Page 66 of Wasted On You

“Why didn’t you wake me earlier?” She shoved the cup into the microwave, her level of grump increasing by the second.

“Because you’ve been sleeping like shit all week, and I thought you needed the extra time.”

“A lot of good it did.” She made a face and watched the cup go round and round.

“Here I was hoping you’d come out of that dungeon a new person.”

Ivy grabbed the mug and gulped down some of the lukewarm liquid. She eyed Kip overtop of the cup and shrugged. “I’d put on a happy face, but I’m not feeling it.”

It had been nearly a week since she’d seen Mike Paul. Nearly a week since they’d spoken, and he’d left her place, leaving Ivy with the proverbial ball in her court. The dreams were getting ridiculous. Seriously, a girl could only take so much. She’d told Kip as much the minute he’d walked through the door last Sunday night.

“I’m done, Kip. I can’t do this anymore. It’s gotten too complicated.”

Tired from a long ass trip home from Japan, he’d sunk onto the sofa and offered a small smile. But it didn’t reach his eyes, and she knew something was off.

“Can we hold off a little longer before the official break up?” His voice was strained, and she immediately sat down across from him.

“What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

“You’re not going to like this.”

“Try me.”

“My family is coming to Big Bend the day before Christmas.”

Shocked, she’d had to take a moment. “All of them?”

He rolled his neck and shrugged out of his jacket. “The senator has cleared his schedule. And Duke is coming with Keely. I guess the South of France didn’t interest her all that much.”

“Oh.”

“Collins might make it for Christmas day, but she’s coming back from Europe as well, so who knows.”

“But why?” Ivy didn’t understand. “I’ve never even met them. Your parents didn’t seem the least bit interested in me after our so-called engagement leaked. And your brother, I mean, you guys haven’t talked in a long time or am I wrong?”

“You’re not wrong.”

She shook her head as a new thought occurred. Her eyes flew to his, panicked. “Please tell me they don’t think we’re getting married on New Year’s Eve.”

“I don’t know what they think. But it will be hard keeping that little bit of news from them when they come.”

“Shit. What are we going to do? I only said we’d get married on New Year’s Eve because…”

His eyebrows lifted.

“Because Mike Paul drives me nuts, and I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I was mad, and he’d just left Thanksgiving dinner without speaking to me, and?—”

“In his defense, you were kind of frosty.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“I get it. You wanted to hurt him or make him jealous.”

“Something like that.”

“Look. We got ourselves into this mess because we were both trying too hard to avoid the things we need to face.”

“There was the tequila as well.”

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