Page 33 of Trust Fall
She took the length of the walk from her home to the coffee shop to decide whether or not she’d glance in the window as she passed. She decided that there no point in fighting it by the time she got there and saw Ivy through the window. She was handing a coffee cup to a guy in a suit, and Cleo noticed he was the only customer in the queue. When he turned to leave, Ivy caught her looking through the window and her entire face lit up after seeing Cleo smiling at her.
While she hadn’t planned on it, not really, Cleo made her way inside to get coffees for herself and Lana.
“Hey you,” she said to Ivy with a smile as she made her way through the open door.
“Hey back,” Ivy replied, and Cleo felt a small relief when there was notably less blush on Ivy’s cheeks as she spoke to her at her work. “I hadn’t expected you this morning, Lana usually calls in later, but I’m glad you’re here.”
As the shop was busy, but no customers were waiting to be served, Ivy came around to the front of the counter. Cleo took in Ivy’s blonde hair, which was pulled back in a messy bun, with a few loose strands framing her face. The teal and white checked shirt under her apron made her eyes look even greener than normal behind her light grey framed glasses, her constellation necklace catching the overhead lights. Then there were the fitted jeans that led down to army style boots that were only laced part way up. Going by her stomach’s reaction, this was apparently a look that really did something for Cleo.
Before Ivy leaned forward, she whispered, “May I?”
“Always,” Cleo replied with a warm smile, as she reached out to take Ivy’s hand, and pull her in for a chaste kiss.
“Duly noted,” Ivy whispered as they broke apart a moment later. “So, is it the usual for you and Lana this morning?” Ivy made her way back behind the counter and reached for the coffee cups to make their order in.
“Just the decaf one please, Lana’s out sick so I’m on my own for the day,” Cleo said, and watched Ivy as she worked. “Oh, while I remember,” she dug in her bag and removed one of her business cards, “here’s my business email to send on the requirements for the building you’re looking for. I can’t promise I’ll see any different listings to what you already have looked at, but I may be able to identify some that can be remodeled easily enough to work for you that you may have passed over originally.”
She waited for Ivy to sit the cup down before extending the card to her. A smile stretched across both of their faces as their fingers brushed when passing the card, before Ivy tucked it into her jeans pocket under her apron.
“Thank you, I really appreciate your help. Don’t worry if you get busy with other things, I just need a little nudge in the right direction, then I can take care of the rest myself.” Ivy seemed adamant about the last part. Cleo had learned over the past week of getting to know her, that while Ivy was incredibly kind and gentle and funny and smart, she was also fiercely independent and head strong.
Cleo went to reach back into her bag for the cash to pay for the coffee which Cleo noticed was larger than usual, but Ivy waved it away. “This one’s on me, gorgeous.” Cleo’s stomach swooped at the term, and at the adorable look on Ivy’s face as she handed the coffee to her.
“You really don’t need to,” Cleo started, and as she saw Ivy’s eyebrow shoot up as she was about to assert that head-strong personality trait, so Cleo conceded, “but all I’ll say is thank you.”
Ivy winked at her as a new customer arrived at the counter. “Call you later?”
“You better,” Cleo replied with raised eyebrows, then turned and left the shop to head toward her office, noticing the stars and hearts drawn on the side of her cup as she raised it to her mouth for her first sip.
By lunchtime Cleo was exhausted. She decided to close the office for her lunch hour, which is something she never typically did when she was on her own. Even when Lana was there, they staggered their lunch breaks to make sure the phones were covered. Today, Cleo needed to escape the demand on her attention from contractors, clients, suppliers, and general queries, so she could take some time to enjoy all that had happened over the last two weeks.
The fateful day of crashing into Ivy when she was spending the day with Sophie. Finding Ivy’s number written on her coffee cup. The countless hours spent messaging back and forth. The two most perfect dates she could ever have imagined. The sudden warm feeling that she’d felt growing inside her that she hadn’t felt in such a long time.
Spending years not letting herself feel anything meant that now allowing herself to feel something again, made it feel almost, heightened. She had to admit, as hard as the past six years had been, what she was feeling now may just have been worth the wait.
Chapter 30
Ivy
“C’mon already,” Ivy threw her head back on her chair in frustration, as the spinning wheel of death rotated on her computer screen as it ran an update. And had been for the past twelve minutes. “Stupid piece of,” she cut herself off when there was a knock at her office door, “come in.”
“Hey, Boss,” Toni said as she opened the door with a smug grin on her face. She walked over and sat down on the chair at the other side of Ivy’s desk. “How’s things going with your girl?”
“She’s not my, we haven’t, I don’t know if she’s, shut up.” Ivy bashfully made her way through that sentence, only making Toni’s grin grow wider. “Is there a reason you came in here? Or was it just to annoy me?” Ivy tried to gather her wits, she knew she was due a grilling from Toni as she had been on leave for the past few days, and Monday was so busy that she had managed to avoid the grilling then. Which meant she hadn’t heard about either of her dates with Cleo.
“Do you really need to ask?” Toni said with a chuckle. “Go on, spill, did she text or call you yet?”
Ivy felt her face flush instantly.
“Oh, I like the look of that blush, that means there’s gossip I’ve missed out on. So please, for the love of all that’s good in this world, will you spill already?” Toni sat forward in her chair, eager to hear all the details.
“Well,” Ivy cleared her throat. “She messaged on Friday evening, we kept that going for about two hours, and through most of Saturday too.”
Toni held her breath, she looked to be just short of vibrating while trying to hold in her excitement “And?”
“We went on our first date on Sunday afternoon,” Ivy said with a dreamy smile.
“Oh, my word, Ivy, that’s great news!” Ivy laughed as she saw Toni’s grin drop and she could practically hear the wheels turning in her head before she asked Ivy, “Wait, hang on, you said first like there’s been more than one. Has there already been more than one?” Toni’s eyes widened.
