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There was no option to push an alert.
Nutsbe sprang from his chair and raced from the building.
He had to get to Olivia. And warn her.
Chapter Thirty-One
Olivia
With Henrietta on her lead, Olivia patted her pocket for the key, pulled the door shut, and checked the lock was in place. It was late, and the neighborhood lights were winking dark as the families curled into their beds.
There were just too many thoughts racing through her mind, and she was unproductive. Walking was always a good thing. Something about seeing nature and getting her body moving shuffled her thoughts into a polite line—well, less unruly, at least.
When the macaroni and cheese buzzer had pulled her from the post-coital bliss of Nutsbe’s arms around her, she was loathe to leave that space of contentment and push herself back into a bleak world.
As she gathered her far-strewn clothes, Nutsbe hadn’t pressed her to stay. He simply cleaned up in the bathroom and came out wearing his uniform. He was in the kitchen packaging her dinner when she moved down the stairs from his bedroom.
He handed her the bag.
“Thank you. To be clear, by going home, I’m not pushing you away. I haven’t changed my mind about figuring this out—a way to make an us happen—as much as I’d like to step off the treadmill tonight, I can’t.”
“In my line of work, when we’re in motion, lives are on the line. You’ll understand where I’m coming from when I get pressed by my obligations.”
And he kissed her nose.
Kissed. Her. Nose.
It was so endearing. Yeah, sweet. His eyes …
These were the thoughts that had kept her from accomplishing anything.
Olivia pulled out her phone and called Jaylen. She opened with, “It’s been a day filled with wild swings of emotions. Please say something normal to me. What’s happening in your world?”
Tilly was happily singing a nonsense song, and water splashes were in the background.
“Take your pick,” Jaylen said. “First, I always thought those sweet gray doves that show up when I’m feeding Tilly her breakfast were morning doves. And I loved that.”
“I’ve seen your pictures. That’s right.”
“Yeah, no. In my head, that’s spelled m-o-r-n-i-n-g. As in, I’ve come to coo and welcome the day with my lovely soft gray dawn-colored feathers. But as it turns out, it’s mourning dove like grief and weeping, which has now sapped a lot of happiness from my day.”
“I’m sorry.” Henrietta was baptizing the fire hydrant. It was her favorite place to stop.
“Then Tilly woke up with diarrhea this morning, probably from licking that frog, I called the pediatrician. They said to keep an eye on her for rash or fever. If her butt isn’t any better, in a couple days, I need to go in and get her stool tested. Olivia, this child stank so bad just now with whatever it was that exploded into her diaper that I vomited on her, which makes me feel like a human but also a very bad mommy. She’s having her third bath for the day as we speak. And obviously, she’s not asleep like she should be.”
“Sorry again. You’re not a bad mommy.”
“Well, thank you,” Jaylen said. “So why do you sound like that?”
“Just thinking that I had a word gone wrong thing too, like your mourning dove discovery. Thaddeus Crushed is called Tad by everyday folks. Our neighbors, for example, call him Tad. His Iniquus brothers, like Bob who introduced us, call him ‘Nutsbe.’”
Jaylen affected an accent, “‘You can call me whatever you want, just don’t call me late for dinner.’ Who said that?”
“No idea. Serious here. They call him Nutsbe.”
“Right. I know. Nutsbe. That’s cute, I guess.” Jaylen paused. “I don’t get it.”
“Yeah, I didn’t put it together myself until I saw it written out. His last name is Crushed. Nuts-be Crushed.”
