8. Marco

8

MARCO

“Hey, do you have a few minutes to spare?”

I glanced up from where I was working in the bathroom of the villa and saw Cooper making his approach. “Sure. What’s up?”

“I’m wondering if you’ll join me for a meeting.”

My brows shot up. Cooper hated meetings. “A meeting? You want to have a meeting?”

His face twisted with disgust, like he’d just popped something bitter into his mouth. “No, I don’t want to have a meeting, but Tate and Wyatt do. I’m not sure if my dad is going to be there. Who knows? He might pop in. Anyway, they want to go over some specifics on the current construction projects and maintenance items at Westwood’s, and with you putting in so much time on the villas, I figured it’d be wise to have you there. Liam’s going to be there, too, since he’s been doing the same.”

Liam was usually in charge of handling all the maintenance on the amusement park, but since it was winter and that was shut down for the time being, he had been helping with the construction of the villas. It’d been great, too, because Liam worked hard. I’d come in early a few days ago, because I’d been unable to sleep and wanted the distraction. Liam did that regularly, desperate for something to occupy his time and mind.

I stood and wiped off my hands. “Sure, I can go.”

He jerked his head to the door. “Come on. I’m positive they’re already there waiting for us. They live for this kind of stuff.”

Chuckling, I fell into step beside him as the two of us made our way over to the building that housed the offices.

The moment we walked into the conference room, it started. “You hate meetings so much you thought it’d be wise to bring reinforcements, Coop?” Wyatt teased.

“Yep,” Cooper muttered. “I figure if you see more of us here, you’ll realize there’re less of us working, and maybe you’ll cut this thing short.”

Wyatt shook his head. “Hey, Marco.”

“Good morning, Wyatt.”

Liam jerked his chin up at me as Cooper and I grabbed a seat at the table. And the moment we were sitting, Tate said, “Well, I’ll do my best to try to get you guys out of here as quickly as possible, but before we dive into everything, I want to say that I’m actually glad that you’re here, Marco.”

My brows drew together. “You are?”

He nodded. “Yeah. This is completely unrelated to anything we need to discuss today, but this is the first time I’ve seen you in quite a few days. I wanted to just take a minute to thank you.”

“Yeah, same here,” Wyatt chimed in. “I’m seriously appreciative.”

My eyes darted between them before shifting once to Liam and finally to Cooper. “Thank me? For what?”

The look that washed over Tate’s expression gave me the answer I was seeking before a single word ever had the chance of coming out of his mouth. He was going to talk about Ivy.

“Ivy told us what happened a few nights ago, and I wanted to personally thank you for caring for her that night the way you did,” he revealed.

As his jaw clenched with fury, Wyatt shared, “When she walked into my office, and I saw what happened to her face, I couldn’t bring myself to even imagine what she shared in the minutes that followed. But I’m glad you happened to be there when she, by some miracle, managed to get away before it got worse and drove herself to the hotel.”

I understood their appreciation, but it was entirely unnecessary. Waving my hand dismissively, I said, “Just like I told her, I don’t need any thanks. I don’t doubt for one second that if it had been one of my sisters who’d been in a situation like that, and one of you could step up to help, you would do it in an instant.”

“Of course, we would.” Liam gave me a nod of approval. “But it doesn’t change the fact that we haven’t had to do that, and you did what you did for our sister. I already told you this the day she told me what happened. If it couldn’t be one of us that was there for her, I’m glad it was you.”

“Thanks, Liam. I appreciate you saying that. I’m just relieved it wasn’t worse than it was for Ivy, and I’m happy to see she seems to be doing much better now.”

And I did appreciate it.

But I couldn’t deny that there was one thought in the back of my head as it pertained to the gratitude I received from Ivy’s brothers. I wondered if they’d all have the same reactions they were having now, if it had been one of them instead of Cooper who had entered that room and saw me there with her.

Would they have been thanking me the same as they were now, or would they have had similar reactions to Cooper? Would they have presumed the worst—that I put the marks on Ivy’s face and body? And if that thought never crossed their mind, would they have been furious at the idea of their sister being with me?

“You think she’s doing better now?” Tate asked me.

Confused at the question, my eyes darted around the table. “Of course. Don’t you?”

“Well, I’d like to think each day has been getting better for her, but I’ve only seen her once since she shared the news. She seemed okay to me, but I guess I thought you might see Ivy more often with being down at the villas that perhaps you’ve seen something reassuring. If not, I’m left feeling curious if Ava is reading too much into things that she learned a couple of days ago when she visited with Ivy.”

My stomach clenched painfully, but I kept my expression neutral. I got the distinct feeling there was something I’d missed. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“Yeah, Tate, what’s going on? What did Ava say?” Cooper questioned him.

He looked away, his jaw clenching. Shaking his head with frustration, he shared, “Ava told me that she thinks Ivy is spiraling a bit.”

