Page 2 of Who Pissed Off Ivy Dell?

“You’ll see. Speaking of talk, how’s Stinger’s dirty talk game?”

I groan, but I do it with a smile. Myrna is always trying to get me to reveal intimate details about Jensen. I don’t think she really wants to know. She just wants to make me blush. And laugh. I’m really going to miss her when I’m gone.

“You know y’all are never going to get rid of me, right? I’m always going to come back.”

“Oh, yeah? As what?”

“No, not come back due to reincarnation. I mean here. In this life. I’ll come back to Ivydell. Even if Jensen and I decide not to try the long-distance thing. I’ll still come back to visit.”

My stomach burns after the words leave my mouth because I really want us to try for the long-distance relationship, but I know we can’t make a final decision until the time comes. Of course, we want it now, but there are realistic things to consider. It wouldn’t be easy, but I can’t imagine not trying. I don’t think my attraction to him is just because we met here. I think I would’ve fallen for him on the beach or in a bar or at the grocery store—anywhere.

I can’t think of a single place where I wouldn’t have been drawn to him. We’d still be us in the real world. It’s not just the magic of Ivydell.

Myrna’s concerned expression makes it clear she’s worried about me, probably thinks I’m going to get my fragile heart broken. Maybe I will, but I’d rather know we tried, even if prolonging the heartbreak makes it ten times worse when it ultimately happens. I have a pattern of sabotaging things whenever I start to feel attached, but it’s different with him. No part of me wants to wreck this.

“I’m going to be okay,” I say. “Even if it ends.”

“Everything ends, doll. That’s how new things begin.”

“To new things.” I lift my cup to her.

“To bold new horizons,” she says, which is such a Myrna thing to say.

When we finish our coffee, I ask if she needs anything from the store. She says no, says she went yesterday and stocked up because she’s going to do a little stress baking today. But she won’t give me a straight answer when I ask why she’s stressed.

Must be the festival. There’s a growing buzz in the air. Mostly, it feels exciting, but I’ve felt some unease in the wind lately, too.

Myrna walks me to her door, and I shriek when I step outside. “Look!”

“Yeah, I guess it’s about time for those adorable little shitheads to start coming around again.”

“My first chipmunk sighting.”

“I think those might actually be ground squirrels,” Myrna says. “But people around here insist on calling them chipmunks. I don’t guess the cute little rats care either way.”

“If Jensen calls it a chipmunk, it probably is one. He’s a stickler for animals being identified correctly.”

“Is that right?”

“Whatever you do, don’t call a bison a buffalo in his presence.”

“I’ll make a note of that.”

“But if he says it’s really a squirrel, I’m still going to call it a chipmunk because I like it.”

“And because it will agitate him, and you like that, too.”

“Why would I like agitating him?”

“I can’t imagine.” Her lashes flutter as she rolls her eyes.

I snap a picture of the chipmunks before I head back to my place, and text it to Jensen.

Is this technically a chipmunk or a ground squirrel?

You’re going to call it a chipmunk no matter what I say.

Aw, it’s like you know me or something. What are you doing?

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