Hadley’s mouth dropped open. “You want to get married again?”
Fallon raised her chin. “I liked being married. Clint wouldn’t win any husband- or father-of-the-year awards, but I can’t assume every man is the same. Besides, without him, I wouldn’t have the two greatest kids in the world.”
“That’s…”
“Stupid?”
“Mature.” More so than Hadley was with dating. One bad relationship after another had soured her on romance. She’d given up to focus on her clients. If anything, her sister and the kids gave Hadley a valid excuse why she wasn’t in the market for a boyfriend. Or a date. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you. I’m trying to look for the silver lining in what happened. Including spending this week in Los Angeles.”
“Even though you’ll be working, the trip will be good for you. No sharing a bedroom or a bathroom.”
“Or nighttime calls for a glass of water.” Fallon smiled. “But I’m not the only one who needs to get away. You haven’t taken a vacation in over a year.”
Hadley shrugged. “I’m at the New York office twice a month.”
“Still work.”
She was about to say she caught a Broadway show or a performance at the Met when she was there, but she hadn’t done that since Fallon and the kids moved in. “But I’m working in the Big Apple. That has to count for something.”
According to one recent survey, San Francisco had the highest number of billionaires per capita. New York was second. That was why she had offices in both cities. Not that she only worked with billionaires. Anyone who wanted to pay her fee and did as she required was welcome. Seeing her clients live happily ever after was almost as good as the money she made. Emphasis on almost. Still, no one could argue with her success rate. None of the couples matched by her firm had divorced since she opened her business seven years ago.
She wanted a perfect match for her sister, too. Audra and Ryder deserved a dad—a loving, kind, honest father.
Speaking of which…
“Okay, the kids.” Hadley grabbed the yellow pen—the color for her niece’s activities. “Let’s start with Audra.”
Fallon rolled her eyes. “You are anal retentive, OCD, and a control freak.”
“Yet you still love me.”
“I do.” Fallon sat and placed her mug on the table. “If not for those tendencies, you wouldn’t be as successful as you are and the kids and I would be—”
“Wherever I was.”
Therapy was helping the three with trust and abandonment issues. Hadley had her own issues after past relationships left her feeling used and worthless. They were one big happy family trying to lighten their emotional baggage.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she added, hoping to put her sister at ease. Hadley readied her pen. “So Audra…”
“Dance today. Choir on Tuesday. Nothing on Wednesday. And soccer on Thursday.”
Hadley had written those. She picked up the red pen. “Now Ryder.”
“Soccer game today, nothing on Tuesday, soccer on Wednesday, and a piano lesson on Thursday.” Fallon raised her mug. “No playdates scheduled. Both kids keep mentioning that story time you took them to and want to go back.”
That had been a fun Saturday. The three of them had gone out to breakfast before hitting Cassandra’s Attic, a local bookstore. “I’ll see what the shop has coming up.”
“This week is full.” Fallon’s mouth slanted. “Don’t make more work for yourself.”
“A bookstore is the definition of fun.”
“If you think that, then you need a boyfriend. And not a book one. A real-life, blood-flowing-through-his-veins, kisses-you-until-your-toes-curl boyfriend.”
As if those existed.
Not in Hadley’s world. Book boyfriends were safer. They didn’t disappoint her the way real men had.
