Best of My Love (Fool's Gold, #20)

“You’ll get there,” Patience assured her. “Just listen to your heart. We can all give advice, but you’re the one who has to decide what’s right for you. No one else.” She grinned. “I’m so glad Aidan called. This has been fun.”


“I agree.” Sam winked at her. “We could take our act on the road.”

Shelby blinked. “Aidan phoned you and asked you to talk to me?”

“Uh-huh.” Patience sighed. “You two are such a great couple. He’s worried about you. I love that in a man. I never thought I’d see that player brought to his knees, but here he is, acting like a man in love.”

Shelby didn’t know what to deal with first. “We’re just friends.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Sam asked, as he rose. “Let me know if you have any more questions.” He handed her his card. “You can stop by the office or set up a meeting. Whatever works for you. In the meantime, I’ll get you those names.”

“Thank you.”

He left. Shelby hugged Patience and thanked her, then walked out onto the street.

She was no longer fighting tears, but did still have a spinning head. Aidan had taken the time to get his friends to help her. Talk about supportive. And unexpected. Not that he wasn’t a great guy, but still. This was above and beyond.

Patience was wrong. They weren’t in love. They were friends and today that seemed so much more important.

*

HAVING SURVIVED DESTINY’S DELIVERY—albeit from a distance—Aidan considered himself an old hand at the giving-birth thing. So when he heard that Isabel Hendrix had gone into premature labor, he knew supplies would be required. Which was why he swung by the bakery instead of Shelby’s house. She’d said that Isabel would want pretzel bread and he knew better than to ask why.

He barely had time to stop his truck before she raced out of the bakery. She had two tote bags with her. One was filled with loaves of bread, the other had boxes of cookies.

“Thanks for coming to get me,” she said with a smile. “You didn’t have to. I could have done this myself.”

“And miss out on all the fun? No way. Plus this probably gets me out of a girl thing later.”

Shelby put the bags in the backseat, then climbed up beside him and fastened her seat belt. “You can pretend all you want. I know you like the girl things.”

Aidan knew what she meant. But at the mention of “girl things” all he could think about were the differences between men and women. More physical than emotional. How much he liked those differences...and missed them.

For the greater good, he reminded himself as he drove to the hospital.

“Like them or not, it’s always good to have a rain check in my back pocket.”

“I’ll give you as many as you want,” she said. She shifted in her seat until she was angled toward him. “I can’t believe what you did for me. No, I take that back. I totally believe it.”

Her voice was earnest, her body language intense. As if she wanted to make sure he understood what she was saying.

“What are we talking about?” he asked cautiously.

“You having Patience and Sam talk to me. It was scary and wonderful at the same time. They had so much information.” She straightened in her seat. “Hey, wait a minute. You have a small business. Why didn’t you tell me all this yourself? You must know everything there is about running a business.”

“While I enjoy you thinking of me as a god, the truth is I know what I need to know to make my company work. Not what you need to know. I figured talking to someone with a financial background, like Sam, would be helpful. And I knew Patience had been through something similar. You could bond over your joint experience.”

“Is that sarcasm? Women don’t automatically bond over every little thing.”

“You kinda do.”

She sighed. “Fine. Maybe. Regardless, thank you. And I owe you. You’re really a good friend.”

Her compliment warmed him. Not that he needed much warming when she was around. Still, he appreciated the sentiment. “You’re a good friend, too. So did they help?”

“Patience gave me a lot of moral support. Sam was more practical. I have a very long and growing to-do list. There’s a bunch of people I need to talk to. A lawyer, a banker. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a banker. Oh, I take that back. I started to take out a loan to buy into the bakery. It was a brief conversation. And a little scary. I guess a lawyer’s going to be even worse.”

“They’re not my favorite people, but they’re very necessary. At least that’s what I tell myself.”

They pulled into the hospital parking lot and found a space near the door. Aidan carried the bags inside. He and Shelby got on the elevator. “I can’t believe this our second pregnancy visit in such a short period of time,” she said.

“We are a town of breeders.”

She laughed. “That must’ve made you nervous, with all your lady friends.”

“Not me. I’m a big believer in protection. Easier for both of us.”

One corner of her mouth turned up. Her eyes began to sparkle and he knew he was in trouble.