His emerald green eyes that look so much like mine get big. “With lions?”
I rub his head and chuckle. “Definitely with lions.”
I look back at the screen in front of me, but before I can click on the video, my social media app lights up with a message.
“Daddy!” Kyle jabs his chubby finger at the alert. “You have a message.”
“I know, but I can check it later,” I say. “Let’s get to the video.”
Before I can stop him, he clicks on the alert.
“Kyle, we’ve been over this, remember? My messages are for me to open, not you or Conn…” The message on the screen shuts me up cold.
“Daddy? Is it your new football team?”
“Not exactly.”
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
That’s how many times I read Olivia’s message.
Kyle, who at five wants to believe he’s mastered reading but in reality he’s still getting there, leans in and looks right along with me. And I’m too floored to stop him.
“I can’t read what it says,” he says as he gives up and lays his head on my lap. “Can we watch the video now?”
“In a second.”
Olivia’s message is brief and to the point, exactly like her.
J, I’m sure you’ve heard about my separation, so I’ll be quick. My divorce was finalized today, and I’m sure you can imagine what tomorrow will be like at Auntie Sue’s birthday party. I was hoping to see a friendly face amongst the room of lions. If you’re otherwise engaged and not planning to attend, no worries, and I apologize in advance for embarrassing myself.
Shit. My heart feels like it’s going to come out of my chest. Because this news is…fucking huge. I knew Olivia was going through a separation with her dick of a husband, but I hadn’t heard anything concrete about it in weeks. And I didn’t want to push her like I’m sure everyone else in her family’s been doing. So I didn’t reach out. Instead, I held my breath and…hoped for the best for her.
I click off the message and open up the video for Kyle. Before we’re two seconds in, Connor appears in the doorway. He settles in on my other side, and the three of us watch a pack of lions search for food on the savanna. But I’m barely paying attention.
Divorced.
She’s officially divorced.
Like me.
And for the first fucking time in a long time, Olivia Graham and I are in the same place at the same time.
When the path opened up for me to finally move back home to Liberty Falls, I held onto the near-impossible dream that somehow the stars would align for us. But I didn’t allow myself to truly believe things would have a shot in hell of working. But just now…Olivia sent me a ray of hope.
A smile crosses my face.
Happy homecoming.
