11. COLE
eleven
cole
I t’s been a week since I met Ivy.
During these last seven days, we’ve set boundaries and crossed them multiple times.
It’s been, in a word, incredible .
The girls at work even called me fun yesterday, which they’ve never done in the year that I’ve worked at the bar. I’ve always been the boring old man compared to the guys their age, but yesterday, they called me fun. I don’t care what a few twentysomethings think about me, but damn if it didn’t feel good.
And it’s all thanks to Ivy.
“Word around town is that you have a new lady friend.” My buddy Austin leans his back against a giant rock.
I smooth my hair away from my sweaty forehead and adjust my sunglasses, the sun beating down on us as we officially kick off July at the river.
Last summer, I was wallowing in self-pity and hiding my face from the town, so I never took advantage of the river. I couldn’t stand being the butt of people’s jokes, so I locked myself in my house for nearly a month.
Austin’s the one who nudged me into rejoining the world.
“So?” He presses as more people join the unofficial party, red solo cups scattered among the crowd like confetti. “Are you seeing someone, or is Annabelle just going on about nothing?”
“How do you know what the town’s saying? You actively run away from the gossip mill.”
“Not when it involves my very best friend, who never dates.” He smirks. The guy has two looks—a broody grimace and a shit-eating smirk.
No matter how badly I’ve wanted him to get out of his prickly shell and do more of the latter, I never meant for his poking to be aimed at me.
I sigh as drops of sweat rain down my bare torso, the rocks beneath the towel I’m lying on offering something between pain and a natural massage. It’s all part of the experience, as Addie insists.
I peek over at my friend, whose eyes never waver from mine. There’s no use denying it, although we should be careful. With this many people around, someone’s sure to overhear us, whether it’s on purpose or not, and Ivy and I agreed to keep a lid on this thing between us.
“The rumors are true,” I finally admit.
Austin nearly spits out his beer. “And I had to hear it from Annabelle?” he bursts through strangled coughs.
“It’s not that big of a deal,” I insist, but the words taste more sour than old fruit.
“Right. Because it’s every day that you meet a pretty woman from the city who stays over every other night.”
I roll my eyes. “She’s… I don’t know. I like her.”
“Wow.” He drops the hand holding his beer to rest in his lap. “You like this girl.”
“I just said that, asshole.”
“No. I mean, you like her, like her.”
“What’s the difference?”
“I like the river, but I like like fishing in it.” He pops a few pecans from our snack stash into his mouth, completely cool and collected, but my feelings are the opposite.
I’m a fucking disaster inside, my nerves more jittery than an out-of-control car during a NASCAR crash.
“So, what’s the problem?” he asks around chews.
“There’s no problem. Ivy and I are still getting to know each other, and it’s fun.” I toss a pebble to the side, where no one sits. “She leaves next week to go home to Atlanta.”
“There it is.”
“I knew from the start that she’d be leaving.”
“But you want her to stay, don’t you?”
I’m about to argue that it’s impractical and far too soon for grand declarations, but a slender figure enters my periphery.
Ivy .
She approaches us, her arm looped through Addie’s as they meander through an array of open coolers, lawn chairs, and brightly colored towels. As I follow her every movement, it sounds like someone lowered the volume on the music, but really, my racing heart muffles it.
The sun rays cast a glow around Ivy. They bounce off her golden skin and shining eyes with delight. Her button-up shirt is see-through, which lends me a taunting view of her black bikini underneath. The shirt is tied above her belly button, and the thin material slips over her shoulder as she sways into her friend.
I’m mesmerized.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Austin mumbles next to me.
“There are so many people here today,” Addie gushes. “I keep telling Lester we should make this an official event for our town, but all he’s doing is counting down the days until his retirement from the county park board.”
Addie spends more time organizing community events and brainstorming new ones than Austin does working on his truck or other cars at the shop. None of us would be surprised if she were to become mayor someday, although she insists politics aren’t for her. That might be true, but the woman loves Sapphire Creek and is always searching for ways to serve its people.
She’d make an excellent mayor.
She plops her chair next to Austin and adds, “By the way, I’ve gotten a ton of new RSVPs for our reunion in two months and seventeen days. I think it’ll be a good turnout.”
Austin groans. “That reminds me—put me down for not attending.”
Our mutual friend gasps like he told her he ran over a cat. “You have to!”
“Why don’t you want to go?” Ivy chimes in, and Austin squints at her.
“I’m sorry. You are?” he asks with a twitch of his lips. He knows good and well who she is, and the jackass just wants to mess with me.
“Ivy.” A strand of hair breaks loose from the bun on her head, and she tucks it behind her ear, offering a smile. “I don’t mean to intrude, but from what Addie’s told me, the reunion sounds like fun. Plus, I’ve spent most of my visit helping with the cleanup and preparations at the Buchanan House. I’d like to believe my services are meaningful.”
“Oh, they’re meaningful, all right.” Austin eyes me, and instantly, I know I’m not going to like what he says next. “You’ve done wonders for our boy here. Before you came to town, he was so wound up and?—”
I clap him on the shoulder and squeeze. “That’s enough out of you.”
