Page 24 of Trust Fall
Cleo:I asked you on the date, I’ll bring the food. Is there anything you’re allergic to? Or just don’t like? How about we meet at the willow in the park and find somewhere near there to set up the picnic?
Ivy:The willow at the park sounds great, but please let me bring the food? I gave you my number, reached out about setting up the first date, so I should bring the food. I won’t take no for an answer ;)
Cleo laughed at Ivy’s message. If Ivy wanted to take charge, who was she to argue with what that did to her insides?
Cleo:OK, OK, you win... this time! ;)I’ll see you in the park tomorrow around noon? Does that suit you?
Ivy:Perfect – tomorrow in the park by the willow at noon– it's a date! Enjoy your evening Cleo :)
Cleo:See you then and there. Looking forward to it Ivy :)
Chapter 22
Ivy
Ivy flexed her right hand a few times to relieve the dull ache in her palm and fingers. She had carried the loaded picnic basket to a spot near the willow tree where she had agreed to meet Cleo. Her nervous disposition had ensured a pretty tight grip of the basket’s handles. She looked at her phone to check the time. She was definitely early.
The weather was just as predicted: unusually mild for the time of year. Ivy had spent longer than she ever had in her life selecting her outfit for today. Literally, all morning. Eventually she settled on her favorite jeans, which gave her an extra kick of confidence. She knew she wore them well, and paired them with her trademark Chucks, and a black vest top under a fitted shirt. She had a light jacket with her should the nerves miraculously wear off during her date and she start to feel the cool breeze when it occasionally blew around the park.
The night before had been spent with a last-minute trip to Lucas and Gabby’s house for some advice and reassurance. Why she thought that pair were going to help instead of making her feel even more nervous, she’d never know. Lucas ended up getting kicked out of the room, leaving Gabby to help talk Ivy off the edge with her nerves. Even that hadn’t helped.
Deep down Ivy knew that she’d be fine. She took some long, slow breaths in and out as she tried to give herself the pep talk that Gabby gave her last night: she was 28 years old, a grown woman, and perfectly capable of enjoying a relaxing picnic with another woman. The way her stomach flipped to remind her that Cleo wasn’t simply another woman was all she needed for her nerves to kick things up a notch.
The hard truth was that she’d never actually been on a date. Ever. She had spent her late teens and early twenties meeting women at bars and clubs and spending the evening getting to know them as little as possible before occasionally spending the night with them, before ensuring she left them before the morning arrived. It wasn’t exactly the type of behavior she was proud of, but it was just easier that way. Anything else got too complicated.
However, her attitude took an abrupt change during the summer three years ago. She remembered it like it was yesterday. She had been walking Toni through the next phaseof seasonal drinks before they went on the menu, when they’d stopped to discuss the possibility of getting a local artist to do some art on the windows to announce the menu launch. That was when Ivy first noticed Cleo walking past.
She had stopped right outside the window as she reached into her bag for her phone. Ivy was completely taken by her fiery hair, her confident posture, and the way she rocked the perfectly tailored trouser suit and heels she was wearing. Most of all, she was completely enraptured by the way her entire face lit up when she recognized whoever was calling her for a video chat, and the beam of unhindered joy as she started talking with whomever was on the other end of the call.
Ivy felt something fundamentally shift within her that day. After that, any time she was out, and another woman showed an interest, or offered to buy her a drink, Ivy just couldn’t bring herself to say yes. Something inside her suddenly wanted… more. Sure, some of those women may have been gorgeous, and a few of them could even have lasted in her life for a few months if she’d let them. But her thoughts couldn’t help but wonder about the woman with the fiery hair, each and every time.
“Ivy?” a familiar warm, slightly husky voice a few feet away brought her attention back to the present. Oh, and what a sight she saw as she turned to see Cleo walking toward her.
Ivy couldn’t help but rake her eyes over Cleo as she approached, completely taking in her dark-washed and perfectly tailored jeans, light tan boots, and what looked like the softest sweater to ever exist. Her beautiful hair hung loose, but swept completely over her left shoulder... and Ivy was dying to reach out and touch it.
“Cleo, hi!” Ivy replied with a blush, knowing she must have been caught paying such close attention to Cleo’s outfit. “I was a bit early, so I didn’t want to set-up the picnic in case...” Ivy let the end of her sentence drift off as Cleo drew closer. Shewas completely distracted by the green of Cleo’s eyes. In the late Sunday morning light, they practically glowed like sea glass.
“In case what?” Cleo asked with a slight smirk, as she came to a stop just in front of the picnic basket Ivy was now holding in front of her with both hands.
Ivy was flustered as she realized she had just been caught blatantly staring at Cleo. “In case you didn’t want to sit under the willow but wanted to sit somewhere else. Either way, I figured it was probably best to wait. Then I got lost in thought, and now you’re here.” Ivy realized she’d rambled. In a single breath. She really needed to get a grip and try to relax.
Cleo reached out a hand and gently placed it on Ivy’s upper arm. “Ivy, breathe. I don’t mind where we sit, honestly. I’m just looking forward to spending the next while investigating what you think is appropriate picnic food,” Cleo’s eyes glanced down to the basket and back up to Ivy’s, “and getting to know you a little better. Sound good?” She gave Ivy a warm smile, and a very subtle squeeze of her arm before letting her hand drop to her side. Ivy missed the contact immediately.
“Me too, to all of it. Except, I know what’s in the basket.” She let out a small nervous laugh and took a breath and slowly let it out. “Let’s start again. Hi, thanks for suggesting this, you look really nice. Where do you want to sit?”
Cleo smiled warmly at Ivy. “Thanks, so do you. How about we set the picnic up right here seeing as someone has beaten us to the place under the willow, but this means we at least get a nice view of it?”
“Sounds perfect.” Ivy replied, and they spent the next few minutes laying out the blanket and slowly removing numerous containers from the basket to lay out between them.
“Are you secretly Mary Poppins?” Cleo asked with a raspy chuckle, with a slightly bewildered look on her face at the sheervolumeof food Ivy had managed to pack into the deceptively small picnic basket.
“I didn’t know what kind of food you liked, or didn’t, so I, just, packed a little bit of everything I could think of and hoped for the best?” Ivy laughed. “Now that I see it all laying on the blanket though, maybe I went a little overboard.”
“Well, at least we won’t need to eat dinner later, that’s for sure.” Cleo started taking lids off the containers and looked at each of their contents before placing the lids under their container on the blanket. “Do you have anything to drink in there? Or will I go grab us something from the vendor over there?”
Cleo pointed to the converted horse trailer food truck that sat in the center of the section of park where they sat.
“I knew I forgot something, would you mind?” Ivy asked. “A bottle of water would be great.”
