by North, Cara
“You have a sister?” Frankie looked at her as if this was news. Sure, May was rarely mentioned, they went by different last names, but still.
“Yeah, May. She went to school with us.” Ivy looked at Frankie. She seemed a bit shocked by it. “She looks just like me. Surely you remember her.”
“I’m so embarrassed!” Frankie suddenly said.
Ivy looked at her and waited for the explanation.
“Ivy I thought you were the same person! I thought you changed your name for Hollywood. Oh my God! You know we hated you in high school because she stole Shay’s boyfriend. He played…”
“Basketball?” Ivy shook her head. “Yeah, he’s the reason she had to be home schooled. I have a seventeen year old nephew from that relationship.”
“Wow!” Frankie was still in shock. “I’m so sorry. Does Shay know?”
Ivy nodded. “She didn’t tell me about the boyfriend part, but she was relieved to know there were two of us. I guess everything makes more sense to me now.”
Frankie nodded and changed the subject to current events. “So tell me about Bo.”
***
Bo watched as an awkward Jonas Gunner took a seat next to his older brother, Jed. Bo wasn’t sure what all did or did not transpire with Jonas and Ivy off set, but it was enough that they had made out quite a bit on set.
He cleared his throat and said, “Bo.”
“Jonas.”
Jed quirked a brow and looked from him to Jonas and then back. “Did I miss something?”
Bo was not going to be the one who explained this particular situation.
Jonas cleared his throat and said, “Ivy and I were in The Benefits of Friends and Lovers together.”
“I don’t think I saw that.” Jed admitted. Bo restrained the smile. He knew Jed was out of the country when the film came out so he was not at the premiere. One thing he knew about Jed Gunner is that he rarely had time for fluff. That meant if he didn’t attend a premiere to support his family, he didn’t see it, because most of what the rest of his family worked on would be considered fluff.
“It’s rated R for content,” Jonas said and took a long swig of the beer that was sat in front of him.
“Oh my God.” The waitress just realized who he was. “Oh my God. Oh my God!”
“It’s Jonas, actually.” He shook his head and smiled at the girl. Bo was certain if clothes could spontaneously disappear hers would have. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Oh my God, yes. Anything. An-y-thing.” Bo wondered if this was the way male wait staff reacted to Ivy. He hoped not, but some part of him knew this was typical for people like them.
“I’m going to be here a while. I’m with my brother and a friend. Could you keep it secret for me?” Jonas winked at her. If people could spontaneously combust, Bo was sure she would have.
“Yes. Definitely.” She was so serious about it.
“Thank you. It means a lot to me.” Jonas said.
“Before you leave could I get a picture?” she asked shyly.
“As long as I can sit here in peace, I don’t see why not.”
He was clever. Bo had to give him that credit.
The girl practically skipped away from them. She was elated.
Jed brought them back to the moment with, “So you made out with his wife in that movie is what you’re telling me.”
Jonas closed his eyes. “Yes.”
“Awkward.” Jed laughed.
They both started talking at the same time. Jonas said “Yes” and Bo said, “You could say that.”
Jed had a good laugh then. Bo was sure they were both glaring at him.
“But she is out with Frankie right now. She knows this right?” Jed asked.
“Of course she does. It was a movie. We were friends off set.” Jonas said as he took another long sip of the beer.
Bo grunted. It was so difficult to be sitting there next to a guy his wife had made out with. Worse, a guy that made him stress whether or not Ivy compared them. No one ever ‘Oh My God’d’ him on sight.
“Okay, I don’t know what happened between the time she left me and started with you, but she was a virgin when she came and a virgin when she went. We didn’t. She’s a good girl, Bo. You know that.” Jonas gave him such a serious expression.
“It’s just a little weird. I mean I know it wasn’t real, but I worked on that movie with you two.” Bo admitted.
“You gotta get used to that, man. If you’re going to make it work with a high profile actress like Ivy, you gotta deal with the fact that she will end up in another movie and she will end up with a leading man. Unless you take up acting that is likely going to be someone else.” Jonas said it with an honesty Bo couldn’t be mad at.
