Was she afraid of what that had felt like?
They reached the festival: lines and lines of food trucks, beer and wine stands, and festival games. A local band called The Grand Slam played covers from a stage in front of city hall, and people Ivy had known her entire life milled past, saying hello to “the Harper girls!”
“So nice to see you all together!”
After things settled a little, Celia clapped her hands and looked at each of the other Harper girls. “Who wants a glass of wine? I’m buying.” She smiled at Lily and said, “Not you, of course, sweetie. But I’ll get you something. A soda?”
Lily agreed on a soda, and Celia, Juliet, and Wren got in line to buy. This left Ivy and Lily behind them, standing in the glare of a surprisingly warm sun. A few feet away was a flickering bonfire and a few children and their parents, crisping marshmallows for s’mores.
“Did you hear me say that Madeline and Maggie are in town?” Lily asked.
“I did.” Ivy remembered the three girls upstairs in Lily’s bedroom, whispering secrets over the span of what felt like a thousand sleepovers. She hoped they weren’t yet at the festival, as she wanted to steal some time with her daughter before they ripped her away.
“How do they like being away from home?” Ivy asked. “Are they all right?”
“Oh, they’re fine! They’re great!” Lily laughed. “Maggie broke up with Rowan, but I think we all knew that was coming, like three years ago. She already has a new boyfriend. He’s from Rhode Island, I think? And Madeline’s dating around.”
Ivy tried not to betray her fear that Lily would leave Bluebell Cove just to go date some random college guy. “College isn’t supposed to be about dating, is it?” She tried to laugh. “Shouldn’t they be figuring out their careers?”
Lily gave her a look that meant duh, Mom.
“It’s more than that,” Lily said. “They’re trying to figure out who they are in the world.”
Ivy felt as though Lily was parroting exactly what her Aunt Celia had said. Before she could come up with a response, however, Celia was back with her wine and Lily’s soda. They clinked glasses and said, “To Bluebell!” Ivy tried to match her sisters’ smiles. She tried to get on board with their joy as they hurried to the festival game down the road, the one where you spin a wheel of fortune. She hugged Lily when Lily won herself a massive teddy bear. She forced herself not to start crying when Celia said, “Are you really going to take that teddy bear to college with you?”
Lily said, “Of course! He’s my beloved.” She hugged him tighter.
“You’ll get a college boyfriend and forget all about him,” Wren said.
Ivy tried not to cast a monstrous look at her little sister. But Wren caught it anyway. As Lily, Juliet, and Celia walked up ahead, Wren sidled up to Ivy and asked, “Are you really not going to let her go to college?”
Ivy was floored at the accusation, if only because she’d never verbally said that. “What? No.”
Wren was quiet for a moment, her eyes reflecting the thousands of orange, yellow, and red plastic flowers that gazed down at them from all the floats and stands. Ivy wondered what her sister would say if she told her about the pile of bills at the flower shop. But Wren didn’t have the kind of money to help her. She didn’t have the business wherewithal to get her through.
Did any of them? Ivy had always assumed that she was the business wiz. That felt laughable, now.
One day, she’d woken up at the flower shop in her life, and realized she was drowning.
“Just remember that Lily has to live her own life,” Wren said gently.
And then, just when Ivy felt on the brink of going crazy, she heard her name. “Ivy?” She spun around to find Elliot Rhodes behind her, dressed in a bulky Carhartt coat with a red flannel and a pair of jeans beneath. Her heart pumped in her chest. He was holding a salted-caramel whipped-cream pie, an autumnal dessert. And his eyes told her that he didn’t see anyone at the festival save for her.
“Hi,” Ivy said, her voice wavering. She stopped short, as though her legs couldn’t bring her a step forward.
Wren waved at Elliot, either immune to how Elliot was looking at Ivy or hoping to help Ivy, who was obviously clueless when it came to matters of the heart.
“How’s your festival going?” Wren asked.
Elliot stepped closer and raised his dessert. “It just got a whole lot better. I have a massive sweet tooth, unfortunately. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to escape it.”
“Sweets are a reason to keep going.” Wren grinned.
Elliot smiled back, proof—Ivy now understood—that he should date her sister instead of her. Wren was in town, with no sign of leaving Bluebell Cove any time soon. But suddenly, his eyes flickered back to Ivy, and her heart dropped into her stomach.
“I’m going to catch up with Lily,” Wren said, waving again as she backed away.
Ivy understood that she needed to stay put. She wasn’t sure why she agreed to do this, why she allowed herself. But then, Elliot put his fork in her hand and urged her to take a bite of his dessert. “You have to try it,” he said. “Honestly, it’s better than it’s ever been. And I know you’ve been to as many Autumn Festivals as I have.”
