Who Pissed Off Ivy Dell? (Ivydell Book 3)

20. Ivy

Ivy

Jensen makes us cheesy scrambled eggs for breakfast. It looks too early outside to be eating breakfast, but he says he has to be at the gate before people start showing up.

“Is this the only way you know how to cook eggs?”

“No. I can make them without cheese, too.”

“Oh, good. If the winery doesn’t work out, you can always open a restaurant.”

“I bet a restaurant that served nothing but scrambled eggs would be a hit.”

“Maybe a food truck. You could offer all sorts of toppings. Serve it on a folded waffle like a taco.”

“Your brain really does just take an idea and run with it. It’s impressive.”

“Not everyone is impressed by it.”

“They should be.”

We finish our breakfast, and he drives me home to Sparrow’s Song.

It’s not quite sunrise, and I could use a few more hours of sleep, but if I crawl into my bed, I’ll sleep half the day away. I take a shower instead, make some coffee, and sit on my back patio to watch the sun finish coming up.

A roadrunner zips toward me to snap up a scorpion that I hadn’t seen. It was several feet away, so no threat, but I didn’t know it was there until the roadrunner got it. Those birds are fearless. If they want it, they take it. Even rattlesnakes and horned toads. “Where were you when I was trying to get my laundry done?”

The roadrunner cocks its head at me with the scorpion still in its bill. Then it zooms off to a rock to finish disabling its prey. Nature is brutal.

I hear footsteps at the side of my casita. “Hello,” I call out, hoping I’m talking to a human.

Zara laughs. “Aw, I didn’t know you were outside. I was trying to sneak up to your back door and scare you.”

“Did you have a good night with Dice?”

“You’re not mad, are you?”

“No. Of course not.”

She sits next to me. “He’s fun.”

“If you say so.”

“What is that bird doing?”

“Beating a scorpion to death.”

“Cool. Glad I asked. How is your tattoo?”

“Uncomfortable.”

“It’ll heal soon. And then you’ll have a beautiful reminder of this place.”

“I’m going to have a lot of those.” The wind kicks up and causes my screen door to slap against the frame.

“You are still coming back home, right?”

“I am.” I sip my coffee. “But I might quit my job.”

“Noooo. To do what?”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll make soap. Or candles.”

“You came all the way to the desert to become a beach hippie?”

“There are desert hippies, too.”

“Please tell me you’re not quitting as soon as you get home.”

“No. I’m going to start using up my vacation days, though. I should’ve done that to come here instead of trying to work. Might’ve cleared my head sooner.”

“I figured you’d be taking some vacation time to see Stinger’s winery location and help him get that underway.”

“I’ll help if he asks. But it’s his venture, not mine.”

“I’m not sure he thinks of it that way. Besides, I could totally see you working in a winery.”

“He has to build it first. Who knows where we’ll be by then.”

“You could ask your psychic neighbors.”

“No, thank you. Do you want to ask them something?”

“Oh, I already have an appointment tomorrow evening at five.”

“Of course you do. Do you think you’ll see Dice after you leave here?”

“I doubt it. He’s thinking about moving to Miami.”

“You like the beach.”

“And I like men who are temporary.”

“That’s how I used to like them, too.”

“Yeah, but only because you’d had your heart broken. I’ve always preferred them that way.”

A car engine sputters out front. “I wonder if that’s someone showing up for the festival?”

“I think it’s probably Dice heading out.”

“Did you leave him asleep in your bed to come over here?”

“He’s a grown man. He can find his way home. What was I supposed to do, wake him up and cook him breakfast? Please.”

I laugh at how matter-of-factly she states her case. She sees the world exactly as it is. No illusions.

Sometimes, I think I’ve always been drawn to magical thinking, but other times, I think I’ve been too afraid to embrace it. According to Petra, my father was a lousy magician, but he pursued it anyway. The ordinary magic of the world wasn’t enough for him, but he couldn’t see that he wasn’t really a showman. I think he was probably just a very tall but very small man in most regards. Maybe he still is.

Nothing is ever enough for people like that. They’re always trying to prove themselves.

I don’t feel like I have anything to prove, but I do want a little more magic in my life. The real kind. No illusions.

Cujo’s bike starts up next door and rattles my teeth. I can tell by the direction the sound fades into that he’s headed for the gate to help Jensen.

Josephine walks over. “I thought I heard y’all out here. Are you ready for the craziness of the festival?”

“If it gets too crazy, we can always hide out here,” I offer.

