Page 27 of Second Chance Christmas

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m the perfect example but follow my words not my example and all that crap.”

Ivy followed Jon’s lead and stayed away from taking the conversation deeper into the topic of Heather. “It’s not my fault I’d rather skip Christmas. It’s?—”

“Oh, wait. I know this one. It’s the Ivy Effect,” he finished for her, not amused. “Yeah, where have I heard that one?”

“It’s true and I’m sorry I don’t mean to sound so snarky. I’m just…” What the heck was she? Mad at her gran or just mad at how things took a one-eighty from her well-thought-out and detailed plan?

“You believe in something you made up when you were a kid more than miracles? Plus, what’s there to fix, sweetheart? You’re finally free from that self-absorbed douche face you called a fiancé and you’re better off for it. I never liked him anyway.”

Jon didn’t hold punches; she’d give him that. “You don’t like anyone so that voids your opinion.”

Jon chuckled over the speaker. “Not true. I like plenty of people. It just takes me a little longer to warm up to them than it does you, that’s all. I like you, don’t I? Our motley crew of siblings, though a couple of them push the limits. And speaking of friends, have you seen Aspen yet?”

The mention of Aspen’s name brought a rush of heat to her cheeks and she pressed the tips of her fingers into them to cool the burn. Had she seen Aspen yet? She basically eye fucked him on her front porch and kissed him once already.

“Oh, yeah. I ran into him today.”

“Is that a hint of happiness I hear?”

“Don’t even. I just broke up with someone. I’m not ready for a new romance with anyone, especially an old boyfriend.”

“Fiancé,” her brother corrected.

“Details! Besides, I’m on a man-hiatus.”

Jon’s deep laugh carried and she pulled the phone away from her ear. Well, he could laugh all he wanted, but she was on a full no-man strike and intended to keep it that way. “Is it strange that I don’t miss him? The man who must not be named, I mean.”

“Lewis. There’s power in a name, Ivy.”

“Lewis who?” She cut in dryly.

“Funny. The more you say it the less power it—he—will hold over you. He’s a graceless dickfaced coward who doesn’t deserve your kind heart, even if you are too nice for your own damn good. What kind of man dumps his fiancée using a text message while he’s out on a date with another woman? A pussy is who. I’m surprised you haven’t mailed him a festive package of shit yet.”

She mirrored her brother’s sentiments to the letter.

A mutual friend at the time had spotted him out that evening while she lost her home. “You heard about that?” she asked in a perfectly normal tone, unlike the freak show she had going on in her head of all the horrors bound to unwind between now and Christmas Day.

“Sweetheart.” He sounded as exasperated as she felt. “Everyone did. Juniper and Carol, in particular, had a few more ideas of how to serve up some cold-hearted payback. It took a while for Mom to talk them down when she realized Colden and I wouldn’t be the ones to rein in their over-protectiveness at this time. You should have heard the colorful string of words they used to describe what they would do to Lewis and his shriveled dick if they ever saw him again.”

Their younger twin sisters and their brother were loyal no matter what and it made her heart ache less. “I might call them up just to hear their plan. Colden should know better than to let the tornado twins rope him into their crazy schemes, though. I’ll thank them for what I am sure would have been excellent ideas next time I talk to them.”

“You should stop dodging their calls and they would tell you all the gritty details themselves. You might even like a couple of them. I know I did.”

“It’s embarrassing. As the oldest of the girls, I should be a role model.”

“Learn from me, you put yourself in a bubble and the air will eventually cut off.”

She needed a change of subject ASAP or risk losing her cool. “So I can really mail a box of manure?”

She rocked the chair slowly and allowed herself a moment to think it over.

“Don’t sound so coy,” her brother teased. “Shit deserves shit. And if our parents ask, you didn’t get it from me. Deal? I’ll text you the number when we hang up. They’ll even add any color of bow you want. Pretty paper, too, if you're a whole nine-yard kind of girl.”

“Speaking from experience, are we?”

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

Ivy smiled and tapped her fingers lightly. “Sure. You forget. I know you. If mom heard some of the dirt I have on you, she’d have baptized you twice and renamed you Lucifer.”

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