Page 4 of When Ivy Met Mr. Holiday
“All right, Ivy. I can’t wait to prove you wrong,friend.”
My stomach dropped to subbasement level. But little did he know, I liked a challenge too. Hello, youngest child of four here. Scrappiness was my specialty.
“Oh, I so can’t wait to proveyouwrong,friend.”
And that was how it happened. That was how I became best friends with the most endearingly arrogant man on the planet. To this day, I love that I’m still proving him wrong. And the plan is to keep doing it until death do us part.
(PS: Michael did want to be more than my friend, and Jack never let me live it down.)
Jack
Hey, Jack here. Did Ivy just tell you the story of how we met and became friends? Yeah, I thought so. I probably better clear a few things up.
First, I’m notthatarrogant. Above average arrogance? Maybe. But nowhere near an egomaniac. And I don’t make people call meMr. Holiday. I just started sayingthat for fun at the beginning of my career, and it stuck. Now it’s my brand and my thing.
And it’s not my fault if people naturally want to call me that. After all, it rolls off the tongue, don’t you think?
Secondly, I was only teasing Ivy when I told her she could refer to me that way. It was my way of trying to break the ice. I’d been into Muse and Mane a dozen times before—trying, failing, and trying again to get the woman’s attention. Each time, I came up empty handed. Until that day.
The day Ivy came into my life.
She clearly wanted nothing to do with me, and it was maddening. And not because she seemed to be the only woman immune to my charm. Okay, maybe that was part of it.
However, there was something about her—something intriguing I couldn’t name. I’ve spent the last seven years trying to put it into words, searching for the right way to explain how deeply connected I feel to Ivy. I come up short every time.
Yes, she’s amazingly gorgeous. Honestly, I’ve never been attracted to someone as much as I am to her. Which has been pure hell for seven years. A beautiful hell. But torturous all the same.
But it’s more than her looks. It’s that way she laughs with her whole heart and how she bites her lip when she’s thinking or hums absentmindedly when she’s happy or cutting my hair. I love the way she listens to understand me and even calls me on my crap when I need tohear it.
I’ll tell you this: There’s nothing better or worse than being in love with your best friend. Sometimes I swear she knows I am, and she revels in tormenting me. Other times, I can’t believe how clueless she is to my feelings. But I’ve been biding my time, playing by her friendship rules, because I’ve never met anyone as stubborn as her. And I can’t stand the thought of not having her in my life.
It’s so obvious we’re good together—perfect, even. But she’ll never admit it. She’s hellbent on proving me wrong.
The thing is, I know I’m right. For years, I’ve had more-than-friendly feelings toward Ivy. And so did herfriendMichael. Called that one.
Anyway, I have a plan to stop all this friendship nonsense between us. I’m going to prove to Ivy that we belong together, even if that means celebrating my least favorite holiday—Christmas. And if all goes according to plan, this will be the last one Ivy spends thinking we’re just friends.
Merry Christmas to me.
Chapter One
“No man can be friends with a woman that he finds attractive.”
When Harry Met Sally
Ivy
“Hey,there.Isn’titlike, the middle of the night where you are?” I asked Jack as soon as I answered my phone.
Jack was on location in Europe filming a romantic comedy calledThe Leading Lady Problem. He claimed he’d never connected more with a character in his entire career. Not sure why. The only problem he ever seemed to havewith all the leading ladies in his films was that he couldn’t help himself from dating them and then breaking up with them.
Sienna Davenport was the exception. They kept getting cast in films together and were Hollywood’s latest on-screen “it” couple. Sienna seemed to think that meant they should be an actual couple, so they had this weird revolving-door relationship that I wasn’t exactly fond of.
Truth be told, I couldn’t stand Sienna. She treated Jack like he was a baby, and, worse, she whined like one when she didn’t get her way. But Jack never failed to give in to her when they were together. It was disgusting. I felt queasy just thinking about it.
Before Jack could respond, I put him on speaker and kept packing for my trip back home to Aspen Lake for the holidays. I would leave the next night after work, and I couldn’t wait. There was nothing more magical than Christmas in Aspen Lake. And I was getting there just in time for all of Mom’s week-before-Christmas traditions and would be there until the day after New Year’s. I’d saved up most of my vacation time for this trip. To make it extra special, my entire family would be there this year.
“Actually, I’m in Atlanta, about ready to catch a flight home. I thought we could spend the holidays together,” he responded.
