Epilogue
IVY
Jill paces around the kitchen, staring down at the phone in her hand. She may as well be shooting lasers out of her eyes with how angry she is. It’s understandable given the news she just received.
“There’s no way she thought it was okay to do this. I mean, I know I’m not exactly settling down or anything like my sister has, but to invite him ? Are they kidding?” she hisses.
I press back into the counter and watch her freak out, incredibly aware of how many sets of ears are just outside in the dining room digging into our weekly family dinner. The same meal that we’re supposed to be joining them for right now.
“Have you answered her yet?” I ask gently.
“No. I don’t want to. She has another thing coming if she thinks she can wiggle into my personal life like this!”
“What exactly did the text say?”
Jill pointedly lifts the phone in front of her face and clears her throat. “Hi, honey. I know you said you weren’t bringing a date to the wedding, but I ran into James’ mother at pottery, and she suggested the two of you should reconnect because he’s mentioned you a lot to her recently. It was my idea that he joins you at the wedding. Please don’t argue with me on this. I’ve already given his name to Sarah as your plus one.”
“Oh,” I mutter, fighting back a wince.
Jill flashes her brown eyes up at me. “Yeah. Oh. My mother is fucking crazy, Ivy. She did this on purpose. It’s punishment for something.”
“Is there any chance she actually thought she was helping you? You’ve never even mentioned a James to me before.”
“Absolutely not. My mom is a busybody to the extreme. This is her way of telling me she doesn’t approve of my singleness. And I haven’t mentioned him for good reason. We dated years ago, and he was a total turd.”
“Alright, fair enough. So, telling your sister to remove him from the plus one list isn’t a possibility?”
“No. She’s a suck up. The minute I asked, my Mom would be knocking on my front door demanding I change my mind.”
She huffs, tipping her head back and shaking her hair out along her back. The bright yellow t-shirt dress she’s wearing contrasts well with her newly dyed cherry-cola hair. Silver hoops bobble below her ears when she straightens and frowns at me.
“I’m sorry to lay this all on you right now. You just got back from your honeymoon this week,” she apologizes.
I reach for her hand. “Don’t apologize. I missed you while we were gone.”
A week baking in the sun and drinking daiquiris in a swim-up pool has me more than relaxed enough to dig back into real life. I never took Niko for an ocean lover, but it was a struggle every day to get him out of the water long enough to tan with me on the sand. More than a handful of bribes were used. Some I’m prouder of than others. It turns out you can be quite imaginative in circumstances like that.
“I haven’t even had a chance to gush over your new necklace. Honestly, I didn’t think Niko had taste like this, but damn. That’s gorgeous,” Jill says, leaning forward to inspect the diamond choker.
I flush from my toes to my cheeks and touch the centre of the necklace. The real meaning behind it is not one I’m going to share with Jill. Not because I’m embarrassed, but because it’s a secret I’d like to keep between me and my husband.
After experimenting with the belt in the cabin, it was almost nightly that I was having something wrapped around my throat, collaring me. There’s just something about it that drives me out of my mind. Maybe it’s the helplessness and knowledge that I’m at Niko’s mercy, or it could be the opposite. While I enjoy him taking control and demanding what he needs and wants from me, I also have power in the relationship and our sex life. I let him collar me, and because of my trust in him, I know that at the drop of a hat, he’d free me if that’s what I wanted.
It’s become an aphrodisiac stronger than anything else. And now, this diamond collar stays around my neck every single day as a reminder that I’m with the man who was made just for me. I belong to him, but he also belongs to me, even if his mark of ownership isn’t so obvious.
“Yeah, he did a good job. I don’t think I’ve taken it off since he gave it to me,” I tell Jill. She fakes a supportive smile, and I squeeze her hand. “How do we fix this mess?”
“I obviously have to find someone else to go with me.”
I chuckle. “ Obviously . Do you think that will work?”
“There’s nothing else I can do. It’s not like I can just not go to the wedding. My sister would never forgive me.”
“Alright, so we need to find you a date, then. That shouldn’t be hard. Is there anyone you have in mind? A recent online match maybe?”
