Resin looks to Ivy for permission. She laughs and gives a nod. “Wait, why do you have those?”
“What do you mean?” The dog is already chewing contentedly, flopping on the floor. I smile.
“You don’t have a dog.”
I look at Ivy. “No, but you do.”
Her eyes melt into the deepest version of hot chocolate I’ve seen yet. “Jace,” she says after seconds or minutes. I’ve lost track of time from being this close to her again. “What does the forest mean?”
It takes me a moment to register that she’s talking about my tattoos. I breathe out, knowing she’s caught the details of each one. “The trees near home.”
“And the book?”
“It’s a tribute to my love of reading.”
“The North Star compass?”
“For Emmy.” My chest tightens with each admission.
“The paintbrush?"
“For Mina.” I swallow, knowing what she’s saved for last.
“And the ribbon?”
My eyes meet hers. The design in question is a replica of the piece of ribbon she gave me once. “I think you know,” I manage.
Her eyes fill with emotion, and a tear slips down her cheek. Ivy wipes it away. “Jace, what happened tonight when you saw my brother? Why did you walk away?”
I hear Emmy and Angie laughing in the other room and know I can keep sharing without little ears hearing. Now that Freddie is back, it’s time. “I came to find you,” I admit. “After that night, when I couldn’t make it to our second date.” I round my back in defeat, the gesture more painful than helpful.
“What?” Ivy barely gets out a breath. “What do you mean?”
I shift on the sofa so that I’m completely facing her on a diagonal. “After Mina died. I tried to come back. I asked around town for you.”
Ivy covers her mouth with her hand, and Resin perks up, rubbing his face on her knee, clearly sensing her shift in mood. “It’s okay, buddy,” she says, petting him. He settles back against her feet. It’s a comfort to know that although I haven’t been here, she’s had him looking out for her. Suddenly, I’m not so jealous of him. I’m grateful. “So, you asked about me,” Ivy continues. “What happened then?”
“Everyone here was very protective. People knew your name, of course, but you were back in New York.” I rub the back of my neck to try to ease the tension. “I was about to give up when I ran into your brother at Four Leaf Cookies.”
“When was this?”
“Four months after we met.”
“What did he say?” Ivy’s face has turned pale, her eyes widening. I think she already knows how this ends.
“He said I broke your heart. I tried to tell him about Mina and what happened to her, but he wouldn’t let me explain. He said to stay away. And normally, I wouldn’t have listened. But he made some pretty compelling arguments, and I listened.” I let out a self-deprecating laugh.
“Such as?”
“Ivy, we don’t have to do this now.”
“Such . . . as?” she asks me again, and I cave more quickly than I should.
“Such as the fact that your whole life is—or was—in New York. He said that if I didn’t have the decency to show up for our date, then I wasn’t worthy to have you as my girl, no matter the reason. He didn’t know that I had a life-changing reason for not showing up, but I didn’t correct him. He said that you’d been treated like an afterthought by men before and that now youwere finally living out your dreams.” I struggle to grit out the next words. “And he said that if I cared about you at all, then . . . I would leave you alone.”
The reverberation of Ivy’s gasp sends a shock through me. “No.”
“Ivy—”
