Chapter 45
Ivy
Ivy sat at the computer, staring at it. She was going through the motions while sorting through everything that happened over the past couple of weeks in her head, trying to make sense of it all.
She had stayed with Lucas and Gabby for the first week, barely leaving their spare bedroom. Lucas had gone into the shop to cover the paperwork and had arranged for extra staff to cover her on the counter.
For the week that followed, she stayed in the office mostly, only coming to work at the counter during peak times. Those which she knew there was no risk of running into Cleo either.
However, on the Thursday, she couldn’t avoid the three women she’d come to consider as grandmother figures in her life. In her heart, she didn’t want to avoid them anyway.
“You don’t need to tell us what happened, hun, Lucas and Toni gave us the gist when we were in last week and you weren’t here.” Ella said, making Ivy sit at the empty chair at their table.
“We know you’re hurting,” Margo said. “But we need you to listen to us just this once. Even if you don’t listen to us ever again.” With that, she turned to Liz, who’d been quieter than usual.
“Do you remember back at the start, when she had come in one day when we were the only other ones in the shop? Oliver called you out the office to help?” Liz asked Ivy, giving her a moment to catch the memory from the wave of thoughts currently crashing through her head.
“Yeah,” Ivy responded with an exhale, barely above a whisper.
“Well, if you remember, I had told you that I had experience in both heartbreak and regret, having lived both choices in my life. Well, as much as I had a wonderful life with Richard, and he gave me two wonderful daughters that led to our five beautiful grandchildren, he knew that he wasn’t my true love.
That title would always belong to Henry. ”
Ivy looked confused and a little startled, but Liz continued.
“He was the most handsome boy I had ever seen. He was nineteen, working in his father’s garage.
I had just turned seventeen and I was in love.
My parents were very wealthy, and back then it was expected of me to marry a man of a certain, pedigree, as my parents liked to call it.
” Liz gave Ivy a knowing look. Ivy had more in common with Liz than she had expected.
“Well, when they found out that I had fallen for the local mechanic’s son, you can imagine how that went.
He tried to convince them that he could provide for me.
But it wasn’t enough for them. That night, I had snuck out of the house to meet him at our spot, and he asked me to leave with him.
Right then and there and he asked me to marry him.
And I turned him down.” Liz took a sip of her drink before continuing.
“I knew that if I had gone, we would have been happy, but it would have been a hard life to start from scratch. I just wasn’t brave enough to believe in him.
In us. He respected my decision, but I had hurt him, and he left town that night without me.
And I’ve lived with the regret of being a coward and choosing not to fight for him every day since.
” Liz reached across the table and held Ivy’s hands in her own.
“Ivy, I know you’re hurting. I know you feel lost right now.
I’m just begging you, don’t make the same mistake I did and live the rest of your life regretting not choosing to fight for the love you have. ”
Ivy stared at her computer screen, thinking back to last week when Liz spoke of her past. She’d done nothing but think these past two weeks since her heart splintered.
The hurt she felt ran deeper than she wanted to admit.
She knew, if she was being completely honest with herself, not all the hurt belonged to the events with Cleo.
She didn’t see an end to her pain, but her eyes had cried themselves dry eventually five days ago.
A knock at the door dragged her from her thoughts, “come in,” she said flatly.
Her eyes widened in surprise to find Lana closing the door behind her.
“Lana, please, if she sent you here...” Ivy started.
“She didn't send me here,” Lana said as she sat down on the chair on the other side of Ivy’s desk. “She knows I was headed out to run errands, and I’m sure she knows this is where I’ve ended up, but she didn’t send me.”
Ivy let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in.
“I know you’re hurting, Ivy. I don’t know about your past, and I’m not asking, that’s your story to tell. But,” Lana paused, “Cleo doesn’t have it in her to do what you think she has.”
“She worked for my brother when my family disowned me and threw me out with nothing, Lana.” Ivy said, anger bubbling in her chest as the memories flooded her mind again.
“Maybe,” Lana started, “but she didn’t know he was your brother at the time.
” Lana raised an eyebrow, causing Ivy to pause and let her continue.