Next to me, Ivy sinks into her folding chair and giggles. “I guess Cole’s told you we’re sleeping together. Or you heard it at Mrs. Goodwin’s.”
I nearly choke on the lump of surprise in my throat. “Well, I didn’t use… so many words. And the only reason I told him was…”
She lowers her sunglasses and meets my gaze, an easy smile gracing her sinful lips. “I told Addie too. Plus, my aunt Carol knew about us the first morning I returned home with sex hair.”
Addie bursts into laughter, right alongside Austin, and I can’t help my own chuckle.
“She actually congratulated me like I’d won a Nobel Prize,” Ivy continues, which only drives more howls of laughter from us.
“Should I be proud?” I muse.
“Definitely,” Ivy and Austin say simultaneously.
Children splash in the river, cheering and hollering, and it sounds like there’s an eruption of applause.
“Yes, yes. We’re very proud of our dear, sweet Cole,” Addie says, then turns to our friend. “But why is our dear, sweet Austin not attending our reunion? It’s been ten years, and you don’t want to see anyone ?”
“Nope,” he says with a pop of the p .
“There’s no one you want to see?” she presses with a challenging lift of her brow.
“ No one ,” he grinds out with a warning in his tone—ah, there’s the broody rage he usually harbors.
Ivy leans over and asks the group, “What am I missing?”
“Caroline Summers,” Addie announces, and the mere mention of her name makes my buddy’s back stiffen. “She hasn’t been to town since she left, but she’s coming back for the reunion.”
“Is she definitely—” Austin cuts himself off with a clench of his jaw, and I fight back an amused grin.
He’s the one in the hot seat now, and I can’t get enough.
“She called me this morning.” Addie sways in her seat, obviously proud and happy to goad him into attendance.
“I have to know—what is the story here?” Ivy asks.
“There’s no story,” Austin says at the same time as Addie launches into their history, or lack thereof.
“Caroline was the head cheerleader, homecoming queen, and all-around golden girl of Sapphire Creek, and Austin had the biggest and cutest crush on her,” she explains.
“I didn’t,” he argues, but it’s no use. Addie is on her proverbial stage, and there’s no getting her off.
“She dated the captain of the football team for like, a year in high school. Then she moved on to the prom king,” she continues.
“My cousin Wake?” Ivy asks.
“That’s the one.”
“The prick,” Austin grumbles, his jaw still clenched like he’s being tortured instead of enjoying a day in the sun with his so-called friends.
He’s too easy to mess with, though. I might not be the one teasing him, but I’m definitely enjoying the show. I can’t stop it when we’ve just gotten to the good part.
“Was Caroline the gorgeous blonde who worked the snow cone stand some summers? I think she also had super long eyelashes. I was always so jealous of them,” Ivy says.
“Who wasn’t?” Addie jokes.
“I’m going for a dip.” Austin claps and hops up from his seated position like the towel beneath him is on fire.
“You are such a baby!” Addie calls out and chases after him.
I shake my head and finally speak up. “Those two are worse than a brother and sister.”
“They’re adorable.” Ivy smiles, then peers at me. “I can’t believe I just said the words sex hair . I’ve been so unladylike since I got here.”
I snort. “You’re welcome.”
“It’s not a good thing.” She playfully smacks my shoulder. “I’m going to go home next week, and if my mother catches even a whiff of sex hair , she’s going to lose it.”
I inwardly flinch at the mention of our deadline. In just a few more days, she’s going to return home to the big city, while I remain here. What am I supposed to do once she’s gone?
Do I call her when she leaves? Set up a visitation schedule as if our relationship is a child we both have custody of? What are the rules?
I don’t know the answers to any of these questions, but I know this—it’s just been a week with Ivy, and already, my life has changed so much.
How can I go back to my old life?
I slide my hand around her calf and tug her down. “I like it when you’re unladylike,” I whisper just for her to hear.
She slips out of her chair and joins me on my towel, and the glimmer in her eye matches the sparkles over the water in front of us.
Ivy’s gaze scans over me, and the mischief in her expression deepens. “I think you need sunscreen. Care for some help?”
“I’d love your help,” I say, my voice low and suggestive.
Is it a good idea for her to touch me while we’re in public? Probably not. Do I stop her? Not a fucking chance.
Her delicate hands massage the sunscreen over my shoulders and back, her touch hotter than the sun. Instinctively, I close my eyes and lose myself to unseemly thoughts from this week.
Ivy riding me on my couch.
Her fingers splayed against the wall of my shower as I slid into her from behind.
Ivy fast asleep in my bed, the morning sun casting an angelic glow across her flushed cheeks.
“All done,” she whispers in my ear, and I pry my eyes open.
A few curious glances land on us, but I don’t care. Ivy’s consumed me, and I can’t help but grip her wrist and tug her toward me.
Then I kiss her.
Here by the river in the thick of summer, I kiss the woman who’s completely hypnotized me.