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“Anytime, dear. You know that. The cards tend to help with clarity in tough situations. I always find them reassuring.”
I stand, then round the table to give Lorelei a hug. “Thank you. For everything.” And it’s the truth. I don’t know where I’d be without Aunt Lorelei.
As I walk out of the gift shop, into the foyer of the house, the front door opens. I turn, expecting Lorelei’s client to walk through the door for their scheduled Tarot reading, but instead, I’m stopped in my tracks.
Stone is here.
Stone
Itap my fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music as I drive across the bridge high above the Columbia River into Oregon. I’m getting closer to Seaside and should be there in less than two hours. Am I making a mistake by going to see Olivia? I have no idea, and I’m nervous as hell about how she’ll react when I get there, but I have to take the risk. I can’t just sit at home waiting to hear from her, not knowing what other lies about me are possibly being fed to her in the meantime. After Taylor ripped my heart to shreds, I never imagined she would be able to hurt meagainnearly five years after the fact but clearly, anything’s possible.
Sleeping had been nearly impossible last night. I’m running on caffeine and adrenaline at this point. Before I left the house this morning, I explained to Celeste why I had to go, and she gave me her full support. She even went so far as to say it’s a romantic gesture to go after Olivia. I’m hoping she’s right, but it could have the opposite effect. Olivia may kick me out on my ass and never speak to me again.
Hopefully, that doesn’t happen.
As I drive along, I try to distract myself with the music blaring through the speakers. I don’t want to overthink what I’m doing and convince myself to turn around. I can’t stand the fact that Olivia is upset because of something she believes I did.
However, distracting myself is difficult while I’m simultaneously trying to figure out what I’m going to say to her when I get there. I have to go all in. I have to let her know how I feel about her. It’s going to be scary to confess all my feelings to her, especially since we’ve only known each other for less than two weeks, but I’ll have to for her to understand how much our relationship means to me.
Jesus, has it only been less than two weeks since we met? It feels as though I’ve known Olivia a lot longer than that. We just clicked right away. Although we haven’t spent a lot of time together, the time we did spend has been quality––the majority of our time spent talking and getting to know each other, and everything between us felt right. None of my other relationships progressed at such a fast rate. I’ve never developed feelings like this for a woman so quickly before. While it seems like this should be a little scary, for some reason, I’m not scared of how I feel about Olivia. I’m only scared about losing her.
My palms are sweaty as I pull up to the Sandy Shore Inn. Olivia’s Honda is parked, so I know she’s here. I park in the empty spot next to her car, cut the engine, and then just sit for a moment. This is it. I’m finally here, and this is my moment to sweep Olivia off her feet. Or at least hopefully tell her my side of the story so she knows the truth about what happened between Taylor and me.
Taking a deep breath, I wipe my hands on my jeans. “Here goes nothing,” I mutter to myself before I open the door and get out of the SUV.
The gravel crunches beneath my feet as I walk up to the front porch. It’s quiet here, but I can hear the sound of the ocean waves crashing in the distance. As I walk up the steps to the house, a breeze blows through, causing the wind chimes to sing as if they’re welcoming me back again.
I pause at the entrance before opening the front door. Closing my eyes, I say a silent prayer to whomever may be listening––please let Olivia hear me out and believe the truth. I don’t want to lose her.
Another breeze blows through. The wind chimes pick up their tempo, and the faint smell of lavender hits me. I open my eyes.Mom?She always smelled of lavender, and the scent always reminds me of her.
Not wanting to get emotional about my mom right at this moment, I shake the thought from my mind, smooth my hands down the front of my shirt, and take a deep breath. Then, I reach for the handle, open the door, and walk inside.
Olivia’s right there in the foyer. I wasn’t expecting to see her immediately, but here she is. The sight of her causes a hitch in my breath. My lips curl upward, but my heart seems to stop in anticipation of how she’ll react to me being here.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Neither the calm tone of her voice nor the stunned look on her face seem angry to see me, which is a good sign.
I take a couple of steps toward her. “I was going crazy at home. I had to come see you and explain.”
“I can’t believe you’re here.” She looks down at the floor, avoiding eye contact with me.
“I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t stand the thought of you believing the lies Taylor said about me. You told me not to call you, so I decided to drive here and talk to you in person instead.”
Suddenly, the front door swings open. I’m glad I had stepped away from it, otherwise it would’ve hit me in the back.
A woman with gray, curly hair walks in and closes the door behind her. “Oh, hello,” she says, seemingly surprised to see us standing right here. “I’m here for a Tarot reading.”
“Oh, yes,” Olivia says to her with a smile. She points toward the shop. “Lorelei’s waiting for you right in there.”
“Thank you,” the woman says as she walks past us.
As soon as the woman enters the shop, Olivia turns back toward me, crossing her arms over her chest. Her whole demeanor has changed. Olivia looks up and finally makes eye contact with me, although she doesn’t look happy. “You thought I would be okay with you showing up here in person to talk to me since I didn’t want to talk to you on the phone?” She scoffs and shakes her head. “You’re unbelievable.”
Shit. This is not heading in a good direction. Maybe I made a mistake coming here. I need to explain myself. “No, I just––”
“You just what?” Olivia interrupts, raising her voice. “Thought I would fall at your feet when you got here, forgive you, and then everything would just go back to the way they were?”
I open my mouth to respond, but I don’t know what to say. I’m speechless because she’s absolutely right.What was I thinking?
