“Are you Olive?” I asked, walking into the large open workshop.
The young woman only paces away from me spun around quickly. Her emerald eyes were wide as her head tilted a little, grease and dirt covering her jeans and flannel shirt. She shoved her long, red bangs away from her face. “Yeah. Who’s asking?”
I rubbed the back of my neck, completely tongue-tied. Her brow furrowed as she started to make her way to the entry I was standing against. I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to immediately divulge all the reasons I had come up there, but I froze. She looked at me again, frustration starting to blanket her soft complexion. “Can I help you?”
“Y-Yeah,” I stuttered. “I’m Griffin, um…is there somewhere we could talk?” I shoved my shaking hands into my pockets.
Get a grip on yourself, man.
You’re acting like a crazy person.
She pointed to a closed door next to us. “All right. Come on into my office, I guess.”
I followed her and then heard a low grumble come from the back of the room.
“Oh hush, Otis.” She snickered as she took a seat at her desk.
I stood paralyzed, staring at a giant black dog with cropped ears and a mean-ass snarl.
“He’s harmless.” She waved her hand at her dog dismissively. “He’s all talk. He's never actually attacked anybody. Don’t worry, come on in.”
I took a seat, pulling my wallet out of my back pocket. Staring down at my hands, I fought for the right words. “I really don’t know where to begin.” My voice was shaky. I sounded like a fucking pansy, but I didn’t really know what to do.
I had played this scenario over and over in my head increasingly often over the years, but now there I was, actually staring at the daughter of the man who had died to save my life. I shouldn’t have known who she was—donors’ families were supposed to be anonymous—but I had figured it out. Now I kind of wished I hadn’t.
To add insult to injury, Olive was absolutely gorgeous—long auburn hair, large round emerald eyes, and a light dusting of freckles over her dimpled cheeks, not to mention she was a female mechanic. Talk about a badass. I was immediately struck by her beauty and grit; she was not my usual type, but for some reason I was completely drunk with infatuation. I usually went for the model, blonde, superficial types while she was more downhome girl with an edge and a chip on her shoulder, but today I couldn’t get enough of looking at her.
I pulled out her father’s obituary and laid it on the table between us before continuing. “Ten years ago, your father passed away, and he saved countless lives with the organs he donated, mine included.”
Her jaw hung open as she stuttered. “I-I don’t… What?”
I exhaled a long breath. “I have your dad’s heart. He saved my life when an infection destroyed my own, and it’s taken me all this time to get up the guts to come see you.” I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my chest instantly.
“I don’t know what to say.” She bit her lip as tears started to well up in her eyes. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.” I lifted up my shirt to reveal the long scar on my chest. “I was sixteen. Because of your father, I was able to follow my dreams.”
“What were they?” she asked as she gripped the laminated clipping in her tiny hands.
“My dreams?” I confirmed, nervous that they weren’t going to be good enough.
She blinked back tears as she nodded. “Yeah, what dreams did you follow?”
I swallowed hard. “I am a professional boxer and because of my success, I have been able to help a lot of charities.” I felt like I had to prove to her why I deserved to have her father’s heart beating in my chest.
Olive unbuttoned her flannel shirt, throwing the dirty garment into the corner of her office and revealing a light gray t-shirt withOllie is my homeboyand the New York Otters’ logo.
A lightbulb went off. “Are you a hockey fan?” I questioned, raising my eyebrow.
Otis grunted next to me, so I put my hand on his head as Olive dramatically rolled her eyes, pulling the end of her shirt down to stretch out the design. “What gave it away?” she sarcastically asked.
“My brother is the captain of that team,” I blurted out. I was excited to get the focus off of our weird connection and onto something that might make her smile, because it was the most gorgeous damn smile I had ever laid eyes on.
“No shit! You're Gavin Hayes’ little brother? In the goddamned flesh…” She slumped down into her seat a little more, propping her head up with her fist. “Holy fuck. Is this real life?”
“Hey, why don’t we go to a game sometime?”
She blinked a few times. “I don’t know. This is all kind of weird, don’t ya think?”
