The Ivy House

chapter 35

It took Chase a moment to spot her amidst the throng of kids surrounding her. She was at a booth and apparently making some sort of giant sculpture out of newspaper strips applied to a tower of blown-up party balloons. Paper-mache, Chase remembered from an art class long ago.

Her hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail, and she was layering strips of soggy newspaper as the kids called out suggestions to her. She had a whole crowd of them enthralled or rolling on the floor with laughter. Phoebe looked beautiful, relaxed, unconcerned and in her element. Any of the shyness or the iciness he had seen was gone, focused as she was on creating and working with the kids.

She lifted one of them up, a little boy with shaggy blond hair and blue eyes, so he could slap a piece of newspaper strip on what was rapidly becoming some sort of not-so-scary monster. Overjoyed, the little boy clapped his hands, and as Phoebe set him down, she ruffled his hair.

Chase’s heart clenched. It was at that moment that the sun emerged from the clouds and a shaft of sunlight shot down; Phoebe was momentarily suffused with light, and Chase felt the ground shift beneath him as his whole being attuned to her. He couldn’t stop staring at her, feeling that this was finally the moment, the moment when he felt his world shift, the planets align, and stars shine brightly.

Phoebe was his everything. He always thought that love was something he wouldn’t experience. It seemed like something for other people. He wasn’t that type of guy. He was a wanderer, an adventurer. Women, in his mind, were wonderful creatures. They smelled good, they were fun to be with and most of them made him happy, at least for a short while.

But none of them, until Phoebe, had ever been able to make him feel alive. Sure, he’d had an adrenaline rush from steering a fifty-foot boat along in rough seas or from the thrill of concluding a business deal, but this was something different. Something inexplicable and heart changing.

“She’s a natural.” Chase was jolted out of his reverie by Lynn.

“What?” It took a moment for Chase to come back to reality.

“With the kids. Have you ever seen a dozen five-year-olds sit still for this long? And the monster was all her idea. Anyway, thanks for hooking us up with a tent guy. The fair benefits the clinic, so every penny saved is more for them. Thanks so much.”

“My pleasure,” Chase managed to mumble, his attention back on Phoebe. A natural. A creative, talented, beautiful, sexy woman.

Phoebe finally saw him, gave him a curt nod, and then her attention was caught by a little girl tugging on her hand.

Phoebe bent down to listen as the little girl whispered a suggestion that they make pointy teeth for the monster, but her mind was elsewhere. She wondered how long Chase had been there watching her. But now, he was there, giving her a look, something different from the usual steamy ones he threw her way. This one had been intense. It had been the look of a drowning man, who had just realized that the last ship had passed him by. But before she had time to dwell on it, the kids took up the chant of “pointy teeth, pointy teeth,” and she was drawn back into the real world.



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Phoebe packed up the last of the art materials into a large plastic bin. Her feet hurt and she was tired, but energized.

“That was a lot of fun,” she told Lynn as they broke down the card table. Chase had disappeared after a while, and she hadn’t seen him again.

“Thank you so much. It was our best year ever, so I hope that means that the clinic will be able to get some new equipment.”

“Well, I’m glad you talked me into it,” Phoebe said, taking a moment to stretch.

“Let me help you with those.” Chase appeared beside them, a smile on his face. Phoebe looked at him, searching for the look he had given her earlier. He took her scrutiny in, but gave away nothing as they continued to clean up. They packed things away and it wasn’t until he was walking her to the car that he whispered in her ear, “Let’s go home tonight, just the two of us.”

She didn’t need to ask where he meant by home, but the thrill that shot through her, as he took her hand in his, wasn’t lust; it was something entirely different, and she knew that as much as she had pretended that this was a casual affair, it no longer was.