I must be in shock because I don’t say anything in return.
“It's over on Tailer Road, you’ll see the car when you get over there. Go see him, Olivia,” she finishes.
Tailer Road is back by my parents’ farm, and I think there’s only one house over there for sale. Why did he buy a house that needs so much work? Before she has to tell me again, I turn on my heels and practically run down the stairs. I can hear her proud mama chuckle as I climb into the car and try not to peel out of the driveway.
I can’t explain why but there’s a deep part of me that needs to see Noah again.
And that is exactly what I'm going to do.
Chapter 24
Noah
I'mjustaboutfinishedtaping the master bedroom and bathroom when I hear a knock on the front door. This is ridiculous because the only person who knows I'm here is my mom. And the house sits too far back from the road for anyone to see the car and Mom wouldn’t knock, she would just walk in. Instead of going to investigate, I choose to ignore the noise and start opening up the can of paint I bought on the way here. I’ve decided that I’m painting the walls a light blue-gray color, but first I have to prime the obnoxiously red walls. Once the walls are primed, I can take my time doing the rest of the work.
I open the primer but before I can start to pour it, I hear the knock again. Okay, someone is here and I need to go see who it is and figure out why they are here. The master bedroom is the furthest room from the front door, overlooking the back of the property, but as you walk down the hallway toward the secondary hallway leading to the front door, you can see out the big window in the kitchen. The old Bennett family car is in my driveway.
Even more confused, I open the front door and feel the change in my facial expression. I'm utterly baffled to see Ollie standing on the front porch of my new house. She looks up at me with a small smile and is rocking back and forth, almost jittery like she’s either freezing or extremely nervous to be here.
“Hi,” she almost whispers with a small wave in front of her body.
“Ollie, hi, what are you doing here?” I finally get out of my shock and move into pure excitement and happiness.
“I needed to see you again before leaving,” she replies, cheeks reddening with what appears to be embarrassment. “I know I said I had to get back to the city but I just really needed to see you. I went to your mom’s house and she told me you were here.”
I have no words. I'm in pure shock.
“Okay,” I finally respond. “Come in,” I say, opening the door into my house. I’m instantly aware of how dusty and old this house is.
There’s an awkward silence that fills the air as we stand in the hallway between the empty family room and the empty dining room.
“You bought the Kinney property,” she finally says.
“Yeah,” I reply. “I didn’t spend any money while in the Army, and after two weeks with Mom and Bec, I don’t know how much longer I can survive.”
“Fair. I couldn’t ever live with my family again, but why a house that needs so much work?” she asks, sounding genuinely curious.
Ollie requires honesty, especially if I want to keep her in my life but I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about everything that happened overseas, or Jarred, especially with Ollie.
“I have a lot of free time, with only three shifts a week at the firehouse. Unless we get a call, and you know how often that happens,” I start “I can’t just sit around with my thoughts and feelings. So I bought a house that I can devote my time to making it mine,” I finish.
Perfect. A half-truth.
“Oh,” Ollie replies, sounding concerned. “Ya know, sometimes, thoughts and feelings are important to recognize and accept in order to heal,” she says. Leave it to Ollie, to not directly ask what happened, but know that it’s something significant and still have a statement that my therapist has said to me at least once a week since we started our sessions.
I know at this moment that I need to tell Ollie why I retired, what happened, and why I need the distraction. This beautiful woman has only been back in my life for less than a week and she has shown her selflessness has never changed. She has the biggest heart of anyone I know and always wants to ensure the safety and care of those around her.
“Let’s take a tour of the house,” I say softly, grabbing her hand to lead her through the house. She smiles softly and follows as I show her all the empty rooms and tell her about all of the changes and renovations I'm preparing to do. We finally make our way into the master bedroom where there is a big duffel bag with clothes, towels, and the contents of my desk. There’s plastic lining the floor in front of two of the wall with the tin of paint and roller sitting right at the edge of the plastic.
“This is the master bedroom, I'm painting it a light gray because I want to keep it light with the big natural light from the back,” I say as I realize I'm still holding her hand, I turn to face her and we are standing in the middle of the room, closer to the backside.
I let go of Ollie’s hand as she walks closer to the windows, eyes wide, a smile building on her face.
“I love it,” she says. “All of it, it's going to be perfect, Noah. Even with all the work you have to put in.” I feel my shoulders sink again as I look down to my feet getting ready to share what feels like one of my biggest secrets with Olivia.
“What?” She notices the change in my demeanor. “Noah, what is it?” she asks again with more nervousness than before.
My hands start to shake slightly and I clasp them together to keep her from noticing. This is silly, this shouldn’t be that hard to tell her. I love Jarred, loved him with every ounce of my being, and she is going through something similar. So why does it feel like the air is being pulled out of my lungs?
