Give Us a Chance (36 page)

"It's awesome!" Ivy yells above the music. "I can't believe you guys pulled this off with hardly any time to plan it."

"When something needs to be done, the Wheeler boys get it done."

But shit, it wasn't easy. We worked round the clock to put this together but it was worth it. Ivy and her family can finally stop worrying about their bills.
 

She wraps her arms around me and reaches up to kiss me. "I love you."

I kiss her back. "I love you more."

"That's not true. I love you just as much."

I kiss her again. "Don't argue with me. Just watch the band."

She laughs and flips around and I hold her against my chest. I love her so much. I love her more every day I'm with her. That used to scare me but it doesn't anymore.

"Austin's band sounds great," she says.

"Yeah, they're really good."

"You think he'll quit construction and do this instead?"

"No. Construction's in his blood. He loves it almost as much as his music. And he gets paid a lot more for the construction work."

"Hey, guys." Callie walks up to us with Nash right behind her. "Having fun?"

"Yeah." Ivy comes around to my side and I put my arm around her. "Although I can't get Jake to dance."

"I got the same problem." Callie points to Nash. "He won't dance to this type of music. Only country."

"Only kind of music that's worth dancing to," he says.

"Damn straight," I say, fist bumping my brother.

"We have to get back to the booth," Callie says to Ivy. "I just wanted to say hi."

"Thanks for making the food. I know it was a lot of work."

"I didn't mind. It's all for a good cause." She leans back against Nash, looking up at him. "And at least I had someone to clean up."

"Is that all I'm good for?" He kisses her. "Cleaning up dishes?"

She takes his hand. "Come on. Let's go."

The two of them walk off. Nash slings his arm around her and kisses her again. I used to look at those two and get jealous of what they had, but now I have it with Ivy and I understand why Nash always has that grin on his face. Because now I have it too.

"We're selling a lot of tickets for the car," Bryce says, walking up to us. "A lot more than I thought we would."

"It's a nice car," I say. "You did a great job on it."

"Thanks. I think it turned out all right."

"Thanks again for donating it," Ivy says. "But I feel bad that you did all that work and aren't getting paid."

He shrugs. "I like doing that stuff. I'll get paid for the next one."

"Would you dance with me?" Jen comes up behind Bryce, her hand wrapping around his arm.

He turns to her. "Right now?"

"Yeah. I love this song."

"You know I don't like to dance."

"I know, but I need a partner." She gives him a smile.

He can't help but smile back. It's obvious he's in love with her. He can't even hide it.

"Come on," Jen says, tugging on his arm.

He looks at us. "Guess I'll see you guys later."

Jen drags Bryce to the dance floor.

"Those two act like they're dating," Ivy says.

"Now that Jen's single again, they
could
date if my idiot brother would just ask her out. But he better hurry. I have a feeling Jen'll move somewhere else for a job once she graduates, especially if she doesn't have a reason to stick around."

My dad appears, along with Ivy's dad. Steve is walking pretty well now, but he has to take frequent breaks to sit down.

"Seemed to turn out okay," my dad says.

"Don't be so modest, Mitch," Steve says. "You outdid yourself. I didn't expect this to be such a huge event."

"The bands tend to attract a crowd," he says. "But yes, I'm surprised as well at the turnout. Good thing I was able to get the warehouse. We needed the space."

The warehouse is owned by one of my dad's friends. It was sitting empty because the guy's getting ready to lease it out. My dad asked him if we could rent it for a night but his friend wouldn't charge him so we got it for free.

"How are you feeling, Dad?" Ivy asks.

He smiles at her. "I'm good. Stop asking." He looks at me. "You need to get her to stop worrying so much."

I chuckle. "I'll work on that."

"We've got quite a few bids on your artwork," my dad says to Ivy. She carved a picture out of wood. It's a scene of the Chicago skyline and looks freaking amazing. We're doing a silent auction for it.

"Really? I didn't think anyone would bid on it."

"Are you kidding?" I shake my head at her. "You need to start realizing how talented you are. That picture is a work of art. It's going to make a lot of money."

