AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And there it was. Exactly what I had been expecting.
Still, it hurt to hear.
I lowered her to the ground as Olive reached us. "Hey," she said, her voice low.
"Hey."
She must have registered the look on my face, the lack of surprise. Running her hand through Claire's hair, she pointed at the bar in the back. "Why don't you go get a glass of water?"
Claire rolled her eyes. "So you can talk about things behind my back?"
Olive sighed. "Claire."
"Fine," Claire said, storming off toward the bar.
I watched Claire's stride turn into a strut when she reached the cameras. "She's getting spunkier every day."
"Tell me about it," Olive said, looking at her and avoiding my gaze.
I slid my hands in my pocket. "So, I'm taking it that you don't want to do the press conference."
She ran her hands through her hair. "Lucas, I'm sorry. There's a thousand things I want to say to you, but I don't feel like any of it will do you any justice. Other than...I'm sorry. This life...it's not for me. For us. I just want Claire to have a normal life."
I searched her eyes for some semblance of a lie and found none. But then again, that might have been because I was blind to blatant misdirection. From an outside perspective, her words would have sounded sudden, harsh even. But I'd already prepared myself for this.
"I understand."
My words took her aback. She'd expected me to push back, to fight, to argue, but there was no place for that within me. Not when I'd set her up for this. When I'd paved the path for her to take.
But just because I'd expected it didn't mean it hurt any less.
"You're not angry?" she asked me.
I shrugged. "I always knew there was a chance this might be too much for you. So no, anger is definitely the last thing I'm feeling."
Her brow furrowed. "Then what are you feeling?"
What was I feeling? Loss? Betrayal? Possibly. But there was something deeper. "I'm feeling grateful. Grateful that you gave me the opportunity to get to know my daughter. Grateful that I got the opportunity to fall in love with you again."
Her eyes widened. "Lucas, I don't know what to say to that. There's something I have to tell you," she whispered.
I shook my head. "You don't have to tell me anything, Olive."
"I know that. And I wasn't going to. But I feel like I owe you an explanation."
Reaching out, I squeezed her hand. "You don't owe me anything, Olive. Just promise me one thing?"
"What?"
"That wherever you end up, you'll let me know that you both are okay." Emotion choked in my throat. "And that you'll let Claire know how much I love her. And that maybe some day, you'll let me visit her."
Her hand slowly recoiled from mine, and she cocked her head. "Hold on. How do you know I'm going somewhere?"
I smiled at her. "There are things I have to tell you too, Olive."
Before she could say another word, Jessie appeared between us. "Are we ready to do this thing or what?" He rubbed his hands together. "Olive, my stylist is bringing you a dress right now."
We both turned to look at Jessie, and the tension in our silence was answer enough. His eyes darted between mine and Olive's, and the excitement in his eyes started to die, switching to confusion and then anger.