“And it will suck,” Jed groaned. “Shay has a leading man in this thing. It took me a minute to come to terms with the fact that this is theatre not a movie, so she has to do it over and over again. Night after night. Sometimes twice in one night.”
Bo shivered at the thought. “I guess you’re right. I mean I’ve seen her do it for years, it’s just now, you know, she’s mine.”
“Why do you guys look likes someone just pissed on your table?” Buddy, the husband to Janice Gunner and an actor himself asked as he sat down in the last seat at the table.
Jed supplied a recap. “Jonas made out with Ivy in a movie. Bo just married Ivy. We were talking about how difficult it is to see people make out with your wife. You can relate.”
“Now it feels like someone pissed on my table.” Buddy laughed. “Yeah man, it sucks, but that’s the job. You know that. The only one of us who doesn’t have to deal with that is who Jonas and Ivy.”
Jed was taking a sip of beer and almost spit it back out. He cleared his throat and said, “Maybe just Ivy.”
“Do you have to tell this story?” Jonas asked and his cheeks turned pink.
“Hell yeah,” Buddy said.
“I think it will be good for Bo to hear that even the mighty Jonas Gunner gets jealous now and then.” Jed nodded and looked to Bo. “Shay kissed Frankie in front of Jonas to piss him off.”
“What…when?” Buddy looked to one of the brothers then the next.
“You guys had just left. It was the night I brought Shay to dinner at Jonas’s house and he wouldn’t stop badgering me about work.” Jed laughed. “God I love that woman.”
Bo looked at Jonas who had a bit of a screwed up expression on his face. “Yeah, it sucks.”
Bo laughed then. Hell if Jonas could deal with Jed’s wife kissing Frankie, he could handle what happened between Ivy and Jonas in the past.
Buddy laughed too. He said, “So I guess Ivy is the only lucky one not facing this dilemma.”
Bo pulled at the base of the beer bottle and turned it a full three sixty before admitting, “Well. She kinda has to deal with the fact that my ex-fiancé is married to my older brother and she did meet her.”
“Jesus,” Buddy said. “She wins.”
“Yeah,” Jed agreed. “That sucks more.”
Everyone looked at Jonas and he said, “Nope. That is still not another woman kissing your wife.”
Everyone busted out laughing.
***
“I feel so bad for you. You’re stuck here with us and three kids.” Janice Gunner said as she looked out the window of the quiet restaurant. “I think it might snow tonight. Can you believe Jed wants us to move here? It’s eighty degrees back home.”
Ivy laughed. “Yeah it is a bit nippy.”
“Play with me,” Buddy Junior said and handed her a truck.
Janice mouthed the words I’m sorry. Ivy smiled as she rolled the truck across the table towards him. “It’s fine.”
“They are probably three beers in and we are sitting here drinking tea and playing cars. Are you sure you want to hang out with us?” Frankie laughed.
“Beer. Where? A bar? Do they have nuts there?” Ivy was already in a panic. She was trying to remember if he had that damn pen on him. She h
ad hers, but she was freaking out. Bars usually had nut bowls. People touched things and passed things and… how could he go to such a place?
“Are you all right?” Janice asked.
“He is allergic to peanuts. They have peanuts in bars. I don’t know if he has his allergy medication.” Ivy was fumbling through her purse for the phone. She called. No answer. She called again. No answer. She sent a text. No response. “Oh my God. I have to go. I have to go.”
“Well wait, we’ll come with you,” Janice said as she stood. “I’m sure Buddy or Jonas would have called if he wasn’t okay.”
“No,” Ivy said as she pulled on her jacket. “There isn’t time for that. I didn’t have time to call for help and he was already swelling up. They won’t have time. I have to go.”
Frankie, Janice, the two babies, and Buddy Junior were all ready to go within moments. Ivy felt terrible for ruining this for them. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to go, really.”
