“You have Dick too,” Olivia blurts out. Her mother’s mouth falls open and the lady next to them drops her fork. I try to swallow my smirk.
“Excuse me?” Ken says, looking between us as Olivia turns a bright shade of pink.
“Hiscat… Dick,” she tells them.
“The barn cat,” I correct.
“Yes,darling.But remember you said he can come inside the house more since it’s so hot out lately?” She cocks her head and gives me a “fuck you” with her eyes. Nowshe’splaying hardball, but Christ if I don’t want to kiss the fuck out of her right now.
“Hmm, I don’t remember that.” I take another bite and address her parents. “Olivia has taken a liking to him. He just showed up on my property a few months ago. But, for the record, heisa dick.”
“Cats aren’t my animal either.” Ken chuckles as I side-eye Olivia. “But what Olivia wants … she usually gets. And your place sounds like the perfect space to start a family.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” I turn to Olivia with a wide grin, feeling way too amused by all of this. Ilikethe idea of her moving in way too much for our friendly pact, but I’m not backing down now.
“Right?” I coax.
“I suppose it is,” Olivia grits out through clenched teeth as I feel her hand slide a little higher up my thigh and squeeze the muscle. Hard.
Definitely don’t hate that.I reach my hand under the table and pat hers.
I push the warning voice in my head aside—because I’m quickly losing my will to fight—and Olivia just keeps on stumbling into my corner even when I try to keep her at arm’s length.
We spend the rest of the dinner answering all their questions: when the baby’s due, what each of us think the sex is. We talk about Olivia’s reno and my job, and by the time we’re done Olivia seems more relaxed, especially when she sees how happy and supportive her parents are about our “we’re a couple” ruse.
I’m sure it’s a huge load off her shoulders that I’m in her parents’ good books already. They’re a little tipsy by the end of the night, telling us stories about when Olivia was young, and I watch her blush as her parents talk about her childhood. The slow, steady creep of pink that moves up her throat reminds me of other scenarios, which has me gripping the table to stop myself from reaching out and grabbing her.
I haven’t even finished my first beer, but I’m almost drunk on Olivia as she talks. Her closeness with her parents makes it clear why she cares so much about what they think, and for the first time in my life, a flash ofwantcourses through me. I want to sit at a table with my son or daughter in thirty years and talk about their childhood. But the voice in my head stops that dream in its tracks: Men in my family don’t get that lucky.
The stories continue as we drive them home, and when we sit down to eat Olivia’s red velvet cupcakes, which are bakery-worthy delicious. Her parents tell me about how Olivia always had a wild imagination and could be found out in the yard with the boys from the neighborhood, leaving the girls behind as she chased butterflies, or climbed trees, in only her bare feet. Then they tell me about her teenage years, when she fell in love with sewing and making clothing from old sheets or, once, from a set of curtains.
By the end of the night, we’ve even settled on a four-way wager about the sex of the baby. Ken is with me and thinks we’re having a girl—he says he’s always imagined he’d have a granddaughter—and Lynn is with Olivia in thinking the baby is a boy. Everything is easy, happy, and full, and as we ready to say our goodbyes, I’m in an odd state of acceptance.
I have no right to want Olivia. And she wants to keep things platonic and uncomplicated for the child she’s growing. But, despite knowing all of that, as I sit here breathing, I know my home isexactlywhere Olivia and our baby belong.
CHAPTER 33
Olivia
“Well, you certainly won them over, didn’t you?” I ask, not looking at Asher as we drive through the dark countryside. In this light the massive rolling hills along the highway are intrusive but beautiful, and the moon is high in the sky. I’m full, and relieved that this is out in the open, but also feeling so guilty for lying to my parents.
But I’m also surprised. I didn’t expect Asher to fit in so easily with my parents, or to go along with my lie. I didn’t think he’d have me move in with him, but I don’t hate the idea either. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he really seems to think us living together as friends will actually work. Right now, I need Asher Reed. I need to feel settled in at least one space in my life because everything feels as though it’s spinning out of control.
“You didn’t really give me a choice,” his low voice taunts with obvious amusement.
“Look, I don’t like lying to them. But I just couldn’t break my dad’s heart. I couldn’t bear to tell him his first grandchild is the result of a one-night stand.”
Asher remains silent, so I keep rambling. “We’re going to have to tell our friends we’re moving in together and make it clear this is a co-parent thing only. CeCe and Ginger know my parents, so they’ll understand why, but I’ll have to tell them tomorrow.”
The truth of it is, after that dinner, I’m sure half the town will know I’m pregnant by the end of the week. I have no idea how we’re getting out of that after the baby comes, or at least until my own house is complete.
“We can’t control town gossip,” Asher says, matter-of-fact.How is he so calm?
“I just—” I pause for a moment, searching for the right words, feeling the need to explain my harebrained behavior. “I’m sorry I put you on the spot. But I want to give our baby the family I lost, and the gift that is the family I was lucky enough to be raised by. I know we can’t continue this charade forever, but maybe just until we can figure out the next step. I mean, how is itactuallygonna work for us to live together? What happens when you meet someone one day? Or I do? I’m still getting matches on my dating app, for God’s sake.”
“Christ, woman.” Asher cuts the engine when he pulls up to my cabin at Silver Pines. He turns to face me. “I don’t like people in general. Maybe three or four, and my dog. That’s it.”
His eyes meet mine and he slides closer across the bench seat of his truck, his gorgeous face now just inches away.
