Page 33 of The Handy Men
Stephanie looked away. "I didn't dump them. The time just wasn't right for us."
"And it's right now?"
"My dad died last spring."
Paige blinked in shock. Caillie hadn't mentioned that. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"And my mom is leaving Hamlet Island and going down south to Florida to retire. She's leaving me the house on Dune Street. So I'm back for good."
Fabulous. Just what Paige needed in her life—Jack and Dean's ex-girlfriend living on the same island.
"I think this will actually work out," Stephanie said.
"How do you mean?" Would Jack and Dean want to have an open relationship? Paige didn't think her self-esteem could handle it if she had to wonder if they were banging Stephanie against the walls when they weren't with her.
"The gossip is getting pretty nasty about you. They're saying your inn is going to be a BDSM club."
"A-A what?" Paige sputtered.
"Not that I think half of these people know what the heck that is, and the other half probably thinks it's pretty cool, but they don't dare do anything about it for fear of being ostracized by the morality police."
"That's ridiculous."
"It's the whole Fifty Shades of Grey thing. Some townsfolks shut down the movie theater in protest when they tried to run it. Little do they know that a few of the clubs around here get pretty kinky in the summer after the oldsters go to bed."
That was news to her.
"You're the latest threat to decent life as they know it."
"Why on Earth do they think that?" Paige couldn’t believe it. She was a good person. A hard worker. Who the hell did anyone think they were to try to judge her?
"Because you're sleeping with two married men. At the same time. Do you know what being in a ménage relationship will do to your business on this island?” Stephanie made a raspberry sound and stuck her thumb down. "You'll get no referrals, and people will whisper to whatever tourists you do have, so you'll get no repeat business."
Paige’s face burned, and it had nothing to do with the sun. "Why are people talking about this?"
Stephanie shrugged. "Jealousy? The need to feel morally superior? Maybe because there's nothing else to do on this godforsaken island." She threw her hands up in the air.
Paige was getting a headache and packed up her chair. "I'll tell the guys you were looking for them."
She was not going to choose her livelihood over her happiness. She could make it work. If she kept telling herself that, maybe she'd believe it.
"Mention my plan to them. If they're dating me as well, it almost looks normal. Two guys. Two girls. We have plausible deniability," Stephanie called out as Paige stalked back to the inn.
* * *
Dinner on the boat wasn't as romantic as she'd been expecting. Paige had brought extra wine but turned her face when Dean went to kiss her hello. Jack was having none of that and held her head while his tongue battled hers. It was a good thing Dean grabbed the wine bottles before she dropped them.
"What's that all about?" Dean asked when Jack let her up for air.
"Stephanie came to see me today. She wants to have a foursome."
Dean gawked at her and Jack's eyes grew distant.
Stephanie is our past," Jack said.
"She could be your future. She's willing.” Paige sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"Tell me what happened today." He stroked her back. "What did she actually say to you?"