Wyatt leaned forward with interest, his forearms resting on the table. “How so?”

Tate’s hand moved to his chin and scratched the skin along his throat as though he was running through whatever Ava had shared with him and trying to decide what to share or, perhaps, whether to share it.

His silent response had me growing impatient as much as it had me hoping there was some big misunderstanding. With the exception of the day she’d showed up at the villa to return my T-shirt to me, in the instances I’d seen Ivy over the last few days, our interactions had been relatively short. I’d been doing my best to remain friendly and keep a normal level of interaction with her, because I couldn’t dream of cutting her out completely. But I hadn’t pushed for the extended conversations with her for fear of putting myself in a worse predicament when it came to my attraction to her.

Ivy hadn’t shown me anything that indicated she was having a tough time with what happened. If anything, I found myself surprised by how well she seemed to be doing.

Tate remained silent for so long, Cooper felt compelled to snap him out of it. “Tate!” he called. “What’s going on?”

Blinking rapidly, Tate cleared his throat and adjusted himself in his seat. “Look, this might all just be Ava overreacting, but she said Ivy’s doing things that are out of character.”

“Like what?” Liam pressed. “She’s been coming to work every day.”

Liam’s doubt about what Tate was insinuating was reassuring and had me breathing a little easier. At least I wasn’t the only one who refused to believe there was anything wrong with Ivy.

“Yeah, and I guess that’s part of it. That seems to be the one area of her life where Ivy hasn’t made some drastic change. But when Ava was over at Ivy’s place a few days ago, their interaction with one another had Ava feeling unsettled. She said Ivy was oddly chipper. Apparently, they hadn’t even had a discussion about what happened, and Ivy was smiling, happy, and asking Ava about knitting.”

“Knitting?” That came from Wyatt, who looked just as confused as I felt. “I didn’t think Ivy was into knitting.”

Tate nodded. “That’s exactly the problem.”

“How so?” Cooper asked him. “I mean, Ivy’s been spending so much time over the last year doing all sorts of new things.”

Feeling compelled to defend her, I added, “Yeah, and if I recall correctly, she told me she had been going to a woodcarving class the night she was attacked.”

“I don’t feel like Ivy showing interest in learning to knit is enough of a reason to think she’s spiraling out of control,” Cooper reasoned.

The tension I felt in my gut began to unfurl. I didn’t want to accuse Ava of being crazy, but I would have liked it even less to believe Ivy was struggling with what happened and had chosen to cover it up. It was unbelievable that she’d not seek out the help of her best friend or sister or mom.

“She’s coloring,” Tate declared.

Liam jerked back in his seat. “What?”

“Evidently, she had boxes of markers, crayons, and colored pencils there, and when Ava asked her what they were about, Ivy said she was going to start coloring that night. And that’s not all. Over the next couple of days or weeks, she intends to rearrange the furniture in her home. Ava tried to talk to her about it, because she felt genuinely unsettled by the way Ivy was acting, and Ivy insisted there was no problem, that she just wanted to move on from what happened.”

My throat constricted painfully, and I began stroking two of my fingers over my eyebrow. My mind was racing as I attempted to recall every interaction I’d had with Ivy since her attack. Obviously, the night I was with her in the hotel, she’d been horrified. She’d acted exactly how I would have anticipated, given what she’d been through. But when I saw her the next day, I couldn’t get over how well she appeared to be doing.

Was that truly how she was feeling? Or had it all been a false front? And if so, why would she not seek help? There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that any one of us in this room, her parents, grandparents, Jules, Ava, Skye, or Rhea, would do whatever we could to give her the support she needed.

“I can’t say I’m not feeling a touch alarmed,” Liam admitted.

“Same here,” Wyatt agreed. “But this is Ivy.”

“What do you mean?”

The look on Wyatt’s face told me he was clinging on to any shred of hope he could find that would tell him his sister was okay. “Ivy’s always been… spirited. She’s bold and strong-willed, and she’s a fighter. Sure, she can be melodramatic, but overall, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe she’s just rolling along, trying to figure out the best way to move on.”

“I know that, which is why I wrestled with this,” Tate reasoned. “But I also know that Ava’s known her for years. And that’s what worries me. Because I don’t think Ava would have said anything to me if she wasn’t seriously concerned about Ivy.”

We sat in a collective silence for several beats, my stomach twisted in knots as I thought about the woman who’d been on my mind constantly for days now. I was itching to rise from my chair, leave the room, and go in search of her. A plan was already formulating in my mind for how I intended to be certain Ivy got through this.

Cooper finally broke the silence. “Let’s not go crazy with this. I think, given how well Ava knows her, we shouldn’t dismiss those concerns. But we also know Ivy, and this could just be her way of coping that turns out to be healthy and reasonable for her. It’s not like she’s turned to drinking, drugs, or other unsafe behaviors. We should keep our eyes on her, find ways to check in consistently, and make sure she’s got people around her often.”

