Jake (California Dreamy) - By Rian Kelley Page 0,42

athlete she had been in high school, whipping around the track, her long blond hair flaring out behind her. Holly was strength. She was sunshine. She was all Ivy had in the world. She didn’t want people to see her disability because that was so not who her sister was.

She pushed her salad away and picked up her peach. She gazed out the large window where lamp posts were shrouded in pre-dawn fog. The night sky was still an impenetrable hue of black. Holly was doing so well now, she’d told Ivy she was returning to work full time next week. She’d refused Ivy’s money this visit, too. She’d let her pay the conference fee, which included hotel, but tore Ivy’s check in half and laid it on the table between them.

“I don’t need it anymore,” she’d said. “I’m almost up to full time again. I will be next week.” She’d smiled at Ivy, her eyes filling with tears.

And Ivy had reached for her sister in an embrace that was part celebration part relief, part exaltation. Full time meant many things. The most important was Holly’s independence. She was firmly rooted in her new normal, which, Holly liked to say, “was a pretty good imitation of the before me.”

Ivy pulled her cell phone from the side pocket of her lunch bag. She needed to check her messages and make any adjustments to her work week. She was on-call at the senior rehabilitation center and could fit in a shift for either later today or tomorrow. Fridays were big need days. She supposed she didn’t have to work like this anymore, but she had no intention of changing yet. If it turned out that Holly could work full time, that she now had the stamina for a demanding schedule, then Ivy would rebuild her savings. She would put money away for a dream vacation. Maybe something Caribbean she and Jake could share. . .

She liked thinking ahead, planning for two, and yet it scared her, too.

Trusting in the past had only led her to heartbreak. And yet, she wanted to trust him.

Was Jake thinking the same way? His purpose for pacing them was to see if they had a future, she reminded herself. He wanted to give them that chance.

So take it slow, she told herself. As if she could turn back the clock. Right. She didn’t want to erase the hours they had spent in her apartment, tangled in a heated mess, tempting and pleasing each other. She still felt his touch on the intimate parts of her body.

So they would date. Really. They would spend as much time vertical as horizontal. She would make a point of it, and with that in mind she picked up her phone, ignored the flashing red light that indicated waiting messages, and surfed the internet for fun things to do in San Diego. They had the dinner cruise this weekend but she made a list of activities she thought would appeal to both of them. There was a kayak trip through the La Jolla caves, a hike that wove its way along wetland habitats, whale watching, Sea World, and Restaurant Row’s Summer Surrender which combined eclectic meals with thematic showings of movies, new and old. There were nights of comedy and horror, romance and adventure.

While she was online she searched for the principles of a healthy relationship, never having had one herself she thought she had something to learn. Mutual respect was a given. Trust and honesty a no-brainer. Supporting each other—now wouldn’t that be nice, having someone who cheered you on through everything. Good communication—they certainly had that. A sense of playfulness—well her list would take care of that. And separate identities. That gave her pause. She and Jake already had that, but how did two become one and maintain a healthy sense of self at the same time?

How did she maintain her hard-won independence? How did she not revert to the Ivy of old, who had clung to Trace, believing he was the answer to a prayer?

Tricky. This was new territory. But with anything that posed a challenge, Ivy reminded herself that she would proceed with caution. She had no illusions about slowing down their sexual escapades, but she could hold her heart aloof while she was figuring things out, couldn’t she?

She had ten minutes left to her break when she scrolled thorough her text messages. She made a note to confirm with the senior center, who had asked her to