“I don’t know. I kind of like it. It has a nice ring to it.” She smirks devilishly.
I want to be annoyed right now, but my body is betraying me. My heart is pounding just a little faster in my chest, and a smile is blooming on my face.Stop that.
I pull into the driveway and help Olivia and Maverick out of the car. He doesn’t budge when I grab his leash, staring at the house like it’s a monster.
Olivia crouches down to him. “I know it’s scary to come to a new place, but this is going to be your home now. We’re going to take good care of you.” She presses a kiss to his forehead and gets up, patting her side. Just like that, the dog starts trotting toward the front door. I guess I’m not the only one Olivia has an impact on.
As the three of us walk into the house, it feels like we are part of a family, but we are so far from it, it’s not even funny. I hate that a part of me wants something like this, and Ireallyhate that a part of me is picturing it with Olivia of all people. I know better.
Clearing my throat, I say, “Well, it’s getting late. I should head to bed.”
“You’re not going to hang out with him for a bit? We should let him explore his new home before sending him to bed.”
“He’ll be fine.”
“Would you be fine if you were abandoned and left alone with no one to care for you? Then, imagine you get taken in by someone who seems safe, but you’re quickly thrown into the home of strangers. Would you still feel safe?”
“Fine.” She gives me a satisfied smile. “What do I need to do?”
“We should set up his space and then give him time to explore the house. We just need to show that we are safe people, I guess. I don’t have all the answers.”
I pull his bed from where I set it by the front door and move it to the corner of the living room. Olivia helps me set up the kennel near the kitchen. When I go to fill a Tupperware container with water for Maverick, my eyes snag on the big catering box on my counter. The lava cakes.Mandi asked me to give Olivia lava cakes.
I pick up the box, turning toward Olivia. “Do you want some cake?”
Her eyes light up. “Is this still your way of apologizing to me?”
“Sort of.”
“I like this. You should keep messing up, so you always have to apologize.”
I roll my eyes as I reheat the cakes. When they’re warm, we take them out onto the back porch. At this time of year, the humidity keeps the seventy-degree temperatures from being too cold, and the lack of sun keeps the humidity from feeling too hot.
Olivia hooks Maverick up onto a long leash Carol gave us so he can roam around outside. I don’t know why she bothers with the leash. The dog is completely infatuated with her, making his home at her feet.
Silence falls over us as we dive into the chocolatey, spongey delights.
Finally, without lifting her eyes from her plate, Olivia notes, “These are fantastic. Where’d you learn to bake?”
“My friend Callie helped me learn.”
“Wow, I want to meet her. She must be a damn good baker.”
“She is. I can introduce you sometime.”
More silence. This is so awkward.Why is it awkward?We just spent a few hours together and got along well, but it feels like there’s something hanging over us. I guess I don’t truly know Olivia, and she certainly doesn’t know me.
I take another couple of bites, basking in the silence for a moment longer before breaking it.
“What happened between you and your parents that makes you so insistent on keeping your distance? I’ve been wondering since you showed up in town… actually probably before that.”
She stiffens, spooning a bite of lava cake. “We’re going to start there?”
“When I apologized, I said I’d listen to your full story. Help me understand.”
She sighs. “I wasn’t always this distant with my parents. My dad worked a fair amount when I was growing up, but my mom was my biggest cheerleader and, really, my best friend. I just felt like she understood me on a soul-deep level, and she was there for me when my friends at school weren’t. Throughout middle school and into high school, we used to have movie nights together. She encouraged me to go after everything I wanted in life, and she made me believe that I could have the world.
“I’ve always had anxiety, but I don’t think I realized what it was in high school. I didn’t have a name for it at least. I knew I stressed more than most of my friends about getting good grades and getting into a good school. Maybe I shut some of my friends out a bit because of how focused I was on succeeding. But it wasn’t until I got to college that I realized there was a name for what I was feeling or that it was maybe a little irregular to feel so anxious about everything all the time. And it got worse. I started making myself nauseous from the stress and had my first panic attack my freshman year.”
