Page 115 of The Hardest Hit
“He said that to me too,” said Sofia, looking doubtful. “But I don’t know. What if he gets me a job and then I screw it up? What if I embarrass him?”
“If I have learned anything in the last week,” said Evan, “it’s that sometimes your siblings know best. Trust your brother.”
Sofia looked from Evan back to Olivia. “He’s nice,” whispered Sofia. “Can we keep him?”
“I intend to,” Olivia whispered back.
After they had sent Sofia back to Olivia’s apartment with the keys, Olivia slipped back out of her clothes, brushed her teeth, and washed her face in the bathroom, getting ready for bed. When she was done, she stood up and stared at herself in the mirror. Evan was wandering around in the bedroom, doing whatever it was that he did to get ready for the next day. The familiarity of it was soothing.
She turned to the left and right examining her figure. She knew that, culturally speaking, there was a lot attached to breasts, and sometimes she could get into that, and sometimes she thought they were just some damn big boobies that got in her way both mentally and physically. She wondered what else in her life was the mental equivalent of society’s fixation on breasts. Was there something she was attaching an unnatural significance to? She considered that.
The last few weeks had been a round-robin of dinners with Evan’s family. She thought they were all delightful. Dominique had hugged her extra hard and Max had been welcoming with a few asides on the oddity of Deverauxes that were completely hilarious and on target. Aiden had been more cautious than his sister but had looked delighted every time she and Evan held hands. It was like he wanted to be level-headed, but seeing Evan happy put him over the moon. Olivia liked that. She had also liked it when Ella had simply put it out there that the Deveraux boys were modern-day Prince Charmings with a little bit of tarnish on their crowns. Olivia was relieved to find someone who validated her opinion. Dinner with Jackson was the easiest, of course. He didn’t make them get dressed up or go anywhere. He simply dropped by with take-out after work one night and the three of them had spent the evening laughing.
Olivia had to admit that she’d been feeling a little bit guilty that she was having such a good time with the people who grandfather hated. She wondered when she’d be able to let go of that. She thought that now was the time to start considering how Pops had tried to pimp out Sofia.
Evan came to stand in the doorway. In the mirror, she watched him check out her and then raise an eyebrow at her expression.
“You like my boobs, don’t you?” she asked without turning around.
He laughed. “Yes, you could say that.”
“But when you think of me, do you think of my boobs first?”
“No,” he said, grinning. “I think of the way you look when you get excited. I don’t mean just sex kind of excited, but like when you get an idea, or you see a squid, or when…” He paused, blushing.
“When what?” she asked.
“When I come to pick you up at the airport and you finally spot me in the crowd.”
“I was happy to see you,” she said.
“And that makesmeunbelievably happy,” said Evan.
“I think I should move in with you,” she said.
“Uh…” he said. “That sounds great. I’ve been missing you since we left Japan. I mean, I know there were some other issues there, but I like having you in the next room even when we’re not doing things together.”
Olivia nodded. That was how she felt as well. But Dominique had also pointed out that moving in with Evan would probably do more to reassure Eleanor than any words could. Olivia thought that meant that Evan would probably never ask her to move in because he wouldn’t want to have a reason other than wanting her there.
“I’ll check on my lease. I can always sublet if it’s a thing.”
Evan stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Liv, what’s up?”
“Am I being weird?”
“I’m not sure.” He kissed her shoulder. “That just seemed a little out of the blue.”
“Evan, sugar,” she paused to rotate around in his arms, “this is going to sound strange, but when we’re old, even if we don’t end up together, I think that I would like to live with you.”
“What?” he asked, laughing.
She put her arms around his neck and tried to find the words for what she meant.
“I’ve decided that I don’t want to waste any more time on people that want or expect me to be something I’m not. And after everything with your grandmother and Pops, well, I just can’t imagine trying to be old, when I will have less energy and probably more problems, and still be trying to keep up appearances. You seem to enjoy me the most when I being the most me. That’s what I want for my life. So, when we’re old, promise me that we’ll hang out and laugh at nerd jokes and do the crossword puzzle together.”
“Do we have to wait until we’re old?” he asked, smiling down at her. “Can’t we just do that all along the way to old?”
“Well, yes,” said Olivia, “and also sex.”
