Page 52 of When Ivy Met Mr. Holiday
Scratch Mr. Holiday off Your Christmas Wish List
I was glad Ivy’s mom was taking it so well that I had exposed her daughter to a darker side of fame. Thankfully, Tae had lived up to his reputation and the photos and headlines told the truth. Iwasin love and off the market.
Now, if I could just convince Ivy of thatandthat she was the only thing on my Christmas wish list. But it was proving harder than I’d expected.
The night before, while Ivy lay in my arms, all she could do was lament how hard it was to have her life play out for the world to see. Worse, she hated lying to her family, and she was so afraid they would find out and hate her for it. Especially after her lawyer sister and brother-in-law had made it their personal mission to face Tae Cho in a courtroom.
That was never happening. Even if Tae had violated any laws, he’d happily pay whatever fine it entailed. The pictures he’d sold yesterday were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But I didn’t think he’d be coming back for more after having to run for his life the day before. And according to Shane, several snowballs had hit their mark. Tae probably had some bruises. Admittedly, I had some from yesterday’s snowball fight, but I would never let Shane or Drew know that. I didn’t want to appear weak in their eyes.
As far as Tae was concerned, it served him right. While he was a decent guy, he had no business hiding in trees andtaking pictures of Ivy and me. I didn’t care if the forest was public land. Ivy was a private person who hadn’t asked for her life to be put on display. She was only doing it to protect me. For which I was feeling increasingly guilty.
If only I could tell her my feelings weren’t pretend, but I was beginning to doubt what hers were. Not to sound arrogant, but any other woman would have succumbed to me by now. Hell, we were sleeping in the same bed, and she had managed to keep her hands to herself. How was this possible? Sure, she’d kissed me out of the blue the day before, but maybe it really had been just a slipup on her part.
If she were really in love with me, she would have told the truth by now to ease her conscience. Either that or she was the most stubborn woman in the world. I wasn’t sure which scenario bothered me more.
Was she so hellbent on proving that men and women could just be friends that she would miss out on what would clearly be the best relationship either of us had ever had?
Or maybe she was truly afraid of ruining our friendship. Not to mention she obviously didn’t like my public life.
How could we overcome that?
I grabbed the photo of Ivy and me kissing in the snow. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. All I saw was one—love.
Maybe for Ivy it was just platonic love, but I wasn’t ready to accept that. We felt too real and right.
“I can’t get over how in love you two look in that one. It’s so romantic,” Jaquelyn remarked, patting her heart.
Her wordsbreathed some hope into me. Granted, she was wearing an elf sweater by choice, so I had to take her opinion with a grain of salt.
I wore mine out of duress and desperation to prove how much I loved Ivy. But outside of the holidays, Jaquelyn appeared to be sane. So, if she could see how in love we were, it had to be true.
“I’m sorry that your family has had to deal with my fame.”
Jaquelyn waved a hand dismissively. “It’s no bother. You’re part of the family now. Besides, Paige and Peter will make sure it never happens again.”
Ivy was right; they were a tad on the scary side. I probably should have considered dumping my legal team and hiring them. Except mixing family with business wasn’t always the best idea. Especially in Hollywood. This was assuming they would ever be my family.
“I’m not so good at the family thing,” I admitted.
Not sure why I said that out loud, especially since I wanted to marry her daughter. I wasn’t exactly giving her a ringing endorsement of my abilities. But maybe I was just desperate to believe Jaquelyn—that I was part of their family. Or any family, for that matter. All I’d really had was my Grandma Ruth, and though she’d tried her best, she’d had her demons, too.
Jaquelyn reached across the table and rested her delicate hand over mine.
“Jack,” she said with motherly tenderness. “As far as I can tell, you’re a pro at it. The way you are with my grandchildren, and especially my daughter . . . I don’t knowwhat happened in your past with your family, but you are obviously not letting it define you. In fact, I think it’s made you a better person.”
My chest tightened. I wasn’t one to cry or get emotional, except when a role called for it, but my eyes stung anyway. I wanted her words to be true. I wanted to feel like I deserved Ivy.
“I’ve done things in my past I’m not proud of,” I admitted. The words slipped out,a confession I hadn’t meant to make.
I expected Jaquelyn to look away, disappointed or even abhorred. At the very least, to pull her hand back. Instead, she held my hand tighter.
“Oh, honey, we’ve all done things we’re not proud of. Welcome to the club.”
“You don’t understand.” The words felt like sandpaper in my mouth, but I had to say them. “I was arrested for shoplifting food when I was sixteen. And I was kicked out of school a few times for fighting.”
She didn’t flinch. Instead, her eyes welled with tears. “You must have been hungry.”
