Tripp's Trivial Tie Read online

  Tonight, though, she said, “She’s good. She just got a new job.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah, she moved into recruiting for her company. She seems happy.” Ivory turned and looked out her window, and Tripp wanted to know what she was thinking.

  So he asked, and that brought her attention back to him.

  “I’m thinking we might be crazy,” she said. “My sister can barely make her marriage work, and it’s real.”

  Tripp reached over and took her hand in his. Even her fingers were full of tension, and he wanted to erase it for her. “I think it would be amazing.”

  “Well, you’ve always seen things with rose-colored glasses,” she teased.

  Tripp shrugged one shoulder, but he couldn’t deny it. “Things usually work out, Ivory.”

  “Except when they don’t,” she said quietly.

  “I haven’t been married,” he said just as softly. “So I don’t really know, but I think if we work at it, we’ll be fine.” He pulled up to a stop sign and looked at her. “Besides, it’s not real, right? You need your son back. You just need some time to get back on your feet. I can help by doing this, so let’s just go down to City Hall and get it done.”

  Of course he had ulterior motives—he couldn’t help hoping that Ivory could somehow fall in love with him during their fake marriage—but he did want to help her.

  “We can’t get married at City Hall,” Ivory said.

  “What?” Tripp didn’t care that another pair of headlights had come up behind him. He hit the hazard button to turn on his flashers, and they went around. “Why not?”

  “Daniel is a lawyer,” she said. “He won’t buy that for a second. He’ll know we didn’t really tie the knot.” She shook her head. “No, we’ll have to have a small ceremony. Maybe out on the ranch?”

  Tripp felt like she’d tossed a bucket of ice water in his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. A wedding at the ranch. No. A fake wedding at the ranch.

  Jeremiah would go ballistic. Absolutely bonkers.

  “I’ll talk to my brothers,” he said. “I’m not sure we’re equipped for a wedding.”

  “It will be very small,” she said. “But a few friends. A real dress. Maybe a bouquet. Then it will look real, even if it’s not.”

  Even if it’s not.

  Dear Lord, he prayed as he took off his cowboy hat and ran his fingers through his hair. Is this the right thing to do?

  No answer came, because Tripp couldn’t detangle his own feelings from the situation. What he wanted and what God wanted and what Ivory wanted was just a giant ball of emotion, and he couldn’t tell what was right and what wasn’t.

  “I know I’m asking a lot of you,” Ivory said, squeezing his fingers and bringing him out of his mind.

  “It’s just…I think maybe we should think about this for a day or two,” he said quietly. “I’ll see how I feel at church tomorrow.”

  “Fair enough,” she said. She sucked in a deep breath, and Tripp felt like he needed to do the same. “All right. Enough wedding talk. Let’s go eat, because I’m starving.”

  Tripp met her eyes, the moment still sober. Then he said, “All right. How do you feel about steak?”

  She swatted his arm, because he already knew steak was one of her favorite things. He was willing to bet a sizable sum that she hadn’t eaten anything of that caliber in a while. He eased around the corner, glad that she’d been able to take a heavy topic and make it lighter.

  She’d always been able to do that, and Tripp reminded himself just how much he liked this woman.

  Enough to marry her and not really have her? he wondered. But he pushed the thought away, because he wanted to enjoy his dinner with her. It might be the only one they had, and he didn’t want to waste the time he got with her.

  The next morning, Tripp joined his brother in the kitchen. “Where’s Jeremiah?” he asked, noting the pan of hash on the stovetop.

  Liam looked up from his phone, where he read the news each morning. “He and Wyatt went out to get the ranch chores done, same as always.” Something glinted in his twin’s eye, and Tripp looked away. “You were out late last night.”

  Tripp reached into the cupboard and got down a mug. “I told you I had a date with Ivory.”

  “Yeah, but sometimes those only last an hour.”

  True, but Tripp wouldn’t give Liam the satisfaction of being right.

  “So things must have gone well,” Liam pressed.

