Page 138 of An Investigator For Ivy

“I do. And sometimes you drown in it. You’ve had your space. How are you feeling now?”

“Shitty,” he said.

“Shittier than before you met Ivy?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think if you talked to her you’d feel better?”

“Not if she’s moved on,” he said.

“You won’t know that unless you talk to her. And if you don’t talk to her, shewillmove on. You can’t expect her to come to you when you said you needed space. And you sure the hell can’t expect her to wait for you. I wouldn’t and I’m your mother.”

“You waited weeks to ask me to fix this leak.”

“Only because I thought you’d come to your senses by now. You didn’t.”

He finished his second cookie and looked at his watch. It was around noon and Ivy might be going to lunch.

“Maybe I’ll see if she is around today.”

“It’d go a long way if you met her on her ground. Not yours.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“Go to her at work. A place she is surrounded by support. She deserves it after what you did.”

His shoulders dropped. “I guess you’re right.”

His mother walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “Of course I am.”

Brooks didn’t want to surprise Ivy. He couldn’t do that to her. So he sent a text and asked if they could talk.

She didn’t make him wait before she said yes.

He said he’d be at the store in a few minutes.

When he parked and walked in, he saw Poppy standing there with Rose as if guarding the place. Both gave him looks hot enough to make him want to stop, drop, and roll.

“Is Ivy here?” he asked Poppy. “She knows I’m coming.”

“We know,” Rose said. “She’s in the flower shop. In the back with her sisters.”

Shit. He was going to get it from all angles, but he knew it too. He deserved it.

“Thanks,” he said.

“You can come back this way,” Poppy said. He was just going to walk through the opening that connected the two stores, but Poppy motioned him toward the back.

When he got to the backroom in the flower shop, he saw Ivy sitting there with her lunch, her sisters flanking her on each side.

“Hi,” he said to everyone.

“I’m fine, you guys. You can go,” Ivy said.

“If you’re sure,” Dahlia said. He should have figured that sister would be the tougher one.

“I am,” Ivy said.

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