“What do you say we cut out early and get burgers?” he suggested.
“You and your donuts and your burgers.” She shook her head.
“You’re telling me you don’t like those things?” He was playing with her, teasing her. It felt like they were chasing each other.
“I love them!” Ivy said, untying her apron and throwing it over her desk. She’d figure out the other bills later. She’d figure out a way through this.
That evening, it was twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit, and the sky was pink and purple, glowing on the snow. Ivy and Elliot walked the four blocks to the burger place, chatting about Lily’s recent paper for her biology class, which she’d sent via email to Ivy, thrilled to show off her work. Elliot and Ivy had both read it, or tried to read it, and made very little sense of the thing.
“The language she uses reminds me of my time at MIT,” Elliot said, then he laughed. “I shouldn’t say it like that. It’s not like I got into MIT!”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Ivy said. She fought her sudden urge to lace her fingers through his.
“Trust me, I know what I’m good at,” he said. “And your Lily’s good at this whole college thing. That’s clear.”
Ivy’s heart swelled. “I couldn’t believe it, but last night via text message, she told me about this guy she likes. He’s in her linguistics class. They’re talking about studying together. I mean, she’s never opened up to me about anyone she has a crush on!”
Elliot cut her a crooked smile. “It sounds like you’re at the beginning of a really beautiful relationship,” he said. “A really different kind than you had before.”
Ivy nodded. “I think so.”
Ivy didn’t tell him that Lily had asked three times about Ivy’s relationship with Elliot, if there was anything to report. Ivy played coy about it. There really wasn’t anything to tell. They spent all day, every day together. They joked together and told each other everything.
But Ivy still wasn’t sure what it meant.
At the burger place, Ivy ordered a vegetarian burger with goat cheese, remembering Flora and how important it was for her for the world to cut down on meat. She’d already surprised herself with how delicious she found vegetarian burgers. Elliot opted for a regular burger with extra cheddar and extra onions.
“I’m going to smell amazing after this,” he joked.
They grabbed a booth in the corner and sipped beers, waiting for their order.
“By the way,” Elliot said, “my sister was thinking of coming by tomorrow to chat about her wedding. Would you be open to that?”
“Of course!” Ivy said. “When’s the date again?”
“Not till May,” Elliot said.
“What’s the guy like?” Ivy asked.
Their order was called, and Elliot got up to grab their burgers and fries and set them between them. He fetched them enough napkins to handle the grease, then sat and considered her question.
“He’s a whole lot better than a lot of her other boyfriends,” he said at last.
Ivy burst out laughing. “That bad?”
Elliot sighed. “She’s never had the best taste in guys. I didn’t get along with most of them. Her first husband was really manipulative and demanded that she move across the country for a while. She called me crying and asked me to come pick her up, so I drove all the way to Washington State to help her pack up and bring her home. It was an awful trip. Lots of crying, lots of silence. I couldn’t get her out of her dark mood for anything. By then, I’d of course already gone through my divorce, but she didn’t want any advice. Not from me or anyone.”
Ivy watched Elliot’s face transform from sorrow to rage and back again as he spoke about his sister and his worries for her.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met your sister,” Ivy realized.
“She was a few years younger than us at school,” he said. “She was in eighth grade when we were seniors, so you wouldn’t have seen her at the high school.”
Ivy considered this. “Remember how young people just one year younger than us seemed back then?”
“It’s wild. I thought I had a ton of authority as a senior,” Elliot agreed, grabbing a fry and crunching the end. “What did you think of me back then?”
Ivy remembered handsome, broad-shouldered Elliot with his letterman jacket and his gorgeous girlfriend on his arm. “It looked like you had everything figured out.”
