‘I’m not blaming you, Ivy. I know how it seems. And Trip would never share a sob story. I wish hewould, I think it would do him a lot of good – but he’s perennially allergic to anything sad. I’m only trying to give you the whole picture, because … well, because I think he really likes you.’
Ivy felt a mix of emotions. Guilt, that she had so quickly dismissed Trip as a spoiled rich kid with no idea what the real world was like. Embarrassment, that she’d subjected him to an unfair character assassination just because she felt insecure. And sympathy, that he had spent the year grieving.
‘Trip’s all in, you know,’ Brooke said slowly. ‘That’s what he’s always been like, even as a kid. He doesn’t stop to think too hard – he goes with his gut. When he commits to something, hecommits. You’ve seen him at the rehearsals. Full steam ahead. It wouldn’t occur to him to be careful. That he might get hurt.’
They stood side by side for a moment, the wind tugging at their coats and the sea lapping against the pebbles. The cove, with the grey skies and lowering clouds, was suddenly very quietand the silence felt loaded. Ivy was the one to break it. ‘You think I’m going to hurt Trip?’ she said at last.
‘I think he’s too nice for his own good,’ Brooke said. She pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. ‘Luckily, he also seems to have an instinct for decent people. I’m not blind. I can tell there’s something going on between you two. I knew right away that Trip was smitten. But I want him to focus on his future. You don’t seem in a super-happy place and you also live across the world from Trip. I don’t want him distracted or upset more than he has been already.’
The words hung in the air. Ivy’s chest felt tight. Brooke thought she would upset Trip.
‘I’m not trying to be a villain here,’ Brooke said. ‘But I need to look out for my little brother, you know?’
‘I get it,’ said Ivy tightly. ‘Besides, you’ve got it wrong. Trip likes someone else. This girl Madison.’
Brooke frowned, looking confused. ‘Madison?Oh.’ She gave a faint smile. ‘Trust me, Ivy – that’s not what you think.’
Before Ivy could ask her what she meant, Brooke was heading back up the beach, striding against the wind. ‘Shall we get back?’ she called as she went. ‘Fin promised me scones for tea.’
Ivy sat on the bench outside the Driftwood Café the next morning, the cold from the wood seeping into her jeans and through to her thermal leggings. After all the activity and chaos of the past few weeks, the show was tomorrow. And she couldn’t stop replaying the conversation between her and Brooke in the cove. It had left her feeling hollow and frustrated, like she had been unfair to Trip and now had no way of making it right.
She sighed and pulled out her phone. Raye answered on the second ring. ‘If you’re calling to ask me again if I’m coming to the show, I’ve already told you I will do my absolute—’
Ivy huffed a breath, somewhere between a laugh and a groan. ‘I think I’ve blown it.’
A pause. Then, sounding mystified, Raye said, ‘Blown what?’
‘Blownit. With Trip.’
There was a beat of complete silence. Then Raye said, ‘Wait.Trip. The super cheerful guy who is driving you crazy? I’m sorry, youlikehim?’
Ivy rolled her eyes towards the grey sky. ‘Yes. Yes, I really do.’ Saying those words aloud was partly a relief and partly terrifying.
‘But you said how annoying he was.’
‘Yeah.’
‘You sent me that text saying he was like a golden retriever, in a bad way.’
‘Yes!’
‘And now youlikehim? When did this happen?’
‘I don’tknow,Raye!’ Ivy groaned. ‘I just – he makes things feel better. Happier. He makes me feel like the world isn’t all doom and gloom.’
‘Well, you could certainly use someone like that in your life,’ Raye said, considering.
‘But then I said something mean about him because I was in a bad mood—’
‘You, in a bad mood?’ broke in Raye. ‘I don’t believe it.’
‘—and he overheard me. And now he’s pulled back and maybe he thinks I don’t like him because of all the horrible things I said, and Ido.I’m a complete idiot. Anything good, I always mess it up.’
There was a rustle of movement on Raye’s end of the line, probably as she flopped on to a pile of cushions or a coat she never hung up. ‘Okay. First of all, you’renotan idiot. You’re just you. And you and feelings, Ivy … well, sometimes you don’t mix. It’s no wonder you didn’t realise you liked this guy. For someone so clever, you’re pretty bad at seeing the blindingly obvious.’
Ivy made a small noise of protest but didn’t disagree.
Raye continued. ‘Second of all, you haven’t blown anything. You’re still doing the show together, right?’
