Page 86 of The Summer of Christmas

“My mom was the one who convinced me. Not Amari.”

“Why so defensive? You sound like you want to be with her. At least you did when you went to her hotel room and took a shower with her.”

“You’re kidding, Ivy. That makes me want to laugh.”

“Are you laughing because the sex was bad or because I said something funny?”

“You think I’d jump into bed with someone I just met? It took us a long time to get into bed!”

“I haven’t heard from you since you dropped me off at my parents’ house two days ago.”

“I was trying to figure some things out,” Nick said. “And one of them was how I felt about Amari.”

“I guess you figured out that you were in love with her.”

“Why are you saying that?” he asked.

“I saw what you were doing just now in the bar. I saw you propose.”

“Me?”

“You gave Amari that diamond ring,” Ivy said. Nick laughed again. She was getting tired of him laughing. “Sure, it’s funny to you. But not to me.”

“You sound jealous.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Doesn’t sound that way.”

“Why did you give the ring to Amari?”

“Because she asked me if I’d ever proposed to you. I took the ring down, and she got all excited and wanted to try it on.”

Ivy was stunned. This wasn’t what she’d expected. She didn’t know what to say.

“So you didn’t buy the ring for Amari?”

“No. I bought it for you. Five years ago.” His reveal hung in the air.

Ivy was shocked.

“You had that ring for five years?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I was going to ask you to marry me.”

“What? When?”

“The night we broke up.”

“You said you had met someone else.”

“I lied.”

“Why the hell did you lie?”