  Tripp sighed as he turned around to stir sugar into his coffee. “I guess.”

  “You guess?” Liam wore his cowboy hat inside, which Tripp normally did too. He just hadn’t showered yet, so he hadn’t gotten dressed.

  “It’s kind of like with you and Callie,” Tripp said, and the softness went out of his brother’s face.

  “There’s nothing with me and Callie,” Liam said.

  Tripp glanced out the sliding glass doors behind his brother. “Look, it’s just me and you. I know you like that woman, and if you’d just ask her out—”

  “I did,” he said.

  Surprise moved through Tripp. “Oh.”

  “She said she didn’t want to ruin our friendship with ‘feelings’.” He made air quotes around the last word, and he looked and sounded disgusted. “So please, just stop trying to tell me if I’d just ask her out, she’d go with me.” He got up and practically stomped over to the sink, where he dumped the last couple of swallows of his coffee.

  “Liam,” Tripp said, desperate now to make things better for his brother and Ivory. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “It’s okay.” Liam stood very still at the sink, his head bowed. “I just…I really like her, and I just can’t figure out what’s wrong with me.”

  “I’m sure it’s not you. Callie doesn’t go out with anyone.”

  “I know.” He straightened and looked at Tripp. “I’m done talking about this. What’s with you and Ivory? Is she going to let you see her again?”

  “Yeah,” Tripp said slowly, his mind moving quickly. “And she’s in a bit of a hard place, and I just keep thinking about what Rhett and Evelyn did, and well, we’re thinking about getting married.”

  Liam’s whole face rounded. His eyes. His mouth. “Wow. For real? Or like what Rhett and Evelyn did the first time?”

  Tripp glanced back to the windows and doors that showed the backyard and on to the ranch. “Probably more of the first time,” he said miserably, lifting his coffee to his lips. “But no one would know that. She wants it to look real, because her ex is suing her for custody of her son.”

  Liam said nothing as he moved to stand beside Tripp. They watched the sun bake the world outside, both of them lost in their own thoughts. Finally, when he caught movement out on the ranch, Tripp breathed in deeply.

  “Please don’t say anything to anyone,” he said. “I’m—we’re—still thinking about it. I’m going to see how I feel at church today.” He picked up the spoon and put some hash on his plate.

  “You know we’ll support you,” Liam said. “At least I will. And Jeremiah—”

  “Is coming in right now,” Tripp said under his breath. “This looks great, Jeremiah,” he said in a normal voice. “I swear, when do you sleep?”

  Chapter Six

  Ivory looked at herself in the mirror, wondering when the lines around her eyes had appeared. Or that one between her eyes, the perpetual frown she couldn’t make go away. She’d really enjoyed dinner with Tripp last night, and thoughts of the man had kept her awake too.

  He was kind, and strong, and smart, and faithful. He was everything she’d wished Daniel was.

  She wasn’t sure what reservations had come over him while they’d been talking in his truck on the way to the restaurant, but she didn’t have any about marrying him. And she would pay him back.

  She absolutely would.

  Turning away from the fierceness in her eyes in the reflection, she went down the hall and got her keys. Without O
liver, she didn’t have anyone to sit by at church. That didn’t matter. She’d find a friend or an elderly woman who needed someone to sit by, and she’d be fine.

  After a short drive, she entered the church, a sense of pure peace coming over her. It was as if there was something attached to the doorframe that lifted away troubles and problems, and Ivory couldn’t feel the burdens she’d been carrying during the week.

  She caught sight of her friend, Kate, only a couple of steps away from the door. She didn’t have her husband with her either. Only her two kids. Dexter was the same age as Ollie, and Ivory and Kate had helped each other a lot over the past few years with their kids.

  “Hey,” she said as she approached Kate. “Can I sit with you guys today? Ollie’s with his dad.”

  “Of course.” Kate grabbed onto her and hugged her. “How are you?” She looked at Ivory with her dark hazel eyes that knew so much. She was really asking how everything was going. And if Ivory was okay with her son’s absence, especially since it was going to be so long.

