Chapter Twenty-Four
I vy sat with a blanket around her shoulders. The wind hadn’t let up, and kites flew overhead but only in the roped-off safety arena with parents alertly supervising their children. Ivy perched on a wooden picnic table in the gazebo Jaxon had designed for Cliffside Park. She sipped tea from a large pink mug with Hollister’s Bakery displayed on it in giant letters. Holly had fussed over her—as had her parents, until she had successfully waved them away. They had finally got the hint that she wanted to be alone with Jaxon.
Many of the others, the Roadies and the Rebels together, had left for a drink at Toby and Mac’s. The pillars were already discussing the tale of the rescue of Ivy Wayland. Ivy was simultaneously thrilled and dreading the retelling, certain that it was destined to live on in Hazard lore.
Vendors were packing up their tables. Holly had a steadfast helper today in the form of Rebecca, but it was clear Becca preferred the tea shop to the bakery. It might be time to hire a helper, but first she needed to come clean to Jaxon. “I have a confession.”
“A confession? Don’t tell me you jumped off a cliff because you couldn’t live without me.” He grinned and tugged on a lock of her hair, still loose around her face.
“Oh, no. Not that. I would never admit to that.”
“Let me guess, you thought you were a kite.”
Ivy pinched her lips together and shook her head. His jovial mood was wonderful, but it wasn’t making this any easier.
“Hmm, okay, how about…”
Ivy put her finger over his lips. He stopped, eyes dancing, waiting for her to speak.
“I tricked you. Or tried to. I know how bad that is. How wrong.”
“Tricked me, how?” His arms moved around to hold her.
“I tried to trick you into loving me. I—oh, and this is the worst part—I baked magic cookies.”
Jaxon blinked. He nodded thoughtfully, lips pursed. “Okay, I wouldn’t have guessed that, but it’s probably better than believing you’re a kite.” He grinned.
“Stop. You aren’t taking me seriously. This is serious.”
He laughed. “No, it’s not. Your parents’ show aside, there is no such thing as magic. And, as much as I love everything you bake, there is certainly no such thing as magic”—he wiggled his fingers in the air—“cookies.”
“But there is. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. It’s a secret family recipe. It’s why my parents love each other so much after all these years.”
Jaxon was shaking his head. “I think they just love each other, Ivy.”
“But they bake the magic cookies every year, and they share them. I wanted that. I wanted what they have with each other.” She gazed into his eyes. “I wanted to have that with you, so I baked the cookies. I followed the recipe exactly right.” Remembering the added nutmeg, she crossed her fingers. “And I used the antique cookie press, so I could win the devotion of the recipient of the cookies, just like the legend says. And I”—she turned her gaze skyward before bringing it back to Jaxon’s face—“gave them to you hoping you would see me, really see me for who I am.”
Jaxon grinned “Really? Well, as flattering as that is…”
Ivy cut him off, “And then, you,” she poked him in the chest, “shared them with the Rebels baseball team, and they all became devoted to me and started coming into the tea shop.”
“That’s probably because your cookies are fabulous.”
“Because they’re magic.” At his skeptical laugh, she said, “You don’t believe me.”
He tilted his head. “Well, if your cookies are magical, so is your tea shop, but that’s only because you are magic. You, Ivy, have brought the magic back into my life.”
“But it’s more than that.”
He kissed her quick on the lips, once, twice.
She kissed him back a third time and gave him a light push. “It gets worse. When it didn’t work the first time, I baked them again.”
His eyes were laughing at her, and she loved it, but she needed to make him understand. She refused to deceive him. From now on, they’d agreed to be honest with each other.
“What happened to the second batch, because I don’t remember getting any of these cookies. Wait, is that part of the magic?”
“No.” She shoved him. “Holly ate them and started acting nice to me.”
“Are you sure? Because that’s kind of out of character for Holly.”
“I told you, the magic is real.”
“I’m not so sure. Holly wasn’t very nice to you today.”
Ivy waved that away and held up the mug. “She gave me a hot mug of tea and tucked a blanket around me.”
“Yeah, but I think she also hid your scones under the vendor table to sell more doughnuts.”
“I knew it! But that’s not important, there’s more. When the first two batches didn’t work, I baked the magic cookies a third time.”
“Oh, and who ate those?”
“They went missing from Oleander House.”
He was grinning openly at her now, and she wanted to smack him and hug him all at the same time. When he finally settled down, he tucked her in close to him and said, “So let me get this straight. You use the cookie press, bake the magic cookies, and give them to someone, making them irrevocably charmed by you.”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm.”
“But it didn’t work.”
“No?”
“Because you never ate them, not one single cookie, not one single crumb.”
“Let me be honest, now. I was upset by that.”
“By me trying to trick you?”
He shook his head. “I wanted to eat your cookies. They smelled amazing, but when I didn’t get any, it wasn’t important. The cookies aren’t important.”
“They are.”
“Oh, Ivy, don’t you realize? I may not believe in magic cookies, but even if you do, I didn’t need to eat a cookie to fall in love with you. I love it here in Hazard now because you’re here, and the community bands together to take care of its own. But I didn’t need the magic of Hazard to fall in love with you.”
Ivy blinked and stared at Jaxon in amazement. He had called it exactly right. “We didn’t need the magic of Hazard to fall in love.” Ivy breathed the words with a kind of wonder.
Jaxon shook his head. “I was completely charmed by you the very first time we met. The day you signed the lease for your tea shop, and shared your dreams for the space, I was enchanted by everything about you. And, later, when I stepped into your cozy tea shop, I was home because you were there. You make my world complete. I didn’t need magic to fall in love with you. Not the magic of baked goods, not the magic of cookie presses, not even the magic of Hazard.”
“Hazard is pretty great.”
“But that’s because of you. It’s you, Ivy, just you. I am charmed by you.”