He gives me a quick peck on the cheek, and I hug him quickly and without any affection.
“Closing a deal.” I gesture to his suit. “You look very dapper.”
He tugs at his suit jacket and grins sheepishly. “Playing the role, I guess.”
“It suits you.” I roll my eyes at myself. “No pun intended.”
He laughs. “You look good, Olivia. Happy.”
“I am. You?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know if happy’s my thing. Driven? Sure. Busy? Absolutely. But happy? I think that’s a longer road for me.”
At the sound of honking directly behind me, I turn around.
Jenson’s live parked on the curb, and he waves at me from his truck.
“Is that Jenson?” Nate says as he stares into the truck window.
I turn back to face him. “Yep. He drove me here for my work meeting.”
“Does he still live in Pittsburgh?”
“Actually, he’s moving back to Liberty Falls. He got a coaching position with Randolph.”
“Nice.” Nate gives me a second look. “Must be good to have him back in town.”
I fidget with the strap of my bag. “Sure.”
“Olivia.” He glances around and then lowers his voice. “I saw the way you looked at him whenever he came home.”
I nearly drop my bag. Instead, I clutch it more tightly to my side. “What do you mean?”
“Come on.” He locks eyes with me. “I was your husband. A shitty one but still your husband. And I knew when another man had your attention. In a way I never did.”
Shit.
I blow out a breath. For the first time in my life, I drop my defenses around the topic of Jenson, and I speak the truth.
“I’m truly sorry for that, Nate. I had no idea I was so transparent.”
“You weren’t,” he assures me. “Only to me. Your families—I could tell they didn’t have a clue. Mainly because they didn’t want to.”
“Right.”
“And he looked at you the same way, in case you didn’t know.”
I bite my lip.
“So are you two…”
I take a deep breath as I look at him. “That’s…complicated.”
He nods. “Piece of advice? You and I wasted way too much fucking time worrying about what other people would think,” he says. “If I’d been honest with you about…well, anything over the last couple of years, I wouldn’t have had to cheat my way out of our marriage. I would have been a man and talked to you about why I thought us separating was the best thing for both of us.”
“Nate, thank you, but…”
“Olivia.” His dark eyes grow even more serious. “Nothing’s more important than love. Right now, all I’ve got is love for my job. But you? You were never like me. And it’s obvious that you two—” He tilts his head in the direction of Jenson’s truck. “—have years of love between you. Looks like a lifetime from where I’m sitting. So do yourself a favor, and realize you deserve love.”
