Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Owen
Hannah slams the passenger door harder than necessary, throws her backpack onto the floorboard, and lets out a groan that seems to come from the soles of her sneakers.
"Rough day?" I ask, trying to be gentle.
I’m nursing my own internal bruises, but Hannah’s pain take priority. Always.
She pokes out her lip and stares out the window. “It was the worst day of my life.”
I resist the urge to say, yeah, mine too. Seeing another man standing in Ivy’s kitchen like he belonged there wasn’t the way I’d wanted to start my day.
“Want to tell me about it?” I ask, reversing out of the parking spot.
Hannah huffs. “No.”
The silence only lasts long enough for me to pull into line to exit the lot.
“My best friend is moving!” Hannah bursts.
Her words hit like a sucker punch. “Which best friend?”
But I already know before she says the word. My gut instinct says Ivy turned tail and ran with her new man. Or maybe he’s not new. He looked pretty damn cozy in Ivy’s kitchen.
“Olivia!”
My stomach sinks. I take a deep breath and stare straight ahead, focusing on the car in front of me instead of my broken heart.
“Right when I got the perfect best friend and mom duo.” Hannah buries her head in her hands and cries. “What am I going to do now?”
A horn toots behind me, and I realize I’ve zoned out. I put down the window and wave the car around, then immediately find a spot to park again. As soon as we are at a stop, I reach over and pull Hannah into my arms.
She’s crying steadily now, and it hits me hard that this is not only about Olivia and Ivy.
This is about Emily.
There’s nothing I can say to soothe her broken heart. Or mine.
“I’m so sorry, Hannah. I know it hurts.”
It’s not enough, but it’s all I’ve got. I need this hug as much or more than Hannah does. I wish I could tell her everything was going to be okay, but I refuse to give my daughter empty promises. We’ve both learned the hard way that some people are not reliable.
Her mother let her down, and now Ivy. Running off at the first sign of trouble.
“Olivia doesn’t want to move, but the reporters came and her mom freaked out.”
“I know.”
“Now they’re moving away forever and she’s my best friend and we just won the talent show together—” she breaks off into a full-on sob.
So that’s it. Ivy’s moving. I shouldn’t be surprised. Ivy is gorgeous and famous. And I’m just a small-town single dad with a tendency to fall way too hard for unattainable women.
My phone buzzes in the console.
Her name flashes across the screen.
Ivy.
I stare at it. My thumb hovers. I can’t. I can’t hear her voice and pretend it doesn’t still undo me.
Then Hannah grabs it.
“Hi, Miss Ivy,” she says through a sniffle. “Yeah, my dad’s right here.”
She shoves the phone at me, and I have no choice but to take it.
“Hello.” It’s an effort to keep my voice even.
“I need to talk to you,” she says. “In person.”
“I already know what you’re going to say.”
“We need to meet,” Ivy says, her voice a harsh whisper that makes me wonder who is standing next to her.
Fury ignites in my chest. I lower the phone and tell Hannah I will be right back. If Ivy is going to nail the coffin shut on our short-lived romance, I’ll need a moment of privacy.
“Just say it,” I say, pacing away from the parked car.
“Not on the phone,” Ivy says.
I swallow the hurt, tasting the bitterness of dying hope. “Why?”
“Have dinner with me tonight while the girls are at Hailey’s birthday party.”
“I have a lot of papers to grade.”
“Meet me at The Pizza Peel, and I’ll help you.”
I should say no. But I’m weak.
Pathetic .
Hopelessly in love with a woman who is about to end us for a guy who looks like he was a member in a boy band.
“Fine,” I say. “But I’m having the garlic knots.”
Ivy laughs softly. “If you insist.”
When I get back in the car, Olivia eyes me with open curiosity. “Did she dump you?”
I nearly choke. “What? No! We aren’t even dating.”
“But she’s going to dump you.” Hannah sniffs back fresh tears. “Just like Olivia dumped me.”
I pat Hannah’s knee reassuringly. “No one’s getting dumped. Just because Olivia is moving doesn’t mean you can’t be friends.”
“But not BFFs.”
Even if she’s already guessed the truth, I refuse to add more to my child’s misery. “You can still be close.”
Hannah just looks at me like she’s not buying my bullshit, then spends the rest of the ride home staring out the window.
Ivy is already in a corner booth by the time I get to The Pizza Peel. She’s wearing my gray hoodie, dark sunglasses, and a baseball hat. It’s obvious she’s trying desperately to blend in, but her disguise just makes her stand out more.
“Thanks for coming,” she says quietly as I slide into the booth across from her.
I cross my arms over my chest as if that could hold in the avalanche of emotions threatening to pour out. “So? Is this when you tell me it’s over?”
Her eyes widen. “Not at all. Is that what you thought?”
I brace myself and ask the question I’ve been dying to know. “Are you breaking up with me?”
She smiles sadly. “I wasn’t aware that we were dating.”
“We’re not.” My heart breaks, and so does my voice.
The server approaches and takes our order. I ask for extra garlic on the knots, and Ivy doesn’t say a word. Message sent. There will be no kissing tonight.
When the knots arrive, she tears a piece but doesn’t eat it. “About Axel?”
“The man who slept over at your house last night?”
Her lips flatten. “It’s not like that.”
“A man with wet hair fresh from the shower in your kitchen at daybreak didn’t spend the night?” My broken heart shatters even more as I say the words out loud.
Her face twists. “He’s my manager.”
I break off a hunk of the bread and shove it in my mouth before I can say anything unforgivable.
Ivy fidgets with the garlic knot, littering her plate with bread. “He’s already gone. He only came to help get the press off my back.”
I shake my head. “Like you will be soon enough.”
Her brows knit. “What does that mean?”
“Hannah said Olivia’s moving. So, unless your daughter’s doing this solo…”
“I’m not moving,” she says quickly.
My shoulders inch down from my ears. “You’re not?”
“I never said I was.”
“Olivia thinks otherwise.”
Ivy winces. “She’s wrong. I’m staying.”
I chew thoughtfully, studying her face. “But what about all those reporters? Don’t you need to hide?”
Her mouth thins. “I’m done hiding. Axel worked out a deal. I agreed to one appearance with my old bandmates just to buy some peace and quiet.”
I blink. “You’re not leaving?”
She shakes her head. “Nope. Starlight Bay’s home now.”
“It is?”
She nods. “Olivia loves it here. I love it here.”
I take a risk and reach across the table for her hand. She drops the mangled breadstick and clasps my fingers like a lifeline.
“I’d really like it if you and Hannah came as my guests. I mean, if you want. There’s a VIP section, and Hannah can meet the other girls in the band, and I figured maybe you could see the whole crazy part of my life. The part I don’t usually let people see.”
I see her. All of her.
“You know why I came over at the crack of dawn this morning,” I say.
“Why?”
“To tell you how I feel about you.”
“And how’s that?” She leans forward, her hood falling back from her hair.
My heart hammers so loudly, I can barely hear my own thoughts. But I go for it. “I’m falling in love with you.”
“Owen?”
Her breathy voice sends a thrill down my spine. “Yes?”
To my surprise, she leans back and takes a bite of the garlic knot, chews quickly and swallows. “Can you kiss me now?”
Something cracks inside me—relief so sharp it’s almost painful.
I lean forward and take her mouth, kissing her right there for everyone in The Pizza Peel and all of Starlight Bay to see.