If you haven’t read the PROLOGUE check it out.

Chapter One

Experiencing Life 

Ten Years Later

Ivy let out a sigh as she watched yet another coworker get engaged.

It didn’t seem fair that everyone was finding love and she could barely find a guy she liked enough to get naked with.

But Heather and Luke were perfect for each other and she was thrilled for her friend.

She turned to Heather’s roommate, Daisy. Another one that found a great guy. The numbers were dwindling of friends that she’d have to go out with.

“What are you going to do now?” Ivy asked.

“What do you mean?” Daisy asked. 

Everyone was talking at once while they looked at the menu to order their food at Mona’s. She did have to admit she loved how close everyone was that she worked with.

She’d never had this growing up. Not with friends, ever… Not even in college when she kept trying to go back and finish. 

She was more interested in experiencing life than learning from books. Guess it showed with the way she floundered so much.

“Are you going to stay at Poppy’s place alone or get a new roommate?” Ivy asked.

“Ivy,” Dahlia said. “Why would you ask that right now? You always think of those things rather than focusing on the happiness around you.”

She pouted a little. She didn’t know why Dahlia, who was four years older than her, always had to scold her like their mother did.

“It’s just Daisy has always lived with Heather. It’s got to be a big change,” Ivy argued.

“And she’s got a boyfriend right now, so maybe it’s not that big of a deal,” Dahlia said.

Daisy watched as she and her sister eyed each other. The last thing Ivy wanted to do was fight here when everyone was happy. She didn’t think her question was that insensitive, but maybe it was.

Maybe she just couldn’t get out of her own way half the time and focused on the wrong things as she was reminded of frequently.

“Yes, I’ve got a boyfriend and I’m trying to spend time with him when I can,” Daisy said. “I haven’t thought much of the future. Heather and I will talk about it. As you can tell, they don’t move fast.”

They’d all just found out Heather had something going on with Luke much longer than she’d let on.

“I’m sure Heather is going to move in with Luke,” Ivy said. “I would.”

If she were Heather, she would have moved in with Luke months ago. 

“Because you’re selfish like that,” Dahlia said simply.

“That’s mean,” Ivy said. Her eyes started to itch and burn with the telltale signs of tears coming on. 

She’d heard it more than once she was selfish and only thought of herself.

That she needed someone to care for her.

She couldn’t be alone.

She always had to have a guy in her life or someone to make her feel important.

That she had Daddy issues because of the attention she wanted from her father that she never got.

None of those things would be wrong.

She just hated that she couldn’t seem to stop feeling that way.

It felt as if there was something wrong with her when no one else worried about the things she did.

“Girls,” Jasmine, her older sister by two years, said. “Enough. This is a happy dinner. Ivy, what is going on with you?”

It was the soft tone that Jasmine used a lot. Not a lecturing one even though Jasmine had been known to do that too.

But she’d been the closest to Jasmine, who seemed to understand her the best.

After all, it was Jasmine who helped her move to Mystic and start over. To learn to live on her own and have this great job surrounded by everyone in this room.

She’d never let her sister down and would always be thankful for the opportunity.

“Nothing,” Ivy said, smiling. “Just everyone is hooking up and I’m stuck with Dahlia.”

“You’re the one that wanted me to move here,” Dahlia said. “I could have stayed where I was. I was happy enough.”

Dahlia was quiet, but it was obvious she was hurt by the comment. She just sucked sometimes as a sister. She wanted to try to put on a happy face and be positive and it didn’t come off right.

“I’m sorry,” she said, hugging Dahlia. “I’m not sure what is going on with me. I think I’m hormonal. I get that way. I hope there is something chocolatey on the dessert menu. Do you wish Theo could have come with you, Daisy?”

She thought maybe if she turned the topic around, no one would realize what a horrible person she was by her careless comments with her sister. Or the ones she’d been making with everyone else. Daisy’s boyfriend was a doctor and working tonight.

“I do, but understand he has a job to do too. I can’t come first at those times, but I know I’m on his mind.”

“Which is the way it should be,” Jasmine said, having heard the conversation being across from them. “Ivy will understand that one day too.”

Another gentle rub for her to grow up. To be more accepting. To not rush to find something because everyone else had what she wanted.

That she couldn’t always come first in people’s lives.

