“Here,” she murmurs. “One’s for you. The other’s for Teddy.”
I lift a brow, trying to mask the lump forming in my throat. “Ma. I’m not a kid anymore.”
She sniffles and pulls back, blinking too fast. “No. You most definitely are not. But you’ll always be our baby boy.”
I nod, tucking the envelopes into my back pocket just as my father steps up behind her. He clasps a hand on my shoulder. “Happy birthday, son. Hope you brought an appetite.”
I turn, still a little stunned, and find Sandra. “You didn’t have to do all this.”
“We didn’t organise anything,” she responds with a frown.
My brows pull together. “What?”
Mum’s eyes flick toward the food table, and Sandra leans in with a shit-eating grin. “It was all Olivia’s idea. She organised the lot.”
Everything inside me stills. Just for a second. Like my brain needs time to catch up. I turn back to the food table. She’s still there. Still laughing. Still that same goddamn burst of light.
She did this? All of it?
My chest aches. In that dangerous, too-real kind of way. The kind that makes you realise just how much you’ve let someone crawl under your skin.
“She cares about you, sweetheart,” Mum says softly beside me.
Sandra raises her glass. “Everyone can see it buthim.”
I don’t respond because my eyes are locked on Olivia. Her smile. Her ridiculous, bright, warm energy that has no business hitting me the way it does. And for the first time tonight, for the first time in years, something in my chest shifts. Pulls. Tightens. Unsettles me.
Because she remembered my birthday. She cared enough to plan all this behind my back. Quietly. Thoughtfully. And I didn’t even see it coming. Which is saying something, considering Ialwaysnotice the details. Always clock the shifts in the room, the tension in someone’s voice, the things left unsaid. ButOlivia? She got around me completely. And just like that, reality sinks in, fast and fucking heavy.
In a few weeks, once the holidays hit and I’m off on annual leave from the station, she won’t need to watch Teddy anymore. No more excuse to show up at mine with that soft smile and smartass commentary. No more shared mornings, or nights. No more accidental naps on the couch. No more laughter echoing in my kitchen like it belongs there. And then what?
What the hell do I do?
This is why I told myself not to get caught up. Why I said I’d keep things simple. Safe. For Teddy. For me. Because the second you start letting someone in, boundaries blur. And when they do, it’s not just my heart on the line anymore. It’s his, too.
Bradley warned me. Told me not to be reckless. IpromisedI wouldn’t let it get complicated. Maybe I should’ve listened, kept some distance, not let want get in the way. Not let the comfort, the flirting, the sex, the way she looks at Teddy—not let it all mean something.
Sandra’s palm smacks my shoulder hard enough to jolt me. “Hey. Don’t go there.”
My eyes snap to hers.
“I know that look,” she says, pointing at me with the hand holding her wine. “Forget we said anything. Seriously. Just… go enjoy your night. And make sure you thank Liv.”
“Okay.”As if I wouldn’t thank her.I fight the urge to roll my eyes like a schoolboy.
Just as I’m about to turn, Olivia appears in front of me, eyes flicking up as she scoops Teddy into her arms. He wraps around her like he’s done it a hundred times before.
“It’s Daddy’s birthday!” he shouts.
“It is indeed.” She grins, cheeks flushed and bright. “And thank you, little man, for keeping the surprise a secret.”
My gaze catches on her face and, just like that, despite everything, something warm hums to life in my chest. I shove those spiralling thoughts aside and let myself stay right here. For Teddy. For Olivia. For myself.
I arch a brow, forcing a smirk. “So many secrets between you two, huh?”
Olivia shrugs, all casual confidence. “I made him pinky promise.”
Teddy nods solemnly at my side, but I can’t tear my eyes from her. Not when that smile stretches a fraction wider, not when whatever the hell this is thumps under my ribs like it’s fighting to get out.
