Chapter Three
Jace
The winter moon illuminates the winding road in front of me.
I’m driving home in my Jeep, and despite the snap in the frigid air, I’m tempted to roll the windows down just to keep the crisp air in my lungs.
Everything in me wants to turn my car around and find Ivy again, just to set eyes on her one more time.
But I know I need to be patient. Admittedly, patience isn’t one of my strengths.
For years, I’ve been waiting to meet a woman who would unlock a feeling in me like the feeling my impromptu date unlocked in me tonight.
I know I’ve finally found her. Ivy. From the moment I heard her voice, her name wrapped around my soul, intertwining with my lungs.
Seeing her for the first time made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning, finding gifts under the tree that I hadn’t even known to ask for.
I didn’t know it was possible to dream someone like her into reality, and yet, she exists.
My drive home takes another ten minutes, the rural parts of New Hampshire pulling me farther from the quaint town of Birch Borough.
When I told Ivy I was looking around to see what all the hype was about, that was true.
Turns out, the town holds as much charm as I’ve heard.
And I’m struck that the only thing disappointing about tonight is the fact that it must end.
When I’m still a few minutes away, I pull up my favorites on my phone, hitting the button for M&M, and smile.
I know my sister will be waiting for an update.
Of all our siblings, we’re the closest. When we were younger, she’d follow me around, and something in me could never turn her away.
I was never too cool for her. If anything, she was undermining her own popularity by hanging out with me.
After all, I was the brother who looked like he should be on the football team but who would rather go to the symphony.
“Jay!” Mina’s voice rings loudly throughout my Jeep. I can only laugh, the joy too much to contain. “You’re smiling. I know you’re smiling.”
I am smiling. “You’re not wrong,” I admit. One hand rests on the steering wheel while the other pats my pocket. It holds a Polaroid of Ivy and me. Since I got in my truck, I’ve been continually checking to make sure it’s there, like it’s a passport for my heart to document our meeting.
“I knew it! I knew it!” No doubt, Mina is punching her fists in the air with the phone pressed to her ear. A crash on her end confirms it. I laugh again, knowing she’ll be back on the line soon.
“Sorry about that,” she mutters a second later. “Dropped my phone. Okay, tell me everything.”
“First, thank you for vouching for me.”
“I meant everything I said.”
I clear my throat to keep back the emotion. “Thanks, Mina. You know you’ve always been my favorite.”
Her laugh is the response I was hoping for. “Yeah, yeah. Okay, now tell me. What’s she like?”
Thinking of Ivy and how to describe her has my heart racing like I’m back in the ring.
“Ivy is . . . she’s . . . she’s beautiful.
She’s so beautiful. But she’s also a stunning person on the inside.
Quick to laugh, witty, driven, and works in the arts.
I feel like I’ve been caught in a photo flash, and I won’t ever get the imprint of her out. ”
The memory of the kiss we shared distracts me. I can almost feel my fingers threaded through her dark-golden hair, and I nearly swerve off the road. As I pull the wheel back, I say a prayer of thanks that I’m okay and shake my head.
“Wow. Okay, I knew this was going to be good, but this is beyond my expectations.”
I settle back into my seat. There’s no one on the road except me, and something about the endless path before me feels poetic.
“Mina, she’s the most captivating woman I’ve ever seen in my life. She was so open. Completely adorable. But she’s also elegant. She’s a dancer in a ballet company.”
“So, not a rock star?” she teases. “That’s so perfect for you! You love classical music!”
My face hurts from smiling. “Yeah, I do. And her best friend’s family does something with books. I was so nervous that the cookie I was holding started shaking, so I can hardly remember what it was, but still!”
“You love books!”
I approach the last traffic light before I turn onto the street that leads to the house where Angie, Mina, Edgar, and I live.
Our parents live a few houses down from us.
When we were old enough, the four of us decided to get our own place so we could have some independence and yet still be together.
I’m a guy who’s grown up in New England and never moved to the city.
My family has been enough for me, and I can’t imagine being away from any of them, but I wouldn’t want to be parted from Mina most of all.
“I’m almost home,” I tell her, knowing that she’s going to be waiting by the door, ready for more information.
“Excellent. I’ll put the tea on.”
I hear her moving and then the shuffle of cabinets opening.