Maybe she just wanted to come first once in a while without having to ask for it.

“I know,” she said. “It’s just lonely here.”

“It shouldn’t be with Dahlia living with you,” Daisy said.

Ivy turned to look at her sister and gave her a little smile and nudge with her arm. “It’s not lonely at home, but I can’t get Dahlia to go out and do anything. It’s work, work, work.”

“I’m busy,” Dahlia said. “I’ve got a new job to learn.”

Dahlia always used that excuse when Ivy wanted her sister to go out and do something fun.

In the few months Dahlia had lived with her, she’d done nothing more than work. She was positive her sister didn’t even talk to the opposite sex unless it was someone in this room and she sure the heck hadn’t gone on a date.

“I don’t want to get in the middle of sisters fighting,” Lily, their boss, said with a big smile on her face. “But I’ve told Dahlia she doesn’t need to spend that much time at work. Don’t blame me.”

“Look at who is talking,” Poppy, another one of their bosses, said. “You’ve done the same thing. We all have at this table. Right?”

She looked around at the women sitting together and everyone was nodding their heads.

Ivy had no problem working all the time. The more she worked, the more money she made. And she loved her job and learning new things. She wanted them to know they made the right choice in hiring her.

Plus, maybe some sexy guy would come in and she could strike up a conversation with him.

Yep, always going back to that.

“There is a balance to find,” Heather said. “I found it with Luke and wasn’t sure I would be able to. I’m learning that when you find the one you love, you make exceptions for things and are more understanding and hope they are the same with you.”

“I am,” Luke said. 

“Awww, aren’t you two so sweet,” Ivy said. 

Everyone just started to talk in general at the table now. Their orders were taken, Dahlia was quiet.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly to Dahlia. “I didn’t mean it.”

Dahlia sighed. “I know. We are just two different people. You know that.”

“But we get along well, right?”

Dahlia smiled at her. Maybe her older sister saw she desperately needed that kind of approval right now.

Like she’d been told enough in life too.

“We do,” Dahlia said. “When you’re not being a little brat.”

She laughed and laid her head on Dahlia’s shoulder. “You wouldn’t want me to be any other way.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Dahlia said, “but it’s the sister I’ve got and love.”

It made her feel better to hear that and she could relax now for the rest of the dinner.

She wasn’t so relaxed when they drove home and climbed the stairs to their apartment. 

Dahlia went to put the key in, but the door pushed open when she touched it. “Ivy, you locked the door, right?”

“What?” she asked, looking down. “Yes. I always do. You know we’ve had safety drilled into our heads our entire lives.”

“It’s open,” Dahlia said.

She grabbed her sister’s arm as her heart started to thump loudly in her chest. “Don’t go in.”

“We have to,” Dahlia whispered. “I’ll call out first. I’m sure it just didn’t shut all the way or something.”

“I don’t think so,” Ivy said. She was careful about those things. She’d listened to her father when everyone said she didn’t. After all, safety was the reason she was so lonely half the time.

Dahlia pushed the door open with her foot. “Hello?”

“We’ve got two big bodyguards with us with guns,” Ivy yelled.

“Why would you say that?” Dahlia whispered.

“I don’t know. It seemed like the thing to do,” she said just as quietly.

Dahlia moved in a few feet, then flipped the light on and they saw that their living room was a mess.

“Oh my God,” Dahlia said. 

“We’ve been robbed,” Ivy screeched. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Wait,” Dahlia said. “I want to see what happened.”

“No,” Ivy said, grabbing her arm. “Now. We have to get out and call the police. We don’t know if he’s still in the building. Maybe he’s in one of the other apartments.”

It just occurred to her it was barely nine and there wasn’t one light on in all the apartments that she could see when they pulled into the driveway. There were three levels and maybe everyone was out tonight.

She hoped it was that and no one was hurt.

Her heart was racing fast enough she feared she might pass out. She grabbed her sister’s arm and pulled her down the stairs, not caring they both had heeled boots on. 

“Slow down,” Dahlia said. “I’m going to break an ankle.”

Ivy started to sob as the tears were running out of her eyes and blurring her vision. “No. I don’t want to be in there.”

They got outside quickly and jumped in Dahlia’s car and locked themselves in. Dahlia called the police. Ivy called Jasmine.