“Oh, well, I’m so glad that you know how to handle my relationship better than me,” Ivy deadpanned. “What would I ever do without you?”
“You would cry without me,” Max shot back. “I know you’re upset about what happened last night, but … that’s not my fault. I’m sorry I told Mom and Dad. That was your place. They were just … going on and on about how they thought you and Jack would be married by Christmas at the rate you were going. I wanted them to rein in their expectations.”
Ivy was dumbfounded. “Married by Christmas? Are they crazy? We just started dating.”
Max was relieved his sister’s ire appeared to be shifting. “Anyone who has been in the same room with you and Jack knows that you two are so hot for each other that you’re ready to start the bed on fire.”
Ivy glared at him. “That doesn’t mean we’re getting married.”
“I’m glad you at least admit you’re hot for him,” Max said, chuckling. “Before now you were denying it every chance you got. Now you two can be hot to trot out in the open.”
“Max … you need to stay out of this,” Ivy said, her voice petulant but yielding. “Jack watched someone die on the pavement last night. It was a cop. He can’t help but liken that situation to his own. We’re not going to be … starting the mattress on fire … anytime soon.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Max said. “Just because something horrible happened, that doesn’t mean he’s not ready to move forward.”
“What if he’s not?”
Max stilled. “What do you mean?”
“I’m so worried, Max,” Ivy admitted, hacking at the potato plant again. “I just know he’s going to break my heart.”
Max sighed and reached for the shovel, wrestling it away from Ivy before she could kill the innocent plant. “There’s no need to take it out on the potato plant,” he chided. “It’s okay to be worried. When you have feelings for someone, you can’t help but fear the worst.
“The thing you have to realize is that Jack has those same feelings for you,” he continued. “I know you don’t want to see them because … well, you’re you … but he does have them. He didn’t want a relationship and yet he can’t stay away from you. That’s chemistry, in case you’re wondering.”
“Chemistry doesn’t heal his wounds,” Ivy challenged. “What if he changes his mind and decides he doesn’t like me?”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Max said. “He knows he likes you. We’ve talked about it. He’s giving up that fight. He wants you and he doesn’t care who knows it. I would worry more about dreams tearing him apart. He’s bound to have nightmares because of this.”
“I can handle his dreams,” Ivy muttered. “I redirected them to a beach last night.”
Max ran his tongue over his teeth, conflicted. This wasn’t the first time he’d heard about the dream walking, although he was still stymied by the mere idea of it. “Are you two really sharing dreams?”
“I … .” Ivy was caught. Talking about the dreams with Jack – the man sharing them with her – was one thing. Admitting to her brother that something magically wonky was happening was an entirely different story.
“You can tell me,” Max prodded. “I won’t tell anyone.”
Ivy made an exasperated face.
“I really won’t tell anyone this time,” Max promised. “I’m just … trying to understand. How are you guys sharing lucid dreams?”
“They’re not entirely lucid,” Ivy replied. “I mean … we know we’re in dreams when it’s happening. We didn’t realize we were sharing them at first.”
“What do you do in these dreams? If it’s something dirty, don’t tell me. I’ll be the one with nightmares if you do that.”
Ivy reached over and pinched Max’s knee. “You’re so gross!”
“Ow!” Max jerked his leg out of Ivy’s reach. “I’m going to wrestle you down and rub your face in my armpit for old time’s sake if you do that again. I’m warning you.”
Ivy groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose to ward off an oncoming headache. “At first they were just … regular dreams. We took walks in the woods. We looked up at the moon. It was so easy to talk to him when I thought it wasn’t really happening.”
Max clucked sympathetically. “In other words you let your guard down and him in when you thought it wasn’t real,” he surmised. “He did the same thing. You two got to know each other for real when you thought it was just your imagination running wild. Have you ever considered there might be some design in that?”
Ivy knit her eyebrows together. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe you and Jack are destined to be together,” Max suggested. “Maybe your subconscious minds did what your awake ones couldn’t and brought you together.”
“Maybe,” Ivy conceded. “I’m not sure that’s true, though. Jack started calling me into his nightmares about the shooting. He relived it over and over again. He didn’t want me there.”
“He might not have wanted you there, but he needed you there.”
“But … .”
Max shook his head. “Jack needed you to help him work through it and somehow you knew to go to him,” he said. “That sounds a little magical to me … like destiny.”
“When did you become such a romantic?”
“When I saw you and Jack together,” Max replied, unruffled. “I saw a different sort of magic there. Why aren’t you with him now?”
“I … why would I be with him now? He’s at work.”
“He’s also struggling because seeing that cop dead on the street caused his worst memories to resurface,” Max pointed out. “You might have chased the dreams away last night, but he’s still living with uncertainty today.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that … maybe you should follow your instincts and go to him instead of attacking that poor plant and me.”
Ivy rolled her eyes, although something in her brother’s words prodded her to realize he might have a
