Decked Out with Ivy (Red Maple Falls #13)

Chapter 20

Cody had gone to Ivy’s house, her shop, drove down Main Street and had yet to find her. The only other place she could be was her parents’, so Jim cut a right down the street heading to the Parker’s place, and Cody crossed his fingers that she was there. Though, he would scour the earth for her, if he had to. She needed to know the truth. She needed to know he didn’t care about the fucking headlines anymore.

He inhaled, trying to calm his frazzled nerves.

“We’ll find her,” Jim assured him, but he had said that before getting to each stop, only to come up empty and alone. “I think that’s her car,” Jim said as her parents’ house came into view. It had a layer of snow on it, so it had been here for a while. Cody kicked himself for not thinking to come here first. Of course she’d go to her family, but that concept was so foreign to him.

A wave of relief crashed into him at the familiar sight of the reindeer antlers poking up from her front doors. “It is.”

“Thank you, Jim. I’ll call you if I need you.”

“Hopefully you don’t. Good luck, my friend.”

“Thank you.” Cody hopped out of the SUV and ran up the porch steps, grateful for the boots as they held traction on the snow. With a deep breath, he knocked on the door and waited.

A few minutes later, Cynthia answered. When she saw Cody, she smiled. “Oh, thank heavens.” Her shoulders relaxed. “Fix this. Please.”

“I’m going to try,” he said.

With a nod, she held her finger up and turned. “Ivy, can you come here?”

He shoved his mittened hands into his pockets, fidgeting with a string on the inside of the mitten. Ivy rounded the corner, and his heart nearly leapt out of his chest and at her feet.

“Can we talk?” he asked, wanting to cut through all the bullshit and pull her into his arms where she belonged.

Cynthia shoved Ivy outside and pulled the door shut.

Ivy gasped as she stared at the closed door before she turned to him, awkwardly crossing her arms. She angled her head high, attempting to look intimidating, but she just looked adorable. “Talk… please”

He wanted to grab her, hold her, erase the last few hours because everything before that had been magical. Now he was standing in front of her, needing to be the lead romantic interest, ready to do whatever it cost to save himself from losing the woman of his dreams. But he was woefully unprepared. He didn’t have a poster with declarations in Sharpie, a Christmas carol on deck ready to belt out, or a Christmas light display in the shape of a heart.

All he had was himself and the words in his heart.

“I know I should be here to make some grand gesture but whether I have five golden rings, four calling birds, three--”

“I get the picture.”

“Sorry, got caught up in the moment. The thing is. I don’t want to put on a show. Everything we’ve done so far has been a show. I just want this to be me and you.”

“It was me and you last night, and somehow that made today’s gossip headlines.”

“I told my agent.” He held up his hands before she could sling an I knew it in his face. “Not for her to go to the press, but because I was happy. Ronnie has been like a mother to me, and I wanted to share with someone that, for the first time in a very long time, I’m happy . And it’s more than this town and its abundance of Christmas spirit. It’s you, Ivy. You make me happy. You make me want to wear ridiculous sweaters and sing Christmas carols while drinking hot chocolate.”

“Well, you can’t sing and drink at the same time.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Sorry, it was getting sappy, and I don’t want to mess this up by crying. Continue.”

He laughed. “I’ve hated Christmas because I only remembered the bad memories. You brought Christmas back to me, and somewhere in between the hot chocolate and the gingerbread houses, I fell in love with you.”

She gasped and smacked a hand over her mouth. “Sorry!”

He stepped toward her, removing her hand from her face and kissing her knuckles. “Is that a good gasp or a bad gasp?” He lingered for a moment, his gaze softening as he waited for her response.

“That’s an I-love-you-too gasp.”

His hand wrapped around her waist, the other capturing her face and drawing her to him until their lips met. If someone would have told him two weeks ago when he walked into Ivy’s store that he’d be meeting the woman who not only brought Christmas back into his life, but he’d be meeting his soulmate, he would’ve flown to Red Maple Falls much faster.

He pulled away, resting his forehead on hers, taking in her pure beauty. “I love you so much.”

“I do too. And I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For not believing you. Everything was so perfect. I didn’t think it could be real. I might have overreacted.”

“It’s real.”

“I know, and I should have believed you. I became every other person in your life that didn’t.”

“So you forgive me?”

“I forgave you before you even said anything. Do you forgive me? I’ll never doubt you again.”

“Always.” He kissed her again, savoring her taste, and the way his heart beat for her. How good her cold hands felt on his cheeks and how perfectly she fit against him.

“The paparazzo,” she said, pulling away. “I saw him as I was heading to the parking lot. I think he got pictures of me crying.” Panic tainted her pretty features, and he kissed her nose. She relaxed beneath his lips.

“It’s taken care of,” he said.

“How?”

“Let’s just say I’m probably going to have to make a very large donation to the Red Maple Falls Fire Department.”

“Bex paid him off,” she said matter-of-factly.

That’s exactly what he had assumed. “I think so.”

“I’ll make her a sweater.”

He laughed and pulled her in again, kissing her with everything he had.

The door opened, and Trey’s and Rome’s heads popped out.

“Does this mean we don’t have to kill him?” Rome asked.

A dish towel came down with a smack on first Rome’s head, then Trey’s.

“Ouch!” they both exclaimed, rubbing where they were just hit.

“Leave them alone,” Aunt Claire’s voice boomed right before her smiling face popped out of the doorway. “When you’re done out here, come in and help decorate the sugar cookies.”

The door closed, and Ivy turned to Cody. “What do you say? Ready for some more Christmas traditions?”

“I’m always up for one more tradition.”

Ivy’s teeth slid over her bottom lip. “There’s still twelve more days to Christmas. We’re just getting started.”

“How many more traditions can there possibly be?”

With a smile, she took his hand and guided him to the front door, listing tradition after tradition.

“There’s the annual wreath making night at Hal’s, Christmas karaoke at Five Leaf Brewery, the Christmas movie marathon at Aunt Claire’s and Uncle Richard’s, Terry’s Christmas open house. Oh, and we can’t forget the annual gift exchange!”

A couple of weeks ago, the list would have made him nauseated and irrationally irritated, but now with Ivy’s warm hand in his, her big light brown eyes shining up at him he was grateful for the Christmas miracle that brought him to Red Maple Falls.

And even more grateful for the miracle that was Ivy Parker.

***

Thank you for reading!