Chapter Seven #2
“So did you,” she answered, her voice neutral. “Happens to all of us.”
“Do you want to come sit with us?” Austin asked her. And as much as Grant wanted that, too, he wanted to be the one to ask her, to extend the olive branch and gauge how far he’d need to crawl over glass and nails to get her to forgive him.
“I shouldn’t,” Ivy began, her voice wavering with uncertainty. Whatever excuse she was about to give, he could find a way to counter it.
Piper wedged herself between him and Austin, pushing an elbow into Grant’s stomach to get him to move over.
“How long does it take to get— Ivy?” Piper’s voice reached an octave audible only to dogs. She rushed to give Ivy a hug. “I haven’t seen you in so long! You look amazing!”
Ivy fell back against the wall from the force of the embrace, and Grant winced in sympathy. Piper had no idea how strong she was.
“Oh, hi.” She patted Piper’s back for the duration of the hug, which probably felt like a lifetime. Ivy was too gracious to say anything like, Ow, that hurt, you big oaf.
“Are you old enough to be here? The last time I saw you, you had braces.”
“No more braces.” Piper showed Ivy her teeth, like a primate trying to establish social dominance. There was no end to the way his family could embarrass him in front of Ivy. “Are you waiting for someone? You should come sit with us.”
Having Piper invite her was much more palatable than Austin, but Grant could see the discomfort in Ivy’s forced smile. “Piper, leave Ivy alone.”
There was the briefest narrowing of her eyes—was Ivy glaring at him?—and then she looked at Piper with so much affection that jealousy nipped at his ego.
“Starr invited me, but she’s really busy, so I’d love to catch up.”
Starr finally found her way back to their end of the bar. “Three more beers and a vodka soda?”
Ivy sat up straighter and looked around the room. “Is Lorelai here, too?”
Grant bit down on a laugh and tuned out Piper’s explanation. There were some small wins.
He picked up his beer and Tony’s and carried them back to their table, trailing a little behind the rest of their small group. Tony frowned a little when he saw that they’d picked up another member, but then his face lit up with his usual joviality.
“Ivy, right? From the movie theater?”
An amused grin played at the corners of Ivy’s mouth. “I’m shocked you remember.”
Tony’s grin grew. “How could I forget Popcorn Girl? You always gave me extra butter.”
Grant sighed heavily, setting their beers on the table. This again. “Excuse me for being concerned about your health.”
Austin dropped into an open chair, leaving two free. That was fine, until they’d added Ivy. Where was she going to sit? If he didn’t do something, she’d stand there awkwardly, because she couldn’t tolerate being a burden.
The table next to theirs began to vacate, so Grant snagged the closest empty chair and set it behind Ivy’s legs. He tried not to draw any attention to the gesture so he wouldn’t embarrass her.
Ivy barely glanced down at the chair before she took a big sidestep and sat in the empty seat next to Austin.
Broken glass, nails…and maybe a few land mines.
Piper slid into the chair he’d procured for Ivy, which left him next to Tony. And, blissfully, across from Ivy. If he couldn’t sit next to her, this was the next best thing. He could look at her all he wanted.
What surprised him was that she was looking back.
“So, what are you doing these days?” Austin asked her.
Ivy startled. “Hmm?”
“I said,” Austin repeated, “what are you doing these days? For work.”
“I’m a flight attendant. I point at exits and pass out pretzels for a living.”
Piper leaned forward. “That is so cool. Do you love it?”
Ivy hesitated. It was brief, but he’d spent an entire summer watching her tell people she was having a great day even after she’d spilled soda on her pants, burned herself on the popcorn machine, or been yelled at because someone didn’t like the movie they bought tickets to.
“It’s great.”
Then she smiled, too wide and too bright, and he knew. He knew the same way he knew his way home: she was lying. He frowned.
“Where’s your favorite place to fly?” Tony asked.
Ivy’s face softened and her posture relaxed. “Paris. Wine, cheese, pastries…I’m in heaven.”
“Where else have you been?” Piper asked eagerly. “I’ve been thinking about studying abroad.”
“Oh gosh.” Ivy looked toward the ceiling. “All over…umm…Amsterdam, London, Tokyo, Sydney, Cairo, Bangkok, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Lima…”
Ivy continued to list off cities. How many passport books had she gone through in the last decade?
Grant had just gotten his first passport two years ago because he and Tony had gone to a conference in Canada about environmentally friendly construction practices.
He’d missed Coeur-de-Lac from the moment he left to the moment he returned.
The more Ivy talked, the happier she seemed…and the worse he felt. What was his idea of a vacation? Maybe the Dells, but usually a short camping trip or a day fishing on Lake Winnebago. There was no time for vacations with a business to run.
Worst of all was Austin hanging on her every word, and Ivy eating his attention up with a spoon. Grant’s stomach churned. He gulped down his beer to chase the feeling away.
In the middle of a story about the Christmas markets in Germany, Ivy abruptly stopped. “I’m so sorry. I am completely dominating the conversation.”
“You’re not dominating the conversation. We’re all really interested in what you have to say,” Austin told her, putting a comforting hand on her back. Grant wished a lightning bolt would come through the ceiling and electrocute him.
Tony kicked Grant gently under the table to get his attention, then, with a few flicks of his eyes and a brow wrinkle, asked if Grant was okay.
Grant shrugged one shoulder. Watching his brother, who couldn’t recognize Ivy when she was right in front of him, get all of her smiles and breathy laughs was a special kind of torture he thought had been reserved exclusively for hell.
They were there for probably another hour before Tony yawned cartoonishly and stretched his arms.
“It’s getting late,” he said, “and we’ve got to wake up early.”
Grant checked his watch. Nine thirty.
Ivy yawned, nothing cartoonish about it. “It’s late for me, too. I’m normally in bed by now.”
Piper and Austin shared a look. Their bodies thought it was seven thirty.
From the stories he’d heard, Austin wasn’t even thinking about dinner yet on a normal night in Los Angeles.
And Piper…well, who really knew what freshly minted twenty-one-year-olds did these days.
Since it was his baby sister, he didn’t really want to know.
Ivy struggled to get her jacket on, chasing a sleeve that was partially turned out, while Austin obliviously buttoned his peacoat next to her.
“Here.” Grant stepped behind her, pulled out her sleeve, then held the jacket so she could finish putting it on.
A warm, slightly floral scent washed over him when Ivy shook her hair out of the collar of her coat.
He didn’t know if it was her shampoo, a perfume, or a combination of both, but he wanted to bathe in it—drown in it—until it was the only thing he ever smelled.
“Thanks,” Ivy muttered, barely glancing at him before picking up her purse.
Outside, the temperature had dropped into the teens, and their breath hung in the air. The first bite of cold stung his ears and nose, then his cheeks.
“Did you park close?” he asked Ivy, ready to offer to walk her back to her car. It didn’t matter that Coeur-de-Lac had a nonexistent crime rate, because he was looking for any excuse to get her alone. He needed to ask her if they could talk sometime.
“Close enough,” she answered, then gave him the cold shoulder.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Ivy wasn’t going to forgive him in one, either. He could be patient. Take things slowly.
“So I was thinking,” Austin began, hurrying to catch up with Ivy, “that we should get dinner while we’re both in town.”
Fuck.