Page 97 of Love Off-Limits
Rosie nodded. “I went up to Stonebrook last weekend.”
“Really?”
“I met Penelope.”
“Oh, man. I love that little goat. How is she?”
“Sad since you left,” Rosie said. “Or so Mrs. Hawthorne said. I don’t actually know what a sad goat looks like.”
“How is everything else at the farm? How’s Kelly?”
“Actually, that’s a good story. While I was there, a delivery arrived for her—a piglet wearing a little crocheted sweater with wings attached to it. I guess some guy has been trying to get her to go out with him for months.”
“Joe Bailey,” I said, nodding along. “He owns a farm on the other side of Silver Creek.”
“Right. Olivia told me the story. And Kelly has been telling him she’ll date him when pigs fly?”
I laughed. “I can’t believe he put crocheted wings on a piglet. I gotta admire the guy’s persistence.”
“I think Kelly must have, too. She went out with him that night. And now Stonebrook Farm has a new piglet.”
I took a breath of warm Charlotte air. It was a little muggier here than it was in the mountains, though it was still cooler than Charleston. “I miss that place,” I said softly.
Rosie’s grip on my arm tightened. “Of course you do. It’s pretty magical.”
“How is she?” I finally asked. “And don’t lie to me, Rosie. If she’s happy, please tell me. That’s what I want for her. And it’ll make it easier for me to .. . to move on, I guess.”
“She’s. ..” Rosie hesitated. “She seemed happy.”
My heart sank into my shoes. “I’m glad,” I said, my voice catching on the word.
“But ...and this is just my opinion here, so don’t give it more weight than it deserves, she also seemed like she was hiding something from me.”
“Like what?”
“I have no idea. But when I told her I was coming to see you, she clammed right up. That’s... not like her. She normally tells me everything. Shedidtalk a lot about the restaurant though, and that was clearly occupying her thoughts. So it could be I was just reading too much into things.”
“Wait, she was talking about the restaurant? What about it?”
“Um, everything? I feel like we talked about floor plans the most—Perry had just met with an architect so that was exciting when the plans came back—but we also talked about menus and decorating, and—”
“Rosie, wait. Are you saying the restaurant is actually happening?”
“Oh. Yeah. Absolutely. She showed me the video you made for her, by the way. It was brilliant.”
I couldn’t decide how to feel. I was excited for Olivia. Proud of her. So happy for her. Excited about what this would mean for Stonebrook.
But I was also...sad.
Sad that she hadn’t wanted to tell me.
Sad that even with the hurdle that had prevented her from wanting to pursue a relationship with me out of the way, she hadn’t called.
I realized in a crescendo of humiliating emotion that in the weeks since I’d left Stonebrook, I hadn’t stopped hoping, believing that if Olivia worked things out, that if she used my video to convince her family, it would open up the possibility of a future for the two of us.
That hope now lay shattered on the sidewalk in the heart of downtown Charlotte.
Olivia had everything she wanted.
