Wrapped Up in You (Heartbreaker Bay, #8)(21)

“No.”

“Ivy.”

She lifted a shoulder. “We don’t have a problem. You don’t have a problem. I have a problem.”

“Which is?” he asked.

“Personal.”

“Personal as in there’s something going on between us and you don’t know what to do about it?” he asked.

She looked a little startled. “Are you always so forthright?”

“Yes.”

“Hey, are you guys coming or what?” Caleb called to them from the trailhead. “Or do you need a room?”

Kel looked at Ivy. “I hope you don’t mind that I’m going to have to kill him. I’m sorry for your loss.”

She laughed, which made him smile.

“Zip it,” she yelled back to Caleb, eyes still on Kel. “We’re coming.” She turned to go, but he caught her hand.

“So we’re okay?” he asked.

“We’re not a we, but yeah, we’re okay.”

He’d take that. For now.

Everyone hit the trail along the coastline and up to Eagle’s Point Overlook. The walk was punctuated by light conversation and laughter in the way only a tight-knit group could.

Kel had spent his first twelve years in San Francisco, but his memories of the city were like having photos on shuffle in his mind, just flashes of time and place. He was pretty sure he’d been to Lands End before, but he had no specific memories of it.

That was forever changed now. He wasn’t easily impressed by scenery. After all, he’d spent the past two decades in the Bitterroot Mountains, which was heaven on earth as far he was concerned. The sharp, jagged, rugged peaks with their blanket of gorgeous forestland that went on as far as the eye could see was unparalleled.

But he was surprised by what he saw. It was a mile and a half moderate hike up to Lands End and it wasn’t taxing. He started to get impressed when they walked past the Sutro Baths. But then they hit the coastal cliffs and bluffs, the sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge under the soft glow of a full winter moon, and it was stunning.

At the top, it was even better. Apparently one didn’t have to drive all the way to Big Sur to catch the gorgeous landscape of the Central Coast. Lands End offered that, along with the drama of windswept cypresses and cliff faces descending into the crashing ocean surf below.

Lucas looked at Molly. “I think we found our place.”

“For what?” Sadie asked and then gasped. “To get married? You two want to get married up here?”

Molly was eyeing the view, but she nodded and sent a sweet, dreamy smile to Lucas. “Definitely.”

They stood there for a while, everyone in awe of the beauty.

“We need to promise to always do this,” Elle said, staring out at the view.

Her husband, Archer, slipped an arm around her. “Feeling nostalgic?”

She just smiled.

Sadie stepped in closer. “I’m with Elle. We have to keep this up. All of us.” She turned and faced everyone. “I’m serious.” She thrust out her pinkie finger and waited.

“You want us to pinkie promise?” Caleb asked, sounding amused.

“Yes. I want all of you to pinkie promise.”

Caleb touched his pinkie finger to hers without hesitation. “You know I’m with you babe, anywhere, anytime.”

She smiled goofily at him.

Elle, Archer, Spence, and Colbie added their pinkie fingers to the mix. Lucas, Molly, Haley, and Dee did the same. Kel drew a deep breath. “I don’t think there’s going to be another full moon before I go back to Idaho,” he said. “But I’ll pinkie promise to visit when I can and come along on whatever I’m here for.” And with that, he touched his pinkie to the others.

The only one now not in the circle was Ivy, and everyone looked at her.

She shrugged, but remained back a step. “Sorry, I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”

“Not a fan of midnight hikes?” Elle nodded. “No problem, we take turns deciding on our adventures. You can pick whatever you want when it’s yours.”

Ivy shook her head. “It’s not the venue. It’s the commitment.”

“You don’t like us enough to keep dating us?” Molly asked in a teasing tone.

“I’m not the going steady type of girl,” Ivy said, teasing back, but there was something in her eyes now. She wasn’t actually kidding.

“You know you fit right in with us, right?” Haley asked.

“And we all adore you,” Sadie said. “And I think you adore us too. Come on, say you’ll do it, babe. Say you’ll date us.”

Kel watched Ivy take in her friends’ expressions, and he realized she was processing the fact that these women were showing that they gave a damn about her.

He wondered if she’d never really understood that until now.

“You don’t get it,” Ivy said. “Until this place, I’ve never lived anywhere for more than a few rent cycles at best. Making friends and keeping them . . . it’s not my strong suit.”

“That’s okay,” Sadie said. “It’s our strong suit. We got you.”

Ivy didn’t look convinced and Haley took her hand. “Tell us the truth. It’s because we’re pushy and nosy, right?”