Wrapped Up in You Read online

  She let out a long, shuddery breath. “You’re sure?”

  “I promise you. He’s going to make a full recovery.”

  She nodded, then realized he couldn’t see her, and sighed. “Caleb, I’m so sor—”

  “Don’t you dare apologize to me.”

  “But my brother—”

  “Baby, this was not on you.”

  She closed her eyes. “I appreciate you saying that, but Brandon . . . he wouldn’t have done this without me opening my big mouth.”

  “You’re supposed to be able to open your big mouth around family,” Caleb said and then paused. “I called because earlier today, thanks to an anonymous tip, the police apprehended two guys for B&E, felony theft, and some other stuff. They spilled their guts to reduce charges.” He paused again. “They implicated Brandon,” he said quietly. “And that, along with Arlo’s statement, sealed it. There’s a warrant out for Brandon’s arrest.”

  “Okay,” she said just as quietly. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  “The police are probably going to want to talk to you. Don’t say anything unless your lawyer’s with you.”

  “I don’t have a lawyer.”

  “Yes, you do. He’ll be in touch. And Ivy . . .” She heard the regret and sympathy in his voice. “If Brandon’s caught, he’s going to go away for a long time.”

  “I know,” she said. “But he’s not coming back. He knows he detonated everything here and he’s not stupid. His healthy sense of self-preservation will keep him gone.”

  “I’m sorry,” Caleb said quietly.

  “If I can’t say it, neither can you.”

  “Got it,” Caleb said. “Now . . . about your condo.”

  “It’s no longer mine.”

  “We’ll work something out.”

  “No,” she said and then softened her voice. “You have no idea how much it means to me that you’d do that, but it’s not fair. I’m going to start over and get there. On my own.”

  “Ivy, I understand, believe me, but it means you’ll miss out on getting into this building.”

  And here she’d thought she couldn’t hurt more than she did. “I know.”

  “But—”

  “It’s okay, Caleb. I have to do it this way. For me.”

  He sighed. “I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.”

  She bit her lower lip. “So . . . Kel’s devastated?”

  “Yes. Did you think he wouldn’t be?”

  She wasn’t sure what she thought. “He’s not alone there.”

  “So give him a chance to fix it.”

  “He had it, but he didn’t want it. He’s not the right one for me if he doesn’t want me as is, Caleb,” she said softly.

  “Ivy—”

  “Gotta go,” she said softly and disconnected. Wincing, she shoved the phone away and turned back to her truck, coming to an abrupt stop at the sight of the girls huddled around one of the picnic tables. Molly, Sadie, Tae, and Haley and Dee—who were sitting very close together.

  No. She was not ready for this, so she sneaked into the truck. She adored them, even loved them, but she was pretty sure that by now they knew what had gone down. And she wasn’t ready to come face-to-face with the consequences of her lies.

  The phone buzzed an incoming text. It was a group text, with all the girls on it.

  Sadie: Come back! We’re waiting for you!

  Molly: I saved you a muffin. And none of that healthy shit either. I’ve got the double chocolate chip muffins.

  At that, Ivy stuck her head out of the truck. Everyone waved her over and with a sigh she went.

  When Molly caught her eyeballing the table for the muffins, she smiled. “Oh, I lied. Just wanted to make sure you were getting the texts.”

  “Wow. That was mean.” But Ivy sat. “What’s up?” she asked, as if she didn’t know. First rule of the Screwup Club—play innocent.

  “Tina told us she saw you at the coffee shop earlier and that you looked like shit,” Sadie said. “She said that men are scum.”

  “They are,” Ivy confirmed.

  “Yes,” Tae said. “And?”

  “Hey, wait a minute,” Molly said. “Not all men are scum. Lucas made me breakfast just this morning.”

  “Was that because you’d done him a favor first?” Tae asked.

  Molly went a little red in the face. “Maybe. In the shower. But it took him longer to make me breakfast, so really, I’m the winner.”

  “Not if you have sore knees,” Sadie said.

  “If you fold up two washcloths and set them on the tile before you start the shower,” Dee said, “problem solved.”

  Haley blushed tomato red.

  Sadie took Ivy’s hand, looking her in the eyes. “I want to tell you something, without you getting all fidgety and weird and trying to escape with some dumb excuse so you don’t have to talk about your feelings.”

  “I don’t do that,” Ivy said.

  Everyone snorted in unison and Ivy sighed. “Fine. I suck at feelings. Whatever.”

  “You don’t suck at feelings,” Sadie said. “If anything, it’s the opposite. Did you know that ever since you started seeing Kel, you’ve been . . . happier?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “And more open,” Sadie said. “You smile, and it goes all the way to your eyes.”

  Ivy started to immediately pull back, both her hand and in fact her entire body, but she froze.

  She was fidgeting.

  Dammit.

  “You do that,” Sadie went on. “Because, as I suspect, as we suspect . . .”

  Again everyone nodded.

  “. . . That you’re feeling things . . . things you’re not used to feeling.”

  Ivy blew out a breath. “You’re not wrong.”

  “We thought maybe you’d want to talk about it,” Haley said gently.

  “It’s okay if you don’t want to,” Sadie said, just as gently. “But from experience as someone who denied all emotions for too long, I can tell you that facing them head on like a badass bitch is the only way to go. Otherwise, they chase you, follow you, haunt you, and believe me, those suckers can outpace you, I swear. You need to just get in front of them and turn and fight.”

  “I’ve been fighting all my life,” Ivy said. “I’m tired of it. I wanted someone to fight for me. For once.”

  “Tell us what happened?” Sadie asked quietly.

  “You mean you don’t already know?”

  They all looked at each other.

  They knew.

  But Sadie held Ivy’s gaze and spoke for the group. “We want to hear it from our friend. We want to know what you want us to know so we can help. Or just stand at your back. Whatever it is you need.”

  So . . . she told them. For the first time in her life, she opened up, starting with her childhood and how she’d walked away from that as soon as she could. She told them about coming to San Francisco last year and first working for the guy who owned the taco truck, and then with Caleb’s help, buying the truck. She told them about managing to scrimp and cut out all extras in her life in order to put away half of the down payment for her condo, and how Caleb had intended to match her half in exchange for her continuing to cater for him as needed.

  They all nodded and made encouraging noises whenever she hesitated, wanting her to go on.

  So she did. She went on to the hardest part. She told them about Brandon, about the lies she’d told them all over the past year. That she’d made up stories about Brandon being such good family because she hated the truth.

  Sadie squeezed her hand. “Oh, honey, I wish you could’ve told us. I’m sorry you went through all this alone.”

  “I was ashamed,” Ivy admitted, willing herself not to cry. “After hiding so much from you, I couldn’t tell. Not even when Brandon showed back up and I knew I was in trouble. It’s all on me. I let him back into my life, and he hurt a good man and ruined my relationship with . . . well, everyone.” She lowered her gaze. “I appreciate you li