Jason remained in the exact same spot, the woman railing at him about her car, but his eyes were fixed on Ivy. He’d watched her cross the distance and seemed completely focused on her. It was enough to make Ivy distinctly uncomfortable.
“What’s up, Buttercup!”
Max appeared out of nowhere, landing next to Ivy and dropping into a gyrating dance. “How was your afternoon on the chain gang?”
Ivy could do nothing but stare blankly at her brother. “I swear I’m reformed. I’ll never get in trouble with the law again.”
Max chuckled. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” His eyes turned serious as he studied her face. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t want to relate her afternoon to him so she only nodded. “I’m fine. I’m just not used to working outdoors all day.”
Max frowned. “You work in a plant nursery.”
“I have to go.” Ivy headed straight for her car. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, she was gone. Her thoughts, though, remained on the road several hundred feet away. Somehow, the interaction felt important. She just had to figure out how.
7
Seven
Ivy was in a foul mood when she walked through the front door. The bulk of it dissipated when she saw the three vases of fresh flowers Jack had placed around the house. There was also a huge box of candy, and a gift card for the spa one town over.
“Jack.” Ivy smiled at the pretty pink roses as she ran her fingers over them.
“Do you like them?” He snuck up behind her and planted a kiss on the back of her neck.
“They’re beautiful.” She automatically turned in his arms and burrowed close. “Thank you.”
His heart hitched at how soft her voice was muffled against his chest. He’d promised he wouldn’t bring up the notion of her switching crews, but her abject unhappiness weakened his resolve. “The magistrate saw how bad things were for you today. Maybe if I talk to him ... .” He trailed off.
“You can’t do that, Jack,” she chided. “It will reflect poorly on you.”
“I don’t care.”
“Well, I care.” She tipped back her head and regarded him with calm eyes. “It’s only a couple of weeks.”
“That’s going to feel like a lifetime if you’re stuck with that guy.”
“Yeah, well ... I have to deal. I don’t really have a choice in the matter.”
“What if I can make it so you do have a choice?”
“No.” She shook her head, firm. “This is my problem. It’s not your problem. You need to stop worrying.”
Jack’s scowl was pronounced. “And what if I don’t want stop worrying? Last time I checked, you and I were a unit. That means when you’re unhappy, I’m unhappy.”
For some reason, his belligerence made her smile. “It’s enough that you’re angry on my behalf. You can’t get involved in this, though. If word gets back that you’re trying to intimidate my crew chief then not only could you get in trouble, but they might increase my punishment. I don’t want that. I would rather go through three weeks of hell than eight weeks of a cushy position.”
He opened his mouth to argue and then snapped it shut. She had a point ... loath as he was to admit it.
“We don’t have a choice in the matter,” she reminded him. “If I don’t finish my sentence on time, we won’t be able to go on our honeymoon. That’s what’s keeping me going. In a little over a month, we’re going to be married. I would prefer this not be hanging over our heads when that happens.”
She was right. He hated that she was right. “I know.” He wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on her forehead. Only one time in his life had he felt this helpless. It was after he was shot and left for dead. The weeks following that incident had left him in a bad state, depressed and determined to avoid everybody in his life. Ivy was the one who had brought him out of that funk. He owed her, and he refused to repay her by fouling things up.
“We’ll suffer through,” he said after a beat. “We’ll do it together, like we do everything else.”
That had her smile returning. “Last time I checked, I was the one who had to pick up garbage on the side of the highway. You can’t help me with that. We’ll get in trouble.”
“I would totally help you if I could.”
“I know that.” She tipped up her chin and grinned at him. “I’m thinking that you’re going to have to help by giving me an extravagant massage each night when I get home. We’re talking scented oils and a full hour of rubbing here.”
“I’m more than willing to rub you until my fingers fall off. It’s going to have to wait until later tonight, though.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “Why?” She hated how petulant she sounded. She didn’t consider herself a whiny person and yet that’s exactly how she sounded today. “Let’s hide away from the real world for the entire night.”
“Oh, honey.” He looked pained. “I want to give you everything you could possibly want, but we have a dinner on the books tonight. It’s been scheduled for almost two weeks.”
“Um ... I think I would remember that.”
“I would, too, especially since you were swearing like a belligerent trucker when you agreed to it.”
That’s when realization hit Ivy smack in the face. “Family dinner.”
He offered up a tight-lipped smile. “Family dinner. Now that everyone is ... getting along ... we agreed to a big dinner so we could spend some time with Dorian.”
Dorian Lanning was a recent addition to the Morgan family. Er, well, he was more like a return addition. Years before, he’d been Felicity Goodings’ boyfriend. Circumstances had torn them apart,
