Whatever she was expecting, that wasn’t it. Ivy widened her eyes, dumbfounded. “You’re not angry? Max told me it was a terrible idea and I couldn’t help but worry after the fact that you would think I was invading your privacy.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I … don’t know.”
“Maybe because I yelled at you for going through those folders?” Jack suggested. “Here’s the thing, Ivy, I only yelled at you because you took me by surprise. I didn’t want you to see what I was working on. Now that’s out in the open. I have nothing to hide. You can go through my stuff to your heart’s content.”
“Believe it or not, I don’t want to invade your privacy,” Ivy offered. “I’m not sure why I got so crazy about the folders. I have a theory, though, if you’re interested.”
Jack smiled indulgently. “Lay it on me.”
“I think I needed something to focus on that wasn’t the dead man in my lap,” Ivy explained. “I felt the life literally drain out of him and I think it affected me more than I want to admit.”
“I think that, too,” Jack said, stroking the back of her head. “I’m here to talk about it if you want.”
“I’m not sure what to say,” Ivy said. “I just think that pretending it didn’t happen doesn’t really work for me. I’m sorry about going through your stuff. I’m also sorry about moving your stuff without asking. That seems like something a crazy woman would do.”
“Yeah?” Jack shifted his eyes to the mountain of belongings. “Well, you’re my crazy woman. I happen to love you no matter what. I’m fine with it. I hate moving anyway.”
Ivy visibly brightened. “Really? You’re not angry.”
“I’m not happy that you didn’t tell me about Mary Jackson stopping by for a visit, but I understand you’ve been dealing with a lot and I’m not angry.”
“Oh, good.” Ivy rested her forehead against Jack’s chin, happy to snuggle with him for a few minutes before finishing dinner. “I don’t suppose that means you’ll give me my ring anytime soon, does it?”
Jack snorted, legitimately amused. “No.”
“Oh, but … come on,” Ivy protested. “I want it.”
“And I want you to have it, but you’re not getting it right now,” Jack said. “I’m not proposing in the middle of a murder investigation. I have other plans for you.”
“That bites.” Ivy leaned back and grabbed a paper bag from the top of the end table, digging inside until she retrieved a headband. Jack noted it was a Christmas themed band with a metal spring that boasted mistletoe at one end. Ivy slid it onto her head and leaned closer so the mistletoe rested above both of their heads. “Just so you know, I’m not letting it go. I plan to work on you in every way known to man to get what I want.”
Jack’s grin was so wide it swallowed his entire face. He flicked the mistletoe with his finger and made it dance. “Somehow I think I might like whatever you come up with.”
“I think you will, too.” Ivy grabbed both sides of his face and planted a wet kiss on his mouth. “Prepare to be dazzled.”
“Give me another kiss like that and you can dazzle me until dawn,” Jack teased.
“Oh, no. I’m going to dazzle you forever. That’s the plan.”
Jack tightened his grip on her. “It’s a good plan. Now … kiss me. I think I’ve earned it.”
“Finally, something I want to do today.”
Thirteen
“Get up.”
As far as morning greetings went, Ivy was expecting more. She wrenched open one eye and glared at the freshly showered man hovering near the side of the bed.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
“Not even remotely,” Jack replied, flashing an impish grin. “That’s the last thing I want. One day you’re going to be my wife. I don’t want a dead wife. I like how that sounds. Wife. Of course, that’s now a day far, far into the future thanks to you … but I have faith it will eventually happen.”
“You suck.” Ivy ripped the pillow out from beneath her head and pressed it to her face. “I can’t believe you’re torturing me this way.”
“It’s kind of fun.” Jack knelt next to the mattress and removed the pillow from her face. “I’m going to take you for breakfast at the diner. I thought you could use a break from cooking and I want to talk to you.”
Ivy flashed a pathetic face. “Oh, I don’t want to be yelled at again.”
“Who said I was going to yell?”
