I narrowed my eyes at him. “Not. The. Time.”
Noah moved to the edge of his chair to get closer to me. I noted that Jake moved to the edge of the couch at the same time.
“She’s thinking of selling Pages?” Noah asked Jake, then looked to me. “But that’s your dream.”
“I know, man,” Jake said. “Some indie from up north offered to buy the store and let her run it.”
Noah’s face spun from Jake to me. “If times were that tough when Addie was small, I’m assuming that meant your parents didn’t help?”
I gave him a look that conveyed exactly how stupid I thought that question was.
He nodded, realizing it as soon as he’d asked.
“Smile for Steph, kids.” Drew had stepped back from our group, phone raised to take a picture.
“Sit the fu— fudge down,” Jake growled, with a glance at Addie, then Drew.
“Have to commemorate this meeting of the minds here for Steph. She’d never forgive me otherwise.” Drew sat, fingers flying. “Give me a minute to get the text out.”
Jake dropped his head to his hands.
“Noah, do you spell your last name L-a-w-s-o-n?” Drew asked, not looking up.
Jesus take the wheel.
“Yes,” Noah said. He looked to me. “Who’s Steph?”
I was suddenly very tired. “Their sister.” I sighed, then looked at Noah. “So, you’re back?”
Noah nodded. “As I was saying before we went down the path of savings accounts and all the ways our parents suck, I realized all that I was missing with Addie. I want to be here.”
I nodded, mulling that over. This would mean a lot of change. Just the sheer number of questions I had threatened to overwhelm me.
“You’re back,” I whispered again.
“I’m back,” Noah said in a quiet voice.
The chime from Jake’s phone and the screen lighting up showed Steph’s texts starting to come in.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
My sentiments exactly.
26
Addressing the Elephant
Jake
Another glance at my watch reinforced what I already knew. Ivy was late. Notextremely late, but over five minutes. Basically, enough to get me wondering if she was canceling. I tried to relax. I told myself that Drew had gone over there to watch Addie. If she wasn’t coming, surely he would have come back. Right?
Hell, as my luck would have it, he could have decided to stay there and have dinner with AddieandIvy, just to screw with me. It wouldn’t be shocking in the slightest. Drew had a front-row seat to the implosion that was my reaction to Noah Thursday night. He knew I’d tried to talk to Ivy since then, but she’d been pretty closed off, and it was making me crazy.
I needed to distract myself. Waiting for her was like watching paint dry. I moved to the oven to finish browning the turkey sausage. Dinner tonight was a pasta recipe my dad had put together after we ate at a place in downtown Chicago years ago. It was nothing fancy, but it was easy and I could cook while I overanalyzed everything about Ivy. Well, that was if she actually came.
Just as I was getting ready to search for my phone to text Drew and ask him what was going on, there was a knock at the door. I let out the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. I turned, sliding the skillet to another burner and then flipped the front one off before I moved to the door.
She was at the front door instead of the back, which seemed to say something to me, and it didn’t feel great. Like she was intentionally putting distance between us. Opening the door, I took her in. Ivy stood there, her back to me as she waved at one of my neighbors and his ironically named enormous dog, Tiny. Hearing the door open, she turned to me, an unsure expression on her gorgeous face.
