Hello my old heart

 

Ivy told her no. No way was she going to live in the house she grew up in. "That place had bad memories for me," Ivy was straight-lipped and as grim as she ever was. 

"But, it won't cost you hardly a thing," her mother was giving her a deal, but she didn't seem to notice.

Ivy shook her head, no.

"Fine, I'll let Bom and her bunch have it," her mother looked just as grim back at Ivy. Her fist were on her hips. "At least Keanu will have it, if you won't."

Ivy couldn't say a thing. She wanted to stand up to her, but she knew her mother could care less about her feelings. Her mom was with her boyfriend now at a new penthouse not far from his company where she worked. Bom worked there too.

"Where's Hope?" Her mother asked. "Why isn't she here?" It wasn't the weekend. 

Ivy looked up at her mother then as if she might have given up a right to know. "Well, she's with Jay." It wasn't that big of a deal, was it?

Her mother shook her head, and she got her bag. It was as if she wanted to yell at her but she knew it was useless. Just then her mother looked up and saw Dan coming from the kitchen with the newborn and a bottle.

"Do you really know her at all?" Her mother asked him.

Dan stood as if he might be the weakest buck in the corn patch. She told him then what she'd offered and how Ivy had turned him down. Dan only pressed his lips tight and looked at Ivy as if maybe she really was mad after all. But he was calm and said nothing.

After she left he told Ivy she needed to pack an overnight bag. "I think it's time you stayed with Keanu. I know he's got bunk beds. You could probably even sleep on the bottom."

"Are you saying, you're going to leave me?" She couldn't help to be in total shock.

"Not yet," he said. "It depends on you. I don't really know what's going on with you. But maybe you need a break from us."

He held on to the baby who was asleep in his arms, of course, he even took the bottle in his sleep.

Ivy knew she didn't have the energy to argue. Yes, it would depend on her and honestly, she'd never depended on herself except one summer. The summer that Jay went away.