Page 53 of The Magical Tea Shop

“I’ll make it work.” She didn’t want to put out her new friend, and alone on a tour with Brantley—well—this was better, to be part of a crowd. Being on a date with an uptight, fidgety person would be better in a group rather than alone, surely.

Ivy was pondering this when Jaxon stopped outside her door. One look at him, and the tension just drained out of her. He had that effect. She hadn’t realized how anxious her brief time with Brantley had made her.

Jaxon motioned at his dog. “Want to take a turn around the square?”

“Love to.” Ivy grabbed a sweater and locked up. The breezy afternoon was a perfect excuse to step out with the only man she wanted to spend time with. They stepped straight out to the green and began to stroll around the outside. The breeze buffeting in gusts, Ivy smoothed her hair, but tendrils escaped from her ponytail until she gave up and set it free.

The expression on Jaxon’s face was priceless.

“You didn’t know, did you?”

He opened his mouth and closed it. “What do you mean?” His eyes on her hair, as it churned like Medusa’s in a tempest, made Ivy laugh. “That I’m a wild woman?”

His eyes grew warmer as he gazed at her. “Wild, is that so?”

“I keep it tamed, but on a day like this?” She shrugged. “Why try?”

“You should let your hair down more often.”

“Figuratively or literally?”

“Both.”

They walked companionably along Worthy Street, Montgomery trotting ahead and occasionally pausing to sniff. They turned at Endeavor, passing the thrift store. At Throckmorton Grocery, Montgomery strained at his leash, but Jaxon held him in check.

“The grocery must smell good to him.”

“It’s the meat counter, and the fresh fish.” At Toby and Mac’s, the dog settled.

“I heard our barkeeps may tie the knot.”

“Seriously? Mackenna doesn’t seem the marrying type, but I’m not much for town gossip.”

“I hear it in the tea shop.”

“I try to avoid it.”

Ivy tilted her head in an unspoken question.

“I don’t like how I figure into it, like I’m pathetic.”

“No one thinks that.”

He raised a skeptical brow. “I’ll need to move for a fresh start. Can’t remake yourself in a small town.”

“I’ve lived here since fifth grade and remade myself many times.”

At Jaxon’s raised brow, she added, “You want a rundown?”

“I do, I really do.”

“In middle school I was very into mermaids, so my mom helped me color my hair blue green. By the time I got to ninth grade, I had changed that up for a fascination with mythology and wood nymphs.”

“Nymphs?”

At his joking leer, she laughed. “Not that kind of nymph. I was only fourteen. Don’t tease; this was serious stuff. I fancied myself a dryad, you know, like the spirits of trees. On May Day, I passed out flowers.”

“How did that go over with your classmates?”

---