Chapter 3 #2
“She talked to me. It just wasn’t what I expected. But, you know, her house was in the middle of burning down, so I can’t really blame her.” I turn to Nathan to drown out the memory of Ivy walking away from me that night. “Anyway, is she trying to get a job at the foundation?”
When he was in high school, Nathan got a job as an intern at The Reversal of Fortune Foundation—a charity our aunt Maisie started for underprivileged kids.
Since then, he’s risen through the ranks and is now a big fucking deal down there.
He’s got a fancy title and a big ass office where he sits in his expensive suits, making life easier for kids who got dealt a bad hand. He’s a fucking hero in my eyes.
Nathan shakes his head and stares into his beer. “Not exactly.”
Oh, no way. Now is not the time for him to decide to withhold information. I rear back and hold out my hands. “You can’t drop a bomb like that and expect me not to want more.”
“It’s unethical for me to discuss what goes on at the foundation.”
“Yeah. Sure. I get it. But you’re talking to me, here. The cousin who stepped up and got you a date to prom with Danica Brown after Miranda Servati turned you down. And, you’re talking about someone we all know and love. Ivy Cole, man. It’s not that unethical.”
“It’s pretty unethical.” Nathan shakes his head, and I can see him shutting down and burrowing into his favorite place, the moral high ground. If I don’t get him to cave soon, he never will.
“I swear it’ll go no further than this table. Come on, man. You owe me. There’s gotta be a cousin code or something. I’ll…” I shake my head, wracking my brain for something, anything. “I’ll never call you Nator Tot again!”
And there it is. The arch to his brow means I have his attention.
“Never?”
“Never.”
“Fine.” Nathan points a finger my way, as serious a motherfucker that ever was. “But you keep your mouth shut on the topic.”
I mime zipping my lips and hold up my hands.
“Ivy was at the foundation to apply for housing assistance.” His dark eyes hit mine, brows drawing low, gauging how I’m taking the news.
The words all make sense, just not in conjunction with Ivy. “I’m sorry, she’s what now?”
“It sounds like she’s in a real bad spot.”
Angela frowns. “Ivy Ivy? In need of financial assistance? That’s not right.
She was always destined for success, you know?
And strong enough to put Micah in his place, which is more than most of us can say.
Besides, the Coles are loaded, right?” She turns to me, like I have the answers to her questions.
My mind races at breakneck speed. My first instinct is to rush to Ivy’s aid, but how? Just show up on her doorstep with a pile of money? Or groceries, like I do for Tucker and his family since the accident? Or maybe…
…I don’t know…
What do you do when you discover someone you used to care about needs help, but doesn’t want to talk to you?
Unless that’s why she doesn’t want to talk to me…
She’s embarrassed about her situation…
That has to be it. She’s embarrassed and doesn’t want me to see her like this.
I rake a hand through my hair, doing everything I can to force the explanation to fit.
“Did you take her case?” I ask Nathan as excitement rises inside me.
“I made sure her application was assigned the best caseworker we have.”
“Good. Good.” I bob my head, a thought beginning to form. “How do you handle housing assistance?”
Nathan folds his arms on the table. “Sometimes we—”
“I mean, what if someone was willing to donate his house. Or at least a bedroom or two. Does that count as assistance?”
He shakes his head. “That’s not really how we—”
“Hear me out.” I scoot my chair back, because damn it, how can I sit still when I’m in the middle of an idea this great?
“Because of work, and helping out with Tucker and his family, there are long stretches of time that I’m just not home.
I have that entire second floor I never use with the extra bedroom, and the office…
and everyone knows it’s ridiculous for me to have an office.
With the bathroom up there, it’ll be almost like having an apartment. ”
“I don’t think—”
“Like, come on. Micah Hutton, with an office. It’s laughable, you know? It can become a bedroom with just a few simple furniture changes.” I snap my fingers. “And they’ll be set. Just like that.”
This is the best I’ve felt in weeks. Obviously, Ivy’s embarrassed about her situation, not mad at me. It all makes so much sense now.
“Micah.” Nathan holds up his hands. “That’s not how the foundation operates.”
“Consider it a donation.” I stand, pacing behind my chair before I stop and grip the back with both hands.
“Which is exactly how the foundation operates, by the way. I might not be all business, blah blah, revenue, stocks, and ‘Oooh! The quarterly projections are in!’ like the rest of you, but I’m not an idiot. ”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Angela looks like she did when I went through that phase where I thought I wanted to join the Marines with our cousin Nick. “This is Ivy…and her kid…”
“Which is why it’s a good idea. I promised her I’d always be there for her, and I don’t break promises. Whatever’s going on, she needs to know she still has people in her corner.”
Nathan doesn’t look sold on the idea either. He looks more like he’s marching right back to that moral high ground. “If it wasn’t ethical for me to tell you about Ivy’s situation, it definitely isn’t ethical for me to let you do what you’re suggesting.”
He’s kidding, right? I look around the table and am shocked to find Angela and Garrett nodding their agreement.
“How? In what world is donating the exact thing someone needs to a foundation designed to give people things they need ‘not ethical?’” I make air quotes and scoff. Why is nothing I say or do ever good enough? I’m always getting shut down for vague reasons that make no fucking sense.
Nathan sighs. “Because another way to sum up your suggestion is that you want me to use my job at the foundation—which I love—to trick your ex-girlfriend into moving in with you. Which would put my job—again, which I love—in jeopardy.”
“That’s not what’s happening here.” I pull out my chair and sit, leaning forward to meet his eyes because he has to see what a good idea this is. He has to. “You’re getting an anonymous donation of space for someone in need. No tricks. Nothing in jeopardy. Just…someone being nice.”
“There’s no talking him out of it now,” Angela says with a laugh. “I know that look.”
“Good. Then it’s settled.” I lace my fingers behind my head before Nathan can object. “I just have one stipulation. I want to be the one to tell her.”
Because maybe, then, Ivy and I will have a chance to talk. We can clear the air because whatever’s gone wrong? It can’t be big enough to ruin what we had. Nothing’s that big. Ivy and me? We were the real deal.
“Nope.” Nathan looks to Garrett for support.
“No fucking way is that happening. You’re not coming anywhere near that meeting.
The little girl will have to be there, it’s one of the tenets the foundation’s built on.
The kids are the ones receiving the support, so they’re part of everything from the beginning. ”
“Come on. Think of the drama of the moment. Ivy’s sitting there, finding out she’s getting everything she needs and then boom. I walk in.” I’m not sure how her kid plays into that moment, but I don’t have time to think of that right now. Not when I’m so close to getting what I want.
“I don’t think that’ll work in your favor, Mi.”
I point an enthusiastic finger Nathan’s way. “That’s not a no.”
“It’s not a yes, either.”
But I can see it on his face. I’m halfway to wearing him down. Which means I’m halfway to seeing Ivy again. And that’s all I need. One more chance to make everything right.