“Families—especially parents—can really do a job on us, can’t they? My dad was estranged from his parents for most of my life. I came out here from San Diego because my grandfather’s doctor left a message for my dad and he wasn’t available, so I decided to handle it myself. That’s when I learned they weren’t bad people and my dad had really been the villain of the story.” Jess sighed. “Luckily, he was able to admit it and they’ll never be close because a lot of hurt built up over the years, but they have a relationship now. And they all loveme, so they’re trying with each other.”
“And you met Rick while you were here?”
“He was my grandparents’ tenant and he looked out for them. Since he’d heard nothing good about my dad, when I showed up on his behalf, Rick assumed I was here to scope out whether putting my grandparents in a facility and selling their home would be profitable for Dad and I. He was determined to stop me.” She smiled. “And then we fell in love.”
“I like happy endings.”
“Most stories have happy endings if you can stick through the slaying-the-dragons part.” She smiled. “Rick and I are happy. My dad’s coming out from San Diego for the Village Hearts benefit, which is practically a miracle. And my grandparents will be there. If it’s meant to be, it’ll all work out.”
Olivia didn’t believe inmeant to beso much asmake it happen, but she smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind. And speaking of your grandparents, I should head out so you can go visit them.”
“Thanks again for stopping in, and I’m sure we’ll be in touch before the next meeting.”
Olivia didn’t make it home before Kelsey left, but she’d left her boss a note on the kitchen island detailing what they’d accomplished that day, as well as a list of tasks for tomorrow and an overview of the rest of the week. There was color-coding—in the office versus on-site—and symbols—books, speaking engagements, podcast, and the different stages of client work—and she felt herself relax as she immersed herself in the familiar and comforting structure of her business methodology.
Maybe relationships couldn’t be structured and color-coded the way a business plan could, Olivia thought, but there had to be some kind of a plan and there were steps to check off. If she wrote them out, she knew what she’d have to write next to the next box.Meet Julia and Isaac.
It was a big step—probably the biggest yet—and thinking about it robbed Olivia of the calm she’d achieved since walking through her door. Whether for better or worse, it would change everything. And no amount of planning could give her any control over the outcome.
* * *
By Monday morning, Derek felt Olivia’s absence like an almost physical ache. It had been just over a week since he’d seen her in person and, though they talked on the phone every day, it wasn’t the same.
He wanted to see her. Kiss her. Hold her hand. Fall into bed with her.
Falling into bed was a little harder to pull off, but he had a plan for the first three. He didn’t have the patience to type everything he wanted to say into the phone, so he called her knowing he’d probably go to voicemail, which he did.
“Hey, it’s me. I have to pick up a couple of donations for the auction tonight and one’s in your neck of the woods. I know you’re busy, but if you don’t have anything planned for after work, I thought maybe you’d like to ride along? Let me know, and if you want to go, tell me what time you’ll be free. Oh, and you should meet me downstairs because I really need to get the donations tonight, if you know what I mean. Talk to you soon.”
It was almost an hour before he got a response.Love to. Free at six and I’ll meet you downstairs because I do know what you mean.
That made him grin as he tucked the phone away. If he went upstairs to her apartment, he was getting her naked and she’d be naked until it was too late to do the errand he had to get done.
The kids’ part-time summer camp had ended for the season, so he picked them up and took them for ice cream. They were only gone a couple of hours, but it gave Amber some time to do errands or housework without them underfoot—or soak in a bubble bath eating chocolates for all he knew—and it gave him more time with them. They’d be going back to school soon and it cut down on their flexibility a lot. He’d get the weekends, but visits during the week were shorter and less frequent because they had homework to do and sleep schedules to maintain.
Once he’d dropped them off at their mom’s, Derek had just enough time to shower and change into jeans and a decent shirt that didn’t have black raspberry ice cream dripped on it before it was time to cross the city to get Olivia.
Traffic gave him plenty of time to think about how wrong his life was beginning to feel. Kids over here. Olivia over there. No overlap. Planning dates around when he’d have Isaac and Julia. It didn’t feel right anymore.
He and Olivia had been living in a bubble. They were two people getting to know each other, having great sex and living for the next time they could see each other.
Last weekend, the bubble had popped.
Despite what had been an incredibly awkward first encounter—especially for Olivia—she and Amber had been introduced. It had gone okay, all things considered. And so would her meeting his kids, he told himself.
Maybe it would be a little rocky at first, since they were already dealing with their mom having a baby. But kids were resilient and they’d adjust, especially if everybody was happy. And he had no reason to think they wouldn’t like Olivia, even if she didn’t have a lot of experience with kids. She was smart and funny and had great people skills.
But there was a constant nagging worry Olivia might not like Julia and Isaac that he couldn’t banish no matter how often he told himself he was being ridiculous.
His kids were awesome. He loved them without reservation or limitation, but that didn’t mean they were perfect. They were young. Sometimes they got loud. They made a mess. They argued or whined or pitched fits. Bad moods or mild, fast-moving stomach bugs could ruin plans in an instant. They were cuddles and chaos, and Derek just sighed and rolled with it.
They were his kids and he loved them, sowhat’re you gonna do?
Olivia wasn’t a fan of chaos. And they weren’t her kids, so she could choose to walk away. The problem was that if she walked away from them, she’d be walking away from him, and the possibility had been like an ulcer burning his guts for days.
It was time to trust in what he and Olivia had and rip the bandage off.
She was walking down the front steps of her building when he pulled up to the curb, and he wished again his car didn’t look so out of place in her neighborhood. He really should stop being a cheap son of a bitch and buy something nicer. Not new-Audi nice, but maybe something that would pass inspection if he took it to somebody besides his uncle’s buddy.