"Yeah, I don't think so," she says, smiling, like she thinks I'm joking.

"Someone already bid two thousand," my dad says.

"What?" Ivy stares at my dad, her jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

"It's worth at least that," Steve says to her. "You did a beautiful job on that, honey."

"I...I just can't believe someone would pay that much."

"You should consider doing more of those," I say. "Set up a shop online and sell them. You could make good money, and it'd be something to do between construction jobs."

"That's a good idea," Steve says. "You should think about that, Ivy."

"Yeah, I guess I should," she says, looking like her mind is already pondering the possibility of it. She really needs to do this. It's what she likes to do and what makes her happy. She likes it a lot more than doing window trim or baseboards.

"I'm going to get some food," Steve says.

"You need some help?" Ivy asks.

"I'll be fine." Steve pats her shoulder. "Now stop worrying about me and go have some fun."

He walks away and Ivy says, "He drives me crazy the way he won't accept my help. I was just trying to—"

"Mitch." A loud voice interrupts Ivy. I turn and see Tom there, father of Nick, the asshole who nearly got Ivy killed. A grin spreads over his chubby face, his bald head glistening with sweat. The guy is always sweating.

"Tom." My dad only said one word, but I could hear the anger in his tone. His eyes narrow and he stands up straighter, towering over Tom, who's almost a foot shorter. "You shouldn't be here."

"I'm helping with the cause," he says, crossing his fat forearms over his protruding stomach.

"You only showed up here to see if I'd change my mind."

He shrugs. "I run a business. I have to look out for it."

"But you have no interest in looking out for your fellow carpenter. Or anyone, for that matter."

Tom glances at Ivy. "It was her decision to go there."

"Your son did more than set her up with that job."

"What are you—" Ivy stops when she feels me squeeze her hand.

I whisper in her ear, "Just let them talk."

Tom chuckles, but it's a nervous laugh. "You remember how it was when you were that age, Mitch. Talking that way about girls? It's just what guys that age do."

"And is that how you want your granddaughters to be treated? Do you want men talking about them that way?"

Nick's wife had the twins a few days ago. Two girls.
 

Tom's grin drops and he glares at my dad. "My granddaughters won't be stupid enough to go into construction. Everyone knows that's a man's job." He motions to Ivy. "She was asking for it, going into a job she shouldn't be in."

My anger flares and I let go of Ivy and step up to Tom. "Get the fuck out of here."

"Jake," my dad says, his tone telling me to stay out of it.

I step back next to Ivy and my dad says to Tom, "It's no use trying to change my mind. You won't be working for us again."

"There aren't that many restoration carpenters around here. If you want to keep restoring old buildings, you'll have no choice but to hire me."

"I'm sure we'll do just fine without you." He nods toward the exit. "Now do as my son said and get the fuck out of here."

Tom's breathing hard, his eyes on my dad. And then he turns and storms off. He stops and grabs his coat off one of the chairs, then heads to the exit.

"What just happened here?" Ivy asks, her eyes going between me and my dad. "Was that all because of me?"

"Nash told me what went on at the library," my dad says. "And Jake told me about that job Nick set you up with."

"How do you know about the library? When Nick was saying those things to me, no one else was around."

I look at Ivy. "What are you talking about? What'd that asshole say to you?"

"It was just stupid flirting. But a lot of the guys I work with do that since I'm usually the only girl around."

"You can't let them do that," my dad says. "You have to tell one of us if that happens."

"You need to tell
me
, because I'll beat the shit out of them."

"Jake." My dad uses his warning tone. He doesn't want me causing trouble for the business, and beating up one of our workers would definitely cause trouble.

"Yeah. I wouldn't actually do that," I say, "but I'd get their asses fired and never hire them again."

"Which is what we've done," my dad says. "Nick won't be working for us again, and neither will Tom."

"What did you mean when you said Nash told you what happened at the library?" Ivy asks. "I never told Nash anything."

"Last week, Nash met with some of the guys who worked on the library to see if they wanted to work on the museum project. Before they agreed to it, they wanted to know if Nick would be there. None of them want to work with him again. Nash asked the guys if Nick had ever said anything about you and they all said that he had."

