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Ivy giggles as she looks at the pictures.

“I want to see your pictures from your awkward phase too,” I demand.

She laughs. “No way I’m ever showing those to anybody, including my husband.”

I raise a brow. “We’ll see.”

My mom heads to bed shortly after that, and we hang downstairs on the couch, snuggling and watching a movie as it feels like we left the stress of the real world behind in Vegas.

“Did you ever check to see if Everleigh replied?” I ask.

She pulls a face and shakes her head. “Whoops, nope.”

I can’t help but laugh at that. “Well, you might want to, just in case we need to be back tomorrow night.”

She presses her lips together and nods, and she turns her Do Not Disturb off only to find several missed calls and texts from her sister.

“Shit,” she mutters.

“Want me to call her back since I got you into this mess?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “I need to handle this or she will definitely treat me like a child for the rest of my life.”

I nod, knowing that she is absolutely right. She is an adult and needs to be able to handle her own shit without somebody else stepping in for her the way that her siblings always seem to do.

She dials her sister’s number, and she holds the phone away from her ear when her sister picks up. She’s loud enough that I can hear her even without putting the phone on speaker.

“Ivy Simone, where the hell are you and what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I think I’m meeting my mother-in-law and spending the weekend with her. I’d love to stay and spend some extra time with her. I looked at the schedule, and honestly, Ev, it doesn’t seem like you need me there. My entire morning is blocked Tuesday for Cash anyway, and I promise, we’re hammering out details for the brand while we’re traveling together. I’ll take the PTO I’ve earned for these two days even though I’ll be working.

She’s silent on the other end, and I set my hand on her thigh in solidarity.

“Didn’t you drop everything else in order to be there for Maverick as he adapted to the Aces?” Ivy asks quietly.

“That was a completely different situation, Ivy. Maverick was my client.”

“Yeah, and Cash is my client,” she reminds her sister, as if she needed the reminder.

She blows out a frustrated breath. “It’s not the same. And you’re not in love with him.”

“You don’t know that,” Ivy says softly. Her eyes turn up and connect with mine.

Her sister is quiet on the other end, and Ivy pushes forward.

“Ev, are you focusing on me right now because Maverick’s away at training camp? Because that’s not fair to me. And I’ve already told you several times I need you to let me live my life. Adults are allowed to take PTO from their places of employment. You know I love working for Ever-Brand, and I love working with you. I’m trying to strike a balance here and have a personal life of my own, too.”

Everleigh is quiet a little longer, and she eventually relents. “I need this not to become a thing. You need to earn your paid time off just like every other employee, and you don’t get benefits because I’m your sister. If this happens again, it’s going to be a real problem. Understood?”

“I realize I’m putting you in a difficult position, and I apologize. This was a spur-of-the-moment trip so I could spend time with my mother-in-law and my husband.”

“Stop calling him that,” she demands.

“It’s what he is,” Ivy says thickly, and she changes the topic. “Anyway, how’s it going? Are you enjoying the quiet house?”

“No. I miss you. I miss Maverick. It’s too quiet, but I went out to dinner with friends earlier, and that was nice.”

“I’m here if you want to talk about it. Any of it.”