“Olivia.” My voice dips low. “Be honest with me.”
“I really wish you would stop calling me Olivia,” she murmurs. She’s deflecting, I’ll address that later.
“Did you have fun?” I ask her again.
She huffs. “I did, but…”
I wait, but she doesn’t continue. “But?” I encourage her.
“I love my friends. I do, but they have these lives that I don’t relate to. Caroline is pregnant and so happy with Bass. Ansley is pining after Lincoln. And I—I’m happy for them.”
“That’s not what you were going to say. I don’t know your friends, so you can be honest with me.” The sun is beginning to dip in the horizon and I wish she was here, sitting next to me to see its beauty.
“I can’t. Besides, I told you more than I should have.” Her voice is low. I can hear the heartbreak in it and I want to make her feel better, but until she opens up to me, I won’t know how to do that. She will though, especially if she believes she told me more than she should have. She’s obviously not used to opening up; to anyone.
“You can. And one day you will. When you’re ready.”
It’s a promise. I need her to know I’m not going anywhere. After not being present in her life like I should have been, I’m going to have to restore that trust. And I’ll wait as long as I have to. She deserves to have someone that is fully invested in her. I know she hasn’t had that, at least not since her mom died.
“Ask me again. Not now, but sometime in the future.” Her voice is soft. My lips tip up and I rub my palm across my beard.
“You’ve got yourself a deal.” I can tell this is getting heavy for her, so I change the subject. “You never answered my question.”
“Huh? What question?”
I smile. “Are you busy for lunch tomorrow?”
“Oh. You are persistent, aren’t you? You asked me to go to lunch with you Friday and now tomorrow too.”
I laugh. “What if I want all your tomorrows?” I’m met with silence.
What the hell am I saying? She’s too young for me. Jesus. Why am I thinking about her like that at all?I’m about to tell her to forget it, but she speaks up before I do.
“Okay.” Her voice is still quiet like she’s nervous, but I don’t give her time to change her mind.
“That’s settled then.” I don’t know if she’s saying okay to just lunch or all her tomorrows. Somehow I’m going to convince her I do want all her tomorrows. I don’t dwell on that right now especially since my thoughts seem to be at war with each other. I promised myself I wouldn’t go down that road again and here I am. “Tell me about your trip. You went to visit your friend Ansley? Does she live there?”
“Yes, she just moved there.” She tells me about Ansley, Lincoln, Caroline, and Bass. By the time she gets done, it feels like I know them.
“You said Bass owns a gym?” I ask, remembering Connor had a friend named Bass.
“He does. I’m a member.”
“Maybe I can come exercise with you one day,” I offer without thinking. Apparently I’m doing that a lot today.
“That would be okay with me.”
“Okay, we’ll figure out the details tomorrow. Does Bass have a friend named Connor?”
“How did you know that?” The question comes out high pitched. That question bothered her.
“I’ve had some run-ins with him. He doesn’t like me very much. I remember him having a friend named Bass.” I have thisneed to reassure her and figure out why she’s so guarded.My sweet Olivia. What happened to you?
Chapter twelve
Olivia
Iwake up, groggy from tossing and turning, since I had another night terror. This one didn’t feel as real as last time, but I was so nervous about having another one I didn’t sleep well. Rubbing the palm of my hand against my eyes, I try to get rid of the sandpaper feeling. I’m going to have to wear a lot of concealer today to hide the dark circles from Victor.
