AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There. Done. Now I can get ahold of you when I’m back from Paradise Isles. Or you can get ahold of me anytime if you want.”
“Okay. Great.”
We stood in silence as I struggled to find the words to say to her that would be the right ones for our long goodbye. I couldn’t find them.
A cab pulled up, and she looked at it then back at me. “Well, I guess this is it. Our incredible journey is at an end.”
“Yeah. I guess it is. Well, goodbye, Ivy.” I stepped forward and pulled her in for a hug. My arms latched onto her and squeezed her so tight I worried I would hurt her, but to hell if I could convince them to loosen their grip on the girl.
“You coming?” the cab driver barked.
I squeezed her again, then finally convinced my arms to let her go.
“Bye, Ethan,” she said, then spun and opened the cab door. “Thank you for everything.”
I stood watching her climb inside, my heart in my throat as she closed the door and waved goodbye one last time.
What the hell are you doing, man? Don’t let her go.
The voice inside my head that convinced me to do a lot of crazy things started shouting at me that I was making a mistake. It wasn’t like me to ignore him, so just as the cab started pulling out, I surged forward and jumped in front of it.
“Stop!” I shouted, and the cab driver slammed on the brakes.
I ran to the back door and whipped it open.
“Ethan! What are you doing?” Ivy asked, staring up at me as I leaned into the door frame.
“Come to the wedding with me.”
“What?” Her eyes flew open wide.
“You still have six more days of vacation, right? Instead of going home to your apartment alone, come to Door County with me and be my wedding date. Plus, you’ll be doing me a solid because it will get my mom off my back if I show up with a girl. She literally has a place setting set aside in the hopes I’d bring a date, even though I normally never would. It would blow her mind if I filled it. I’ve got a hotel room, all meals will be covered, so it won’t cost you a thing. I’ll drop you back off in five days when I fly back out of Chicago. Let’s do something crazy again and just go for it. What do you say? Will you be my wedding date?”
She pulled her lip between her teeth, a thing I noticed she often did when she thought.
“Come on, Ivy. Let’s keep this road trip going. What do you have to lose?”
My heart throbbed in my chest as I waited for her answer. Finally, she shouted, “Okay! What the hell! Let’s do it!”
I had to stop myself from leaping into the air with excitement as she jumped out of the cab and into my arms. I didn’t have to say goodbye to her yet. I hugged her tight and then let her go only when the cab driver started screaming at us that we were holding him up. Quickly, I grabbed her bags and dropped them back out on the sidewalk.
“Holy shit. I can’t believe we’re doing this.” She laughed. “I think I left my mind in the Paradise Isles.”
“It’s gonna be great. My friends and family are a blast, and Door County is gorgeous in the fall. Wait until you see all the leaves. We should still have plenty of colors left. This is going to be another amazing adventure. You’ll see.”
“I can’t wait.” She smiled. “I said I was going to try new things, so what the hell? May as well keep the craziness going.”
I grabbed her bags and then slung my arm around her shoulder. “That’s the spirit. Now, off to get our rental car, and rule number three still applies. I drive. I pick the music.”
“Deal.”
Then I tipped my head. “But just so you know,youbroke rule number one, so I’m throwing that one out the window.”
She turned a bright shade of crimson. “The no funny business rule? That one’s gone?”
“That one is gone,” I smirked. “Well, unless you want to reinstate it?” I held my breath, hoping I hadn’t just condemned myself to five days of torture having to keep my lips off hers.
She glanced at her feet, then looked up. “I think maybe we should reinstate it. I’m worried things are going to get confusing if we start up the funny business again, and then in five days, we go our separate ways. I know you are the kind of guy who can do that, but I don’t know that I am. I don’t want to end up getting hurt if I start to catch feelings, and I’m determined to be single for a while to figure out what I want. Just to be safe, let’s keep rule number one.”
