“Well, I feel smothered,” I whispered. “You always smother me.”
“I smother you?”
I nodded, biting back the nausea that my lie caused.
“Well, I don’t want you to feel smothered, Liv.” He raised his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry I’ve made you feel that way.”
He turned and walked out the door and I cleaned up and left the house without saying anything to anyone. It was better this way.
I did send a note of apology for my conduct, along with a new, state of the art blender to Doom and Lyric, but outside of that, I figured they probably didn’t want to see me. It was time to get the hell out of Dodge, and Clementine was the only one I could count on to help me do that.
Olivia
Two weeks later...
My heart was shattered, and I couldn’t seem to find the strength to put it back together. I was currently ensconced in Clementine’s parents’ cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains, effectively trying to ‘heal’ from my broken heart, but it wasn’t working.
I’d been here for six days, after informing my clients I’d be out for a couple of weeks, but available for emergencies. I’d stayed with my brother for four days until we nearly killed each other, then with Clem until she decided I needed isolation. But I was pretty sure she was ready to kill me too.
Which led me here. I’d left the cabin once... I was in desperate need of some bush control, but otherwise, I stayed inside. My plan was to figure out why I sabotaged everything. So far, however, I’d managed to eat my weight in ice cream, but solve nothing in relation to my life.
My brother had called a few times, asking if he needed to come and rescue me from myself. I declined his offer. I didn’t know why the men in my life were constantly trying to save me, but it was getting old.
I’d finally broken down and made a skype appointment with Cindy, but that wasn’t until Tuesday, so I was stuck trying to ‘heal’ myself. I wasn’t doing a good job of that, so I slept.
“Olivia!” Clementine called, and I forced myself out of bed, wrapping a quilt around me and padding into the kitchen. Clementine frowned and shook her head. “So, showers have become optional, then?”
I ignored her astute observation and nodded toward the grocery bags sitting on the counter. “What are you doing here?”
“I guessed that if you don’t have the energy to wash the twat, you wouldn’t have the energy to shop, so I grabbed a few things. Things that aren’t mint chocolate chip.”
I dropped the back of my hand to my forehead and did my best southern belle distressed voice, whining, “But what about dessert?”
“Don’t worry, I also replaced the mint chocolate chip you’ve already devoured. I also bought chocolate chip cookie dough.”
I blinked back tears. “Oh my god, that’s so sweet.”