“Don’t wake Edgar,” I whisper, even though there’s no way I could disturb him from my truck.
“I wouldn’t dare,” Mina whispers back, and I hear her filling the kettle. “I thought I would when I yelled earlier, but the coast is clear so far.”
We say our goodbyes quietly, even though we’ll see each other in a minute, the habit unbroken from sleepovers in the living room growing up. Mina and I are only a year apart, and even as we progress through our mid-twenties, we’re nearly inseparable.
As soon as I pull into our driveway, my Jeep taking its place as the last in the line of cars, I flip off the headlights and bolt from the car.
Mina is already waiting in the doorway, the lights behind the glass door illuminating her small frame.
She hops out onto the front step when I reach the bottom one—in her socked feet and all—and jumps into my arms.
“I’m so proud of you,” Mina encourages in my ear, and I hold her close, her signature smell of peppermint and acrylic paint tickling my nose. “I know it can be hard for you to open up to anyone besides me or the rest of our family. But you did it.”
The best part about Mina is that she sees people and accepts them as they are. I pull her closer one more time before releasing her.
“Let’s get you inside before you freeze.”
I follow her in and quietly take off my shoes. Within minutes, we’re huddled together on the enclosed back porch—something I built to keep the warmth in on nights like this. My telescope is in the corner, the one I’ve been tracking stars and constellations with since I was in high school.
“Before we go any further,” Mina says, the steam from her cup of tea trailing toward the wooden ceiling, “Mrs. Lark came over to thank you for shoveling her driveway again.”
I shrug like it was nothing.
“And I suspect the firewood at crotchety Mr. Cohen’s house was you as well?” she continues.
“He needed it after his hip surgery.”
“Hmm.” Mina looks at me with squinted eyes. “And the new easel engraved with your signature clock etching that I found outside my door after our phone call?”
Since we were kids, Mina has loved to paint. The easel is an early Christmas gift that I stayed up several nights to make. “You needed a new one.”
Mina sets her tea on the coffee table between us and squeezes my arm while her head falls to my shoulder. “Thank you.” She studies me in the dim light. “You know, for all the good you do for others, you can also extend that kindness to yourself.”
My head shakes from the discomfort her words bring up. She’s always telling me to care for myself too.
“You’re loyal. You care for others. And I’m just so happy something good is happening for you now.” She grabs my cheek and pinches it like only a sister could. “You’re a softy, my big brother.”
I laugh and move out of her grasp. “Your opinion of me is far too high.” I take a sip of tea, the pressure from her now-absent fingers still pulsing on my face.
“Please. You may be the quieter sort, but the day you become crochety or withdrawn from the world is the day I’ll know something died in you.” Her teasing smile hitches up on one side.
I set my chin on the top of her head, and she leans in for just a moment before she pops up.
“I truly can’t wait to paint with my new easel!
” Her swift movement nearly causes my mug of tea to spill.
“Yikes, sorry.” She winces and laughs. “Okay, okay. Tell me again. You ran into her, or she ran into you?”
Because we share nearly everything with each other, I tell Mina every detail of meeting Ivy. As I share, the smell of the cookies that lasted five seconds before we devoured them wafts into my memory. I know I’ll never forget the way Ivy opened up to me over that tiny table like no woman ever has.
“She said it had something to do with us being strangers. But it was more than that.”
“Jay, this is amazing.” Mina’s eyes are filled with unshed tears, and I have to hold back my own. “It sounds like she really is interested in you. And not how much you can bench press.” She makes a slight gagging gesture.
“Tell me how you really feel about my muscles,” I laugh.
“No, it’s true. I’m tired of women who just throw themselves at you for your good looks without bothering to discover that you’d rather drink tea than energy drinks, and your favorite thing in the world is to look at the stars.”
The tea is now lukewarm. I take another sip and put it on the coffee table, the clink of the ceramic on the tile coaster like a bell ringing through the night.
“What was the most surprising thing about her?” Mina’s eyes are shining.
I can’t deny that it feels good to talk to someone about this experience. Edgar and Angie will be supportive, and I can’t wait for them to meet Ivy too, but having my favorite little sister to share this moment with makes it that much better.
The answer comes easily. “She trusted me enough to tell me what she wants to be known for.”