Page 5 of An Investigator For Ivy

“You’re the one that wanted me to move here,” Dahlia said. “I could have stayed where I was. I was happy enough.”

Dahlia was quiet, but it was obvious she was hurt by the comment. She just sucked sometimes as a sister. She wanted to try to put on a happy face and be positive and it didn’t come off right.

“I’m sorry,” she said, hugging Dahlia. “I’m not sure what is going on with me. I think I’m hormonal. I get that way. I hope there is something chocolatey on the dessert menu. Do you wish Theo could have come with you, Daisy?”

She thought maybe if she turned the topic around, no one would realize what a horrible person she was by her careless comments with her sister. Or the ones she’d been making with everyone else. Daisy’s boyfriend was a doctor and working tonight.

“I do, but understand he has a job to do too. I can’t come first at those times, but I know I’m on his mind.”

“Which is the way it should be,” Jasmine said, having heard the conversation being across from them. “Ivy will understand that one day too.”

Another gentle rub for her to grow up. To be more accepting. To not rush to find something because everyone else had what she wanted.

That she couldn’t always come first in people’s lives.

Maybe she just wanted to come first once in a while without having to ask for it.

“I know,” she said. “It’s just lonely here.”

“It shouldn’t be with Dahlia living with you,” Daisy said.

Ivy turned to look at her sister and gave her a little smile and nudge with her arm. “It’s not lonely at home, but I can’t get Dahlia to go out and do anything. It’s work, work, work.”

“I’m busy,” Dahlia said. “I’ve got a new job to learn.”

Dahlia always used that excuse when Ivy wanted her sister to go out and do something fun.

In the few months Dahlia had lived with her, she’d done nothing more than work. She was positive her sister didn’t even talk to the opposite sex unless it was someone in this room and she sure the heck hadn’t gone on a date.

“I don’t want to get in the middle of sisters fighting,” Lily, their boss, said with a big smile on her face. “But I’ve told Dahlia she doesn’t need to spend that much time at work. Don’t blame me.”

“Look at who is talking,” Poppy, another one of their bosses, said. “You’ve done the same thing. We all have at this table. Right?”

She looked around at the women sitting together and everyone was nodding their heads.

Ivy had no problem working all the time. The more she worked, the more money she made. And she loved her job and learning new things. She wanted them to know they made the right choice in hiring her.

Plus, maybe some sexy guy would come in and she could strike up a conversation with him.

Yep, always going back to that.

“There is a balance to find,” Heather said. “I found it with Luke and wasn’t sure I would be able to. I’m learning that when you find the one you love, you make exceptions for things and are more understanding and hope they are the same with you.”

“I am,” Luke said.

“Awww, aren’t you two so sweet,” Ivy said.

Everyone just started to talk in general at the table now. Their orders were taken, Dahlia was quiet.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly to Dahlia. “I didn’t mean it.”

Dahlia sighed. “I know. We are just two different people. You know that.”

“But we get along well, right?”

Dahlia smiled at her. Maybe her older sister saw she desperately needed that kind of approval right now.

Like she’d been told enough in life too.

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