“I don’t want you torturing me again either,” Ivy whined. “It hurts my heart.”
The simple declaration was enough to have Jack rethinking his approach … but only for a moment. “That was very good. I almost fell for it. You’re going to have to do better than that, though.”
“What if I cry?”
“I would prefer you didn’t.” Jack’s hand was gentle as it pushed Ivy’s hair away from her expressive face. On a normal day he found her beautiful. The pronounced pout today made her something otherworldly. “Ivy, I need you to know that I love you. That’s not going to change. You know that, right?”
Ivy considered pushing the situation but ultimately nodded. “I do know that.”
“Good. I also want to punish you for what you did. You ruined my big Christmas surprise.”
Ivy opened her mouth to argue, but Jack cut her off with a firm shake of the head.
“I’m not done, Ivy,” he said. “I love you. You make me very happy … most of the time. You’re going to have to suck this up and deal with it, though. You caused the situation.”
“I think I’m going to cry.”
“Don’t.” Jack wagged his finger. “Get in the shower and get dressed. I’m going to take you to breakfast so we can talk.”
“I don’t want to talk. Whenever we talk I stick my foot in my mouth.”
“That’s why you’re funny.” Jack pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “You still have to get up. We’re not going to talk about us over breakfast – surprise, surprise – because we’re going to talk about the case. Brian texted he has some information that we’ll both probably want to hear.”
“Oh.” Ivy bolted to a sitting position. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“Because I thought it would be more fun to torture you. Now, shower and we’ll head to town. I’ll get you back here in plenty of time to put all of my belongings away. Don’t worry about that.”
Ivy’s mouth tipped down at the corners. “I’m starting to think you’re a sadist.”
“I’m starting to think that’s exactly what you deserve.”
“OH, WELL, you two don’t seem to have any open wounds or anything so I’m guessing the fight didn’t get too rowdy.”
Brian was all smiles when Ivy and Jack took their seats across from him in one of the diner’s cozy booths an hour later.
“It wasn’t bad at all,” Jack replied, slinging an arm over Ivy’s shoulders as the waitress approached with a mug of coffee for Jack and a pot of hot water for Ivy’s tea. “We’ll take our usuals.”
Jack and Ivy ate at the diner so often the wait staff knew what they preferred for every meal.
“No problem.” The waitress winked at Jack, causing Ivy to roll her eyes as the younger woman sauntered away.
“I don’t think you’re very funny,” Ivy announced, picking up their argument from earlier as if no time had passed. “In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re a complete and total tool.”
Jack snorted, refusing to engage in an argument he didn’t want to waste time on. “I’m fine with that. Speaking of being funny, though, why don’t you tell Brian what you did last night?”
Ivy rolled her eyes so hard Jack momentarily worried she would topple out of the booth. “I thought you wanted to keep our sexual antics to yourself.”
“Definitely keep them to yourself,” Brian barked, his cheeks flushing with color. “I don’t want to hear that.”
“She wasn’t going to tell you anyway,” Jack supplied. “I might tell you –
I’m a huge fan of mistletoe for the first time, after all – but she was trying to distract me from telling you about the other thing she did.”
“Oh, well, this is bound to be good.”
“It is.” Jack grinned as Ivy shifted on the vinyl seat, her discomfort obvious. “So, I came home last night and found a big pile of boxes and bags waiting for me.”
“I think it’s nice that you’re already referring to Ivy’s house as your home even though you haven’t proposed yet,” Brian noted.
“It is his home,” Ivy said. “As for the proposal … we’re not talking about it.”
“How come?”
“Because it makes me sad,” Ivy replied, taking on a pitiful expression. “In fact, I’m so sad I’m going to cry the entire day while I’m toiling like a slave putting away Jack’s belongings at home.”
“Hey, you’re the one who volunteered to do that,” Jack argued, tugging on a strand of Ivy’s hair to get her to look at him. “You’re the one who let yourself into my rental and packed up all my belongings yesterday. You’re the one who moved them.”
