Malcolm looks between me and Ivy, gaze shifty and nervous. “Can I talk to you?” Thealonepart is implied when his eyes flick toward me again.
I’m not leaving Ivy alone with him if she’d rather not get into something heavy right before the game starts. I keep my seat, leaning my elbow on the arm of the chair and resting into it.
“Sure,” Ivy answers, her voice calmer.
Malcolm takes the seat Carlie vacated, sitting on the edge and facing Ivy. He looks over at me again, his intent that I make myself scarce obvious. I ignore him and raise my eyebrow slightly at Ivy.
Her smile is soft. She mouths “I’m fine” at me and then says out loud, “Chad, can you grab me some coffee?”
As much as I don’t want Ivy to have to deal with him today—or ever, actually—I won’t override what she wants just because I want something different. It’s the whole reason I kept myself from asking her if we can take whatever flirting we’ve been doing to the next step. It’s what kept me from kissing her last night.
“Of course.” I stand and head over to the table holding the food—cookies, sodas, and a huge charcuterie board with ham, turkey, roasted new potatoes, a few kinds of cheese, flatbreads, and assorted crackers. There’s even a hot chocolate bar and a carafe of eggnog. I grab a mug from the end, but I don’t fill it yet. I don’t know how Ivy takes her coffee, and as much as I’d like to interrupt her conversation with Malcolm to ask, she only requested this from me to let me know it’s okay to leave her alone with him.
Gabriella and Ava are talking to each other, coffee mugs in hand, but their voices are low murmurs, both of them sliding their gazes over to Ivy and Malcolm every few seconds. Carlie holds Scarlett on her hip, a can of root beer in her hand while Scarlett rests her head on Carlie’s shoulder. Carlie’s not even pretending to talk to anyone else. She watches the couple with as much interest as I feel.
I’m standing closest. My back is to them, but the chair and sofa where they’re sitting are just a few feet away from the table. I hold the mug, and like the rest of the group gathered over here, I’m unapologetically eavesdropping as well.
If Malcolm is going to choose here and now to have this conversation, I think he kind of deserves the audience.
“Malcolm,” Ivy says from behind me. “The past is behind us. I’m okay now. Things don’t need to be awkward. We both want to be a part of Law’s life. Let’s just decide to be friends and not let our relationship weigh us down.”
“I don’t want things to be awkward either. I want to … clear the air for us.”
“Not necessary,” she says gently. “I forgave you a long time ago. I had to.”
She has such a generous spirit. She told me that the hope she clung to in their relationship, that someday she would be enough for him, was often at odds with the situations she coached others through in relationships, and yet she hung on. He strung her along, and for that I want to yank him out of the chair and make him go sit out in the cold stadium. I don’t want him here with her.
“Thank you.” His voice is husky. I’m itching to turn and look at him, see his expression. Judge if he truly appreciates the gift she’s given him. I look up at Carlie, who’s still not hiding that she’s openly watching Ivy and Malcolm. I look quickly over my shoulder, but I can only see his profile. “But there’s something I need to tell you. That I’ve needed to say for a long time,” he continues.
I can feel the stillness that goes through the room at his words. Ava and Gabriella stop talking, then quickly start again to cover the lapse. Carlie frowns and leans forward but then gives her head a little shake. I grip the mug, taking a couple steps toward the coffee to at least look like I’m doing something.
“It’s okay,” Ivy says in a gentle voice. “I don’t need all the details for us to move on. We’re good, Malcolm. I promise.”
“I need to say this,” he presses.
The group around the table tenses, all of us sharing a look. Awkwardness has filled the room. Maybe now is the time for me to fill Ivy’s coffee and then ask her for her preferences to force Malcolm to move on from the conversation for now.
“I understand.” Her voice is sympathetic, quiet and kind. “But I’ve spent the last six months doing the work on myself, not dating while I made sure I was choosing a relationship for the right reasons …”
I whirl around at the words, cutting Ivy off mid-sentence about learning to not override her intuition. Her gaze snaps to mine, and I swallow.
Ivy does want a relationship.
She wantsthe rightrelationship.
Every argument I’ve had with myself about a possible future with us has fallen away. Every interaction we’ve had the last two days is being rewritten in my mind, especially last night when we almost kissed.
And for the first time, I don’t feel wrong about hoping.
CHAPTER 13
IVY
“Chad?” I ask.
He’s still staring at me, surprise in his expression. It’s no shock to me that everyone at that food table is listening in on the conversation. How could they not? It’s only a few feet away from where Malcolm and I sit. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I thought Malcolm and I would declare ourselves friends, promise not to let weirdness ruin our relationship with Law, all that.
I get the feeling Malcolm wants more than that from our conversation.
