Page 27 of One More Made Up Love Song (Midnight Rush #2)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Freddie

I’m still holding Ivy’s hand, halfway across the tarmac, when Sloane appears in the open doorway of the jet.

I slow my steps, tugging Ivy to a stop beside me. “Uh, did you know Sloane was going to be flying with us today?”

Before Ivy can answer, Kat appears beside Sloane, lifting a hand to wave like her presence should be wholly expected.

“Or Kat?” I add.

It’s a very Sloane move to just show up, but Kat being here is a little more surprising. Then again, I have no idea how the public has responded to the press release she put out, so maybe it is good she’s here.

“Nope,” Ivy says, “though it might have been mentioned in the emails you didn’t let me read earlier.” She tugs on my hand. “Come on. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Once we’re all settled on the plane and Carina has been introduced to everyone, Sloane and Kat sit down across from Ivy and me, an iPad on the table between us with what looks like a long list of bullet points.

“Sorry for the surprise ambush,” Sloane says. “I was up in San Francisco when I heard that Kat was in LA for a meeting, so I suggested we meet here so we could see you in person.”

“Just to go over the finer points of your schedule for the next few weeks,” Kat says.

My stomach sinks at the sight of Kat’s list. I get that we have things to discuss.

But I was looking forward to relaxing on the flight home.

Normally, Ivy would just update me on stuff like this, but I clearly can’t expect that of her now.

Not when she’s in the middle of everything too.

Still, I can’t keep myself from looking over at her.

“I think I’ve got a pretty solid handle on my schedule. Is it changing?”

“Only in the sense that now, you won’t be attending anything alone,” Kat answers. She reaches over and offers her hand to Ivy. “It’s good to see you again, Ivy. We met in New York, didn’t we?”

Ivy nods as she shakes Kat’s hand. “We did.”

When she tries to pull away, Kat keeps her hand, her gaze moving over Ivy like she’s assessing her. I instantly feel defensive, but then Kat says, “I forgot how adorable you are in person. The fans are going to eat you up.”

Ivy tugs her hand back and presses it into her lap. “Um, I’m not sure what that means.”

Kat shrugs. “Some women are beautiful in a way that makes other women hate them. Others are beautiful in a way that makes everyone want to be their best friend. You’re the second one.” She reaches for the iPad. “Should we get down to business?”

I don’t fully understand Kat’s logic about beauty, but I do understand what she means about everyone wanting to be Ivy’s best friend.

She just has that effect on people. She is incredibly competent, which could be an intimidating quality in some people, but Ivy is so good at taking care of everything, of everyone, she seems to have the opposite effect.

She puts people at ease because they know if she’s around, everything is probably going to be okay.

At least that’s what being around her is like for me.

I do my best to focus on what Kat is saying. But everything she’s telling me is stuff I already know.

Voltage Records is throwing a party in a few days, and I’m expected to make an appearance. That was already on the schedule. But now, Ivy will attend with me.

A few days after that, I have to attend a movie premiere, since one of the Midnight Rush songs we released in conjunction with our reunion concert last year is being used in the movie.

Luckily, the premiere is also in Nashville.

The movie is about a burned-out country music star and his son, so I guess the marketing team thought Nashville made more sense than New York or LA.

Better for me, since I’m determined to travel as little as possible over the next two months.

Since the rest of the band will be in attendance at the premiere, I assumed I’d walk the red carpet with them.

Now, I’ll walk it with Ivy instead.

“Wait,” she says from beside me. “The movie premiere. Will that be black tie?”

Sloane lifts her eyebrows. “They usually are. Will that be a problem?”

Ivy doesn’t immediately answer, and I look over at her, my gaze narrowing as I take her in.

Her eyes are cast down, her hands gripping her armrests like they’re anchoring her to the earth. Or, at least to the bottom of the plane since we’re thirty thousand feet in the air.

“Ivy doesn’t really do fancy dresses,” I answer for her, but based on her current body language, I’m wondering if there’s more going on right now.

Ivy’s had multiple opportunities to attend red carpet events with me—not as my date, but as my assistant.

But even assistants dress up for the big events, enjoying the atmosphere even if they aren’t actually in the limelight.

But Ivy has always found a reason not to attend, claiming she’s never been one for black-tie events.

