by North, Cara
When she finally fell asleep he carried her back to bed. He crawled in next to her and looked at her from head to toe. She was beautiful. It made no sense to him why she couldn’t see that. He had been struggling to pick the right ring for her finger because nothing compared. Nothing equaled what she deserved. He was going to make her see that. One way or another, she was going to realize just how amazing she was.
***
Ivy woke up in her bed rather than on the couch as she usually did when she was home. Bo was not next to her. She bolted upright and then rushed out in a near panic to find him. She had been such a mess last night. Her emotional balance was teetering and she knew he was not going to put up with it for much longer. She didn’t want to put up with it much longer either. She needed some sense of control and she was grasping for it, but couldn’t find a strong hold.
She searched through the house and could not find him anywhere. Her heart thundered in her chest as the realization that he was gone began to set in. The worst possible thoughts flooded her brain. He was already done with her antics. Why shouldn’t he be?
She gripped the counter and took a deep breath as the room started to spin around her.
“You’re up.” His voice demanded her attention and everything stopped spinning and centered on him as he walked into the kitchen. He had been out in the back yard.
She was so relieved she practically moved him back two steps when she ran to hug him.
“You all right?” He returned the hug, but not as fiercely as she held him.
“I thought you left.”
He stroked her hair from the back of her head to where it ended as he said, “I’m not that guy.”
She eased her grip and asked, “What were you doing out there?”
“Stretching, thinking, breathing. That kind of crap.” He laughed.
She wanted to kick herself for calling it crap. He would never let her live it down it seemed. He patted her on the butt and then let her go.
“You want breakfast?” he asked.
“Do I have anything here you will eat?” She was doubtful.
“You know you do.” His voice dropped just a notch. The look he gave her sent heat flooding throughout her entire body. She knew she was blushing. He smiled at her and winked as he moved on to the refrigerator.
Later…
Ivy had taken the time to make a call to New York when Bo went to gather some clothes from his house to bring to hers. He was in the best of moods. It was familiar to her. He was relaxed, comfortable, and so much like the man she knew from work. His ease always helped to make her feel at ease. He had not taken her back to bed as she hoped, but they did have a long day ahead of them and she couldn’t very well ask him to tie her down to the only place she felt remotely sane. It freaked her out that sex had brought such thoughts into her head. She pushed out naked thoughts and focused on the task at hand.
Ivy called the one person she knew had struggled with identity longer than anyone. Shay was gracious about it all. She talked to her without judgment and listened to the whole story. At the end of it Shay gave her the same advice Ivy had given Frankie when the media had started to take an ugly turn. Frankie wasn’t even an actress. She just happened to be the girlfriend and then wife of Jonas Gunner.
Remembering how twisted the Hollywood lifestyle could be did help her to get some perspective. She wanted to remember what it was like before she was famous, when she was just Ivy. Ivy had forgotten what it was like before she couldn’t buy groceries without people taking her picture. Shay left the conversation with a suggestion and an invitation.
The suggestion was to find a yoga class to take and the invitation was to the opening of the play Shopoholic. Ivy had already signed up for one and planned to discuss the other with the man that just walked in.
“Hey,” she said and moved to smooch him on the lips.
“Well hey to you.” He seemed a bit surprised.
She grinned and asked, “How do you feel about taking a trip to New York?”
“What’s in New York?” His brow arched.
“Shay, Jed’s wife. She is in a play and it opens soon. We are invited.” Ivy tried not to look excited and hopeful but she knew she was failing miserably at it by the look on his face.
“If that’s what you want.” He acquiesced. “I wouldn’t mind catching up with Jed.”
“Great!” She clapped her hands together. “Now all we have to do is survive this dinner.”
His eyebrow arched higher. She smiled a big smile at him.
When the family started to arrive, Ivy walked out to greet them. Her sister had a small lunch bag size cooler in her hand and Ivy asked, “What’s in that?”
May handed her the lunch bag and said, “Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the…”
Ivy threw the bag as hard as she could towards the vehicles and asked quickly, “Who has touched it?”
She watched as her mom and dad made their way to Bo on the porch. The kids were not far behind. May’s husband, Hank, picked up the bag.
Ivy shouted, “Drop it!”
She had everyone’s attention. Hank dropped the bag and looked at it questioningly. Ivy didn’t have time to deal with him, she ran to beat her parents to Bo. She cut them off at the stairs.
“Ivy!” Her mother was in shock. No doubt this was not the ladylike behavior she had been raised to execute.
“Everyone, stop!” She held up her hands. Everyone came to a halt.
“Sweetheart, what’s going on?” Bo asked gently from behind her. He moved closer and she shifted her hand towards him and realized she had touched the bag with the sandwiches so she put her hand down and extended a foot towards him. He stopped, looked at her as if she was just as crazy as she was feeling.
She looked at her family. Her nieces were frozen in place like it was a game. They were giggling and waiting for the next move. Her nephew, the youngest of the boys, stood cross armed and annoyed. Her sister and brother-in-law were next to each other. May asked, “Well?”
