Page 54 of Clint & Ivy
“No one made you do a damn thing,” Pax muttered. “You did it because you have a natural ‘Holly Homemaker’ vibe.”
“Stop yelling at my daddy!” Elle cried while googling Sutter’s information. “Ha! My boy was correct! Here come my pits!”
Clint stopped eating his pork and potatoes long enough to explain, “I was telling them to zip it as their club president rather than as their friend.”
Sabrina froze in place. A spoonful of potatoes was poised to fly across the table at Elle. She flashed her dark eyes at Clint before shoving the food into her mouth.
“Well, then, that’s fine,” Sabrina said and shrugged. “Carry on.”
“I’m still making you smell my pits,” Elle insisted.
“After dessert,” Shay said. “Also, maybe we should pretend to be more normal while Ivy is getting to know us. Like, we could ease her into the family’s crazy ways.”
“We didn’t ease these two into it,” Pax said and gestured at Elijah and Jenan. “Right, kids?”
The preteens lowered their gazes and refused to be drawn into the conversation. I also remained quiet through dinner and dessert. When I offered to help with the dishes, Ford claimed they didn’t own a stepstool.
“Rather than dishes,” Lula suggested, suddenly standing behind me, “why not help me put together the court order?”
Clint explained how he wanted to retrieve my belongings from the Reno house. He made the situation sound so normal. I would list out everything in my room. An Arkansas judge would approve the order. A team of people would go to the mansion to pack up my belongings.
“What if this helps my uncle find me?” I asked Lula as the past started dragging me downward.
“For your address, we’ll use a Little Rock safehouse,” she said, seeming so much more intimidating now than when we were eating. “If your uncle tries to come for you, we’ll be alerted. Meanwhile, he won’t have any clue about your real location. Don’t worry. We’ve done something similar for abused women on the run.”
I agreed to Lula’s instructions and tried to create an extensive list. The process should have been easy, but thinking of my old room left me tired and depressed.
Later, as Clint and I prepared to leave for the evening, Shay cornered me. Her soft smile instantly made me tear up. I wanted to stay here with her, but I was also exhausted after a long day.
“Did Clint tell you that he rides around a lot during the day? Part of his job is to be seen in town. He checks on businesses and his people. That’s important for his club.”
“I know he goes out a lot.”
Shay glanced at Clint before smiling at me. “I think you should hang out here for a while tomorrow while Clint rides around. We can talk more, and you can show me those recipes you know. I’d like to burn new things.”
Smiling at her teasing, I still wasn’t sure if I should agree. What did Clint want? I feared saying the wrong thing.
Shay’s hug soothed my worries. I rested my head against her and recentered myself for the hundredth time today.
“It’ll get easier,” she promised. “One day, you’ll be the wise old lady soothing her boy’s soulmate.”
Smiling at Shay, I relaxed over how tomorrow was already partly planned.
