Page 15 of A Very Merry Matchup
Mom’s grin widens. “That you think the world of us and have zero other plans for Christmas, so she thinks it’d be great if you spent the holidays with us. And I must say, I wholeheartedly agree.”
“But—”
“No point in arguing, Ivy,” Dad says, cutting her off as he digs his spoon into his soup. “Cecilia’s not letting you go anywhere.”
“You don’t have to make me sound like a maximum-security prison warden, Rob.”
Janey blows on her soup. “With all the snow I’d say this is more like a holiday version ofThe Shining. Either way, consider yourself trapped, Ivy.”
“Oh, would you two knock it off. Listen to me, Ivy. You’re not trapped. Obviously if you have somewhere else you’d rather go, we’re not going to stop you. I just don’t want you to leave because you don’t feel welcome. Trust me, you are completely welcome to stay here as long as you want. Stay through New Year’s as far as I’m concerned. You certainly look like you could use a little downtime and rest.”
New Year’s? Hamish and Pinky Collar dance around eachother in front of the Christmas tree. I sort of want to do the same at the thought of having Ivy beneath this roof until New Year’s.
“You sure?” Ivy says, trying to get something out of Hamish’s mouth. Pretty sure it’s a Christmas tree ornament shaped like a gnome. “Because I don’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not intruding,” everyone assures her.
“Besides, where else would you go?” I ask, genuinely curious. “The one time I talked to Lucy, she mentioned how you never spend Christmas with your family. She said you typically spend it working... and alone.”
I hear my mom gasp just like I knew she would. There’s no way she’s letting Ivy out of these doors now. If there’s anything my mom can’t stand, it’s the thought of people spending Christmas alone.
Ivy’s apparently gasping for a different reason. “One time? You and Lucy talkedone time?”
“Twice, counting yesterday,” I say in defense as I dig the gnome out of Hamish’s mouth only for Pinky Collar to snatch it out of my hand a half second later.
“It’s settled,” Mom declares. “Ivy’s staying here. Grab another bowl of soup, everybody. I made plenty. Didn’t I tell everybody that this was going to be a great Christmas?”
Best Christmas ever. Because it sounds like I may haveten days to win Ivy over. And you better believe I’m making her keep the promise she made back in September.
CHAPTER NINE
Isn’t there anyone who knows whatChristmasmatchmaking is all about?
Ivy
“What were you thinking?” I scream at Lucy, which comes out more like a loud raspy breath than a scream. Maybe it’s good my voice isn’t functioning at full capacity. Beau’s family doesn’t need in on this conversation, let alone the entire neighborhood.
I’m standing on the back deck, huddled beneath the overhang in my winter coat as Hamish and—what did he call her? Pinky Collar?—prance about in the snow.
When I scurried up to the green room to retrieve my phone a few minutes ago, I had two missed video messages. One from Ella, saying, “For the record, this was all Lucy’sidea.” The other from Lucy, saying, “You’re going to thank me one day.”
Well, today was not that day. And I was done using video messages or texts. This called for a real-time conversation with Lucy. I’d deal with Ella later.
“You lied.” I jab my finger at the screen, wishing I could jab Lucy in person. “How could you?”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You said you were engaged to Beau.”
“I said I wasengaged. You’re the one who jumped to the wrong conclusion, a ridiculously wrong conclusion I might add. Something you’d know if you ever actually listened to the messages Ella and I send you.”
“I do listen.” Sometimes. When they aren’t talking about candy.
“Then you should know that Lucas and I got back together right after you tried setting me up with Beau.”
“What? That was months ago! Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“I did. I left tons of huge, long messages all about it.”
