24. Downpour
DOWNPOUR
Ivy
Todd had been here, within these walls, for an hour, and still hadn’t spoken to me. Once it hit the hour mark, it seemed my friends had had enough, though.
“We’re going back to my house for game night.” Aspen’s tone left little to the imagination of what the plan was. She was over the shit, and maybe she’d picked up on the fact that every time I’d see him across the room, my anger would spike or my mood would dampen.
So far, the main highlight of my evening had been with a man who was not my boyfriend and should only be set in the boss category while later being settled in the family that wasn’t actually my family, but was my family category. I’m sure family felt like that all the time when they hugged.
Internally, I rolled my eyes for sounding like such a fucking idiot.
“Okay,” I finally replied to Aspen.
She watched me carefully. “Do you want to go tell him?”
I let out a slow breath through my nose. “Sure.”
Still in my heels, I walked across the bar with every ounce of confidence I could muster up. Hips swaying, dress swishing, the whole nine yards. I could do this. I wasn’t going to say something stupid or cry or yell. Calm was actually my middle name. Not Lydia after my mom.
I repeated it over and over in my mind—calm.
He stood at the bar where he’d been the entire time, people walking over to talk to him as if he were some prince and couldn’t be bothered to leave this one spot.
I reached up and touched his shoulder—well, more like a shove—but it didn’t matter.
He spun around, staring down at me, the look of aggravation melting from his features.
“Oh, hey babe.” He spoke so plainly, as if this were any night and he was just here having a beer with friends. “I’ve been over here, waiting for you.”
“Waiting for me to what, exactly?”
“Come over and hang out with me.” He chuckled, as if I was insane to be asking such a question.
“We’re leaving.” I counted to three within my head before continuing. “We’re going to Aspen’s for the rest of my party. Are you coming?”
He stared at me for a moment, and I felt the prongs on my tiara digging into the sides of my head. A headache was starting to form along the top of my forehead, and I wished I’d changed shoes before walking over here.
“Why would I go to her house?”
“Because it’s her birthday, jackass.” That same deep voice sounded from behind me, and my heart could’ve stopped within my chest and I wouldn’t have been shocked in the least. “And you should want to spend time with your girlfriend on her birthday.”
Todd’s gaze shifted above me, and I knew the look on his face when I saw it.
Shaking my head, I turned to Oliver, my hand on his chest, gently pushing him away from Todd. “Don’t worry about it. We’re leaving. Enjoy the rest of your night, and I’ll see you later.”
I stuttered to a stop as Todd’s hand wrapped around my wrist, the pressure firm and the intention clear.
It felt so different than the grip all those weeks ago at his dining room table.
My mind couldn’t help but compare the two as I turned and my eyes settled on his skin pressed so tightly against my own.
One hand gripped by one man, the other settled on another’s chest.
My mind screamed at me to do what Ember would in this situation, but I didn’t want the confrontation. I shut it down, any and all thoughts of violence. I wasn’t that person, and I didn’t want to start now.
“Do you want to come with me?” It wasn’t a loud question, but I knew he heard me all the same.
“I told you what he wanted, didn’t I?” he shot back instead.
“Do. You. Want. To. Come. With. Me?” My teeth ground together as our eyes met and the pressure around my wrist increased.
“No.”
“Then let me go, Todd, because I’m leaving.”
His hand finally dropped from my wrist, but he said nothing as we left the bar.
The night air hit me like an ice bath, and I wanted to sob, the emotions running so high I didn’t know what to do or where to turn. Shaky fingers ran over my wrist, the pressure still ebbing as if his hand hadn’t left at all.
Warm, calloused hands landed on both sides of my shoulders and stayed there. He was in front of me. One step forward and we’d be chest to chest, touching, but neither of us moved, as if frozen by the possibility of it all.
“Ivy, look at me.” Soft-spoken words through that deep voice had my eyes rising to meet his, and the breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding whooshed out of parted lips. “Good girl.”
“I-I-I didn’t, I mean I don’t—” The words escaped me as my pulse skyrocketed, but he just chuckled softly, the noise coming from deep in his chest as if his body wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“Breathe.”
I let out another deep breath before attempting to restart my heart and speak words that made sense in the English language.