“Yeah, but be sure to lock your doors,” she says. “Even though there are signs stating which casitas are open studios, there’s always at least one wanderer who will walk in on you in your own bathroom.”

“Glad I showered already.”

“Get ready. They’ll invade soon.”

We go inside and finish off the pot of coffee I made. “Where do we start?” I ask Josephine. “Should we walk over to Myrna’s and keep her company until people show up?”

“No. Come on. We’re walking up to the gate. You need to witness the arrival.”

“Sounds ominous,” Zara says.

Josephine smiles. “It’s something.”

I’ve never seen the gate closed, but it’s shut this morning. Jensen and Cujo lean on it. They laugh and talk as if they don’t know what’s behind them.

“What the hell is happening?” I push up onto the balls of my feet and search for the end of the line. There is a trail of cars down the dirt road that leads into Ivydell. The line stretches beyond the mesa. I think it might go all the way to the highway. “Is this for real?”

“It’s real.”

“Where did they all come from?”

“Everywhere.”

“How do they know when to show up?”

“Word of mouth, I guess.”

“There isn’t enough stuff for all these people to buy something.”

“They don’t all come to buy,” she says. “Some just come to be here.”

“This is the last time they’ll ever get to do this.” It feels like I’m witnessing something historic. In a way, I guess I am.

“Do you think we should tell them?”

“No. I know better now. They should be able to enjoy it until the bitter end.”

Cujo pushes the gate open, and Jensen waves the first car forward. He says something to the driver that makes the guy smile and honk his horn as he drives in. When the next car hears his message, they honk, too.

Josephine smiles. “No entry fee this year. We don’t need a maintenance fund anymore.”

New horns join in as more cars drive past us. “Who knew not having to pay an entry fee could make people so happy?”

Zara shakes her head. “I think these people were happy when they got here. No entry fee just adds another layer.”

Layers of happiness. What a magical fucking concept. But it’s not an illusion. All these happy people are very, very real.

For the next forty-eight hours, I’m going to see Ivydell like I’ve never seen it before. And then it will get quiet again. And then I’ll have to leave. And I’ll never see it again.

I could’ve been happy not knowing. But I can be happy this way, too.

“Jensen said The Circle gets used for demonstrations and performances, but he never explained beyond that.”

“They say what happens in The Circle stays in The Circle.” Josephine waggles her eyebrows at me.

She’s making a joke, but I know of a performance where that was the truth. Unless she knows, too, and that’s the joke. No secrets in Ivydell.

I don’t care if she knows. I don’t care if the whole world knows. Maybe one day he and I will recreate the scene in a vineyard.

Wizard joins our group, dropping a dead lizard at my feet like a peace offering. Except it turns out it’s only playing dead, and we all yelp when it hops up, hulks out, and hisses at the giant cat.

The lizard runs. The cat chases. The cars keep coming.

“I’m ready. Let’s do this crazy thing.”

Thank you for taking this third visit to Ivydell!

Are you ready to finally go to the festival? Book 4: Bitch, Please! It”s Ivydell, the final book in this series, will take you there!

VENGEFUL VIXENS:

Your Boss Says Hi!

She’s only looking for a rebound guy, but her ex’s boss plays for keeps. He’s a former NFL player who used to have thousands of women screaming his name every week. Now, he only wants one woman to scream his name, and she just might become his biggest fan yet.

Your Trainer Says Hi!

She only wants to see her ex’s beloved personal trainer in the gym—until he convinces her his hot tub could do wonders for her aching muscles. He isn’t wrong, but between the heat, the bubbles, and his off-the-clock skills, she might be in too deep before she knows it. He’s definitely not her type. So, why can’t she stop seeing him?

NAUGHTY AT THE NOUVEAU:

Maintenance Management

She’s the new property manager. He’s the new maintenance supervisor. They rub each other the wrong way . . . until they start to rub each other so very right. There’s a non-fraternization policy, so they really shouldn’t. But there’s only one bed!

Landscaping Leasing

He ghosted her after an unfortunate incident that she had absolutely no control over—and now, she’s accidentally hired his landscaping company. She may not be completely immune to his charms (that voice!), but she’s not weak enough to fall for him twice. But what if she doesn’t know the whole story about why he disappeared from her life?

Peri

They were the wildest couple in town once, but that was a long time ago. They’re not restless small-town kids anymore. And she’s not back in town to see him. But seeing him once won’t hurt anything. How much trouble could they get into as adults? Hardly any if you disregard the dirty karaoke and the lewd (allegedly) graffiti . . . and that old flame reigniting like an inferno.