Page 54 of Meant to Be

I frowned, wondering why the heck so much security was needed in a neighborhood like this.

“Aaron, uh, takes my and the children’s security seriously.”

I didn’t miss the tense look that passed between Michelle and Patience.

“So, you knew Josh in high school?” Michelle asked, rising from her chair to take the baby.

I handed her a sleeping Samuel before answering. “Yeah, we kind of grew up together. I started at Excelor Academy in sixth grade. That’s how we met.”

“That’s nice,” Michelle stated as she began rocking the baby. “What brought you back to Williamsport?”

“Um,” I hedged.

“Townsend men have that appeal,” Patience chimed in and laughed. She peered at me and winked.

“You would know. It’s not like you had a choice in returning from Oakland.” Michelle chuckled as she sat back in her chair.

“You lived in Oakland?” I questioned Patience who was giving Michelle the stink eye.

“I did. For a few years.”

“Yup, and after Aaron found out about the twins, her ass wasn’t going back. Sorry, baby,” Michelle cooed to the baby for cursing while laughing.

I lifted an eyebrow. “Wait, so …” My gaze bounced between the two women. “Aaron didn’t know about the twins?”

“Nope,” Michelle answered.

“There’d been a slight miscommunication,” Patience spoke up, clearing her throat.

“And you’ve met Aaron Townsend. I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, he didn’t take thatmiscommunicationlightly.”

No, I didn’t think he would.

“Yeah, well my husband didn’t show up in the middle of the night in my bedroom like some damn stalker.”

I gasped and look to Michelle who’d stopped smiling and trained a sharp gaze on Patience.

“Both of your husbands seem a little extreme,” I spoke up, causing both women to point their attention on me. “No offense.” I held up my hands in mock surrender.

After a few seconds of silence the pair began giggling.

“You’ve got one now, too. You’ll find out how extreme these damn men can be.”

I angled my gaze at Patience, scrunching my eyebrows, wondering what she was talking about. Joshua could be intense, sure, but he wasn’tthatintense. At least, not about me … right?

I continued talking and laughing with Patience and Michelle for another hour, fixing us all a cup of hot tea. I stayed until Carter arrived home. His crystal blue eyes came alive when they landed on his wife and son. Needless to say, that was both my and Patience’s cues to leave.

“Hey, you should come over some time. I’d love the company since I’m not working much these days,” she offered. I knew Patience had worked as a librarian but for some reason, she’d stopped.

“I’d like that. I need to get out and explore the community a little bit.” For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why, however. My stay with Joshua was only short-term and once I’d found my own place, I’d be moving out. Plus, I was sure I wouldn’t be moving in anywhere nearby since the homes were well out of my price range.

“It’s a great place to live.”

“I can see that. Josh was telling me about the different model types of the homes. He said Tyler’s place is on the next block over. Didn’t want to be too close to his brothers.” I laughed.

“Yeah, but he didn’t want to be too far either. He’s still building though, taking his time” Patience laughed along as we walked down Michelle and Carter’s driveway, accompanied by her twins and the two security guards.

“Guess he’s not ready to settle down,” I added, speaking of the youngest Townsend brother.