Chapter Eleven
Chad
Ivy was going to be fucking impressed with my culinary skills today. Mom was back from her cruise, and when I told her that I had been taking culinary lessons, she was pretty impressed. I did want to cook her lunch, but she was in town with Olivia. Apparently, having a girlie day out. I offered to look after Joshua, but mom wanted to spend time with him.
It didn’t sound like much of a girlie day out when they usually just spend too much time hanging out at Starbucks. I swear that place is an automatic magnet for moms and the retired. They always seem to want to hang out there.
I sent Ivy a text telling her that when she finishes work she should come to mine with Hazel. Sometimes I wonder if she has her phone in her hand all day waiting for my text. She usually replies in about ten seconds. Today, nothing and it has been nearly four hours since I sent it.
I shook my head about my paranoia, but I just couldn’t help it. I’d spent the last three months calling or texting, and she would reply straight away. What had happened today?
Shoot, was it our anniversary or something?
Even worse, her birthday?
Shit, I started to go through my calendar, because Martin had warned me about stuff like this. ‘Make sure you remember anniversaries and birthdays.’
He gave me a little guide book on relationships, seeing as he was the King of them these days. Noah and Kylie have another barbecue, and I wanted to take Ivy with me. But, I knew that I couldn’t take her without her knowing the truth. This fucking charade has gone on for far too long. Like three months too long.
“Yep,” I said as soon as I picked up the phone. I was lost in my thoughts and wondering if I’d missed something else and this is why Ivy hadn’t responded to my text. I sent it twice, and my phone said that not only did she receive it, but she read it, too.
“Chad, it’s Olivia.”
I shook my head, “Sorry sis. I didn’t know who it was.”
“Did you speak to Ivy?”
I cleared my throat because I was a bit surprised about sis mentioning her name.
“No. But you don’t know her.”
She choked, “Well, I do now. I thought that you told her all his time. I mean it’s been ages. Why didn’t you tell her Chad? Mom knows now, and she’s pissed. It was so fucking selfish. I mean you put this on me. Joshua. You showed me pictures of her. But I didn’t expect this. I mean God Chad.”
She was talking too fast and in riddles, which I fucking hate, so I didn’t know what she was talking about and she loves to do this. Mom does, too, and I feel as if I’m about to lose my fucking mind every time they do it. One will start a sentence, and the other would finish it. But neither of them make any sense.
“Mom. Ivy. You. What? Spill it out but slower this time.”
She took a deep breath, and I knew that whatever she had to say would involve me having to sit down. I moved to the living room and closed my eyes as I listened to what she had to say word for word.
“I was going to Starbucks with mom. You know I just needed to get out of the house. Losing my job has just driven me insane…”
“What? Did you lose your job? When? You just told me that you were on vacation.”
She murmured, “I couldn’t deal with telling you about it. I’m still trying to process the whole thing in my mind. One minute they’re giving me deadlines that I can’t reach without staying in the office 24/7 and the next I’m being told that my work’s not up to par.”
“Fucking bastards! We’ll sue. Don’t worry about that. They are not going to get away with it. You’ve been there five years. Even after you had Joshua, you took less of your maternity time and went back to work. That’s dedication and hard work all rolled up into one. They had no right…”
She gasped, “Chad, they had every right because they were right. I have a hard time focusing. I haven’t been honest with you either which is why I had to talk to mom.”
“Oh?”
She sighed, “Yes, Brent wants us to give it another go. He wants me to move to NY with him and give it a go there.”
I laughed, “Over my dead body. I mean the guy dumped you when you were pregnant and he just comes back and expects you to take him back.”
“That’s not exactly true. Brent dumped me before that. We were having problems and I tried to get pregnant on purpose just so that he wouldn’t leave…”
I had to interrupt her; I didn’t want to have this type of conversation on the phone. It was best to do it face-to-face. I’d learned that from the problems we had with Dan. He’s a new man now. Things started going in the right direction once we got his family involved. Then again, I saw Olivia every day, and she never said anything to me, but she wanted to do it all on the phone. I wonder what made her change her mind now?
“I’m coming over.”
She blurted out, “No. Brent’s here. Anyway, I called you for another reason. We can talk about this tomorrow when he leaves. I saw Ivy, she recognized Joshua, or maybe it was me. She knows, Chad. She knows.”
I dropped the phone and I could hear Olivia calling my name, but I felt as if all the air in the room had been sucked out because I couldn’t breathe. I knew that eventually Olivia would hang up and I could tell her that I was okay. I didn’t know if I was okay. I’d been a one-night guy until I met Ivy and I lied to her. Not a little white lie, but a big fucking one that was so far deep in the ocean I’d been drowning in for so long.
Now I knew why she didn’t reply to my text. She wasn’t coming to dinner tonight. I would be lucky if I ever saw her again. She hated me, and as I cupped my face, I couldn’t fucking blame her. I’d turned a two week lie into a three month one, just because I liked her. But the way that I was feeling right now. I knew that I was kidding myself. I didn’t just like Ivy. I felt a lot deeper than that. I fucking loved her.