Page 16 of The Magical Tea Shop

“Have you told my sister?”

“No.” It came out more emphatically than he intended.

Holly nodded. Her eyes brightened, and her lips tilted in a smug, little smile.

At a loss as to how to extricate himself from the conversation, he perused her display case. “Can I get—” He waved his hand at a bread thingy that didn’t look sweet.

“A ham and cheese croissant? I can warm it up for you.”

He nodded. So much for going by Ivy’s with the new lease. Not that he could’ve gotten in the door, let alone had a conversation with her. Instead, he took his newly warmed croissant in its pink and white striped bag to head back upstairs to eat a lonely lunch with Montgomery.

*

Jaxon’s failure toenter the tea shop did not go unnoted by Ivy. She’d seen him talking out front with Pedro and knew the moment he’d gone to Holly’s instead. She always knew when he was out front. It’s like a bell went off in her head whenever he passed by. She’d longed to stop what she was doing and invite him in, but it was too difficult when she needed to be serving her new influx of customers. When he passed by with the pink-striped bag, her heart stuttered.

Fine. Just fine.But her stomach clenched in a knot at the betrayal. “So, Joel, thank you so much for dropping back in for lunch today. What did you think?”

“It was sooo good. I loved your tomato soup with that fancy sandwich. What do you call it?”

“Panini.”

“The avocado on it was inspired.”

“You think so?” Ivy had thought it inspired too. She wanted her sandwich specials to be just that. Unexpected and anything but ordinary. Encouraged by his enthusiasm, she made a quick decision. “I want to let you know that I thought about what you asked me.”

Joel raised a hopeful brow. “And…” He drew the word out.

“I’d love to see the play with you. In fact, I can’t wait.” She gave a little jump to punctuate her pronouncement.

Joel’s face split into a big grin. In response, he bounced a little on his very large feet.

Ivy grinned back. Finally, someone enthusiastic about spending time with her—well, someone besides Roman. Although he’d been pretty excited, too. And actually, she’d almost thought Pedro wanted to ask her out. Something about the way he hovered at the counter while she bagged his order. Maybe shehadbeen wasting her time mooning over a grieving widower. Jaxon clearly wasn’t interested and his teammates—well, they all seemed devoted to her.

All of a sudden.

Oh dear. She really needed to confirm her theory.

“Hey, Joel, quick question. Did anyone besides you eat any of the cookies I gave Jaxon for negotiating a new lease with me?”

“Is that why he had them?” Joel laughed. “That figures. He brought them to share with the team. He was on snack duty this week.”

“He did?” Ivy’s voice squeaked. Thunderstruck, her stomach flipped, then flopped. He’d shared them. It only confirmed her suspicion. The cookies hadn’t been special to him. She had spent hours, literal hours, mixing and rolling and pressing the pattern into them. She’d baked and dealt with a freaking power failure, not to mention the slightly disconcerting high winds battering her windows over and over. She’d stayed up all night to bake him those super-special cookies. It physically hurt to learn that Jaxon gave them away.

Just like that.

Like they weren’t special.

Likeshewasn’t special.

Something died a little in Ivy.

Fine.

She resolved to win her bet with Holly despite his nonparticipation. Business was already up, and she just needed to find a man who wanted a meaningful relationship with her. Her eyes wandered over the shop. Kyle and Rob stopped bickering and shook hands. What was that about?

Chapter Six

Ivy arrived atKayley’s Refresher, ready to meet Roman for their date. She’d spent an absurd amount of time trying to decide what to wear, eventually going for friendly and casual. She’d chosen blue jeans with a cute, collared, pink pastel top. She had a light rose-colored jacket in case it turned cool, and, of course, she wore open-toed shoes to show off her pale blush toenails. She’d left her hair up in her usual ponytail. She didn’t want to appear too eager. It was just Roman, after all.

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