I didn’t tell you about the bet right away? Why I couldn’t bring myself to it?” I take a deep breath, and then I tell her the truth, no bullshit. “Because it shamed me. It only took me a couple of days to realize you were nothing like what I’d described you as at that party. I made those remarks to shut the other men up, but I didn’t think twice about how they’d sound to you. And then you dove in after your friend… right away, no hesitation.”
Summer days spent in Paradise Shores flit through my mind, the days my brothers and I had been taught how to rescue people from the water. “And you were so honest, Ivy, in all of your reactions to the places we saw. So earnest and excited and you trusted me.”
She looks down at her hands, but I keep going. “Hey, I’m saying that as a good thing. I haven’t had people be that open with me, you might say, for longer than I can remember. There’s always a motive or an end goal.”
Ivy worries her lower lip, her eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you surround yourself with the wrong people.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to realize that too. And when I thought of how I’d behaved at that party, and the inane fucking bet with Ben… it looked small and petty in comparison to you, to your goodness and humor. I didn’t tell you because I was scared.”
Her eyes flash on mine. “You were scared? That’s the big reveal?”
“Yes.” I reach out to steady myself against the brick wall. “You told my sister that you didn’t think we were on the same page, regarding us. You and me. But Ivy, this feels like the most serious thing I’ve experienced. I don’t want to stop being around you. Not now, and not ever.”
She shakes her head, uncertainty sketched on her features. The features that had so often been open and honest and determined and curious.
“Rhys… I don’t know how to do this,” she says. “How to trust, how to be together with someone. I’ve never done any of it before. Even if I forgive you, how would we do it?”
“I’m not an expert, either,” I admit. But nothing has ever felt like being with her. No one has made me question everything I know and still made me feel more certain than ever before.
“What would we do, then?”
“We’ll make it up as we go along,” I suggest, crooking my smile the way I know she likes. “Isn’t that how life works? It’ll be an adventure, at least, traveling that road with you.”
Ivy takes another deep breath, stepping back toward the door. “I’ll need time, Rhys. I need to think.”
“Of course. Take as long as you want. But if you’re wondering something, please ask me. Let me explain it. I promise you’ll hear nothing but truth from me from here on out.”
“Okay,” she breathes.
“Okay?”
She wipes at her eyes. “Okay, I’ll think about it. It’s the best I can do.”
“I’ll take it.”
“Regardless, I suppose I’ll see you at the launch party, to discover which of your campaigns ended up being chosen.” She shakes her head, a wry smile on her lips. “I swear, Rhys, I don’t know if I’m hoping you lose or win.”
The launch party is weeks from now. But I don’t let the disappointment I feel show. “I’ll see you then,” I tell her. “Just promise me you’ll call me if you get caught in your own thoughts. I don’t live far away.”
“I promise,” she says, the door shutting behind her.
26
Ivy
The doorbell rings just as I’m applying lipstick, sending a line of dark red skittering down my chin.
Penny chuckles behind me and bounces up off the couch. “Do you need me to get that?”
“Yes, please.”
Wiping at my face, I follow her to the front door. I’m not expecting anyone, nor any deliveries, and we only have half an hour left until we need to leave for the launch of Rieler Travels’ new marketing campaign.
Whichever one it might be.
“For Ivy Hart,” a delivery guy says, yellow cap pulled low on his head.
“I didn’t order anything.”
That doesn’t stop him from lifting a large, bubble-wrapped square into my hallway.
“No need to sign. Have a good day.”
He disappears down the hallway with brisk steps, a man on a mission, and doesn’t respond to my shouted thanks!
Penny shuts the door behind him. “What’s this?”
“I have no idea.”
We start tearing at the packaging, peeling off the coverings like we’re unmasking a treasure. “Frames?”