The Bookworm's Guide to Dating (The Bookworm's Guide 1)

“You knew this would happen.”

“Wait, you knew about this?” Holley looked between us.

Ivy nodded, taking a seat at one of the cast-iron tables that was nearby and empty. We all joined her. “Yeah, I knew a couple of weeks ago. Is that about right?” she asked me.

I shrugged. “Maybe? Close enough.”

Holley harrumphed in annoyance.

She hated not knowing everything.

“I kind of forced her into admitting the truth,” Ivy admitted. “It was right after they’d taken a big step—”

“They fucked,” Tori said confidently.

“—And she was a little lost and confused, and I helped her out some with it.” Ivy turned back to me. “We knew this was going to happen. All right, not in this way, but it still did.”

“I just wish we could have been the ones to tell him,” I said softly, staring down at the intricate mosaic pattern on the table. “It might have been different if we were.”

“You mean Josh wouldn’t have taken a right hook to the face,” Tori said brightly.

“Tori.” Holley scolded her, frowning.

“Yes,” I replied dryly. “Exactly that.”

Ivy slapped the back of her hand into Tori’s arm. “Which one of you is talking to him first?”

I sighed. “Me. Josh’s jaw is still bruised and swollen, and the last thing I need is my brother seeing that as a target. He doesn’t want to go to the emergency room, but I think it’ll be easier if I speak to him first anyway.”

Ivy nodded slowly, leaning back in the chair with an ‘oomph’ and a frown at her stomach. “Leave my bladder alone,” she instructed her belly before she looked back up. “Sorry. I agree with Josh. Colton is probably feeling more betrayed by him than you, since they had that stupid pact and all that crap.”

“A pact?” Holley raised an eyebrow. “What the hell?”

I quickly explained the pact Josh and Colton had made years ago when they were teenagers. “I mean, I get it, but it just seems kind of childish with hindsight. How could either of them have known what would happen years later?”

“Because men are dumb.” Tori didn’t even bat an eyelid. “They probably were arrogant enough to believe that the other one would never get feelings for their sister. Teenage boys are the absolute worst and really think the world of themselves, but what Colt needs to realize is that they’re almost thirty. Even an agreement made five years ago would be different now. Where were you five years ago? Where will you be in five years?”

“Well, I wasn’t pregnant five years ago,” Ivy replied. “Nor did I have any plans to get pregnant until I was at least twenty-nine, and that plan went down the toilet and fermented in the sewers.”

Tori flung out her hand, almost hitting Ivy in the face. “Case in point. Five years ago, you didn’t own the bookstore. Probably never imagined you would, but here we are. Something they agreed years and years ago was probably never mentioned again and only lived in Josh’s brain because he was aware of his feelings for you. I’d bet you anything that Colt is more annoyed you never told him yourselves than anything else.”

“It makes sense.” Holley leaned forward and rested her chin in her hands. “I don’t think you’re both doing anything wrong by pursuing a relationship,” she mused. “In fact, if I had a brother, I’d be thrilled if he ended up with any one of you forever. I think Colt is probably just really pissed he had to find out from Agatha and Mabel of all people.”

“Freakin’ Grams,” Tori said. “I told her off, by the way. She wasn’t happy about it, but I wasn’t happy either.”

“Go and talk to him.” Ivy met my eyes, kindness shining in hers, and she smiled. “Go now. Go and see if you can find him and talk to him. You won’t rest until you’ve tried.”

“You don’t think it’s too soon?” I chewed on my lower lip.

“To explain to your brother the truth behind what you did?” She raised an eyebrow. “No, Kins. It’s never too soon.”

“Are you sure? You don’t mind me leaving?”

“If you leave, I stand half a chance at leaving myself. Kai has been sitting in the car down the street for the last twenty minutes, but Mom won’t let me go.” She shrugged. “I just want a nap. Seriously, go. And text me later.”

Nodding, I said goodbye to Tori and Holley, stopping to give Ivy a hug around the shoulders as my farewell. It took me at least ten minutes to get through the house. After thanking her parents for having me at a lovely baby shower, I was accosted by almost everyone whose conversations ranged from asking about my relationship with Josh, to saying how sorry they were about yesterday, to asking me how Colton was.

I excused myself as politely as possible every single time, and when I finally extricated myself from the house, I all but ran into my car and locked myself in before anyone else could accost me.