Page 48 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

“Of course you will,” Izzy said. “You’re still a professional, Liv, even if you don’t feel like it right now. You’ll still do your job. I know you take it seriously, and I know you’d never let your personal life get in the way of what needs to be done.”

“I hope I wouldn’t.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“But even so… I just don’t know how I’m going to go on spending time around him. I don’t even feel like I can look at him right now. All I can think about is the fact that I made myself vulnerable to him. I let myself feel things. I let my guard down. I knew better than to do that, but I did it anyway. I must have been drunk.”

“Were you?”

“No,” Olivia sighed. “I hadn’t even had one glass of wine.”

“You have feelings for him, Olivia. There’s no shame in that.”

“Even though I knew exactly what he was when I fell for him?”

“Well, I don’t think you’re right about that,” Izzy said. “I don’t think he is what you think he is. I’m thinking there’s more to him — hidden depths.”

“You’re daydreaming.”

“Even if I am, he’s the one who ought to be ashamed, in that case. Not you. You’re the one who dared to put your heart out there. He’s the one who couldn’t do that. From where I’m sitting, that makes you brave and him a coward.”

“Oh, Izzy. You would take my side no matter what.”

“Of course I would,” her sister said staunchly. “But that doesn’t mean that I’m wrong.”

“So what would you do if you were me?”

“Well, you asked me to help you paint today,” Izzy said.

Olivia nodded. She hadn’t felt as if she could approach Charlie for anything at the moment, and there was a bit of work left to be done on the house. It was cowardly, but it had been much easier to solicit Izzy to come and help her out. And because the sale of the house would directly benefit Izzy, Olivia felt no guilt about seeking her sister’s help.

“I think we should just go paint,” Izzy said.

“You don’t think I should say anything to Charlie?”

“Not right now. I’m guessing he’s in turmoil over all this. I say leave him alone. Let him think through his mistakes. I’ll bet he comes crawling back.”

Olivia had to laugh. “It’s a nice story you’re telling, even if I don’t believe it has anything to do with reality,”

“You wait and see,” Izzy said sagely. “Before this is over, you’re going to admit that I was right.”

Olivia doubted that, but she did like the fact that her sister had such confidence. It would serve Izzy well in her own romantic encounters. “You’re right about one thing,” she said. “We should go get that painting done. The sooner we can get the house sold, the sooner we can leave all this behind — and right now, I think that’s what I want most.”

“If you say so,” Izzy said, her tone clearly implying that she doubted it.

“The paint is already at the house,” Olivia said. “Let’s get over there and get to work.”

“Is Charlie there?”

“He’s in Boston today. Some kind of work thing.”

“Probably for the best,” Izzy admitted. “I don’t know if I’d be able to look at him without him realizing that I knew exactly what had happened between you guys.”

“Yeah, you have a pretty bad poker face,” Olivia teased. She was grateful for her sister’s presence, grateful for the fact that she had been able to open up to Izzy. She had spent so much of her life feeling as though she needed to protect Izzy — and she wouldn’t have changed that for anything — but Izzy was right.

She wasn’t a child anymore, and for the first time, it felt as if their relationship was on even footing.

CHAPTER19

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