I’ve never pushed her on it, but I’m wondering if I should have because right now, there’s clearly something wrong, and I don’t like not knowing what it is.

“What do you mean she doesn’t do them?” Kat asks. “You wouldn’t have to pick anything out, if that matters. I’m sure we can hire a stylist who would help you look amazing.”

Ivy licks her lips. “It’s not that I…” Her words falter, then drop off completely, and we all wait, but she doesn’t pick them up again. She just sits there.

I nudge her knee with mine. “Hey. You know you don’t have to do any of this. If you don’t want to go to the movie premiere, you don’t have to go.”

She gives her head a little shake. “But I do want to go. I just don’t know if I can go.”

“I don’t understand,” Sloane says to Kat, her voice low, but not low enough that the rest of us can’t hear.

I stand from my seat and offer a hand to Ivy. “Come here for a minute.”

She slips her hand into mine and lets me tug her to her feet and toward the back of the plane .

Carina looks up as we walk past, eyes fixed on Ivy’s face, and she makes a move to stand, but I motion her down, giving my head a quick shake.

Maybe I should let Carina handle this. But for whatever reason, I want to be the one who makes Ivy feel better right now.

We pass the bathroom and reach a second lounge area with a few recliners that are great for sleeping on longer flights. I turn and pull a curtain closed behind us, separating us from everyone else.

“Hey,” I say, finally turning to face Ivy. I put my hands on her shoulders, letting them slide down to her arms where I give her a quick squeeze. “Talk to me. What are you feeling right now?”

She lifts a hand to her forehead, using it to shield her face. “It’s stupid,” she finally says.

“Nothing is stupid,” I say. “Just tell me.”

She folds her arms across her chest. Standing like this, she looks small, fragile, and I have a sudden impulse to pull her into an embrace.

Finally, she lets out a shaky breath. “The last formal dress I put on was for my junior prom,” she says. “It was the night Daphne died.”

Understanding floods my brain. Honestly, I’m surprised I didn’t piece things together before now.

I swear softly, shaking my head. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I should have realized.”

“It’s not your fault,” she says. “I realize it’s a weird hang-up. That at some point, I will have to get over myself and figure this out. But I think I convinced myself that dressing up, going somewhere fancy, it wouldn’t be fair, you know? Because Daphne can never get dressed up again. ”

“I don’t think that’s weird at all,” I say gently. “But I also don’t think it’s true. I think your sister would want you to go wherever you want, wearing whatever you want.”

She drops onto the armrest of the closest recliner and lifts her hands to her cheeks.

“I’ve tried to tell myself as much. That if Daphne were here, she would scold me for being ridiculous, remind me to make sure my curls are fabulous, then send me on my way.

My brain gets it. But whenever I think about actually doing it, I feel like my heart is breaking all over again.

” She lifts her hands to her hair, pulling it up and off her neck for a moment before letting it fall back into place again.

“But at some point, I’m not going to have a choice, right?

I’m going to have to get over this. Carina will get married eventually, and she will not let me wear denim to her wedding. ”

“What if you get married before Carina?” I ask.

“Will you wear denim to your own wedding?” The image of Ivy in a wedding dress floats through my mind, her big brown eyes bright as she smiles up at…

someone. Not me, necessarily. The groom in my hazy imaginings is faceless.

But there is nothing hazy about the discomfort that pricks the back of my heart when I think of some faceless man standing across from Ivy on her wedding day.

It’s jealousy, sharp and cutting.

I haven’t made a lot of sense out of what’s happening inside my heart right now. But I at least know this much. I don’t want to lose her to someone else.

Ivy breathes out a sigh. “I really need to figure this out, don’t I?”

I sit down opposite her and push my hands into my knees.

“Probably. But that doesn’t mean you have to do it now, at a movie premiere where you’re also pretending to date me.

Kat’s press release, the social media, the public relations stuff, it’s just noise.

It’s not more important than you. It’s not more important than how you feel. ”

“I know,” she says. “But honestly, it might actually be better this way. If I have something else to focus on, maybe the dress won’t feel like a big deal.”

“Okay,” I say. “Then we do this together.”

She still doesn’t look convinced. “I wouldn’t even know where to start,” she says. “How to pick out a dress. How to fix my hair. Any of it.”