Page 48 of When Ivy Met Mr. Holiday
There was no chance of that. I smiled to myself. Ivy had just kissed me. And not because she felt obligated to. Not because she was putting on an act. It’d been the real deal.
While I took my victory lap, Ivy peeked her head out the bathroom door, her eyes brimming with tears. Her distress felt like a punch to my gut, and my celebration came to a crashing halt.
“Jack,” she squeaked out. “We’re still going to be best friends when this is all over, right?”
I wanted to jump up and run to her, wrap her in my arms, but I knew that would only scare her more. Instead, I told her the truth.
“The best of,” I promised her.
Best of friends.
Best of lovers.
If only she would let us be.
Chapter Fifteen
“Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.”
Elie Wiesel
Ivy
“Let’sgetAuntIvy,”Jack called.
I turned from sculpting swirls in our snowwoman’s hair, holding my handy paint scraper, which made the perfect styling tool. I was quite proud of her voluminous do. My family took snowman building way too seriously. Hence the salon chair my brother Shane had constructed for our snowwoman.It truly was a masterpiece. If we didn’t win the contest, judged by Dad, I was going to be severely disappointed.
Coming my way was the cutest sight in the world: Emma, bundled in the most darling floral snowsuit, on top of Jack’s shoulders, holding a snowball that was as big as her head. It was enough to send a heat wave through me even though Jack Frost was nipping at way more than my nose.
We’d all been out here for hours, pausing only for a couple of hot chocolate breaks. The first person to go in was always kind of seen as wimping out, so we suffered for our art and our egos.
And . . . maybe this year I felt it was safer out in the elements even if I couldn’t feel most of my extremities.
I still couldn’t believe I’d up and kissed Jack in the privacy of our room. Truthfully, I’d almost kissed him the night before in bed.
I know. I know. It felt like I was cheating on our friendship. There was just something about being in his arms. He was so tender about it. And when we were alone, it just felt like we were in our own little Jack-and-Ivy bubble, and I loved that bubble.
Then earlier in the day, when he’d been vulnerable with me, sharing a bit of his past . . . It had done something to me. Jack was never vulnerable, and I liked it. A lot. More than I should have, obviously.
Now, here he was, looking way too sexy holding my niece. He had a whole lumberjack vibe going with his retro corduroy-and-lambswool coat and beanie cap. But it was morethan that. What was it about a man being adorable with kids that made him irresistible?
And this hadn’t been a one-time deal with him. The last few days, he’d been incredible with my nieces and nephews. Patient and present. Even silly and playful. It was a side of Jack I hadn’t known existed and yet another one I was having visions of being more than friends with. Dang him.
Where was Mr. Holiday when I needed him?
Don’t fall for your best friend, Ivy. Don’t fall for Jack.
I worried I had already tripped and that a crash landing was in my future. But I was determined that, even if I did crash spectacularly, I was going to pick myself up, bruises and all, and keep our friendship intact.
I would just have to wean myself off his kisses and his touch. I could do it. Right? Of course I could . . . after I kissed him a few more times. Ugh, I seriously had issues.
“What do you think you’re doing, Miss Emma?” I said playfully, focusing on my niece and not on the smoldering way my best friend stared at me.
Why did he look like he could devour me? Could I be getting to him the way he was getting to me? Or was he just proving how great of an actor he was?
“We’re going to get you.” Her three-year-old voice sounded anything but scary. She was too cute to be menacing.
The real threat was the man aiding and abetting her.
