Love Me

Chapter Twenty-eight

Alyssa

We pulled up in front of a nice looking bakery slash cafe. Sophia's corner. That's funny. That's Nathan's mom's name.

“This is Gran's place!” Oliver exclaimed from the back seat of the car.

Oh wow. How didn't I put the pieces together? We even passed by Sophia's house on our way here. Oliver was suddenly very excited and I understood why, I wanted to see Sophia as well, she's nice to be around and reminds me of my mother in some ways. Plus, I wanted to make sure she was okay after yesterday.

Oliver basically jumped out of the car before it came to a complete stop.

“Oliver!” I reprimanded him. “Don't you ever do that again.”

He looked down guiltily. “Sorry.”

“You wait till the car stops completely before you get out.” I said in a softer voice. “Understand?”

“Yes, I'm sorry.”

“Good, now come on let's go.” He held my hand as we walked in.

Sophia almost immediately saw us and came to welcome us. “Alyssa, it's so good to see you again.” She hugged me as tight as usual, thankfully my ribs don't hurt anymore.

“Nice to see you too, Sophia.” I returned, savoring the hug.

She pulled away and bent to Oliver's level. “Hi, sweetie, what's the matter?”

“I did something bad and it upset Ally.” He confessed with a pout.

“Awn. Well, did you apologize to her?” He nodded. “Then, I'm sure she'll forgive you, but make sure you don't do it again, okay.”

“Okay.”

Sophia stood and clapped her hands together. “So what are you two here for?”

“We actually came here to meet a friend of mine, she just got back to town.” I replied.

“Oh, I'll leave you to find her then.” She went back to eat we were doing, leaving us to scan the place for Ivy.

I saw her not long after. She wat sitting in a booth by the window. I approached her with an excited smile. “Hey, Ivy.”

She looked up from her phone and her broke out in a grin. “Lyssa, hi.”

“Lyssa? Who's Lyssa?” Oliver made himself know, scrunching his nose at the name.

Her attention diverted to him. She gave me a questioning glace but smiled at him warmly. “And who are you, cutie?”

Oliver ran his free hand through his and made a face that I imagined would look hotter on a man twenty years older. “Graham, Oliver Graham.” He stretched his hand out for a shake. The way he introduced himself reminded me of the cocky spies in old spy movies.

She took it with a giggle. “It's nice to meet you, Oliver Graham. I'm Ivory Gallo.”

“You're pretty.” He complimented.

“And you are very cute.” She returned.

Oliver cringed at the adjective. “I'm not cute, I'm hot.”

Ivy could hold in her laugh. Oliver slid into the booth first and I sat next to him. A waitress came over and took our orders, returning shortly after. There was an awkward silence because none of us knew where to start.

I decided to go first. “So what brings you back to town Ivy?”

“Well, my mom needed a new designer and I did need an excuse to come back. To be honest, missed this city.” She said. “I want to start a new fashion line, get my big break.”