“Cleo is the single most caring and thoughtful person I have ever met in my entire life. When I met her, I wasn’t in a good place at all.
” Her eyes flickered down to her hands, and Ivy could hear the gentle ting of metal scraping as she noticed Lana spinning a ring on her finger.
“When I first met Cleo, I had just managed to escape from a seven-year abusive relationship.” Ivy stared at her.
She didn’t know what to say. Lana continued, “Ryan had spent years systematically chipping away at my self-esteem, slowly severing ties with my friends, and then eventually, my family. I didn’t see it happening, and then one day, I was entirely alone.
Except for him. He didn’t want me working because it meant he didn’t know where I was or what I was doing while he worked from home.
He arranged for home deliveries of the groceries at times when he’d be available.
I never spoke with anyone else without him there by my side. ” Lana took a breath.
Ivy was stunned to silence. She’d had no idea of any of this. She waited until Lana was ready to speak again.
“On the third trip to the hospital that year, a nurse, Lily, finally managed to separate him from me. She convinced him that there was a form that he’d need to fill out because of a system upgrade the hospital was in the middle of implementing on their computers.
She told him that he’d need to fill out all my details by hand in order to link that visit to my medical chart once the upgrade had completed the following week.
Luckily for me, he believed her. The police were waiting for him in the room she took him to.
” Lana let out a breath, and Ivy watched her shoulder sink in relief that memory brought.
“He was arrested on sight. I agreed to let the nurse release a copy of my medical file to the police as evidence against him. Then I started the very long process of piecing my life back together. That’s when I met Cleo.”
Ivy inhaled sharply at the mention of Cleo’s name. Tears already turning her eyes glassy from hearing Lana’s shocking story of her past.
“She had just moved her business to the river-side office,” Lana started, smiling “I had gone with my mom, as my parents were looking to build an extension onto their home, but my dad couldn’t make the appointment, so I went in his place.
During the appointment, Cleo seemed frazzled.
The phone never stopped, and she had papers all over her desk.
Mom had asked if her assistant was out that day, and she laughed as she explained that she didn’t have one but thought it might be a good idea to start looking for one.
Mom had nudged my elbow with hers and encouraged me to offer my help.
Mom’s appointment ended and I stayed for the rest of the day answering all the phone calls, just taking names and numbers for Cleo to call them back when she could.
At the end of that first day, I had explained that I didn’t have any professional experience, and I briefly gave her an idea about Ryan being the cause of the large gap in my resume.
” Lana dropped her eyes to her hands, still turning the ring on her finger.
“She told me that as long as I kept showing up for her, then she’d show up for me in whatever way I needed.
” Lana held up her hand with the ring on.
“She gave me this after the first week. She recognized that my anxiety was a challenge for me, but she spent her weekend researching all the ways she could make changes in the office to help reduce as many obstacles for me as she could, however small.”
Ivy breathed out, defeated. “That sounds more like the woman I fell for.” She spoke so softly that Lana stood up and walked around the desk to give her a hug.
“I want to believe that she didn’t know. I really do. But, Lana, I just can’t,” Ivy said.
“Ok,” Lana said, pulling back from Ivy but looking her in the eye as she continued, “I know you’re hurt by all of this, and I know that she’s made you question your trust in her, but,” Ivy watched as Lana’s eyebrows furrowed as if deciding whether to say what she wanted to next, “she’s the one who’s jeopardizing everything to. ..” Lana stopped herself.
“What do you mean?” Ivy asked, confused and concerned by what Lana had just told her.
“It’s not my place to say. If you want to know, you know where to find her.” Lana made her way toward the door and stopped as she reached for the handle and looked over her shoulder. “She’s off-site today and tomorrow but should be back by Thursday afternoon." With that, Lana left.
Ivy’s head was spinning, desperately trying to process all that she’d just learned. What did Lana mean about Cleo jeopardizing everything?
The following day, she received a message from Lana shortly after lunchtime.
Lana: Hey, I just got a tip of a great new site that might work for you! Can you swing by the office just after5:30 today so I can show you? The office will be closed so there won’t be any phones interrupting.
Ivy remembered Lana saying Cleo wouldn’t be back in the office until tomorrow, so she replied, agreeing to go.