it,” Emmaline said, smiling firmly at her at-risk teenagers.

“Sucked that bad, did it?” Dalton said.

“Pretty much, yes. Sarge, look! It’s the kids! The kids are here to see you!” She unclipped her wagging, crooning pup and watched with a smile as the dog bolted for the teenagers, Squeaky Chicken firmly in his mouth.

One of the reasons Emmaline had gotten Sarge was for the kids. Also, because she was single and liked having someone to come home to, and also because she was a cop and could make little Sarge here into a police dog (or not, because he definitely lacked the I’m a big scary dog gene).

But for this purpose—for making four tough, bored, cynical potential dropouts tolerate her—her dog was perfect.

“So Cory, you got suspended again, huh?” she said, setting down the box of cookies she’d picked up at Lorelei’s earlier that day.

“He told Dr. Didier that—”

“I already heard, Tamara. Cory? You were already in trouble with Mrs. Greenley. Did you feel things getting to that snapping point?”

Cory shrugged. He’d been suspended today after suggesting that the principal of Manningsport High was, in fact, a man. An ugly man at that, using some colorful words to describe just how ugly and just what evidence indicated Dr. Didier’s masculinity, then threw Dr. Didier’s paperweight in the trash—but he threw it hard. Like a baseball. The result was suspension.

“I’m guessing you did,” Em said. “And we all have those moments, Cory, when we’d like to break something. But that’s not acceptable.”

“Unless you’re an idiot,” Tamara said, peeling blue nail polish from her thumb and eyeing the cookies.

“Bite me,” Cory said. He took another cookie, put it in his teeth and let Sarge eat half of it, then chewed and swallowed the other half. Boys were so gross. Then again, Em had done the same thing the other night, so she was in no position to judge.

“So, Cory, what about your suspension?” she asked, trying to refocus them.

“Dude, you’re gonna get expelled,” said Dalton.

“You’re the one who stole a car,” Cory said.

“Yeah, but you’re smart,” said the other boy. “You could get a scholarship and everything. All I got is a life of crime to look forward to. Right, Officer Em?”

“Wrong, Dalton. Cory, he does have a point. You could. But if you don’t find a way to cope with your temper, it’ll haunt you all your life.”

“I know,” Cory muttered. “But it’s like I can’t help it.” He paused. “I was gonna throw that thing through the window, and at the last minute, I threw it in the trash instead.”

Ah, progress. “Okay, so that was a step in the right direction. You made a less destructive choice.”

“Maybe you’ll get a sticker,” Kelsey Byrd said.

Em kept talking. “Even little things like taking a deep, slow breath can help. Eat right, get enough fresh air. Those are clichés because they’re true. Maybe you could join the boxing club.”

“Or, like, listen to music?” Tamara suggested. “When my mom had my brother and he cried all the time, she’d go into the cellar and play Nine Inch Nails really loud and, like, dance. Badly, I might add. But she always felt better.”

Cory gave a little smile.

“Four months till graduation, kids,” Emmaline added. “You’re almost there.”

“Ooh, graduation,” said Kelsey. “Like that makes a difference.” She folded her arms and rested them on her pregnant belly. She had good reason to be bitter, Em guessed. Single motherhood was hard enough; single teenage motherhood was harder.