Brian barked out a laugh, delighted. “You’re kidding. That is so … you.”
Ivy was pretty sure that was supposed to be an insult. “I was trying to do him a favor.”
“Tell him why you really did it,” Jack prodded.
“I really did it because I wanted to be able to say we were living together.” Ivy’s voice grew unnaturally shrill. “What are you accusing me of exactly?”
“Pipe down, whiner,” Jack ordered. “I’m telling this story.” He flashed an impish grin because he was so thoroughly enjoying himself. “She actually did it so she could look for her ring, but Max stopped her. She spouted this hilarious – and long – story last night when I got home.”
“She sounds like a lot of work,” Brian said.
“She’s worth it.” Jack lightly knocked his head against Ivy’s to reinforce the fact that he was kidding. “Most of the time.”
“Oh, you guys are so cute that I want to puke … and I haven’t even eaten yet this morning,” Brian said. “You guys are actually vomit inducing.”
“Just wait until we’re actually engaged,” Jack said.
“Whenever that happens,” Ivy muttered.
“When is that going to happen?” Brian asked, amused despite himself.
“Never,” Ivy replied. “He’s enjoying torturing me too much to give in.”
“She’s not wrong.” In truth, Jack knew exactly when he planned to propose. He refused to tell Ivy that, though, because he loved watching her scramble. “So, what did you do with your evening last night, Brian?”
“I watched A Christmas Story with the wife and ran a few names through the system.”
“Oh, I love that movie,” Ivy enthused, taking on a far-off expression. “It’s my favorite Christmas movie. Well, that and Elf.”
Jack cast her a sidelong look. “I didn’t know that. I love both of those movies. We should watch them one day this week.”
“Sure.” Ivy bobbed her head. “Just as soon as you give me my ring.”
“I’m not going to let you bully me into giving you that ring,” Jack argued. “Don’t even think I’m going to allow that to happen.”
“We’ll see.”
“We will.”
“Oh, geez.” Brian pinched the bridge of his nose. “The verbal foreplay is just off the charts today. You guys don’t even care who is sharing oxygen with you, do you?”
“Not in the least,” Jack replied. “Tell me what you’ve got.”
“I’ve actually got numerous things,” Brian replied, grabbing a file from the booth seat to his right and handing it to his partner. “I ran all of the names of the part-time workers from the tree lot. I thought that would give us a leg up on the grunt work this morning.”
“You must’ve found something good to text me before the sun even rises.”
“Yes, well, I definitely found something,” Brian said. “I found that ten of the twenty workers have records.”
Jack stilled, the meaning of Brian’s words washing over him. “What are the odds of that?”
“A fifty-percent record rate? I don’t know, but I can’t think they’d be high.”
“Wasn’t Norman Fell a former criminal?” Ivy asked, smiling as the waitress delivered her breakfast and waiting until the woman offered Jack another saucy wink and vacated the area before continuing. “I swear that was a rumor when we were in high school. All of the girls said he was a pervert and he went to prison for having sex with a young girl or something.”
Jack cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
Brian shook his head. “The Shadow Lake rumor mill is nothing if not error prone. Norman Fell was in prison for five years. It was for vehicular homicide, though.”
Ivy wrinkled her nose. “Isn’t that worse? He killed someone.”
“He was distracted and hit a small child in a crosswalk,” Brian clarified. “It was a tragic accident, but there was hardly malice involved.”
“Oh.” Ivy felt unbelievably guilty for thinking the worse of Norman throughout the years. “Now I feel bad. I always thought he was a pervert.”
“And yet you know Jack is a pervert and you can’t get enough of him,” Brian argued.
“Yes, well, there are different types of perverts.” Ivy dunked her toast into her egg yolk and took a huge bite, thoughtfully chewing and swallowing before speaking again. “What about the guys at the tree lot?”
“What about them?” Brian asked. “I just told you that fifty percent of them have records.”