"What did he say?"

"I'm not going to repeat it. The point is that it was inappropriate, and Tom was there when Nick said those things and did nothing to stop it. I won't put up with that. When our subcontractors sign on with us, they're all given the rules of our company. And the rules clearly state that we won't tolerate harassment of any kind or a hostile work environment. If they don't want to follow those rules, then they don't have to work for us. If they DO work for us and don't respect the rules, they're fired and we'll never hire them again."

I put my arm around her. "Let's just forgot about those assholes. I don't want them ruining our night."

"He's right," my dad says. "You two go have some fun. I think I'll get some food and join Steve."

Ivy glances over at her dad, who's talking to Nash by the food booth.

"Hey," I say, getting Ivy's attention. "You want to dance?"

"You said you wouldn't."

"Yeah, but you want to, so come on. Let's go."

"That's a sure sign he loves you," my dad says. "Jake never dances to this kind of music."

"She doesn't need a sign," I say, giving her a kiss as we walk away. "She knows I love her."

The evening continues, and at the end of the night, after everything's closed down, both my family and Ivy's family count up what we made. My dad took everyone's totals and added them up and wrote it on a piece of paper and gave it to me.

"Anyone want to guess?" I ask, holding up the slip of paper.

"Just tell us," Bryce says.

"Okay." I put my eyes on Ivy. "The grand total is just over thirty thousand dollars."

"No way." Ivy's smiling, and I already see the tears forming in her eyes.

"Thirty thousand?" Steve says, like he thinks he heard me wrong.

"Wow," Liza says, also tearing up.

"Holy shit," Nash mutters. "That's a lot of money."

"Hell yeah," Austin says. "I knew a concert was a good idea."

"It wasn't just the concert tickets," I say. "The raffle for Bryce's car raised $8000."

He smiles. "Fuck, are you serious?"

"We sold a lot of raffle tickets. Everyone wanted that car."

"That's awesome," Jen says to him. "I told you people would want it."

"And the other big money-maker for the night was Ivy's picture." I keep my eyes on her. "It sold for $10,000."

"Oh my God." She covers her mouth with her hand. "That can't be right."

"Already got the check," I say. "It sold to an attorney who works downtown. He's going to put it in his office."

"I talked to him earlier," my dad says. "He'd like to commission you to do another one for his house in Wisconsin. He has a photo he'd like you to recreate. He showed it to me on his phone. It's a photo of some woods and a lake. I'll send you his information."

"Ivy, you should totally do that," Callie says.

"I will," she says, looking completely shocked. "I definitely will."

I lean over and talk in her ear. "Now will you finally believe me when I tell you how talented you are?"

She smiles and I kiss her.

My dad stands up. "Everyone ready to eat?"

It's two in the morning, but we were all hungry so we ordered pizzas and Bryce went to the store and filled a cooler with beer and pop.

What a freaking awesome night. We raised a ton of money, everyone had a good time, and now I'm sitting back and relaxing with the girl I love and both our families.

Two days later, Ivy and I go to another Wheeler Sunday dinner, a tradition I hope we'll be doing together for a long time. Today it's not just family dinner. It's also Nash's birthday, so we got him a cake and he just opened his gifts. Callie didn't give him hers yet. She got him tickets for his favorite country band, but she'll give them to him later, when they get home.

"Feel any older?" Austin asks Nash. "Because you look older." He snickers.

"Better than looking like a kid," he says, throwing his wadded up napkin at Austin.

My dad leans back in his chair. "You boys ready to clean this up? Nash is excused this time since it's his birthday. I'll take his place."

"Before you start cleaning up," Nash says, "I've got something to say."

"You're the man of the day," my dad says, "so go ahead."

Nash pushes his chair back and stands up. "First of all, I want to thank everyone for the gifts. But I noticed that I didn't get one from Callie."

She almost chokes on the water she just gulped down. "What? No. I have a gift. It's at home. I'm giving it to you later." She swats at him. "Why are you making me look bad?"