It was time to stop being afraid. Time to finally say what I meant. Time to show her how I saw her… not only in sketches, but in words, in actions, in the future I wanted to build together.
This time, I wouldn't hold back. This time, I'd be brave enough to love her out loud and with eyes wide open.
CHAPTER 10
OLIVIA
The blanket under my butt was damp with evening dew, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I'd been sitting in the same spot for almost an hour, watching families spread across the park’s lawn while pretending my heart wasn't splintering inside my chest.
Music in the Park was a new Friday night summer program with local bands, food trucks, and kids chasing fireflies. Usually, it was my favorite night of the week. Garner and I had even attended a few times. Tonight, it felt like an elaborate form of torture.
“Hey, Olivia. Want some company?”
I looked up to see Riley Sanders holding a basket of mini donuts.
"Sure," I said, forcing a smile.
She sat down next to me and held out the basket. "Sugar therapy?"
I took one, more out of politeness than appetite. "Thanks."
"So," she started, her tone cautious, "I heard you and Garner eloped."
I stared at the tiny donut, my throat tightening. "It's... complicated."
"The secret wedding part or the sudden divorce part?" When I looked up, she gave me an apologetic grimace. "Small town. Nothing stays quiet for long."
I'd spent three days hiding in my apartment, avoiding exactly this… the questions, the sympathetic looks, the town's collective curiosity about our whirlwind romance and its abrupt end. Everyone thought Garner and I had secretly married, and now they thought we were breaking up. Both were technically false, yet the heartbreak was way too real.
"It was all a big mistake,” I said as I picked at the edge of the blanket. "A huge misunderstanding that got way out of hand."
Riley nodded like that made perfect sense, though both of us knew it didn’t. "Well, married or not, I'm sorry things didn't work out. You two always seemed..." She trailed off, searching for the right word.
"Inevitable?" I suggested.
"Exactly."
I'd thought so too, once. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'd always hoped Garner and I would eventually figure it out. That one day our friendship would evolve into something more. But after the resort, after feeling what it was like to be with him only to have him pull away... Maybe some things weren't inevitable after all.
Riley excused herself to go say hi to a friend by the ice cream truck, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the acoustic cover band's rendition of "Can't Help Falling in Love." The universe had a sick sense of humor.
I pulled my phone from my purse, checking it for the thousandth time. No new messages. Garner and I had agreed to meet here tonight for our public "breakup"—a staged argument to put the final nail in the coffin of our failed marriage. It was supposed to be clean and simple. A way to put this entire fake relationship behind us and get back to normal. If only I knew what normal was supposed to feel like anymore.
"There you are!" I looked up to see Ruby making her way toward me.
"Hi, Ruby." I shifted to make room on my blanket, but she waved me off.
"Don't get up, honey. I can't stay. Orville got us spots up front." She adjusted her oversized sunglasses, peering down at me with a knowing look. "I wanted to make sure you're planning to stay for the whole show."
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "I was supposed to meet Garner, but he hasn't?—"
"Oh, you'll definitely want to stay until the end," she interrupted, a secretive smile playing at her lips. "I hear there's going to be a surprise."
My stomach dropped. "What kind of surprise?"
"The best kind. Trust me." With a wink that contained way too much mischief for a woman her age, she was gone, weaving through the crowd toward the front.
Great. Probably some cheesy public proposal for one of the local couples. Just what I needed tonight… a reminder of other people's happiness while I prepared to publicly end my fake relationship with the man I was actually, deeply and utterly in love with.
