“All right,” Ivy said finally, her voice cracking as though she were about to weep. “Let’s meet the second week of January. We can talk about your ideas. We can talk about your sister’s wedding.”
Maybe I’ll feel better by then, Ivy thought, although she knew her heart would be heavy with Lily gone.
Chapter Eleven
Spring 2009
Tyler was six months old today. Ivy closed the flower shop for the day and set to work on a beautiful family celebration at home, one with strawberry shortcake, balloons, and floral decorations she made by hand. Only the family would be in attendance: her father, Wren (who was preparing to leave for good, she often told them), Daniel, toddler Lily, and, of course, baby Tyler. Daniel told her he had class all morning but would be back by midafternoon, just in time to turn on the grill and get to work on the barbecue chicken. As he sped out the door, buttoning his shirt, he paused to press a kiss on her forehead.
Daniel was always in a rush these days, always speeding off to school. When Ivy asked him what he was learning about, he usually muttered something about the history of Europe, about France or Ancient Prussia or where the Roman Army marched during such-and-such a time. Ivy had begun to think of Daniel as a man who lived in another era, as the husband she’d married on another timeline.
As Ivy frosted the cake, Wren sat at the kitchen table with baby Tyler in her arms and talked about her plans for the future: a flight to Paris, a sailing adventure across Greece, a motorcycle ride through Thailand. It all sounded so fantastical to Ivy, like a life nobody should ever dare dream of. She wanted to tell Wren to “take it easy and keep it safe,” but she knew that would make Wren angry and might even make her leave the birthday party.
“How is Daniel’s college career going?” Wren asked when Ivy hadn’t said anything for too long. She often got itchy like that and had to fill the silence.
Ivy sucked a bit of frosting from her finger and, against her wishes, pictured Daniel in his car, kissing whoever it was he was having an affair with. Probably a younger woman who still had dreams of becoming something she shouldn’t become. Probably a younger woman who’d never birthed children and whose waistline was tight.
“He’s excited about it,” Ivy said simply.
“You must not miss the fishy smell,” Wren said knowingly.
“That never really bothered me,” Ivy lied.
“It’s funny that it took you going after your dreams for him to realize he had dreams in the first place,” Wren pointed out. “Don’t you think?”
Ivy was unwilling to go there, not with her sister and not with anyone, not when it came to her husband, whom she was legally required to stand for. Wasn’t she? So she lied again. “Daniel’s always wanted to take college courses. He talked about it on our first date.”
Wren pinched her face. “On your first date? In high school?”
Ivy nodded, trying to enfold such a conversation into their first date, which had been a combination bowling-and-diner situation that had ended with them making out in the rusty truck he’d had back then. Their conversations had had nothing to do with their dreams. They’d probably talked about how much they hated school and how much they loved Slurpees or something.
When Tyler fell asleep in Wren’s arms, Wren took him upstairs and then came back down to play with Lily. Lily was nearly two years old, with curly hair that Ivy struggled to control. It was nearly time for a haircut. Lily carried a doll everywhere with her, a doll she called Girlie. When she got tired, too, Wren took her upstairs to her room, then returned, propped her elbows on the table, and asked when Daniel was due back for the party. It was nearly four, and they’d planned to eat by six, after Lily woke up from her nap.
“He should be back any second,” Ivy said simply. The cake was finished and shining in the sunshine on the kitchen counter. “He won’t let anyone else work the grill.”
Wren frowned. “Can I ask you a question?”
Ivy looked at her sister. She knew that she was in for something dark. “Okay.”
“Would you ever divorce him?”
Ivy’s jaw dropped open with surprise. Her head spun with questions. Did Wren know about Daniel’s other woman? Did perhaps everyone in Bluebell Cove know? Daniel had never been the most discreet of men. It was possible he even bragged to friends at the bar about his girlfriend, openly stating he wanted to leave Ivy, Lily, and Tyler behind.
“Why are you asking me that?” Ivy demanded. Ice laced across her heart.
“It’s just a question,” Wren said. “I’ve been wondering if I ever want to get married and settle down, but I think I’d eventually want to get divorced and have a different story with someone else. You know, because we only get one life, and I’d want to know what it was like to fall in love and marry another guy.”
Ivy blinked at her little sister. “You won’t feel like that when you actually get married.”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s so much more than a romantic relationship,” Ivy said. “It’s the foundation of your life.”
Listen to yourself, Ivy, she thought. Your “life foundation” is probably off somewhere with his girlfriend. Maybe he refers to you as his ball and chain.
“You can’t just break down the foundation of your life without hurting yourself,” Ivy said.
Wren laughed. “People do it all the time.”
