“Why?” No clue.
“Have you ever seen them before?” Never.
“How did they get into your house?” She didn’t know. She’d been in the kitchen, removing her leftover pad thai from last night’s dinner with her ex-boyfriend (a fact she left out of her narrative) from the microwave. She turned, and they were there.
“You didn’t hear them?” No. They could have rolled through her house in a tank, and she wouldn’t have heard them. She had her AirPods in her ears. She skirted over the fact that she’d been singing and saw no reason to mention that she’d also been dancing or that she’d spun around and landed in the arms of the man who later tried to barbecue her shoulder.
At that point, Gil intervened. “Enough. She needs medical attention.” He glared at the police officer questioning her. The police officer glared back.
Gil didn’t flinch. His look was cold. Hard. Furious. “Dr. Collins is a prominent member of the community. Her home is here. Her business is here. She isn’t going anywhere. She’ll be available to answer questions later.”
He wasn’t wrong. But how did he know all this about her? And why was he here in the first place? Armed? With a partner? She had so many questions.
“Right now, she’s going to the hospital.” Gil spoke with a finality that brooked no argument.
The police officer backed down, but a few minutes later as the EMTs were strapping her onto the gurney, she overheard him on the phone. “No idea. Never been in a showdown with a Secret Service agent before.” A pause. “True.” Another pause. “Yeah. She’s gorgeous, but—” A longer pause. “Yeah. I’ll find out.”
Gil walked into the room, and the police officer walked away. Gil stared after him for a moment before turning to her. “Ivy.” When he said her name, she could almost see the boy she’d known. Although that boy had grown into a man with jet-black hair, which was currently disheveled because he kept running his hand through it. He leaned close, and his sky-blue eyes captured hers. She couldn’t look away. “I wish I could go with you, but I have to stay here. We’ll have security for you at the hospital. I’ll find you as soon as I can.” He reached a hand toward her cheek and tucked her hair behind her ear, a move he’d perfected during their last summer together. Then the paramedics had whisked her away.
She probably should have called someone. But who?
She had employees. Coworkers. Business associates. She could pick up the phone and have a lunch date or coffee chat with any number of prominent Raleigh business leaders.
But she didn’t have friends. She had colleagues.
And as of today, she had Gil. But she had no idea what he was.
If anyone had asked her this morning what would happen if she ever ran into Gil Dixon again, she would have offered up several scenarios. One possibility involved them making eye contact, afterwhich she would turn and run away. Very mature, that one. Also, the most likely.
She’d also considered the possibility that she might burst into tears and immediately start babbling and asking for forgiveness. Or she might stand before him, mute and miserable, as he unloaded fifteen years of righteous anger. If he wanted to do that, she would have to let him. She deserved it all.
No matter how many times she’d considered the possible options, not once had she dared to hope that he would look at her the way he had tonight.
And never, not ever, had she expected him to call her Buttercup.
3
GIL PACED THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT waiting room. How long did it take to set fingers and patch up burns? Ivy needed to rest. She was probably starving. Her dinner had been on the counter. Cold. Uneaten.
She didn’t need to be facing this alone.She might not be alone.
Gil studied the people in the waiting area. Could any of them be here for Ivy? She’d lived in Raleigh for several years. She had to have friends. Her ring finger was blissfully free of adornment, so he was fairly certain there was no fiancé. No husband. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a boyfriend.
He’d kept up with her career, and he knew the outline of what her life had looked like during the fifteen years they’d spent apart. But he had no clue what had colored in the spaces between her education and work. There was so much he didn’t know about her, but in the few minutes he’d been with her, he’d been able to confirm three things.
One, she was in big trouble. Those guys weren’t there to play, but based on her responses, she didn’t know why they were there or what they wanted.
Two, she’d known he was in Raleigh, and she was happy to seehim. Although he probably shouldn’t read too much into that. Anyone would be happy to see any federal agent walk in while they were being tortured. But he’d expected her to be more surprised than she’d been. If he was right, then he wasn’t the only one who’d been keeping tabs.
Third, she was stillhisIvy. She’d grown up, but the Ivy he’d known was still there. Blonde hair only a few shades darker than when they were kids now fell in loose waves to her shoulders, the same blue eyes he’d looked into thousands of times, the same tiny birthmark at her temple. She was taller than Emily by several inches, probably five-foot-seven without shoes. Her skin was still fair. And she still fit perfectly in his arms.
He would never forget the first time she held his hand, or the hours they spent wandering the pasture at twilight, his arm around her shoulders, her arm around his waist, her cheek resting against him. They were young, but he loved her. He wanted to spend his life with her.
And then she cut him out of her life.
He wasn’t sure if they could have survived the betrayal that shocked them all that summer, but she didn’t even give them a chance to try.
She probably wouldn’t want to try again now. Too much water under the bridge and all that nonsense. Sure, she’d practically collapsed in his arms when he called her Buttercup, but she was injured and in shock. She would pull it together, and when she did, Dr. Collins would leave Buttercup behind and go back to pretending he didn’t exist.
