I flinched, thinking about Jack.
“And second, I don’t know if I’m staying in Hartwell. Oh wait, someone is knocking at my door. It’s probably Mom here to give me the third degree—oh shit!”
Hearing the shock in her voice, I asked, “Ivy, are you okay?”
“Uh … Jeff is here. And he … Okay, he looks mad.”
I grinned. “Did you, by any chance, run away while he was sleeping?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I winced. Jack had left me sleeping seven or so weeks ago.
“Maybe. Why is he here? Oh shit, he saw me. I have to open the door.”
“Good luck!”
“You don’t have to sound so cheerful,” she huffed. “I’ll call you later.”
The line went dead.
Ivy had done what she’d hoped to do. She successfully distracted me from my own problems.
My phone beeped.
Bailey this time.
Are you okay?
I texted back that I was fine.
At the airport. When I get home, we’ll talk. Just know we’re here for you. Me and Vaughn.
I thought of Vaughn punching Jack at his own wedding in my defense. As much as I hated seeing Jack hurt, it was nice that Vaughn felt a brotherly protectiveness toward me.
Thank you. Don’t worry about me. Enjoy your honeymoon! We’ll talk when you’re home.
The extraordinary weight of worries on my shoulders lightened a little as I moved out onto the porch to sit on my swing. The beach was busy with families and couples enjoying the summer morning. The waves lapped gently at shore. The gulls cried above.
I eased back on the porch swing and took a deep breath.
No matter what happened, I had a family here now. I had people who cared.
And I was no longer afraid to let them care and to care about them in return.
I trusted them.
Even if I couldn’t trust Jack, I found comfort and joy because Hartwell really was a place I could call home.
* * *
Driving to Millton the next morning, I spoke to my car. “Call Ivy.”
After four rings, she picked up, sounding a little groggy. “Hullo.”
“Did I wake you?” That surprised me. It wasn’t too early in the morning. I closed the store every second Monday morning to volunteer at a therapy center, Balance, in Millton, but the children’s group didn’t come together until ten o’clock.
“Uh, yeah. Give me a second.”
I could hear a shuffling around. A second turned out to be a few minutes.
“Sorry, sorry.” Ivy came back on the line. “I had to switch on my coffee machine. Useless without it.”
“No problem. Are you okay?”
“Oh God, Em, I suck.” She groaned, sounding exhausted.
“What happened?”
“Jeff spent the entire day here yesterday. He was pissed at me—coffee’s ready, one second.”
“Is this a writer thing … building my anticipation?”
I heard her chuckle down the line followed a few seconds later by the slurp of her drinking.
“That’s better. Okay. He was pissed at me for running out on him. Apparently, what I thought was a one-night stand was not a one-night stand. I tried to tell him it needed to be a one-nighter, but he kind of ignored me. It was bizarre. The next thing I know, he’s making lunch and we’re sitting out on the porch, chatting. Then lunch turned into me making dinner. We talked. All day. And then we … oh my God, Emery.” She groaned. “God, we had sex all night. Like … the best sex of my life.”
I smirked. “And that’s a bad thing?”
“I … I just … I don’t have a great track record with men. I just—I’m not ready for anything serious and it is now clear to me that Jeff is that guy. You know, Mr. Monogamy Guy. He pretty much said that outright.”
“Well, evidence suggests he’s telling the truth.” It was true. I’d never seen the sheriff serial date. At all. Dahlia was the second woman he dated after his wife died. They dated awhile, and he was definitely more into her than she was into him. Since Dahlia, he’d attempted a few relationships, but they never lasted. Having talked to Dahlia about her relationship with Jeff, however, I knew it had started pretty normally. She said she knew he was serious because they went on seven dates before they had sex.
I remembered the look on Jeff’s face when he saw Ivy at the wedding.
It was an intense look.
“I shouldn’t have slept with him again. Multiple times.” She sighed. “He woke up early to leave for work and whispered in my ear that … that what happened between us meant the world to him and this was just the beginning for us. Who says that?”
A romantic.
“He doesn’t even know me, Emery. If he knew the truth, God, he’d run away and never come back. He has no idea that he is way too good for me.”
My breath caught. “Ivy, don’t say that. It’s not true.”