  “Good,” she said, her voice maybe a little too bright and a little too false. “Good.”

  But things weren’t good. She wasn’t good. And she knew it.

  Oliver was only going to be in Amarillo for seven weeks, and she was already lost without him. What would she do if Daniel won full custody?

  Panic paraded through her, but Jenny, Kate’s five-year-old, put her hand in Ivory’s. “I want to sit by you,” she said in her angelic, childlike voice.

  “Sure,” Ivory said, even more brightly. “Let’s go.” They entered the chapel, and Kate chose a bench on the side, about halfway toward the front. Perfect. Not too close. Not too far away. Out of the way.

  That was exactly what Ivory wanted. Out of the way. No spotlights. No attention. No need for anyone to look too closely at her, see what she was doing.

  And marrying Tripp Walker would bring her right into the spotlight.

  As if summoned by her thoughts, the Walker brothers sat down on the bench in the middle, one in front of where she sat. Her breath waltzed in her lungs, which was quite painful. Those four men had no idea what they were doing to the women in this town, and it was as if a hush had fallen over the congregation and the pastor hadn’t even gotten up to start yet.

  Tripp had gone into the row first, and she could barely see him past all those other broad cowboy shoulders. His twin, Liam, leaned over and whispered something to him, and she caught half of Tripp’s smile as he shook his head.

  Jeremiah sat next to Liam, with Wyatt on the end. Ivory had never met Wyatt in person, though Tripp had talked about him plenty during their last try at a relationship. Well, his last try. If Ivory were being honest with herself, she’d never tried with Tripp at all.

  Desperation moved through her now, and she hated that the magical entrance that relieved her burdens hadn’t taken that emotion too. But she couldn’t help feeling broken. Like she was completely unlovable, and that no one would ever want her. After all, Daniel had left at the first sign of trouble.

  So Ivory had learned to run from hard things. Hard conversations. Hard feelings. Difficult situations. Why put herself through those things?

  She stole another glance at Tripp. He’s not Daniel, she thought. So what’s the right thing to do? She closed her eyes and leaned her head slightly back, as if light from heaven would bathe her face.

  It didn’t, but she still felt the same as she had last night.

  If Tripp agreed, she’d marry him. Win the lawsuit for full custody. Keep Daniel where he’d fled to—in Amarillo and out of her life.

  Tripp turned and looked at her, and Ivory’s face heated. Her pulse bounced in her veins. But she couldn’t look away. He smiled again, and then the pastor said something, drawing his attention to the pulpit.

  Ivory looked up there too, but she knew she wouldn’t hear a word. No, she was going to spend the next hour praying that God would let Tripp know that it was okay to marry her.

  I won’t hurt him, she told the Lord. I’ll pay him back. It’ll just be a few months. I won’t hurt him….

  Tripp didn’t call after church, which put Ivory on edge. Without her son, she didn’t have much to occupy her time. She made a new necklace and posted it on her online shop. She searched for jobs in Three Rivers, and found a new listing for a clerk at Verona’s, the oldest dry cleaner in the county.

  She jotted down the number and decided to take a chance and call, even though it was the Sabbath.

  An older gentleman said, “Hello?” in a shaky voice.

  “Hello,” Ivory said in a bright voice. She wondered if she’d somehow swallowed light bulb filaments for how much she’d spoken so brightly today. “I just saw your listing for a clerk at your dry cleaner. I’m interested to know more about the job.”

  “We need someone over the age of twenty-five,” he said.

  “Oh, I meet that requirement, sir,” she said with a laugh.

  “And someone who can work the day shift,” he said. “Even when school starts again.”

  “Double-check,” she said. “This is Ivory Osburn. I’m looking for something I can do while my son is at school to bring in some extra money. I’m willing to learn whatever I need to. I have a degree in business management, and I run my own online jewelry-making company.”

  A long pause came through the line, and then the man said, “Can you come in tomorrow morning for an interview?”

