Page 28 of Trust Fall
No matter how many emails and phone calls she fended off, he was relentless. She made a mental note to reach out to her lawyer and see what wording needed to be added to her contracts to ensure if she took on this particular task with Jackson Copeland, that she had restrictions in place to limit his demands of her time. She had the sinking suspicion that he was used to getting his way and would take advantage of anyone and anything along the way.
“Thanks Lana.” Cleo looked at her watch, 5:20 p.m.. “I'm just going fire off a few emails before closing up and heading home. That suit you?”
“Sounds great. Then you’ll have the rest of the evening to daydream about your girl.” Lana said through a grin as she headed out of Cleo’s office.
“She’s not my...” Cleo stopped as a message on her phone distracted her. She smiled as she saw who it was from.
Ivy:Don’t you just HATE Mondays?
“That look on your face says otherwise,Ms. Foster”, Lana said, head popped back in Cleo’s office.
Cleo stuck out her tongue at Lana without taking her eyes off her phone as she typed her reply to Ivy, listening to Lana let out a cackle of a laugh as she left the office again.
Cleo:Usually I would agree, but this one seems to have a few brighter moments in it than standard Mondays ;)
Cleo smiled. She couldn’t help it, she knew she should take her time with this, with Ivy, but there was just something about this woman that she couldn’t seem to get off her mind. Whatever Ivy had planned for Thursday, Cleo couldn’t wait. Maybe it really was time for her to let go of the weight of the past that she’d been carrying with her. That had been dragging her down and holding her back. She had to get back to living again. Maybe Ivy could help her get there.
Chapter 26
Ivy
Ivy’s day was crawling by. She’d spent the past few days counting down to seeing Cleo again later that evening, but after spending what felt likehoursplanning the next lot of staff training slots to work with the staff’s current work availability, it was only 2:20 p.m. She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms after staring at the computer screen too long, thendecided to take a walk on her break instead of sitting in the break room watching the clock.
She signed out of the computer, took off her apron and hung it over the back of her chair, and pulled on the jacket which had been resting there as she worked. She dug her wallet out of her bag, and put it into one of her pockets, and her phone into the other, then headed out.
She dipped her head into the kitchen to check Nina and Ty were ok since she hadn’t had a chance to do so since arriving at eleven that morning.
“Hey, how’s all in the world of the kitchen?” She laughed as Nina somewhat delightedly sat a pile of dishes at Ty’s side for him to clean.
“Everything’s good on my end, Boss. Ty here may have to stay behind to finish all his work though.” Parts of her neon pink pixie hair poked through Nina’s hairnet, and her flushed cheeks nearly matched with the heat of standing over the oven with all the baked goods since 5 a.m. that morning.
“I swear, one more word out of you today and I’m going to put itching powder in your jacket hood one day.” Ty said, a laugh dancing desperately on his lips, which he fought hard.
Ivy laughed at the pair. “Nina, I’m heading out, and you’ll be gone by the time I get back, so enjoy your evening. Ty, good luck.” She smiled as she left the kitchen door and walked across the shop to the counter.
“I’m heading out for some air; I have my phone if you need me.” Ivy waited for Oliver to look up, before she continued. “Toni is due any minute, so you should be fine.”
“Got it, Boss.” Oliver nodded his head as he continued cleaning the counter.
Ivy pulled the door open and reached into her pocket for the earphones still there from this morning. She switched on her favorite playlist before heading for a walk around thesurrounding streets to check out some shop windows. She hoped the fresh air would help her relax enough to get through the franchise paperwork this afternoon... and not let her mind drift to the woman she’d be seeing that evening.
She curled her fingers loosely and swore she could still feel Cleo’s warm, strong hand in hers. Her cheeks flushed at the memory of the gentle kiss on her cheek from Sunday. She’d never experienced such tenderness in her life. Any kiss before had been different, never with any real feeling or emotion in it. Not even just kisses, she couldn’t remember being touched with such care either. Even as a child.
Ivy stoppedthattrain of thought. She wasn’t going there. Not now. Not when she finally has her life where she wants it. Not when she has true reasons to be happy.
Her phone pinged in her ears and her music faded in and out to make way for the alert. She’d only been gone a few minutes, surely it wasn’t a text from work already. She knew they’d be more likely to call, but she reached in her pocket to check anyway.
Cleo:Do I get any clues about tonight? Can you at least give me an idea of what I should wear? I’m trying to impress you here, you know ;)
Ivy grinned at Cleo’s flirty message. She couldn’t believe Cleo thought Ivy was worth trying to impress. Though she was very glad she did.
Ivy:You don’t need to try, you already do! A little less casual than Sunday, but not full power suit. That’s all you’re getting out of me :)
It may have been less than a week since she gave Cleo her number, and they may have only been on one date so far, but Ivy felt like she’d known Cleo much longer. She had spent two of the past three nights messaging her for hours. It didn’t matter what they messaged about, it just seemed to flow so easily between them. Ivy had never known anything like it.
She had spent the night before at Lucas and Gabby’s for movie night as usual. She found herself laughing as she remembered the amount of flack they had given her when she told them all about Sunday. Gabby had been delighted to hear that it had gone as well, but slightly disappointed because it meant she may not get to set Ivy up with a friend that she’d been threatening to after all. Lucas called her out over the garlic mushrooms and asked who took anything with garlic on a first date anyway, as that just lowered the chances of getting a “decent goodnight kiss” ...even in the afternoon.
After half an hour, Ivy headed back to the coffee shop ahead of the Thursday afternoon rush. She knew that it was the busiest time of week, and she wanted to get through to the back before the Golden Girls came in. The three of those, plus Oliver and Toni, was more than she could handle ahead of her date with Cleo later.
