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“I think we should invite Ivy to our lady gatherings,” Bailey said

She, Eoodness in hand It was too hot in the bookstore so we’d all closed up shop during Jess’s lunch break and grabbed an ice crea

“I’m up for it” I nodded “Ivy and I share a bond now”

It was true In the three months since Freddie Jackson had attacked us, Ivy stopped bystill faraway about her, like she was living in her head somewhere elsewhere the rest of us couldn’t reach, but she was much better than she had been She hated the apartment, of course, and had temporarily moved back in with her parents She was, however, about to close on a very nice place on Johnson’s Creek She didn’t want to move back to Hollywood but wouldn’t tell us why, so we could only guess at the reason But she’d started to write again, which I took as a good sign

She and Bailey were also hanging out again, and it was pretty darn hard to be miserable around Bailey Hartwell I knew that firsthand

Jess shrugged “Sure I don’t know if I’ll have anything in coame”

“She’s not like that,” Bailey pro with anyone”

We wandered in silence—Eiven her approval for the idea

I shared a look with Bailey and then Jess as Emery stared ahead

I nudged Emery “Em, you’re awfully quiet about it”

She pursed her pretty h school You don’t need roup”

“But?”

“No buts”

“There’s a but,” Jess surmised

“Definitely a but,” Bailey added