“Fathers, or parents, are weak spots with a lot of people. What Laurel’s made of herself, in a lot of ways despite them, is something to be proud of.”

“I completely agree, but it’s easier for you and me because we didn’t have to deal with despite. We always had love and support. And knowing your father was weak enough—and just had the extremely bad taste—to have an affair with Linda’s a tough one to swallow. And while Laurel’s choking that down, Linda bitch slaps her with how everyone’s talking and laughing at her about you, about her delusions that you’d ever be serious about someone like her, and insults her with all that ‘everyone knows she’s after the Brown money and status anyway because look where and what she comes from.”’

She paused a moment, just to seethe, and Del let the silence ride as he turned it all over in his mind.

“Which tied it up in a big ugly bow,” Emma continued, “making her the pathetic gold digger and you the slime who’s just banging his sister’s friend because he can. And because that’s exactly the way Linda thinks, she pushes that knife in with authority. It made Laurel cry, and you have to practically beat her with sticks to make her cry. If Linda hadn’t been gone when I got there, I’d have . . . And oh shit, shit, Laurel didn’t tell you about this.”

“She told me about Linda and running her off. But she left out several salient points.”

“Damn it, Del, damn it! You maneuvered me into telling you the rest.”

“Maybe I did, but don’t I have a right to know?”

“You may have the right to know, but I didn’t have the right to tell you.You set me up so I’d betray a friend.”

“You didn’t betray anyone.” He pulled into the nursery lot, parked, then turned to her. “Listen, how can I fix it if I don’t know?”

“If Laurel wanted you to fix it—”

“Apparently Laurel gets pissed at the idea of my fixing anything. But leave that out for a minute. Linda’s a problem, and she’s a problem for all of us. But in this specific incident, she went after Laurel. She hurt her. Weren’t you going to say you’d have taken her on over it yourself if you’d known at the time?”

“Yes, but—”

“Do you think I’m with Laurel just because I can be? That I’m sleeping with her because she’s available?”

“No, of course not.”

“But there’s part of her that thinks so.”

“That’s not for me to answer, and it’s not fair for you to ask me.”

“Okay, I’ll rephrase the question.”

She yanked off her sunglasses so she could glare at him. “Don’t pull the lawyer crap on me, Delaney. I’m so mad at you right now.”

“I needed to know. She won’t let me in this area. Part’s pride, I think, but another’s half believing it. And maybe that’s my fault, or some of it’s my fault. I got the idea it might be something along these lines yesterday, but I needed confirmation.”

“Good for you.” She started to wrench open her door. He laid a hand on her arm.

“Emma, by not knowing, not dealing with it or acting on it, I’m hurting her. I don’t want to hurt her.”

“You should’ve asked her directly.”

“She wouldn’t tell me. You know she wouldn’t, not unless I have a way to push her into a corner over it. Now I do. Damn it, I hurt her yesterday by offering to pay for a bunch of groceries, because I just didn’t get it. It’s not about Linda, though I’d already intended to deal with her, and will. It’s about me and Laurel.”

“You’ve got that part right.” She heaved out a sigh. “But you’ve put me in a hell of a spot, Del.”

“I’m sorry, and I’m going to keep you there by asking you not to say anything to her about this. Not until I can talk to her. If she doesn’t believe, all the way, in what we have, it’s never going to work. It’s never going to fit. And if I’m responsible for that, even part of the way, I have to make it right. So I’m asking for you to give me a chance to make it right.”

“God, you’re good. How am I supposed to say no to that?”

“I mean it. She and I need to strip away some of the armor, and some of the cushion, and see what’s under it. I want you to give me a chance to do that.”

“I love you both, and I want both of you happy. So, believe me, Del, you’d better figure it out. Screw it up, or let her screw it up, and I’m blaming you.”

“That’s fair. Are you going to stay mad at me?”

“I’ll let you know after you talk to her.”

“Emma.” He leaned over, kissed her cheek.

“Oh.” This time she heaved out a breath. “Let’s go buy some plants.”

He struggled to be patient as the scanning, scouting, selection took endless amounts of time. Plus whenever he so much as thought about nudging her along, Emma simply shot him a steely stare.

In the end, they loaded what they could in the car and arranged for the rest—and there was plenty of rest-to be delivered.

“Take her down to the beach,” Emma said on the drive back.

“Away from the rest of us. Don’t try to talk to her about this in or around the house. Too many possibilities of interruption. If you’re interrupted, she’ll have a chance to regroup or evade.”

“That’s a good point. Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. I may not be doing it for you. I may be doing it only for her.”

“Either way.”

“A long walk, and believe me, if she comes back from it upset, I’m kicking your ass. Or I’ll have Jack do it.”

“I’m not sure he could kick my ass. But you could.”

“Keep that in mind, and don’t screw this up.” She paused a moment. “Do you love her?”

“Of course I do.”

She turned to him. “That’s a stupid answer. A stupid thing to say. I really ought to kick your ass.”

“Why—?”

“No.” She shook her head and stared straight ahead. “No more pointers. You have to deal with this yourself or it’s not real. I’m going to stay out of the way. I’m going to start right in on these plants, so I’ll be out of the way. That’s the best thing I can do for both of you.” She bit her lip. “But don’t say ‘of course,’ you idiot.”