Page 35 of The Parent Pick-Up
“It wasn’t a performance.” Frustration boils inside me. “It was a kids’ talent show. Can’t I have a normal life for once?”
Axel shakes his head. “You’re Ivy Ice. There is no normal.”
I slump onto the kitchen stool and bury my head in my hands. My heart feels like it’s ripping in two. I never wanted to be Ivy Ice in the first place. And having just a glimpse of Ivy Ickerson was enough to make me realize everything I’d missed.
Now, my life is in shambles. Again.
Olivia isn’t talking to me. Owen stormed off without giving me a chance to explain my stupid manager not letting himinside. And there’s a mob outside my house waiting to pick over my bones.
“Don’t start crying,” Axel says, wrapping me in his warm embrace. “It will make your eyes puffy.”
I don’t want him to hold me. It’s Owen I want. But I let myself relax just the tiniest bit. Axel may be a giant pain in my ass, but he’s been a great manager. And he’s more like family than my own. He’s been there for me in the worst times, and he’s right—I can’t fire him.
“Can you make all this go away?” I ask, sniffling into his premium cotton shirt.
“Of course I can.” He gives me a reassuring pat. “That’s why you pay me the big bucks.”
I sag against him and mutter, “Maybe I should’ve gone into accounting.”
Axel laughs and says, “You’d have made a terrible accountant.”
Chapter Fourteen
Owen
Hannah slamsthe passenger door harder than necessary, throws her backpack onto the floorboard, and lets out a groan that seems to come from the soles of her sneakers.
"Rough day?" I ask, trying to be gentle.
I’m nursing my own internal bruises, but Hannah’s pain take priority. Always.
She pokes out her lip and stares out the window. “It was the worst day of my life.”
I resist the urge to say,yeah, mine too.Seeing another man standing in Ivy’s kitchen like he belonged there wasn’t the way I’d wanted to start my day.
“Want to tell me about it?” I ask, reversing out of the parking spot.
Hannah huffs. “No.”
The silence only lasts long enough for me to pull into line to exit the lot.
“My best friend is moving!” Hannah bursts.
Her words hit like a sucker punch. “Which best friend?”
But I already know before she says the word. My gut instinct says Ivy turned tail and ran with her new man. Or maybe he’s not new. He looked pretty damn cozy in Ivy’s kitchen.
“Olivia!”
My stomach sinks. I take a deep breath and stare straight ahead, focusing on the car in front of me instead of my broken heart.
“Right when I got the perfect best friend and mom duo.” Hannah buries her head in her hands and cries. “What am I going to do now?”
A horn toots behind me, and I realize I’ve zoned out. I put down the window and wave the car around, then immediately find a spot to park again. As soon as we are at a stop, I reach over and pull Hannah into my arms.
She’s crying steadily now, and it hits me hard that this is not only about Olivia and Ivy.
This is about Emily.
