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Ignoring her question, Cal kissed the top of his sister’s head. “Go on and shower. We’ll head to town when you’re ready and see Benton. You’ll be good for him.”
“Will I?” she asked softly. “I think I’m going to be one more problem. One more thing for him to worry about.”
“That’s what families do, isn’t it? Worry about each other?”
Scarlett’s smile was small as she backed away. “We used to. Once.”
She disappeared and left Cal alone with the mess of dishes. Some things never change. By the time he’d cleaned up the kitchen, Nora had skipped by, grabbed her lunchbox, then followed Ryland out into the crisp November morning. The snow was here to stay, which wasn’t all that unusual for this part of the country, and with a start, Cal realized that Thanksgiving wasn’t far away.
When the hell had that snuck up on him? He searched his pockets for his phone, thinking he’d left it in the office, when he heard the front door open and slam shut from the wind. He’d barely taken two steps into the hallway when Ivy Wilkens appeared, glasses frosted, her hair a wild mess from the wind.
“Where’s your phone?” she asked, glaring at him through her fogged-up lenses.
“Good morning to you too.”
“Is it?” She walked past him and didn’t stop until she had a cup of coffee in hand. She took a sip and leaned back against the counter. “Have you looked at your phone this morning?”
“No.” Cal frowned. “Where the hell have you been anyway? You just disappeared.”
“I had some things to do.”
“Like what?”
“Seriously?” Ivy’s eyebrow rose dramatically.
“Mike Paul was wondering where you were.”
“Let him wonder. If he wants to know where I am, he can call.”
“Someone pour shit in your cornflakes?” Cal asked with a frown.
“Actually, I haven’t had anything to eat yet.” She walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a yellow box with a bear on the side of it. “I suggest you go and get your phone so we can have a conversation about the shitstorm you created, because it’s going to get interesting around here and not everyone is going to like it.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Ivy shook her head and shoved dry cereal into her mouth. “Find your phone,” she managed to mumble. “Then we’ll talk.”
The girl was exaggerating. What kind of trouble could he have gotten himself into? Heck, he’d only been back in town two days. Cal left Ivy in the kitchen and trotted back to the office. He found his cell on the floor by the chair. He touched the screen and paused—there were one hundred and sixteen new text messages waiting for him. He started to scroll. And then he scrolled some more. By the time he returned to the kitchen, he’d scrolled through most of them. He looked across the room at Ivy.
“I told you to stay away from Millie Sue. Didn’t I say that at least ten thousand times on the flight from Sydney?”
“It’s not that bad,” he said slowly, gazing down at the TikTok he’d been sent. It was one of a dozen or so.
“Not bad? She’s going to kill you. She’s all over every single social media platform there is. How could you not know that jumping on stage with her was not going to get posted online? I’ve been fielding calls all morning. Everyone wants to know who she is. They want to know where you’ve been hiding her. They want to know if she’s yourgirlfriend.”
“She sounds amazing.”
“Yeah. She does.” Ivy shook her head in disgust. “I wouldn’t want to be you right now.”
“Come on, really?” he stared across the kitchen at Ivy.
“Really,” Scarlett said, walking into the kitchen. She glanced at Ivy. “Men are dumb.”
“You’re not going to get an argument from me,” Ivy retorted.
“Whatever,” he muttered under his breath. “We’re adults. We’re not kids anymore. Millie and I are fine.”
“If you say so.” Ivy didn’t look convinced. “Your publicist is waiting on an answer. You might want to get on that.”