“If you have had, have touched, just…everyone needs to wash their hands.”
“Ivy, what is going on?” Her dad asked.
“May brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” She looked over her shoulder to Bo. He took a step back.
“The girls wanted them. You know they love them. What is the big deal? You act like I brought a bomb in that bag!” May huffed.
“You might as well have!” Ivy shouted back at her. “I told you all not to bring any nuts.”
“I didn’t bring nuts, I brought sandwiches!” Her sister was getting more irritated. The girls had realized this was not a game and moved to stand behind their big brother. For his part he looked back and forth between his aunt and mother as if they were on a tennis court.
“He is allergic to peanuts! Peanut butter is made with peanuts!” Ivy shouted at her. She could not believe her sister was that dense.
“Oh my.” Her mother winced. “I didn’t realize he was allergic. I told her not to pack any nuts. You know how Hank and your father like to eat them when they drink beer. I thought you had already bought some.”
Ivy could feel her entire body slump. She was exhausted already, and they hadn’t even made it to the front door. No one ever listened to her. She had told her mother he was allergic, but apparently all she got form the conversation was not to bring a can of nuts!
“Grown-ups are not allergic to nuts, Ivy. That is a kid allergy. They grow out of it,” May said it as though she had a medical degree and knew this for a fact. She had a high school diploma, four children, and a husband with a great job in financial advising who had a lot of patience.
“I assure you she is not making it up. That’s why I was in the hospital.” Bo finally spoke up and her family suddenly grasped the gravity of the situation. The media had not extracted the reason he had been in the hospital. Reports ranged from the ridiculous to the almost accurate. It wasn’t anyone’s business but theirs.
“Oh, we
ll then,” May started. “I suppose we should all wash our hands before going in. I mean I don’t know who besides me has touched anything with peanuts.”
Ivy groaned with the frustration of it all. She looked at Bo. Instead of turning to run, he kicked up a smile and said, “I’ll go grab some soap and a couple towels.”
Once he was out of sight her family merged towards her immediately.
“Oh dear, I am so sorry,” her mother said.
“How severe is it?” her father asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me he was allergic to begin with?” May asked.
Ivy wanted to call off dinner, hop a flight to Vegas, and live in a hotel room with him forever. Marriage was proving to be much more complicated than it was in the movies. She put on a brave smile and said, “It is a real and severe allergy. It doesn’t stop him from doing anything other than eating peanuts and products made with peanuts or around peanuts and a few other nuts.”
“I can’t image never having peanut butter.” Hank said solemnly. “I just started thinking of all the things I enjoy that are made with nuts and realized there are a lot!”
“Yes,” Ivy said. Her smile was still forced in place. “There are, which is why it is important for everyone to be a little bit more aware when coming over to visit us.”
“I’m really sorry about the miscommunication.” Bo walked out of the door and handed Ivy the items. “This is new for her, and for all of you. It was tough on my siblings, but they managed to eat what they wanted when they were away from me. I’m sure I would be fine, but I appreciate the extra precautions.”
***
Bo was amazed at how much Ivy and her sister resembled one another. They could have been twins. May was a bit heavier, had a very short haircut, and their father’s nose, but he could see how in their younger days they might have been engaged in sibling rivalry for identity purposes. Each of his siblings was so different from him and each other they never had to compete that way.
Once the peanut butter debacle was over, the dinner went pretty well. The oldest of her nephews had to work so he didn’t come. His grandparents were not happy about it, but the kid was seventeen and chose work over dinner with an aunt he apparently saw regularly.
“I must say,” her father began as he took a seat next to Bo at a table near the pool. “I was worried about this whole marriage business. I mean Ivy is a superstar. She has a lot invested in her identity. She’s still so young.”
Bo felt his left eyebrow shoot upward at the statement. “Sir she is over thirty. That is not exactly…young.”
Her father frowned as if the math had just been brought to his attention. He looked around at his family and then settled back on Bo. He admitted, “I suppose you’re right. It’s just difficult for me to see her as anything but my little girl. Ivy has made me so proud for so many reasons.”
“She’s a good woman.” Bo made himself say woman not girl.
“How long have you two known each other?” he asked.
Bo looked at the man. His gray hair indicated age his features denied. He knew that is why Ivy was thirty-three and looked like she was still in her early twenties. “About three years.”
“What was that, son? I thought you said three years.”
“Yes, sir. About three years.” Bo turned his head to watch Ivy’s nephew do a cannonball. It splashed his little sisters and they began fussing and crying. He looked back to Ivy’s dad and realized the man was about to have a heart attack. “She waited. We’ve known each other for that long, but we didn’t start dating until…recently.”
The man visibly relaxed. “Thank you.”
***
“You know they are over there talking about you,” May said and then to the girls said, “Keep crying and we are going home. You’re in the water, you are already wet. And you, Buster, you stop agitating them.”
He huffed and said, “Fine, Mom.”
Ivy started to say something but May cut her off. “He is gorgeous Ivy. Tell me, how is he?”
