“It’s impossible to,” Landon said. “It’s your first semester, which means it’s all a big exploration for you. As long as you take a few classes in your chosen discipline and let yourself experiment a little bit with other courses, you can’t go wrong.”
Lily glanced at Ivy, who forced herself to keep her eyes upright. Ivy didn’t want to seem afraid of how this rolled out.
“It’s crazy to imagine that I’ll be there in, like, two weeks?” Lily said.
“You’re going to love it,” Sophie said. “I always say that I didn’t know anything about myself before I went to college.”
“I mean, I know not everyone has to go to college. Like, it’s not always essential. But I know it is for the career I want to go after,” Lily said, careful to adjust the conversation for Ivy and what Ivy had done. She didn’t want to offend her mother, nor the memory of her father, Daniel.
“Your father went to college,” Ivy interjected, remembering Daniel’s night classes, his sudden belief that he could be something more than what he was.
“I didn’t know that,” Celia said, her fork poised above her plate.
“You never told us that!” Lily said, her face open, echoing shock.
Tyler leaned over the table. They were curious about their father, especially since Ivy spoke so little about him. They hadn’t begged her for details about him in a few years. Ivy realized now that it wasn’t because they weren’t still interested. They’d probably stopped because she hadn’t had much to say.
“What was his major?” Lily asked.
Ivy knew that Daniel had never declared a major and had only taken a few classes at the community college. But she remembered he’d had a history class. Something to do with European History. “He was studying the Roman Empire. It was all a bit over my head.”
Tyler gaped at her. Lily looked as though she were about to cry. She was probably thinking that she took after her father and had his genius mind.
“The Roman Empire!” Wren said, impressed.
“Yes, well.” Ivy raised her shoulders and scraped her fork over her ham. “I wish he could have gotten to see you heading off to college, Lily. He would have been proud.”
It was the first time she’d said something like this since Lily had gotten into college. Lily’s eyes filled with tears and glinted with Christmas tree lights. Celia raised her glass and suggested a toast to Daniel, and they all did, the kids with their sodas and the rest with their wine. Ivy cursed herself for having brought up Daniel in the first place. But she sensed that saying his name had brought her children closer to her, if only a little bit.
A few days after Christmas, Ivy was upstairs in bed, reading over what needed to be done if she wanted to sell the flower shop within the next few months. Reading it felt like putting her hand on a stovetop. She still hadn’t googled what it meant to declare bankruptcy, as it terrified her too much and made her feel as though she’d really failed. More than that, she was worried that something about it would affect the Bluebell Cove Eco-Lodge, that it would take money from their father’s trust and force her sisters to scatter to the four corners of the country again. Was that possible? It was an anxious thought from nowhere and probably had no bearing in reality. But what did she know about finances? She’d never gone to college. She rolled her eyes at herself.
It was then that she received a phone call from Elliot Rhodes.
Ivy stared at the name, feeling out of her mind. She hadn’t yet showered today, and her hair fell in strings down her pillow. But it wasn’t like Elliot was asking to video chat. It wasn’t like he could see her. Could he? Feeling foolish, she glanced at the window but saw nothing but the steady stream of snow outside. She willed herself to answer the phone.
“Hello?”
“Ivy? Hey!” Elliot sounded happy, as though he hadn’t assumed she would pick up. “Merry Christmas. Guess where I am?”
Ivy couldn’t help it; her lips quivered into a strange smile. It was something about his voice. It was something about how happy he sounded, just because he had her on the phone.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Are you on the moon?”
“Close,” he said. “I’m at your flower shop. Standing outside, actually. But you’re not there.”
“What? Yes, I am,” she said. “Did you try the door?”
“The door’s locked,” he said. “And it’s all dark back there. I think you might be pulling my leg.”
Ivy snorted and snuck deeper beneath her covers. She felt endlessly cozy, all of a sudden. “We’re closed until the new year,” she explained. “Do you need flowers desperately? Like, right now?”
What was this flirty voice she was using? Where had she found it?
“I don’t need any flowers, actually,” he said. “But I wanted to discuss the deal we made a couple of weeks back. The one where you do the flowers for my sister’s wedding in exchange for me fixing up the flower shop?”
Ivy half remembered the conversation at the Autumn Festival, the whipped dessert, the bright jolt of caramel across her tongue.
“I don’t remember agreeing to that,” she said.