“I didn’t mean to drag you into that bullshit, or for you to even see it.
I don’t know what his deal is, and I don’t want you to think that’s normal for him to grab me like that. ”
His thumbs started rubbing slow circles on my biceps, before he nodded. “Let’s go to Aspen’s. I’ll drive you.”
I felt myself nod as I walked to his truck.
Words didn’t feel important as I climbed in and buckled myself up, kicking off my shoes in the floorboards.
Oliver leaned over, flipping the music on.
“Wherever You Will Go” by The Calling filled the truck, and I knew it was music from his phone.
An unbidden smile came to my face as it filled the air.
“Divorced dad rock. Shouldn’t be shocked,” I mumbled as I started humming along to the music.
“Well,” his voice rumbled from next to me, “I sort of fit in that category. Might as well own it all.”
Shaking my head, I bit back the laugh that wanted to escape me. It shouldn’t feel so comfortable with him. So easy. It was a sobering thought that Oliver made me feel like this when little else had.
“Coffee?” he asked, breaking the silence that had settled between us. He took a turn that took us further into town instead of back to the ranch.
“Um, from where? It’s after ten.”
“I may have swiped some keys.” He shrugged as he pulled up outside of Buns of Delight.
“Is that a crime?”
He smirked as his eyes met mine. “Maybe. But I feel like the owner will be lenient on us, since it’s for her friend’s birthday and she’s family.”
With the truck parked, he climbed out, and I glanced down at my bare feet. My door swung open, the stoic cowboy himself staring at me expectantly.
“Are you ready?”
“Would it be horrible to just walk in barefoot? I can’t with those shoes for another moment, and my boots are in Aspen’s car.”
“Barefoot sounds good to me.” He reached over, un-clicking my seatbelt, and before I could move, he was scooping me up and out of the truck. “Can’t have your feet getting wet. It’s supposed to rain soon.”
“Oliver! I can walk just fine,” I screeched as my arms went around his neck and he held me bridal style, his arms firm beneath me as his foot kicked the passenger door shut.
“You could, but why bother? I carry hay bales that weigh more than you do, baby doll.”
I did my best to ignore the nickname he seemed to love to use lately and instead tried to marinate in the warmth coming off of him.
Once we were to the front door, he set me down beneath the small awning and unlocked the front door, punching in the alarm code and locking it all behind us.
“Pick a seat. I’ll make the coffee.”
He strutted back behind the counter, turning on a small light that lit up the back wall where all the coffee machines were kept. I tried not to watch the way he moved. The confidence in every action he took.
“You don’t even know how I like it.”
He chuckled. “I know all sorts of things about you, Ivy Tinsley. Sit.”
I pushed back against the part of me that desperately wanted to ask what else he could possibly know about me. Some things simply were not my business, and I needed to be okay with that.
I sat quietly while he rummaged around for a few minutes.
Buttons clicking. Beans grinding. I had so many questions still bubbling under the surface.
How did he know what the perfect gift would be?
How did he know my stupid coffee order? How did he know exactly what I needed to hear outside the bar tonight?
“Oliver,” I began, but fell short when I didn’t know how to ask any of those questions. Those questions that I’d just told myself weren’t even my business.
“Ivy,” he finally muttered back as he walked over with two to-go coffee cups. Handing one to me, he set the other across from me as he sat. “Something on your mind?”
A sip of the hot beverage and I couldn’t stop the small moan that slipped from my mouth. It was fucking perfect. Of course it was.
“Yes. How do you know my coffee order?” The words couldn’t be held back anymore, and this felt like the least harmless question to ask.
He watched me, his look as guarded as ever.
“I’ve heard you order it before when you come here or when you’re just on the phone with whoever is ordering the coffee,” he finally replied with a shrug.
“So what? You just committed it to memory?”
“I remember the things that matter, baby doll.” He took a sip of his coffee, the nickname slipping into conversation as if he’d said it a million times before now.
My eyes still on my coffee, I decided to ask the things that had been heavily featured in my own mind.
“Can I ask you something else?” I glanced up to see him nod. “Do you ever think about…not being a divorced dad?”
He didn’t respond at first, until my eyes finally rose once more and met his.