She watched her sister’s face light up the way it did whenever she talked about things she probably shouldn’t talk about. Ivy blushed and said, “I’m not telling you about that.”
“Oh come on, you can tell me. I tell you everything!” May kicked up her foot to splash water at Ivy. They were sitting on the edge of the pool with their legs hanging over and water up to their knees.
“Yes, and I could have spent my whole life oblivious to the fact that Hank isn’t circumcised and I would have been just fine.” Ivy scolded as she whispered.
“You’re no fun,” May rolled her eyes upwards and then looked over at her husband who was sleeping on the lounge chair. He would likely have a sunburn, but he apparently needed the sleep. “Look at him. He better rest up. His ass is mine tonight.”
“Do you ever stop?”
“No. Will you ever start?” May mocked her. “Ivy, I have that fine piece of man meat over there in the palm of my hand because I make sure to take care of his needs. You have that, Lord, he is just like an underwear model if quarterbacks posed with surfboards. I mean how do you not just crawl around on your knees begging to…”
Ivy was relieved when her nephew jumped in the pool again and her nieces began fussing.
“Well, we have to go.” She shouted to the kids to get out and wake up their father. May looked over to her sleeping husband and said. “I have plans for him. It’s date night. The sitter comes over and we go out.”
Ivy hated that her mouth already started speaking. “But it will be late.”
May looked at her as if she felt pity for her. “Is he on steroids and shrank it? No? Then what? Can’t get the dragon to breathe fire? Is that it?”
“What?” Ivy was torn between laughing at the comments and being offended that May was talking about Bo.
“It’s you!” May opened her eyes wide. “God, Ivy. You have everything. Don’t blow this with your self-imposed, proper, ladylike, insanity that they drummed into you! Well, I suggest you blow him, but…”
“I’m done talking to you.” Ivy stood and grabbed her shorts and t-shirt. She was finished being teased by May. Worse, she thought May might have a point.
***
Bo held in the chuckle as Ivy’s dad explained how they got a tutor to help her attain manners, etiquette, and of course morals. It seemed crazy to him, but it did explain her constant worry. They were training her to be an eighteenth century princess when she was this century’s shining star.
May was already rounding up the children and telling them it was time to go. They had had enough excitement for one day. Bo was really glad to see them leave. He liked Ivy’s family well enough once they understood the peanut butter situation. He was used to the unfamiliar territory the rest of the world walked on. She wasn’t. He was at once surprised by her overzealous reaction and endeared by the fact she had taken that stand for him.
Bo stood as her father stood. They walked to the front door as crying girls and a grumbling teenage boy passed them by. He looked at Ivy’s brother-in-law and knew that May ran that family. The guy was exhausted, carrying two bags of clothing and towels, and trying to round up the children while listening to May lecture him on keeping dry and wet clothes separate. He paused at the door and said, “It was nice meeting you. Sorry about the sandwiches. Be glad you got the easy one.”
Bo laughed. Hank had no idea how nice it was to have a woman that was self-assured. But then again, they did have three kids, so maybe he knew all too well what it was like.
Ivy’s dad laughed as the guy headed down the walkway toward the vehicles. He said, “May is a bit of a wild child. Ivy has always been a good girl. She was an easy child, easy teen, and I am sure you know that she is so easy to be around now that you are married. Sweetest, loving, most confident and self-assured child I ever knew.”
Well, that about summed it up. Her parents didn’t really know her at all. As if to drive the point home her mother approached and said, “Now you two be sur
e to enjoy this time off. I know she is just itching to get back to work.”
“Bye, mom.” Ivy leaned in and hugged the woman. Then she hugged her dad. “Bye.”
They said they loved her and she said in a quiet voice, “Love you too.”
Then there was May. May poked Ivy in the side the way only a big sister could and Ivy smiled grudgingly. He heard May say to her quietly, “Don’t rush. I mean it. I don’t need your money, Ivy. I put it all in college funds they may not want or need by the time they are old enough to go. You need to take some time for you.” She looked at the parents walking towards the cars. “They don’t need it either. They are just used to it. Think about the dragon. That’s all you need to worry about right now.”
When they arrived, May was his least favorite. Oh how a few hours could change the way a person was viewed. May stepped over and hugged him. She whispered in his ear, “Be good to my little sister or I will wrap you in peanut butter and bury you. She is not as unbreakable as my parents seem to think.” She stepped back and her smile was as innocent as if she just said congratulations. “It was really nice meeting you.”
He knew he was a bit bewildered. He liked that she was ready to fight for Ivy. He didn’t like the image of her threat. “It was great meeting you, too. You have a lovely family.”
“Gordon said he will catch up with the two of you later. He’s committed to this new job. I don’t want him to think it is okay to bail out of work so I didn’t push,” May explained.
“It’s fine,” Ivy assured her. “I see him all the time.”
They all headed down the walk and piled into cars and then Ivy shut the door and they could breathe again. All he could say was, “Wow!”
“You survived it.”
“Barely.” He laughed. “I like them. Your brother-in-law is a pretty funny guy.”
