Page 23 of An Investigator For Ivy

To Ivy, those were the fun things in life.

“Daisy and I talk at times,” she said.

“When you’re working?” Dahlia asked.

“I can work and talk all the time,” she said. “So can Daisy. We are multi-talented that way.”

Dahlia shook her head and they made their way to the theater. “I’m going to have a glass of wine tonight,” Dahlia said. “See. I can relax too.”

“I’m so proud of you,” she said. “I can drive if you want to drink tonight.”

“I’m having one glass of wine for a two-hour show,” Dahlia said. “I’ll be fine. You go ahead and drink if you want.”

“I’ll probably do the same. Not wine. I think I want something fruity and fun.”

“That’s my sister,” Dahlia said.

They got their drinks at the bar, then went and found their seats. She put her head on her sister’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re my sister.”

“What did you do?” Dahlia asked.

She giggled. “Nothing. Just glad that you’re with me tonight. That I could talk you into these tickets and then you talked me into coming out knowing I might be afraid to and return home to the mess again.”

“We need to just go on with life as if what happened the other night was a blip on the radar.”

“Your analogies aren’t very good.”

“What do you want me to say?” Dahlia asked. “I’m using the most commonly used ones that most would understand.”

It was the dry sarcastic tone that had her laughing. “You wanted to make sure I understood. Got it.”

“Very funny,” Dahlia said. “But it’s the truth. We do need to just keep going on with life. Then we can laugh about it like me being on a donkey.”

“Or you puking on every plane,” she said.

“No. I’m not laughing over that. I try to and I can’t. That was traumatizing.”

“Yet you still get on a plane,” she said.

“Rarely.”

“You did to come visit,” she said softly.

“Because my baby sister needed me,” Dahlia said.

“You care,” she said. “I know you do.”

“I have to. Mom and Dad told me enough.”

“Now you’re being cute,” she said. “Do you ever miss the life we had?”

“No,” Dahlia said firmly. “I know people think it’s a great adventure. Mark and Chase did. Is there something wrong with us three girls that we didn’t?”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “We were protected more.”

“It wasn’t as safe for us as it was for the boys. I know you think that wasn’t fair.”

“The whole thing wasn’t fair,” Ivy said. “But I’ve heard it enough. We had no choice and Dad was doing great things in the world.”

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