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“I needed someone to confide in. She wouldn’t lecture me like you do. She wouldn’t pacify me like Jasmine. She understood and she gave me good advice and things to think about. She treated me like a friend, not a sister that had to be looked after.”
“It’s hard to break old habits. I’m the second oldest and the oldest girl.”
“You didn’t look after Jasmine as much as me,” she argued.
“Jasmine has always had her life together. Maybe more than both of us.”
“Until she got pregnant,” Ivy said, laughing. “Then she was the one making the mistakes.”
“It’s not a mistake when you’re in love and the guy loves you back.”
“No,” she said. “It’s not. And I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I know you didn’t. My point is, I worry about you more than anyone else. Everyone does.”
“They don’t need to,” she said. “Or they should worry less.”
“We’ll see,” Dahlia said.
“I’ll probably let Daisy know. We talk a lot. Heather will find out. Maybe I can double date with Luke and Heather. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
She was probably getting ahead of herself here. She and Brooks hadn’t even set up another date yet.
“Sure,” Dahlia said. “Fun.”
“If you were seeing someone we could double date.”
“I’m fine the way I am,” Dahlia said.
“Are we good now?” she asked. There was no reason to talk to Dahlia about her statement. Her sister just clammed up anyway.
“We are,” Dahlia said. “I know it’s morning, but how about we start the year off right? We can have tacos for dinner and ice cream for dessert.”
Ivy jumped up. “Yes. That’s the best way to start the new year. And maybe for once things will work out for me. For you too.”
Dahlia looked at her. “Let’s focus on you. Don’t judge things working out well on whether Brooks is in your life or not. That would be a good first step in the right direction.”
“I’ll try,” she said. “And if I whine about his job or hours you can remind me that I asked for this. I knew going in and even set some of the rules up myself.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be the first one reminding you.”
Ivy laughed at her sister’s grin.
She didn’t expect any differently.
23
Family Approval
Ten days later Brooks found himself knocking on Ivy’s front door at six.
He’d busted tail to get here and worked his ass off so he didn’t cancel on her yet again.
Twice now he’d had to cancel due to work, but tonight he couldn’t let that happen. He could take a few hours out of his night and was going to pray that nothing arose while he was out.
Dahlia opened the door. “Hi.”
“Hi,” he said. “Is Ivy ready?”
