“Dad!”
Michael chuckled. He was used to his daughter’s moods. She embarrassed easily – especially where he was concerned – and he enjoyed pushing the envelope. He liked to keep her on her toes. “I was just asking out of parental curiosity,” Michael said, flipping the top off the thermos and inhaling the rich scent with an appreciative groan. “You make a mean cup of coffee.”
“If you weren’t my father, I would fire you,” Ivy warned.
“If you weren’t my daughter I would … .” Michael squeezed Ivy’s cheek and gave it a good jiggle. “You’re so cute. Other than the circles under your eyes, I would say whatever you and Jack did last night was good for you.”
“I am not talking with you about that,” Ivy said, wagging a finger for emphasis. “That’s none of your business.”
“It must’ve been good then.”
Ivy inhaled heavily through her nose to calm herself. “If you must know, we had a lovely dinner in Bellaire,” she said. “Then, as we were taking a walk for ice cream after, we heard shots. We found a policeman dead on the street.”
Michael stilled, surprised. “I … are you making that up to get back at me for prying into your personal business?”
Ivy shook her head.
“Oh, Ivy,” Michael said, brushing his daughter’s hair away from her face so he could take in her weary demeanor with a fresh set of eyes. “I’m so sorry. That must’ve put a real damper on your date.”
“You could say that,” Ivy replied dryly. “Jack was … shaken up. We had to answer questions from the police for a few hours. As you can imagine, our night didn’t exactly end on a romantic note.”
“That must’ve been terrible for Jack,” Michael mused. “After the way he was shot … .” Michael broke off, realizing what he said when it was too late to haul the words back into his mouth.
Ivy slitted her eyes. “Who told you about that?”
“I … .”
“It was Max, wasn’t it?” Ivy charged. “I’m going to … .” She broke off, miming strangling someone.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Michael wanted to laugh at the display. He wisely thought better of it. “Your brother may have let what happened to Jack slip,” he conceded. “We both know he has your best interests at heart, though. You might want to give him a pass on this one.”
“Why would I possibly give him a pass?” Ivy was incensed. Her brother only knew about Jack’s ordeal because the police officer bravely related the story to a local runaway trying to come back from her own tragic situation. “That was not Max’s story to spread around.”
“He didn’t tell anyone but your mother and me,” Michael said, his voice even as he tried to rein in Ivy’s notorious temper. “He would never tell anyone else. He told us because we’re family.”
“He told you because he’s a gossip,” Ivy countered.
“That, too,” Michael conceded. “Ivy, there was no harm in Max telling us what happened to Jack. We knew he went through something in Detroit, even if you were keeping it to yourself. No one is ever going to bring it up to him. I promise.”
“They had better not,” Ivy hissed. “If anyone makes Jack uncomfortable about that I’ll … . Max better sleep with one eye open. I’m not joking.”
Michael wordlessly watched his daughter stalk away, pointed in the direction of the greenhouse, and internally cringed. Now probably wasn’t the time to tell her that Max was on his way for a visit. That would be much better as a surprise – especially when he was fairly certain she was in the mood to kill the messenger.
“HEY, baby sister,” Max said, poking his head into the greenhouse a half hour later, a leery expression on his face. “You look absolutely beautiful this morning. That pink in your skirt really sets off your … hair.”
Ivy scowled. “Max, I am not in the mood to see you right now,” she said, viciously hacking away at a potato plant she was trying to split up and move to separate pots. “I’m going to do this to you if you bug me.”
Max sighed. He loved his sister, but she was prone to dramatic fits. “I heard you had a rough night last night,” he said, moving farther into the greenhouse but keeping some distance between his sister and himself. “I’m sorry that happened. I know you and Jack were looking forward to your first date.”
Ivy made a face that would’ve been comical under different circumstances. “I am so mad at you!”
Max groaned. “Ivy, I didn’t mean to blab Jack’s secret to Mom and Dad,” he said, plopping down on the floor and keeping his gaze locked on Ivy’s small shovel in case she decided to use it as a weapon. “I kind of forgot they didn’t know and I brought it up a few days ago. They were cool with it.”
Ivy stilled, clutching the shovel tighter. “Why wouldn’t they be cool with it? It’s not Jack’s fault his partner was doing terrible things and shot him and left him to die in the street.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Max said hurriedly. “You know that’s not what I meant. It’s just … that’s a lot of baggage for one man to carry around. He almost died.”
“He didn’t die, though,” Ivy said, tugging on her limited patience. “You shouldn’t have told anyone what he said. You promised you wouldn’t.”
“Hey! You’re still my sister,” Max argued. “I’m allowed to look out for you. I like Jack. I think he’s a stand-up guy. On top of that I think he’s about the only one who can put up with your attitude.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you two are going to have to work together to move past that,” he continued. “Jack is … scarred … from what happened. He