“You don’t even know where you’re heading, Ivy. Come on. I know where they are.” Janice was a comforting older sister. Ivy knew how easy it was for her to mother people. She had come to visit Jonas several times when they had worked together.
Ivy tried, and failed to breathe deeply, remain calm. She tried again to call, to text. By the time they arrived at the sports bar and grill she was a bundle of nerves and energy. None of it good. They entered the building and Ivy could hear people saying her name. It was packed with people, mostly men.
When they found them in a relatively secluded section Ivy wanted to jump for joy that he was okay. She wanted to run over and hug him. Then she wanted to strangle him for not answering the phone or her text messages. Unfortunately, that was the emotion that stood out the most.
“Bo!” She said it louder and more forceful than she intended. All four of the men jumped as they looked around towards her.
He looked stunned. As he stood he asked, “Is everything okay?”
Buddy was already standing and heading to Janice to take the baby. Jonas looked at Frankie as though she could communicate through telekinesis or something. Jed Gunner held off a knowing smile and shook his head.
She was immediately embarrassed. Bo was obviously worried something had happened to her, but everyone else knew she had stormed in there mad at him. She fumbled for words, “I called and…it’s a bar…and.”
He shook his head. As he walked towards her, Frankie moved to take his seat.
He was a step away from her when a guy interrupted with, “Can I have your autograph?”
Bo folded his arms and waited. Ivy didn’t even look at the guy before she bit out, “Not now.”
She stared to close the distance between her and Bo. She needed to apologize to him for showing up and yelling his name like that. She didn’t have time for fans at that moment.
“What a bitch.” She heard the guy mumble from behind her.
“What the fuck did you just call my wife?” She watched Bo react in front of her. The ever calm, ever cool, ever collected Bo Bliss immediately transformed into a hulking, angry, husband ready to kick that guy’s ass.
“Oh, whoa, whoa.” Jed was standing before anyone else could move. He was an imposing man and the beard and a well-worn hoodie did nothing to make him look like the celebrity he was. He looked like he could sit with the bikers at the bar if it wasn’t for the rest of the people at his table. “Come on guy, give them some space. You don’t want to come between a man and his wife.”
“I didn’t know…I just…wanted an autograph. She’s the reason I made it through my surgery.” Ivy heard him say.
Ivy watched Bo clench his jaw. It ticked. He took a deep breath and then another. She had never seen him like that before. No one would want to be on the receiving end. Bo wasn’t small. He wasn’t quite as tall as Jed, but he was just as wide in the shoulder and lean, lean muscles. Most of them hidden under the clothes he was wearing. He did not look like he belonged in a bar. He looked like a gentleman in his slacks, a button down shirt, and a thick, woven sweater on top of that.
Ivy considered the situation. She didn’t want that guy thinking she didn’t care that he made it through surgery. She held up her hands asking Bo silently to wait right there. She watched his head nod stiffly. Buddy Junior broke free of his mother and ran up to Bo. He looked down at the kid and his body language changed instantly.
Ivy followed Jed and the young man back to his table. She apologized and explained she didn’t mean to be rude. She took a picture with the whole table and signed the guy’s cast on his right arm. He was twenty and had suffered an injury playing college football. He had almost died. His parents were there with him and so grateful to her. They said they played her movies while he was unconscious for a week so he could hear them. She was his favorite actress.
She felt like such a bitch.
When she returned to their table, overcrowded with men, women, and children she found Bo sitting. Buddy Junior was perched on his knee talking about the cars he had. Jed Gunner was still standing. He put his hand on her back and leaned in to whisper, “I know he has allergies. They don’t have bowls of nuts here. I’ve known him for years. Stop freaking out like that. He won’t like it, and he won’t put up with it for long.”
She nodded. Whispered, “Thank you.”
He motioned for the waitress to pull up a chair. The girl looked sad to see everyone in her section. She stared at Frankie and the baby for a long time then looked at Jonas who was also staring at Frankie and the baby. Ivy knew instantly the girl’s heart was broken. It was written all over her young face. She said, “I’ll make sure he leaves you a nice tip.”
