Chapter 4
1107 Words
Chapter 4: Surprise! He's My Ex's Father
The sound of her front door slamming shut echoed throughout her apartment at exactly nine forty-three that night.
"I'm suing everyone!" Ivy announced dramatically to the empty living room before kicking off her heels and throwing herself face-first onto the couch. "EVERY SINGLE PERSON INVOLVED IN TONIGHT'S EVENTS!"
Mochi, her unnecessarily judgmental cat, merely blinked at her from his favorite spot by the window before returning to his nap.
"I'm glad someone in this house has inner peace," she grumbled into a throw pillow.
Her phone vibrated violently against the coffee table.
MOM CALLING.
No.
Absolutely not.
She declined the call immediately.
Two seconds later, it rang again.
MOM CALLING.
No means no, Mother.
The third call came before she'd even put her phone down.
MOM CALLING.
"...Persistent woman," Ivy whispered under her breath before reluctantly answering the call. "Before you say anything, I'd like to officially announce my retirement from this family."
"Oh, stop being dramatic."
"I LEARNED FROM YOU!"
Grace laughed so loudly she had to pull the phone away from her ear.
"Sweetheart, I'm so happy you already know Asher."
"No. Those words shouldn't exist in the same sentence."
"You didn't tell me you dated him."
"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE DATING HIS FATHER!"
"...Fair point."
There was a brief pause before Grace spoke again.
"You really loved him, didn't you?"
Ivy sat up immediately. "Goodnight, Mother."
"I'm serious."
"I'm hungry."
"You're avoiding the question."
"I'm also sleepy."
"It's only ten o'clock."
"I've suddenly become eighty-seven years old."
Grace sighed affectionately. "You still do that."
"Do what?"
"Run whenever conversations become uncomfortable."
Silence answered her.
She hated when her mother was right. Mostly because she usually was.
"I don't run away," Ivy argued weakly while simultaneously opening her food delivery application to order ice cream.
"Mm-hmm."
"I don't!"
"You once hid inside your school's supply closet because your teacher complimented your presentation."
"I WAS OVERWHELMED!"
"You've also hidden from your landlord because he greeted you too enthusiastically."
"He looked committed to the conversation!"
"And don't forget when you pretended to be asleep during your cousin's wedding because everyone wanted you to catch the bouquet."
"...I've made mistakes."
Grace laughed softly at that before her tone became gentler. "Ivy."
"What?"
"You don't have to be afraid of seeing him again."
"I'm not afraid."
"Liar."
"I prefer professionally avoidant."
Her mother remained silent for several moments before quietly asking, "Did he break your heart?"
The question caught her off guard.
"No."
"Did you break his?"
She leaned her head against the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling.
"...I think we both lost something important."
And that had always been the truth.
She hadn't left because she stopped loving him.
She left because she wasn't ready for the kind of love Asher offered so effortlessly.
At twenty-two, forever felt terrifying.
At twenty-four, it simply felt complicated.
"Get some rest tonight," Grace finally said softly. "And sweetheart?"
"Hm?"
"I'm keeping Theodore."
Ivy laughed quietly despite herself. "That's unfortunate."
"It's non-negotiable."
"Can I at least negotiate visitation rights?"
"No."
The call ended shortly after that, leaving Ivy alone once again with her thoughts and an increasingly concerning amount of ice cream in her shopping cart.
Her phone vibrated once more.
This time, Chloe's name flashed across the screen.
"HOW BIG IS HE NOW?" Chloe screamed immediately after Ivy answered.
"...Hello to you too."
"NO! ANSWER THE QUESTION!"
"He's still six-foot-five!"
"GOOD LORD!"
"THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING!"
Chloe was silent for exactly three seconds before asking the most offensive question imaginable.
"Was he still handsome?"
"..."
"..."
"...Unfortunately."
"I KNEW IT!"
"WHY ARE YOU CELEBRATING MY SUFFERING?"
"BECAUSE THIS IS BETTER THAN NETFLIX!"
By midnight, Ivy had officially concluded three things.
Firstly, her mother was definitely marrying Theodore Silas.
Secondly, Asher would be moving into her childhood home permanently.
And lastly?
She needed a survival plan immediately.
The following morning found her sitting across from Chloe at their favorite café with a notebook opened dramatically between them.
Written boldly across the first page were four words.
OPERATION: AVOID HERCULES.
"This is ridiculous," Chloe informed her before taking another sip of coffee.
"No, ridiculous would've been allowing him to move into that house without a strategy."
"There is no strategy!"
"There are seventeen."
"...Seventeen?"
Ivy nodded proudly.
"Number one, I will avoid family dinners."
"You'll starve."
"Acceptable losses must sometimes be made."
"Continue."
"Number two, I'll only visit Mom after confirming Hercules isn't home."
"You call him Hercules to his face?"
"No. I value my bones."
Chloe snorted into her coffee.
"Number three?"
"I'll wear disguises if necessary."
"WHAT DISGUISES?"
"Wigs."
"...Plural?"
"I own six."
There was a pause before Chloe quietly asked, "Should I be worried about you?"
"Professionally? Yes."
By the time she finished explaining all seventeen plans, Chloe had laughed so hard she'd nearly fallen out of her chair twice.
"This won't work."
"It absolutely will."
"He was your boyfriend for almost two years."
"Exactly."
"He knows your habits."
"..."
"He knows your favorite coffee order."
"..."
"He knows when you're lying."
"..."
"He literally recognizes your footsteps."
"..."
"He once found you hiding inside your own closet."
"...I forgot about that."
"No, he found you because you sneeze whenever you're nervous!"
Ivy suddenly hated this conversation.
"Well," she said confidently, "people change."
"Do they?"
"Absolutely."
At that exact moment, her phone buzzed quietly against the table.
Unknown Number.
After hesitating briefly, she answered.
"Hello?"
"You forgot your cardigan yesterday."
The familiar deep voice nearly caused her to throw her phone across the café.
"..."
"..."
"...THIS NUMBER SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!"
Across from her, Chloe was laughing so hard tears gathered at the corner of her eyes.
"Good morning to you too," Asher replied calmly.
"HOW DID YOU GET MY NUMBER?"
"You've had the same number for six years."
"..."
"Oh."
Right.
That was somehow significantly more embarrassing.
"I'll leave your cardigan with your mother."
"Wonderful! Fantastic! Lovely! Goodbye forever!"
Before she could end the call, his quiet laughter reached her ears once more.
"Ivy?"
"What?"
"You still talk quickly whenever you're panicking."
She immediately ended the call before burying her face against the café table.
Across from her, Chloe could barely breathe from laughing.
"Well," she managed between laughs. "Operation Avoid Hercules lasted approximately fourteen hours."
"..."
"..."
"...I'm revising the plan."
Unfortunately for Ivy Collins, she was beginning to realize something absolutely horrifying.
Avoiding Asher Silas had been easy when he lived across the city.
Avoiding him when he remembered absolutely everything about her?
That was going to be a completely different kind of impossible.
- Writer
