?I don?t think Will would love to.? Ivy glanced over her shoulder. Will and Beth were watching her, and Ivy assumed they had guessed who was calling her. She could ignore their stares and hostility, but it wasn?t fair to subject Guy to it.
?Tomorrow then,? she said. They talked a minute more before she returned to the table.
?I can guess who that was,? Kelsey teased. Ivy popped the tip of her cone in her mouth. ?The gorgeous amnesiac.?
?The guy they fished out of the ocean?? Bryan asked, his interest piqued.
?In Chatham, right?? Max added. ?What was his name??
?He still doesn?t remember,? Ivy said. ?He calls himself Guy.?
?How original,? Chase remarked. ?I just don?t see how anybody can remain un-known for so long,? Bryan said. ?Did you Google him?? Chase leaned forward, ?Using what search word??
?I tried Missing Persons in Massachusetts and Rhode Island,? Will told them.
Ivy looked at him with surprise. ?And I assume the police and hospital did the same. I checked again yesterday, but there are still no matches.?
?Why didn?t you try the FBI?s Most Wanted List!? Ivy exclaimed. ?I did. Of course, you have to be already convicted for mat.? Ivy turned away. ?I checked with a friend of my father?s in New York, a criminal defense attorney.?
Ivy swung back. “l can?t believe you did that!? Will continued calmly: ?He said that there are major turf battles and little communication between law enforcement officials from one town to the next and across state borders. Unless a person is running a major drug ring or part of a terrorist group, he could be on the lam or a suspect in a crime, and someone just ten miles away wouldn?t be the wiser.?
It took all of Ivy?s effort not to blow up at him in front of the others. ?Thank you for such a thorough investigation, Will.? She crumpled the cone?s tissue wrapper, and rising, tossed it in a trash can before heading back to the ice.
She had skated half a lap when Bryan caught up with her.
?Contrary to popular opinion, you have a temper,? he said, grinning at her.
?Everyone has a point at which they lose their cool,? Ivy replied.
?Absolutely,? he agreed. ?It?s one of the interesting things you learn when getting to know a person, the point at which they break. You don?t break easily,” he added. Ivy kept skating. ?Is that because you have extreme self?control or because you naively believe that people aren?t sticking it to you??
?Are those the only two reasons you see for not losing your temper??
He skated in front of her, turning to face her, skating backward. ?You know another one?? ?Yes. You don?t want to hurt the other person/? ?Oh,
He slipped around behind her and skated close, his movements precisely matching hers. He faced her again, then turned her so that she skated backward.
Like a good dancer, Bryan had both the strength and skill to know how to lean and turn his partner, making it seem easy. Skating with him was fun and Ivy smiled.
Tiring of their dance, Bryan played a pretend game of hockey, rushing ahead, stopping on a dime, spinning back and circling Ivy as close as another skater could without actually touching. He skated backward, then charged her, as if he had a hockey puck, feinting to the left and the right. Ivy grinned and figured she was supposed to keep on skating — that he counted on her to hold a straight and steady line as he weaved and dodged about her. But once he faked so well she couldn?t help it: She veered suddenly and they collided.
?Whoa!? He grabbed her to keep her from falling and they spun around, Bryan laughing and holding her tightly. When they stopped spinning, he didn?t let go, not right away. Ivy extracted herself from his arms and saw Kelsey watching them.
?Let’s just skate,? Ivy said quietly to Bryan. ?I think you?ve won this round with Kelsey.? Bryan pulled her hand through the crook of his arm and skated in an easy rhythm with her. ?And do you think that is all that I was trying to do — get to Kelsey??
?Yes.?
?Okay, I?ll play along with you on that. I can pretend that I am madly in love with Kelsey and see no other girl but Kelsey, not even a girl with incredible hair and green eyes that a guy would never forget.? When Ivy didn?t respond, he turned to her. ?I fake pretty well, you know.? ?I know.?
?You saw how well I could feint to the left and right. I can do that in more than hockey.”
?Yes, and you saw what happens when you fake too convincingly. Not all collisions end well.?
Bryan?s eyes gleamed, and he threw back his head and laughed. ?You have no idea,? he said, then skated off.
Guy smiled and spread a towel beneath the dappled shade of an old apple tree.
They sat, resting back on their elbows, and talked about work: the eccentric artist whose lawn full of sculptures Guy had trimmed that morning, and the hermit crab Ivy had found hidden under a child?s pillow. Guy?s laughter came so much easier now. Ivy savored the sound of it.
?Do you want a swimming lesson today?? she asked. ?I was hoping you had brought your suit.?
She nodded. ?And a float. I?ll be right back.? Ivy changed her clothes in Guy?s shed, then cut across the long grass to the pond. A hundred feet from the water she stopped. Guy was nowhere in sight. The cat stood at the pond?s sandy edge, staring at the water. Guy?s T?shirt lay next to him.
?Oh my God!? Ivy dropped the float and flew down the bank. ?Guy!? she shouted. Ten feet into the pond she saw his dark shape at the bottom. ?Guy!?
She reached down to pull him up. At the same time he rose to his feet, knocking Ivy backward into the water. Caught by surprise, she came up coughing and sneezing. ?What the heck were you doing??
?What were you doing?? he asked back, then, realizing the answer, started grinning. ?Oh, you were saving me!? Feeling foolish. Ivy didn?t smile.
?I?ve been practicing staying under water,? Guy explained. ?I have to be able to face this fear without my lifeguard hovering over me. Don?t be mad, Ivy.? I She couldn?t be. It was the same thing she had told Tristan the day she had arrived at the pool before him and tested her courage by diving for a penny.
?Look what I found,? Guy said, opening his palm. Ivy?s breath caught at the sight of the shiny penny.
?I saw it flashing under the water, like a piece of sun,? he told her. ?It?s a sign.?
She looked up quickly. ?A sign… of what?? Tristan, are you there? she asked silently. Guy hesitated. ?Hope. Or maybe it?s just a penny.?
?No, it?s a sign,? she told him. He studied the penny. ?Think I?ll put this on the blanket. I don?t want to lose my piece of hope.? Ivy watched Guy walk to shore, head down, seeming deep in thought as he examined the penny. Should she tell him about that day at the pool when they first kissed? But if Tristan was hiding in Guy and if Lacey was right…. ?Ready for a swimming lesson?? she asked when he returned, carrying the float.
?As ready as ever.?
?Okay. Kicking, breathing, and floating, those are today?s objectives,? she told him, trying to sound teacher? like and disguise the fact that she felt his eyes wherever they lit on her skin.
She coached him on the flutter kick, then instructed him to use the float and kick his way back and forth across the pond. Their lesson moved on to breathing: ?Pretend the water?s a pillow for your head,? she told him, as Tristan had once told her.
?You?re a natural!? she announced ten minutes later. ?You tell that to all your students.? ?Let’s try the back float.” she said, and demonstrated it.
Guy studied her for a long minute, then cocked his head in a flirty way. ?Can I just watch??
?No.? Grinning, he dropped back in the water, seat first, and sank straight down. When he came up sputtering, Ivy laughed, and he splashed her.
?T did the same thing when I was learning. You have to arch your spine and drop your head back far enough so that the water is lapping your forehead.? 1
She showed him again. She remembered how Tristan had placed a hand under her back to support her, then
