Page 95 of An Adventure For Aster

“I like this side of you,” Ivy said. “Raine said she had such a great time on vacation. She’s never been. I’ve never had one either. Not like that. But then I’ve traveled all over the world so much that I don’t care or need to do those things.”

He’d heard about Ivy, Jasmine, and Dahlia’s upbringing. How their father was a doctor with Doctors Without Borders and they’d lived in poverty-stricken areas until they were eighteen when they all moved to America.

“Not everyone needs special or fancy things,” Ivy said.

“Not me,” he said.

“And not Raine.”

He turned his head to see Brooks walk in the door. “There is my future hubby,” Ivy said, all but skipping to Brooks. Raine’s brother leaned down and gave Ivy a quick kiss.

“Here are your shoes,” Brooks said. “You’re lucky you caught me leaving and I had to run out this way anyway.”

He saw the sneakers in Brooks's hands and Ivy slipped off her heels and put the sneakers on with her dress.

“Thank you. I hadn’t expected to be here all day and it’s not safe to be walking around with these on, but Laurel and I have a lot to talk about,” Ivy said. “See you both.”

He watched Ivy all but run out of the room and toward Laurel’s office, leaving him standing there with Raine’s brother.

“She’s a handful,” Brooks said.

“And you’d have her no other way,” he said.

“Never,” Brooks said. “Raine seems happy.”

“She is,” he said. Aster wasn’t sure where this was going.

“Considering what happened on Friday, I wasn’t sure. How do you feel about it?”

“Feel about what?” he asked. “What happened?”

Brooks lifted his eyebrow. “Never mind.”

“Oh no,” he said. “You said it, you can explain yourself.”

“I’d rather not,” Brooks said. “Raine can have a temper.”

“I haven’t seen it, but if something happened to your sister, I’d like to think someone in her family would let me know. You’re acting like it was a big or important thing.”

Aster didn’t like knowing that maybe they were keeping something from him.

And he’d push the guilt aside that maybe he wasn’t completely honest about his fears with the pains he felt. He told her what he knew. That he had a clean bill of health. End of story.

The other secret, his money. Well, that wasn’t anyone’s business.

He was justifying it that way in his mind.

It’s not like he’d go around bragging he was given that money or had it. He was only dating Raine. A conversation like that didn’t come up.

Yes, they loved each other, but it’s not like they were married and she needed to know those details.

“She’s going to kill me,” Brooks said. “But I might as well tell you what I know since I let this much slip.”

“Yes,” he said. “You should. What is going on?”

Brooks nodded his head to the side and he followed him over.

“Raine’s ex is back in town.”

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