Page 20 of Who Pissed Off Ivy Dell?

“Nobody told me not to. Until today. You’re the second person who’s mentioned it today.”

“Let me be the third,” Jensen says.

“Are people not allowed to wear shorts when they come to the festival?”

“We don’t tell them what to wear, but we do tell them to stick to the path, and to pay attention to the signs.”

“Signs?” I ask. “What signs?”

Jensen shakes his head. “We have warning signs, and signs to direct them.”

“Where are they? Do they need to be touched up?”

Myrna laughs. “Uh-oh. Our official sign painter is warming up her brushes.”

“You can take that up with Petra. Right now, I’m taking you home.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Myrna says as she closes her door.

“You know you can call me if you ever need help, right?”

“I couldn’t call anyone. I had to hold still. And then Cujo saw me, so he waited in case I needed help, but I didn’t really. I knew what to do. I’m just shaken up because I’ve never had to actually do it before.”

“I’m glad Cujo was there. I just want to be sure you know you can always call me if you need anything.”

“Thanks. But I’m okay, really.”

“I know.”

“Okay. But if you don’t stop squeezing my hand so hard, you’re going to break my fingers.”

“Shit. I’m sorry. I just don’t like knowing you could’ve been hurt.” He brings my hand to his mouth and kisses my fingers. “I didn’t mean to squeeze so hard.”

“I know you wouldn’t hurt me on purpose.”

“Good. But I wouldn’t let anyone else hurt you either. I promise.”

“You can’t promise something like that. But I appreciate that you’d try.”

“I’d die trying, Ivy.”

“Well, fortunately for both of us, it’s highly unlikely you will ever need to do that.”

He holds my door open, and I walk inside, stopping in front of him for a moment. “She didn’t die because you didn’t try hard enough to protect her.”

“I know.” He kisses my hand again. “But that’s not going to stop me from trying harder with you.”

Jensen

Sharing Gifts

Ivy sits in oneof my Adirondack chairs, sipping wine and watching the sun start to set while I put fish on the small, open grill behind my casita. “How come you never upgraded that?” she asks.

“I don’t know. Once you get used to cooking on it, it’s not bad. And it’s not like I’m cooking for a whole family.”

“What about at the community center? Is there a nicer grill there?”

“No. But there’s four of these, so you can cook more at once, just not on the same grill.”

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