Page 71 of Gone for You

I try to keep my voice steady, even though her leaving is the last thing I want. In fact, it damn near annoys me. “You said you were staying a week, through the wedding. Figured you were ready to get back to your life.”

I sip my coffee, taking a chance and looking up into her eyes. They’re wide and confused, and I’m not sure if it’s me being hopeful or seeing reality, but I feel like I just witnessed a breakthrough.

We sit in silence, she nibbles on a piece of toast, I finish the rest of my eggs. It’s awkward and it’sneverawkward with us.

“I like being here,” she whispers.

“I like having you here,” I don’t whisper back.

We leave it at that. We clean up our breakfast dishes, she grabs her bag to go meet Lily at the salon and we make our way into the garage. I have a few hours of work at the bar to finish up since I won’t be around the rest of the weekend.

I reach down and lift her bag out of her hands, placing it in her back seat then open her door for her. “I’ll see you at the wedding?” she asks, lifting up on her toes and giving me a quick kiss to the lips.

“Yup, you sure will.”

She hesitates, mouth open, eyes flitting over my face.

I don’t hide whatever I’m feeling, leaving it all out for her to do with what she wants. I tap the top of her car with my knuckle twice then drop a kiss to her forehead before moving around her and climbing into my pickup.

Chapter 35

Olivia

“What’s with the face?”Lily asks as soon as I walk into the room of the church the bridal party has taken over. I hang my dress up with the others and place my bag in the corner. The room is crowded, especially considering that Lily is only having three bridesmaids. She’s moving her finger in front of me, pointing. Her eyes narrow, bringing out her inner psychologist.

“Nothing. Stop trying to psychologize me.”

“A. I’m not a psychologist. I’m a social worker. And B. Don’t lie to me. C. Psychologize isn’t even the right word, you goober.”

“She’ll get it out of you. You should know better by now,” her step-mom Carly says, walking over to hand me a glass of champagne. Carly may be her step-mom, but given that her biological mom isn’t in the picture and from what I hear, Carly is incredible, there’s no step involved in their relationship. “And, we’re only drinking one glass. This is just to celebrate. None of us need to be pre-wedding drunk.”

“Once! It happened one time!” I hear someone shout.

Carly laughs and turns, “Lauren, even you can admit that once is more than enough.”

“Whatever. Fun haters,” Lauren says in a teasing tone. “Hi, you’re Olivia, right?” I nod and she grips my hand and places her other on her chest over her heart. “I’m Lauren. Mother of the bride.”

“You terd! You are not!” Carly shouts, shoving her playfully away. She points to Lauren. “She’s not even supposed to be here. I thought you were going to help get that grandson of yours ready to be a ring bearer?”

Lauren gasps and scratches her nose with her middle finger. I don’t even know her and can tell she’s a complete nut. “Spreading your love far and wide, I see. I’m pretty sure Cole can handle putting Jarrett in his little mini-man clothes. Besides, I take great offense to what you just said,” she wipes a fake tear. “I absolutely should be here. We’re quad-mamas.”

“Quad-mamas?” I dare ask.

“Mm hmm. That saying it takes a village or tribe or whatever – that’s so 2018. We’re the quad.” She points to two other ladies. One has really dark hair and a little girl with the same color hair sitting next to her coloring. The blonde is sitting on the other side of the little girl and she’s leaning over her chair coloring too. “Don’t be so rude and say hi to Lily’s friend!” Lauren shouts.

The little girl’s head lifts and all I can think is her daddy’s gonna have his hands full one day for how pretty she is. I doubt if she’s even ten. “Hi! I’m Hazel.”

“Hi Hazel. You sure have beautiful hair.”

She beams a smile and nods her head knowingly. “I hear that a lot.”

“Hazel! You say thank you.”

Hazel scrunches her nose and looks at me. “Sorry. I mean, thank you.”

“That’s okay. I’m Olivia.”

“I’m Christine, that one’s mom.” Christine points to Hazel. “And this is Tess, Lily’s aunt.”

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