“I think that’s wise,” Liam said.

“Yeah, I’m in agreement with that,” Tate added.

Wyatt pinned his attention on his brother. “It’s a good plan, Cooper.”

When four sets of eyes came my way, I held my hands up defensively. “Why are you all looking at me?”

“Because you’re here now. Because you were there for her then. And because you’re just as much a part of this family as any of us,” Tate said.

I’d always felt as though the Westwoods were like family. But there was something about hearing Tate say the words he’d just said that impacted me in a way I hadn’t anticipated.

Clearing my throat, I adjusted myself in my seat. “Uh, yeah. No, I agree with Cooper. I think it’s best to just keep an eye on her.”

“Good. That’s settled, then.” Tate let out a deep sigh. “Alright, let’s get down to business here.”

Before our meeting could proceed, there was a knock at the conference room door. It popped open as we all looked in that direction, and Evelyn Westwood poked her head into the room. She smiled. “Hi, boys. I’m sorry to interrupt, but… oh, Marco, you’re here.” Evelyn swung the door open and stepped fully into the room. “I didn’t know you were going to be here. I had planned to come and find you today. I wanted to thank you for what you did for Ivy.”

“It was no problem, Evelyn. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

She wore a proud look. “I know you would. Malcolm and I are so grateful to you.”

Once again, I understood the appreciation they all had for me, but it felt so unnecessary. It would have been unnecessary no matter what, but with everything I felt stirring in my chest for Ivy these last few days, it almost felt like I was fulfilling a duty, something I was meant to do.

“What’s going on, Mom?” Wyatt asked. “Is everything okay?”

Her gaze moved around the table, lingering a moment on me before she shifted her attention to Cooper. “When you finish up in here, would you mind coming to find me? I have something I want to talk to you about.”

“Sure, Mom. I can do that.”

“Thank you. Okay, kiddos, I’m leaving now. You can get back to your meeting.”

Evelyn backed out of the room, closing the door behind her.

“Alright. First up, let’s talk about the villas,” Tate said, returning us back to the original reason we’d come here for this meeting. “It’s my understanding that we’re on track with those, perhaps even slightly ahead of schedule.”

I glanced at Cooper, who jerked his chin in my direction. Apparently, he’d been serious when he said he wanted me to take the lead on the discussion regarding the villas.

“Technically, we are ahead of schedule, but I did just run into an issue that might delay things a bit. I was preparing to start on the bathrooms, and when I went to bring the tiles over to the villa I was working in this morning, I learned that we were sent the wrong ones from the manufacturer. I gave them a call to get the situation rectified, but unfortunately, they don’t have enough quantity of the correct ones.”

“Did they give any estimate as to how long it would be to fulfill our order?” Wyatt asked. “Is there enough quantity there to do a handful of the villas?”

“There might be,” I replied. “I can call them back to double check on the amount of stock they do have available and get that here. But the current estimate for fulfilling the backorder is ten to twelve weeks. We might have been ahead of schedule coming into today, but if we’re going to finish this project on time at this point, we’re going to need to pick a different pattern for the remaining villas.”

Tate sat back in his seat and considered this. “I think we do what we need to do to keep ourselves on track for completion. As long as they’ve got something reasonable that will work for the remaining villas, it’s worth it to switch it up.”

“Agreed,” Wyatt said.

I nodded my understanding. “I’ll get on it right away.”

A buzzing sound filled the air, and when I looked to my left, I saw Cooper pulling out his phone. “Ah, hang on. This is Jules.” He slid his finger across the screen and answered the call. “Hey, Jules. What’s going on?” There was a brief pause as he listened to her. “I’m in a meeting right now and have to meet up with Mom afterward, but I’ll have Liam run over as soon as we’re done here. Is that okay?” Another pause. “Alright. Later.”

Cooper ended the call and Liam asked, “What do I need to do?”

“She’s having an issue with a door on one of the display cases.”

Recognizing there was still plenty of work that needed to be done, Tate said, “Okay, let’s keep going here, so you guys can all get back to work.”

For the next twenty minutes, we went over the remaining items that Tate and Wyatt wanted to discuss. Since my biggest focus was on the villas right now, there wasn’t much I needed to contribute to the conversation. So, I sat there and allowed my mind to drift, and unsurprisingly, I wasn’t consumed with thoughts of the work I had ahead of me.

Nope.

More thoughts of Ivy consumed my mind. Thoughts mixed with questions, more questions than I’d ever had about her.

And for the first time in my life, I finally understood Cooper’s disdain for meetings. Because the longer I sat in a chair at that conference room table, the longer it was going to take for me to get back to the hotel, where I intended to make Ivy’s well-being my top priority.

Yes, I’d decided.

Whether Cooper approved of me doing it or not, I wasn’t going to sit back and watch as Ivy fell apart. If I could help her through this, I was going to do it. And Cooper was just going to have to accept it.