  “Absolutely,” she said, hoping she wouldn’t have to detail how she’d used her business management degree. Because she never had. She’d only finished the degree so her father wouldn’t make her pay back all the tuition, and she’d promptly enrolled in art and jewelry-making classes upon her college graduation.

  She’d been making jewelry full-time for a decade now, and things had only started going downhill in the past year or so. Maybe only nine months.

  “Eight o’clock?” the man asked. “You can ask for me, Harmon, or my wife, Verona.”

  “Eight is great,” she said. “At the shop?”

  “Yes, we’ll be here.”

  “See you then.” Ivory hung up and pressed the phone to her heartbeat and her eyes closed. “Please, Lord, let me get this job,” she prayed. It wasn’t graveyards, and she could work while Oliver was at school.

  And penny by penny, she’d pay back Tripp Walker. That was, if the cowboy billionaire ever called her and let her know what and how he felt about everything she’d proposed.

  The next morning, Ivory made sure every piece of her appearance was in the perfect place. Her jewelry was all homemade and original. Wearing it made her feel powerful and feminine at the same time.

  She’d put on her nicest black skirt, with a pale blue blouse, and heels. Heels. She literally never wore heels. Heck, most of the time, she barely upgraded to jeans and closed-toed shoes. After all, she could wear yoga pants to drive Oliver to school and drop him off. No one had to know.

  She’d slept little as she toyed with the idea of texting Tripp. But she didn’t want to rush him, and she felt foolish enough as it was. The man had taken three beatings from her, and he’d come back for more. She wasn’t sure what that said about her—or him.

  But she couldn’t let go of the hope that seemed to keep zipping through her at the most inopportune times. Like now, when she should be eating something to quell the nerves in her stomach.

  In the end, she skipped breakfast so she wouldn’t be late to her interview. Her phone rang the moment she pulled up to the dry cleaning building. Tripp’s name sat on the screen, and she had ten minutes before she had to be inside, ready to dazzle Harmon and Verona.

  “Hey,” she said. “Before you say anything, I’m just letting you know that I’m ten minutes away from a job interview.”

  “Oh, hey,” he said. “Okay. What job?”

  “Something new came up yesterday. Day shift at the dry cleaner.” She hated that she was thirty-seven years old and desperate for a job at a dry cleaner. She wasn’t sure what h
er life had become, and another wave of negative emotions hit her right in the throat. She couldn’t seem to speak at all, and she hoped this would pass so she could complete the interview.

  “I was just calling to see if you had time for lunch,” he said.

  She nodded, tears pressing behind her eyes.

  “Ivory?”

  “Yes,” she said, her voice choked. Surely he’d know she was crying, not that it mattered. The man had seen her in complete turmoil at the post office.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Her first instinct was to snap at him. Didn’t he know he held her entire future in his hands? If he said he didn’t feel good about marrying her, she’d lose Oliver. She’d lose her house. Her business.

  Everything.

  She’d lose everything she’d been clinging to so desperately these last few months.

  How did I get here? she asked herself. Or maybe God. She wasn’t sure. Is this my life now?

  “I’m going to be late,” she said, unbuckling her seat belt and getting out of her sedan. For some reason, she couldn’t stand being constrained inside the car.

  “Okay, I’ll pick you up around noon?”

  “That’s fine,” she said, watching a woman walk into the dry cleaner. They were open already, and she wondered how early she’d have to come in. She wasn’t what anyone would call a morning person, but she could do it.

  You will do it, she told herself.

  “Great, see you then.” Tripp ended the call, and Ivory absently slid her phone in her purse. Then she put her plastic, professional smile on her face, and followed the other woman into the dry cleaner.

  Chapter Seven

  Tripp pulled up to Ivory’s house a few minutes late, his hands slick against the steering wheel. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. He’d kissed this woman on Saturday, and as far as their tumultuous relationship had been, that was amazing progress.

  “It’s fine,” he coached himself. He’d had to say the same thing ten times just to get himself out of the house. Into the truck. Driving down the road.