She groans, pulling her hand away to collect her hair in her hands and pin it to the back of her head. “No. The guys I go out with aren’t exactly the bring home to meet your family types.”
“Not even one of them could pull it off?”
“No. I’m serious, Ivy. I wouldn’t even take one to meet my third cousin. They think with their dicks, not their heads.”
I nod, rolling my lips. The men I know in town are all either in their sixties with grandkids, or straight out of high school. There’s only one guy I know who doesn’t fit into either of those categories?—
“What about Grayson?” I blurt out.
Jill grows still, her hair slipping through fingers. Throat straining with a swallow, she releases a doubtful noise.
“He wouldn’t go for that,” she mutters.
“Why not? You’re friends, aren’t you?”
Okay, maybe I’m baiting her. She’s been toying with Grayson for the better part of a year now like a cat with a mouse. The poor guy wants her so bad he’s been tripping over himself trying to earn her favour. The only thing stopping them from just being together already is Jill.
I think she’s afraid of the love he would offer her. All of the men who don’t have the emotional capacity for anything but a brief hookup have been a distraction. Something safe in her eyes.
I want more for her, even if she’s convinced herself that she’s content with those surface level connections. There’s a chance I’m wrong about all of this and that she truly doesn’t care about Grayson the way I’m convinced she does, but it’s slim. I know her too well by now.
“Yeah, we’re friends. But why would that mean he wants to go to a wedding with me? We’d have to pretend to be dating to even have a slim chance of getting my mom to back off about James. Simply showing up with a random date won’t deter her,” Jill explains, her eyes gleaming with something I can’t pinpoint.
“I think it’s worth asking him. His answer might surprise you.”
“Or he could tell me to get lost. He’s a good friend, Ivy. I don’t want to overstep.”
“There’s no overstepping. I’ll do it, Jill.”
My best friend jumps a good foot in the air at the sound of Grayson’s voice. I hardly manage to hold in a giggle as they stare at each other, the exact emotion Jill’s too blind to see springing to life between them.
She doesn’t notice as I sneak out of the kitchen and creep into the dining room, leaving them alone. Niko is the first person I see seated at the table, already watching me.
My grin is automatic. He’s already pulled the chair out on his right side, and I take it with a happy sigh.
“Everythin’ okay?” he asks, leaning in to kiss my temple.
Junie claps her hands from where she sits on Travis’ lap. He offers her a spoonful of mashed potatoes and flashes me a half-smile. His navy dress shirt is smeared with food, but he continues to hold my daughter in his arms, unbothered.
It’s a sight I didn’t know would mean so much to me.
Nuzzling into Niko’s kiss, I hum. “Everything is perfect.”
GRAYSON
I wouldn’t have come to dinner if Jill hadn’t asked me to. The same could be said for the handful of other times I’ve joined her at the Shaw residence.
Ivy is my employee. She was never supposed to be a friend. Spending my evenings here at her home is crossing a professional line.
It’s nothing compared to the one I’ve already crossed with Jill. Still, there are several I’d like to erase altogether when it comes to her.
Agreeing to be her fake date to a wedding is a HR nightmare. But then again, so is being in love with her. For now, our bosses don’t need to know any of what I feel. In the case they did find out, all it would take is one word from them and I’d sacrifice my job for her. No hesitation.
Jill doesn’t seem to know what my feelings for her are. If she did, maybe she wouldn’t fill her nights with men who don’t deserve her. Or . . . she could be doing all of this in spite of my feelings. The thought has popped into my mind a few times over the last several months.
She’s smart enough to be able to speak three languages and recite the first ten chapters of Romeo and Juliet by heart. Surely, she can’t be as blind as she’s been letting on.
I’ve never shied from hard work. I have it in me to keep pushing and fighting for something until I’ve gotten it. Nothing has ever been more worth the effort than Jill.
And this date is my best chance at finally waking her up to what I’ve been here offering her. There’s no limit to what I would give her, and I plan on using every minute offered to me to show that to her.
Come on, Jill. What do I have to do to get you to f ake a chance on me?