“Well, you’ve done that,” Brian said. “You just have to get her to forgive you.”
Jack scowled. “Do you have to keep bringing up Ivy? It’s bad enough that I can’t stop thinking about how much better her potato salad was … or how much better her sandwich was … or how much I miss her smile. You’re making this worse.”
“Ugh. You’re wrecked, son. Give in and do the right thing. You’re not going to feel better until you do.”
“And what happens if Ivy dies because I can’t stand to be without her?”
“What happens if she dies because you were being a horse’s ass and staying away from her?” Brian challenged.
“I … .”
The sound of Brian’s desk phone ringing cut off Jack’s answer, saving him from the prospect of having to admit he was desperate to do exactly what Brian suggested. “Saved by the bell,” Brian muttered, lifting the receiver. “Brian Nixon.”
Jack watched his partner, the man’s eyes narrowing and causing Jack to straighten in his chair. Something was going on.
“Ivy, slow down,” Brian ordered, causing Jack’s heart to roll.
“Is that Ivy? Give me that phone.” Jack reached for it, but Brian pushed his chair back and slapped Jack’s greedy hand away.
“Are you sure that’s what happened?” Brian asked, his tone grave. “Where are you now? Okay. No … Ivy, do not get out of that vehicle. Make yourself small and get down as close to the floor of the car as you can. I’m on my way. I’ll be there as fast as I can. Don’t risk getting out of that car and trying to run to your house. You’ll only make yourself an easier target.”
Brian disconnected and jumped to his feet. “We have to go.”
“What happened?” Jack felt as if he was swimming in quicksand.
“Someone shot out Ivy’s tire and caused her to fly into the ditch by her house,” he said. “She’s okay … the front window shattered … but she’s exposed. We have to get out there.”
IVY wasn’t having the best day. Between losing Jack, feeling a ghost brush up against her, having to listen to her aunt extol all of Jack’s virtues, and now being shot at … again … she was pretty much at her limit.
She heard a vehicle approach from her spot on the car floor, but she was too terrified to look up. When the driver’s side door flew open, Ivy instinctively covered her face. The next thing she knew she was being hauled out of the car and into Jack’s arms.
Jack cried out when he saw her, pressing his face against hers as he rocked her. He’d almost convinced himself she would be dead by the time they got to her. He was sure he’d never get a chance to apologize. “Honey … I … .”
He was crying. For a second Ivy couldn’t understand why he was shaking. That’s when she realized what was happening. “I’m okay, Jack. I’m … shaken up, but I’m okay.”
Jack sobbed as he held her, opening his mouth to offer her reassuring words and yet finding none.
“Jack, you’re smothering her,” Brian said, tugging on his partner’s arm. “Let her breathe.”
Jack refused to relinquish his grasp.
“It’s okay,” Ivy said, her expression rueful. “It’s probably the best thing that’s happened to me all day. How sad is that?”
Brian offered her a sympathetic smirk, but the expression didn’t make it all the way up to his eyes. “You’re cut up a little on your cheek there, kid. Does anything else hurt?”
Ivy shifted her eyes to Jack. “Just my heart.”
After a few more minutes of incoherent crying, Jack finally released his grip on Ivy so he could walk her back to the cottage. Brian moved with them to the front porch, his eyes alert, but then he left them to a few moments of privacy as he moved back out to the road to take care of Ivy’s vehicle and wait for backup.
Jack checked Ivy’s house to make sure it was empty, Nicodemus shooting him a disdainful look as he waited next to his food bowl, and then Jack turned his full attention to Ivy. “Let me see your face.”
Ivy’s hand flew up to her cheek, flinching when she made contact with the cut. “Well, I guess this is the frosting on top of the cupcake of my day.”
Jack pressed his lips together. “It’s not bad. I’ll clean it up and make sure there’s not any glass in it, but … it won’t scar or anything.”
“That’s good,” Ivy quipped. “It’s going to be hard enough to get a man when I have pink hair and a gunshot wound. When you add a disfigured face into the mix, I’m going to be considered the new hunchback of Shadow Lake.”
“I don’t want you to say that.” Jack swallowed hard. “I … .”
“Oh, lighten up, Jack,” Ivy chided. “If now isn’t the time for inappropriate dating humor, when is?”
“I don’t want you joking about dating anyone else,” Jack admitted. “I … we’re going to fix this and then you’re going to be dating me. I don’t like to share.”
“How are we going to fix this, Jack?” Ivy challenged. “You don’t want to be with me. I’m not going to force you to do something you’re uncomfortable with. We’re … done.”
“Shut up and sit on the table,” Jack instructed, striding down her hallway so he could gather her first aid kit from the bathroom – and his nerve. When he returned to the kitchen, he was surprised to find her doing exactly what he asked. “I guess you’re more shaken up than you want to admit, huh? You’re actually doing something I told you to do. It must be
