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Ivy smiled weakly and poked at the crust of her pie. She’d barely eaten a thing. “I can play things close to the vest too, so I’m okay with it.”
That was what she said, but I was fairly certain she wasn’t truly okay with any of this. Despite her smiles and laughter, and how she’d enjoyed the music and spent time with my friends, I could tell she had a lot on her mind.
Maggie snorted and fed a spoonful of apple goo to Wolf in his high chair at her side. “You think he’s tight-lipped, Ivy? You didn’t know Kellan a couple of years ago. At least Rory is polite. Kellan just grunted and growled.”
He slid his arm around the back of her chair. “Is this where you tell them I was changed by the love of a good woman?”
“Or a bad one.” She fluttered her lashes and made the whole table laugh.
Even me.
It was hard not to relax around this group. If it wasn’t Ian’s antics or his impromptu jam sessions, or Kellan cutting up with his son, it was Laverne chasing the family dog, Lola, and trying to pry shoes out of her mouth. She’d welcomed all of us at some point in the day by snatching a sandal or sneaker and bounding off.
Every time Ivy laughed, something twisted inside me. That sound made everything better. And she wasn’t doing it enough.
Because of me. So, it was up to me to make this right.
Hurting her had never been part of the plan. If I’d had one beyond just wanting to get lost in her. Anything to forget that our lives were so different.
But now I was wondering if the miles between us were as many as I’d first believed.
“I can’t say Ian was ever grouchy. Well, minus that first night on stage. He insulted me in front of the world.” Zoe pointed with her fork. “That was his wooing technique.”
“You interrupted my show. And tried to steal my very large thunder.”
“You had no thunder then. Except in your own head.”
Ian shrugged and shoveled in more pie. He was already almost done with his second slice. “Positive thinking leads to positive results. That’s what Anthony Robbins says.”
“Anthony who?” Justin asked, scooping ice cream onto his pie until the thing nearly collapsed under its weight.
“He’s on a self-improvement kick.” Zoe leaned back in her chair and rubbed her truly mind-boggling belly. It had been a couple of months since I’d seen her, and in that time, her waistline had expanded to dangerous proportions.
Either she was carrying a giant human baby or a couple of aliens.
“I have a family now. I have to be all I can be.”
“Isn’t that the slogan for the Army?” Hayes wondered, retrieving some squeaky thing Lola dropped at his feet.
“Oh. Huh. Maybe.”
“I feel the same way, by the way,” Hayes said on the other side of Ivy. The way he smiled at her made me grip my fork that much tighter.
He was just being small-town friendly. That was what they did here. But Hayes was exactly the sort of man who’d stick around for the long haul. The kind of man Ivy deserved. Not one who’d come and go as he pleased.
A decent man wouldn’t begrudge her finding someone—someone who wasn’t me. But fuck if I didn’t want to dig Hayes’s eyes out with a rusty fork.
Christ, I should’ve been chivalrous and stayed away this time. I’d only thought of seeing her again, of spending time with her and burying myself inside her. I hadn’t considered what it would be like to draw her closer only to leave again.
Justin chuckled. “Since when?”
Zoe’s eldest brother Beckett leaned over the table and snatched the last slice of pie from the serving plate. “Right. So says the guy who woke up this morning with rug burn on his face.”
“That was Justin, not me,” Hayes protested.
Zoe sighed. “Some things never change. Males are like frat boys until they’re senior citizens.”
“Not me. I haven’t had a drink in…” Ian glanced at his watch. “At least an hour. More pie?” Ian grinned up at Laverne as she stopped beside the table.
