She scrutinizes Oliver’s face.
He straightens on his stool. “What? There’s nothing to deny.”
Zoë leans against the counter. She reaches across it to Oliver. “Hand.”
Oliver rolls his eyes but offers her his left hand. She grips his wrist, firm but not tight.
“She’s like a human lie detector,” Luke mutters.
“Shh!” Zoë searches Oliver’s eyes, as if she can read all his secrets there. She stares for so long, he wonders if maybe she can.
He forces a laugh. “Getting anything, Madame Zoë?”
Her grip tightens. “You’ve met someone.”
His eyes snap to hers.Shit.
She releases his wrist and slaps the counter with her open palm. “I knew it!”
Luke shakes his head. “Told you not to deny it.”
“Do I know her? Who is she?” Zoë demands.
“No. She’s no one. It’s… not a thing.”
“You’re blushing like it’s a thing,” Luke says.
“It’s not a thing anymore,” Oliver clarifies. “We had a fight. I’m pretty sure it’s over.” Whateveritwas. He slides off his stool, suddenly unable to sit still. He tries to pace around his living room. He’s blocked at every turn.
“Pretty sure?” Luke asks, swiveling his stool to follow Oliver with his skeptical gaze.
“I haven’t seen her since. I thought about apologizing, but then I thought maybe I should let her go, considering…” He sinks down onto his couch with a groan.
“Does she know?” Zoë asks gently.
Oliver squeezes his eyes shut. “That I’m dying?”
“That you’re in love with her.”
His eyes fly open. Zoë is already watching him. “I’m not—” He glances at Luke, smirking at him from his barstool. “I don’t—Ican’tlove her.” The rest of it doesn’t matter.
“Oh no, you’re not doing that.” Zoë jabs her wooden spoon in his direction.
“Doing what?”
“Beingyou.”
Oliver throws his hands up. “Who else am I supposed to be?”
“You can’t justify your way out of love because you’re afraid of it,” Zoë says. “This is your heart we’re talking about. You either love her or you don’t.”
“I’m not afraid of it,” Oliver says.
Luke and Zoë exchange a look that tells him two things at once: They’ve theorized about his sad excuse for a love life before, and they think he’s full of shit.
He opens his mouth to protest but closes it without a word. He has fallen for a woman he can keep at a distance, who will always be separate from the rest of his life. A woman he can never lose, because he can never have her.
Luke sits next to him on the couch. “If you love her, no amount of your usual mental gymnastics will change it. You’ll just know.”
