She curled into a chair, drowning in imagined flashes of her birth mother’s life. Of what happened in the span of Ivy’s birth and her parents ending up with her. And now, this complicated mess with Reese.
A knock sounded on the front door a few hours later. Pepper jumped to his feet and let out a low growl. Hackles raised.
“It’s okay, buddy. I’m not letting anyone in here.”
Reese had given her time, and now he wanted to talk. Fine. She’d brave answering the door, but she’d leave him to do the talking before she made a fool of herself again. She’d let him speak his mind and be done with it.
She pulled open the front door, and the man on the porch turned. Ivy swallowed and tried to push the door closed, but Seth shot forward and stuck his foot in between the door and the frame.
“Ivy Lashley, I’ve been worried sick about you. Why haven’t you been answering my calls? I’ve got high-powered clients breathing down my neck, and I’m traipsing around this grease spot on the map to make sure you’re okay.” He flicked a glance over her sloppy ponytail, hole-riddled sweatpants, and bandaged hand. “And clearly you aren’t doing well.”
Ivy glanced behind her to where her phone rested on the side table. Seven feet away. Too far for her to reach while still holding the door closed on his foot. Although, if he really wanted to, he was strong enough to push his way in. Like so many times before.
Reese, now would be a fine time for that Ivy’s-in-danger radar to kick in. She took a deep breath and stood as tall as her slight frame could manage. “No, Seth. Not because of me. Because of you. You took off work and came all this way for no reason. We’re over. I’ve made that abundantly clear. There’s nothing left to talk about. You need to go.”
His face softened. “Now, Ivy. I’ve given you time and space. Couples fight. It’s a normal part of every growing relationship. If you’d have just stayed and talked instead of trying to storm off like a lunatic, our last argument would’ve never gone that far. I’m working on my anger management. Meet me halfway and, you know, toughen up a bit. Don’t be so sensitive.”
His tactics might have been more effective a couple days ago. She wouldn’t have caved completely, but she would have replayed scenes of their last fight, looking for ways she might’ve handled things better. But Reese and Triune and Rose and Grandma’s mission to help Ivy Rose Lashley remember who she was bolstered her.
“Seth, get your foot out of my door. Get back in your fancy little car, and if I ever see your face in this town again, if you so much as knock on my door, I’ll have a restraining order put on you. Don’t call. Don’t text. Don’t harass me anymore.”
Seth tilted his head, turning his eyes down in pity and pinching his lips in a line. “Harass? Ivy, you’ve always had a flair for the dramatic, but come on. I figured after a few weeks on your own, you would have seen all I added to your life, but—”
“Leave.”
“Honey—”
“She asked you to leave.”
Ivy’s heart went to her throat. In the dusky night the shadowed form of her uncle was like sighting a rescue plane while stranded on a sinking raft in the middle of shark-infested waters. Her uncle stepped onto the porch. His broad, six-foot-two frame was drawn to its full height.
Seth glanced over his shoulder, his smile oozing condescension. “This is between Ivy and me. Just a friendly conversation.”
“She made it quite clear the conversation’s over. And if you’re not man enough to respect what she said, then I’ll help you out.” He methodically rolled the cuffs of his plaid shirt without taking his eyes off Seth as he stepped closer, until he stood catty-corner to where Ivy still held the door closed against Seth’s foot.
Maybe this was what Reese had been talking about, having someone fight beside you.
Seth turned back to Ivy. “You don’t really want me to—”
“Go, Seth.”
“If I leave after coming all this way, don’t expect me to listen when you finally come to your senses and—”
“I am more sensible now than I’ve been in a long time. Go.”
He slid his Italian-leather shoe from the space in the door. Rage colored his face. “I’m done wasting my time on you. You’re not worth it.” He stalked to his sports car, slammed the door, and slung a spray of gravel as he sped out of sight.
Uncle Vee released a long breath. “You okay, Ivy Rose?” For as imposing as her uncle appeared with the flint in his eyes and his height and breadth of shoulder, he was one of the gentlest people she knew.
Knees turned to jelly, Ivy crossed the porch and sank to sit in the swing. “I am now.”
Pepper appeared in the open doorway, tail tucked, eyeing Uncle Vee. He skirted away from her uncle and sat on the porch next to her.
Uncle Vee leaned against the house and gestured to the dog. “New sidekick?”
“This is Pepper. The stray I told you about.”
“You invited a stray pup into your grandmother’s house?” He laughed, low and quiet, shaking his head.
“Think she’d have been mad?”
“Nah. She . . . she’d probably think he fit right in.”
She tilted her head. “Any reason you stopped by?”
“Reese asked me to. Said he was worried about you and you’d had a rough day. Was it about that guy?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up when you did.”
With fatherly pride softening his features, he said, “Ivy Rose, you’re stronger than you think.”
CHAPTER
FORTY-FOUR
NOVEMBER 24, 1994
“Miss Pearl, don’t you think all this food was a bit much for two of us? I thought the whole church was coming for Thanksgiving.” Harvey cleared away his and Pearl’s plates. A sea of slow cookers covered the counter, and the sink was piled high with empty pots and pans.
She gave him a sheepish smile. “I suppose I got a little out of hand. I started cooking and couldn’t seem to stop. Just needed something to keep my hands busy.”
Harvey thought about how hard it must be for her, the first Thanksgiving without her husband and son. “Hope it freezes well. I wouldn’t want it to go to waste. I thought Thomas and Miriam might be coming.”
She lifted her shoulder. “They were hosting Thanksgiving at their house for the single mothers and their children. They invited us too. But I didn’t think you’d be up for it.”
He cringed. It had been a week since their argument, but things had stayed oddly quiet while he’d expected everything to blow up in his face. He wanted to be on the road, on to a new life for him and Ivy, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to leave Pearl. Not before Thanksgiving. And now Christmas was close on his heels. They had to leave though, no matter how much it would hurt her. “If it makes you feel any better, it was the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had.”
She smiled the first unguarded smile he’d seen in the past few days. “I’m so glad. I wanted it to be special for you.”
His insides felt like he’d swallowed a bucket of night crawlers. He wasn’t without conscience. Every day he stayed, he lived a lie. He walked over to the sink. “All right. Where do we start with all this?”