“For what?”
“Oh, well, a variety of things,” Brian replied. “Most of them are drug charges. You know, running a drug house, intent to distribute, possession, and the like. Two have violent charges, and they’re the ones I want to focus on first.”
“Which ones?” Jack asked, sliding the orange garnish from his plate to Ivy’s because he knew she would eat it.
“Matt Bloom and Ricky Hughes,” Brian answered. “One of them cracked a rival over the head with a two-by-four and almost caused the guy to die. The other took a tire iron to a drug exchange and left a guy maimed for life.”
“They sound like a good place to start,” Jack said. “What about Dorian Jackson?”
“I knew you were going to ask that,” Brian said. “I saw that coming.”
“Of course I’m going to ask,” Jack said. “The man could’ve hurt the woman I love.”
Ivy practically melted at his earnest expression … and then she got irritated. “I hate it when you say stuff like that when I’m supposed to be mad at you. It makes it practically impossible to stay angry.”
“That’s why I do it.” Jack poked Ivy’s side in teasing, flashing a smile for the returning waitress. “Your name is Dana, right?”
The waitress nodded eagerly. “You remembered.”
“I try to never forget a pretty face,” Jack said, causing Ivy to make a low growling sound in the back of her throat.
“Did you need something?” Dana asked, her expression dreamy.
“Like what?” Ivy challenged, bristling. “Do you think he needs a date or something?”
Instead of having the grace to look abashed, Dana merely shrugged. “You’re dating, not married. Until you have a ring on your finger, you’re both open for offers.”
Ivy’s mouth dropped open as she turned on Jack. “See!”
Jack pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “Unbelievable.”
“You’ve both created an untenable situation and it’s so much fun to watch,” Brian said. “It’s like a Christmas gift picked out especially for me.”
“You’re a sick, sick man,” Ivy muttered, shaking her head.
“So, what do you need?” Dana leaned close enough that Jack could see down the front of her uniform, her ample cleavage practically right under his nose.
“I just wanted some more coffee.” Jack lifted his mug and forced a smile. “I real
ly didn’t mean to set this … um, situation … off.”
“Oh.” Dana was understandably disappointed. “That’s all?”
Jack grabbed Ivy’s wrist when she tightened her grip on her butter knife. He doubted his fiery woman could do much damage with such a blunt instrument, but she was clearly at the end of her patience rope. “That’s definitely all.”
“Okay.” Dana dejectedly shuffled toward the kitchen. “I understand.”
“And he’s off the market, ring or not,” Ivy called out to the woman’s back. Jack arched an eyebrow when Ivy practically dared him to argue by murdering him with a dark look. “Are you going to debate that fact?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” Jack replied, unruffled.
“You debated it with Trevor Denham when he asked if Ivy was open for offers yesterday,” Brian reminded him, causing Ivy to perk up while Jack slid farther down in his seat.
“Oh, now we’re getting somewhere,” Ivy said. “So … what? You’re still on the market, but I’m not? I guess that explains things.”
Jack snapped his head in Ivy’s direction. “Don’t even try it. Neither one of us is on the market. I was simply having a bit of fun at your expense. Don’t freak out.”
“Whatever.” Ivy crossed her arms over her chest. “You said this was going to be a fun breakfast and you totally lied.”
“I’m sorry.” Jack meant it. “I didn’t realize things would get this out of control.”
“You know what would fix it?”
“If you say anything about a ring I’m going to melt down.”
Ivy tilted her head, considering. “How far will you melt?”
Jack sighed and tapped the side of Ivy’s plate. “Why don’t you focus on your food so we don’t have to find out?”
Fourteen
Ivy spent the morning putting away Jack’s things like she promised – he surprisingly owned very few material items and she had more than enough room without having to dig deep to find closet space – before turning her attention to making a new batch of lotion. She had all the ingredients out and ready before she changed her mind and decided to head to the neighboring town to spend time with her Aunt Felicity.
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