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“Good morning, Ivy. What’s going on?”

Her brows lifted in surprise. “You’re asking me that question?”

“You waved me over here.”

Nodding, she explained, “Because I had hoped you were going to talk to me about what I saw yesterday.”

That could have been any number of things, so I didn’t jump to any conclusions about what she was referring to. “What did you see?”

Ivy squinted, narrowing her gaze on me. “One of my employees here at the front desk called me yesterday evening to tell me that a woman named Layla had stopped by to see me. I told them I needed to finish something up in the ballroom first, but that I’d be back soon. When I got back here and asked where Layla was, they told me she was waiting at the hotel bar. Imagine the shock I got when I walked there and found you sitting beside her.”

“I was there first. She sat beside me.”

“Does that matter?” my sister countered. “Liam, it’s been eight years, and the two of you were sitting beside one another at the hotel bar. I decided not to interrupt. I wanted you to have the time to talk to her.”

I didn’t know why I insisted on sharing that it was Layla who had approached me. Ivy was right. It didn’t matter. The bottom line was that Layla and I were speaking at all.

“I appreciate you giving us that time.”

Ivy offered a half-hearted smile. “I know how much you needed it. But I’d be lying if I said I’m not even remotely concerned.”

“About what?”

Soft laughter spilled out of her. “I don’t know why Ithought that after you had that encounter with Layla that you’d suddenly be back to the fun-loving talkative guy you used to be.”

I shrugged, my lips twitching. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

“As good as I thought it was that you and Layla were finally speaking to one another, I have to admit, I was shocked to see you leading her onto the elevator. I can’t imagine the two of you worked out eight years of separation in a matter of minutes in the bar.”

“That’s a fair assessment.”

Ivy sent me a questioning look, but when I provided no additional information, she pressed for more. “She’s not here, is she?”

Something twisted in my gut, and I shook my head. “No.”

“Are things good between the two of you?”

I wasn’t about to share the details of my sex life with my sister, but she wasn’t a fool. Ivy could easily work out what had happened, so I didn’t need to pretend differently. “We didn’t discuss what we should have, if that’s what you’re asking,” I told her. “But things weren’t necessarily bad between us, either. It’s just that…”

“What? What happened?”

A wave of anger and disappointment rolled over me. “I went from falling asleep feeling the best I have in years to waking up and being right back at square one, because she snuck out at some point.”

The expression on my sister’s face matched the heaviness I felt in my heart and limbs. She was just asdevastated to hear the news as I had been to experience it this morning.

“Liam, you’ve got to talk to her,” she urged me.

“I know. That’s why I’m going to meet up with Cooper now. I need him to spare a couple of guys to cover me at the amusement park, because I need to work this out with Layla.”

Ivy inclined her head with understanding. “That’s great. I think it’s the right thing to do. But when I say that you need to talk to her, I mean it. You can’t get caught up in your feelings for her.”

“That’s not easy.”

“I get it. Trust me, I get it. But I don’t want to see you right back where you were eight years ago, either. You need to talk to her; you need to figure out what went wrong.”

That was my goal.

And Ivy was right.