The girl looked at her, recognized her, and smiled. “This is the best day of my life. Jonas Gunner and Ivy Mills both in my section.”
“Bliss. I’m Ivy Bliss now. I got married, too.” Ivy winked.
The girl sighed. “I guess if you can move on from him, I can too.”
Ivy laughed as the girl left to grab more drinks.
She pulled the chair up next to Bo and Buddy Junior and looked at him. He was a bit distant, but they managed to play it off in front of everyone. Soon enough the awkwardness was past.
Once the babies had been passed around, the beers, soda, and tea drank, the appetizers eaten, it was time for all to disband only to reunite again for the premiere. Once everyone was gone and it was just the two of them on the sidewalk he said, “Hotel’s not far, wanna walk?”
She nodded. They began the stroll towards the hotel. They were several paces when he finally broke the silence. “I shouldn’t have reacted that way.”
She was surprised. He was apologizing when it was her fault any of it happened at all.
“I shouldn’t have freaked out when you didn’t answer the phone. I knew you were with them. I just…they said bar…I…”
“Sweetheart, I have survived almost forty years with this allergy. I have had two severe reactions in my whole life. Once when I was a kid and Alex dared me to eat a peanut, and well, the second was when you ate peanuts and kissed me.” Bo stopped and looked at her. “You have to stop worrying about me. I’m sorry I didn’t hear the phone. I’ll put it on vibrate along with the ringer okay?”
She felt the tears sting her eyes but tried to hold them back.
“Agh,” he groaned as he came to a stop. “The tears. You’re killing me with those.”
“I’m sorry.” She sniffed. Wiped.
He chuckled. “Come here, sweetheart.”
He wrapped her in his arms and hugged her close. The first snowflakes began to fall.
Everything was perfect about this apology; the night, the city, the snow, and the man she loved as he leaned in for a kiss. The moment his lips met hers a familiar sound echoed through the air. Shutterbugs, another name for the paparazzi, were taking pictures and ruining her moment with him.
The walk to the hotel, which was in view from where they were standing, became out of the question as more and more people came to see who and
what was being photographed so obviously. In the city a crowd can gather quickly. The people who live in the big apple could care less about the celebrities co-existing with them in the small space. The tourists were another animal all together.
Ivy spent most of their time in New York in the hotel room with Bo. They went to the play, which Shay was fabulous in, and to dinner after. They enjoyed time with friends but she wanted him all to herself. He offered to take her shopping. He offered to go to more shows. She didn’t want to do anything. “I just want to stay here like this.”
“I thought you might be ready to pick out a piece of jewelry,” he said and kissed her forehead.
“Surprise me.” She was snuggled up to him in bed, where she tried to keep him more often than not. Now that her feelings were clear as day to her she understood why something so simple could be so complicated. In the singular turn of emotion she began to worry about him in all new ways. The thought of losing him couldn’t completely cross her mind because it was unbearable to think of it.
“Okay then. I will.” He began to roll and she went with him. They were in the position she was familiar with, comfortable with. He had tried to move them a couple of times into new arrangements, but she would simply pull him back into place and he complied without much resistance.
Ivy didn’t want to end up in some degrading position. Her sister had talked in detail about sex and Ivy judged her for it. She could see why the temptation was there; sex was amazing. At least it was with Bo. She just wasn’t going to put herself out there like May had. He wasn’t going to do all of those dirty things she assumed men liked to do.
She was a virgin before she met him, but she had access to television and she had seen her fair share of soft porn. As Bo slid into her she decided it couldn’t get any better than this. If it isn’t broke, don’t try to fix it. That was her motto. The moment his lips met hers and he began the thrust and pull movements she wrapped around him and held on tight. She broke free and said, “You’re amazing.”
“I’m glad you think so.” He smiled mischievously and rolled them until she was on top. “Let’s see how amazing you are.”
