Page 33 of The Magical Tea Shop

How could a cute little dog be a thoughtless gift?Ivy’s heart clenched.

“I knew better, too. Candace was all about adventure.” He waved his hand at the clouds. “Wingsuit flying, skydiving, white water rafting, even zorbing.”

“Zorbing?”

“Don’t ask.” He shivered and shook his head. “If anyone thought up a crazy new extreme sport, Candace was all in. Being responsible for anyone else wasnother idea of a good time. Having a dog meant we couldn’t just pop off for the weekend. We needed to make arrangements forthat dog, as she called him. But I—” He gave a wry smile. “I was hoping she’d change. Gifting her with a dog didn’t transform her into the person I needed. It only made it clear our goals were out of alignment. She didn’t even give him a name.”

“What kind of woman doesn’t name her dog?” The words spilled out before Ivy could pull them back. Her heart ached for Jaxon. The sky was dimming, vibrant streaks of color folding into the deep blue violet of twilight. “How long had you known each other when you married?”

“Three months. Total whirlwind, but Candace was like that. Leap first. Neither of us was what the other imagined. We had completely different expectations of what our marriage would be. We tried to make it work.”

Ivy heard the grief in that statement.

“She thought I’d be into her escapades. I thought we’d build a home, at very least a home base. I knew she liked adventure, but the danger thing? That was a total surprise. We were still trying to make it work when she—fell.”

Ivy swallowed hard. She didn’t want to drag Jaxon through his heartache, certain it helped no one. “I should go.” She rose.

“Don’t.”

“I hate making you relive bad memories.”

“Please stay.” He tugged her hand until she sat on the bench beside him. “You’re helping me to make sense of my memories. No one else in town lets me talk about Candace. They’re so convinced I’m miserable and grieving, but it’s been three years and—” Jaxon ran a hand through his hair. It flopped down in that adorable way Ivy loved, and she experienced a flash of guilt that she could be thinking that when he was working through something so emotional.

“I’m still trying to make sense of what happened. I’d like to start over.”

“Except for Montgomery.”

Jaxon’s mouth curved up on one edge. “Except for Montgomery. He’s a keeper. I think sometimes if I’d tried harder, Candace wouldn’t have died.” He sighed. “It’s my fault.”

“Surely not.”

He nodded. “We were fighting when she fell. If we hadn’t been, maybe I would have been closer. Maybe she wouldn’t have gone off climbing by herself. I’d have been by her side. If we hadn’t been arguing, Candace wouldn’t have been so reckless. If I could do it over…”

Ivy’s first instinct was to soothe him, to tell him it wasn’t his fault, it couldn’t be, but at his wounded expression, she simply took his hand. She rubbed her fingers lightly over the back of his knuckles. “Tell me.”

He released a shuddering breath. “Really?”

Jaxon needed to talk, and she could do this. This wasn’t like being a good listener for her “dates” while they bragged about inventory, risk management, and fixing up a Corvette. This was being there when it mattered for someone who mattered to her.

She nodded, and was stunned at the gratitude in his eyes.

“Candace convinced me to go on her latest adventure. This one was easy, she said. One even I could handle.”

Ivy took in the athletic physique of the man before her and said, in disbelief, “That evenyoucould handle?”

He nodded. “Not mountain climbing, she claimed, no, no, much easier than that. It wasn’t even canyoning.”

“Canyoning?”

When Jaxon rolled his eyes and shrugged, they smiled at each other and said in unison, “Don’t ask.” His hand tightened around hers in a comfortable squeeze. “Just rock climbing, she promised, easy like those practice places kids use after school or for parties.”

“Was it?”

He looked skyward. “Not even close.” He laughed, and Ivy joined in.

“No, she tricked me, and it pissed me off. She thought it was hilarious and was impatient with me for being annoyed. I couldn’t back out. We were already there with a group of her adrenaline-junkie buddies. I was already committed. Unless I planned to renege, my only option was to tough it out. The rock face was sheer. Oh, it wasn’t high like a mountain. That much was true. We were without the climbing equipment I thought we should have. Everyone there was a veteran climber, except for me. We each had a rope and a harness. It started out fun, but the higher we got, the crazier it became. They were all extreme-sports gurus, and I was just me.

“I’m not unathletic—I played sports in high school. Even now, I’m on the baseball team with the Rebels, but this was new and not without risk. That’s the part Candace loved. Taking a chance, being overconfident made her come alive. And, believe me, her confidence was staggering. It’s one of the qualities I admired, but she took it too far that day. I made it to the first ridge no problem. I even made it to the second, but she kept taunting me, hinting that I’d back out.

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