“He’s not an idiot. He’s just a kid in love.”
Greta felt her insides give.
“He’s not in love.” They all turned as Ezra walked through the kitchen door. He was carrying a water jug.
“Ezra. What makes you say that?” Holly asked.
“The heart gets all the credit for love, but really it’s the mind.” Ezra shrugged as if this made perfect sense. “Love is science, after all.”
Everyone went quiet.
“What does that have to do with Oliver?” Greta couldn’t help herself. Science was apparently having its way with her, too.
Ezra leaned against the kitchen sink as if this might take a while. “Oh, love is a whole messy tangle, to be sure. Brain chemicals, neural pathways, hormones. What we call the honeymoon phase is actually very real: dopamine, norepinephrine.” He waved his hand in the air as if pointing to imaginary chemicals floating in the space between them, and the way he described it Greta could almost see them. “Brain scans show our amygdala is actually suppressed at this stage. It’s why we exhibit poor judgment and do stupid things.” Ezra was getting a kick out of this.
“Sounds like he’s at least in the honeymoon phase,” Linus said. “Zero judgment.”
“There are other phases, too,” Ezra went on. “There’s attachment, what we call mature love, and there’s lust, of course. All of it is expressed through behavior and body language. Visible, concrete evidence that we mere mortals who pay attention might pick up on.”
“And?” Holly asked. “Have you observed any of that?”
Ezra’s gaze flicked toward Greta, then quickly away. “Oliver may be in love. But not with the runaway bride.” Lecture over, Ezra turned back to the sink and filled his jug with water. “I saw her leave, I think.”
“Who?” Holly asked. “Sissy?”
Ezra nodded. They waited until he turned off the faucet. “The other night. A girl in a white dress was hurrying through the woods, alongside my yard. She got in a car and drove away.”
They watched in stunned silence as Ezra turned back for the door. “As for your Oliver, I did not see him. But I can assure you, he does not love that girl.”
When the door swung shut behind him, Holly and Linus gawked at one another for a long moment.
“Is he for real?” Linus asked, finally.
Holly shook her head. “He is, perhaps, the most real deal I have ever met.”
Greta did not chime in. She couldn’t. Ever since Ezra had stopped talking, her heart was doing its little flip-flop thing in her chest. It didn’t matter if the mind or the heart was to blame; there was no denying what she was feeling. If Oliverwasin love, and not with Sissy, that might just change everything.
Holly
Please accept my apology. All I did was give her a ride, I swear, but I can’t help but feel somehow responsible.”
“It wasn’t exactly a ride to the grocery store, Oliver.” Holly let the words sink in.
“The truth is, I didn’t even want to get involved. But she’s an old friend, and she was so desperate. Honestly I didn’t know what else to do.” Oliver was visibly upset and rambling, something she’d never heard the quiet young man do. Her heart went out to him.
“You understand how this might look to her parents, who are our clients, right?” Regardless of her sympathy for the situation, an important reservation had ended cataclysmically. Sure, it was due to a bride’s misgivings and the mess that followed, none of which involved Oliver. Except for the final glaring fact, the most memorable scene of the story if it were a movie: he drove the getaway car.
“I get the optics,” he said. “God, I wish I’d never seen her again.” He leaned over his knees, cradling his head in his hands. “She’s always been a mess, and I fell for it again.”
Holly did not need or want to know the specifics of Sissy Sutton and Oliver Owens, but boy, did she wonder. “Look, this is between the Suttons and their daughter. But as far as you and I go, and your employment here, I need assurance you’re going to exercise professional judgment in the future.”
Oliver looked up at her, relieved. “You’re not letting me go?”
“No, you’re very valuable to us, Oliver. And I believe you had good intentions. Besides, who would refinish my library bookshelves?” She was trying to make light of the heaviness he clearly felt. “Though the next time a bride needs a lift… Uber?”
A nervous cough of a laugh escaped him. “There won’t be a next time, I swear.”
With the Suttons gone and Oliver returned, Holly prayed there’d be no more surprises. They’d taken a financial hit on the wedding weekend, a lesson in contracts learned too late. “What do you think?” Holly asked Linus, as they went over the financial aftermath.
