AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that all mine?” Olivia asks, her hazel eyes wide open adoringly. She has the kind of looks and disposition that makes you want to put a ring on it before someone else steals her away from you.
“It’s so delicious, you’ll be asking for me when you’re done,” one server, a red-haired woman says with a smile.
Olivia raises an eyebrow at me, and we stifle our laughs. There’s no way Olivia could finish the salad. Not even half of it. The servers withdraw and we pick up our forks and knives to attack the food.
“You were asking me to tell you something about myself that you don’t know,” Olivia says and when I nod, she continues. “That’s a difficult one because you know me so well.” She’s thoughtful for a while as she chews her salad and ponders over the question. “Ah. I’ve found one. I’m a model by night.” A mysterious expression comes over her features.
“No.” I would have known if she dabbled in something else. “You spent most nights in my arms.” Still, my mind is racing trying to see if there’s something I’ve missed.
She laughs. “You’re right. I’m not a model and I have no such aspirations. I’m more of a mascot for Chris. He calls me when he wants a human as the subject or in the background of his pictures.” She makes a face. “He hasn’t called me in a while now. I guess my services are no longer needed since he started dating Misty.” She laughs.
“I wish I could see some of those pictures. I’m sure you’re very photogenic.” Why is this different, I want to ask. Why does Chris get to photograph Olivia but I can’t be in the same picture as her?
She shrugs. “I’m as photogenic as the next person.” A smile teases her lips. “Your turn. Tell me something about you that I don’t know.”
“My own question has come back to bite me,” I say, trying to think of something. Olivia really does know everything about me. “I cried for the first time as an adult when you told me that you stopped eating a lot because foster parents didn’t want a kid who was always asking for food.”
Olivia stares at me for a moment. “You cried? But you were so cool about it when I told you.”
I nod. “Nobody likes sympathy. So I kept it to myself but later when I went home, I cried.”
Olivia stares at me solemnly. “You’re a good man, Jace Anderson.”
We eat silently for a few minutes. “I’m going to miss you tonight,” I tell her. “I wish I hadn’t said yes to going to Alec’s for dinner. You sure you don’t want to come?”
“A hundred percent. Go and have fun with your brother and his family. Besides, I have some work I want to do and you’ll just be a distraction. A very sexy distraction mind you, but a distraction nonetheless,” Olivia says.
“And we can’t meet tomorrow?” I can’t imagine a whole day without seeing Olivia. I have a conference out of town tomorrow. I’ll come back on Sunday at lunch time. Olivia and I agreed to meet then. She’ll be waiting for me in her apartment and she promised to cook dinner.
“Unless you can clone yourself…” Olivia teases.
“I’ll speak to my doctor brothers about that,” I say.
Time goes too fast and we have to return to the office. Still, it was worth it getting away to spend that time with Olivia. The afternoon is busy as usual with appointments, emails, and calls to return. Nothing to complain about as long as nobody goes to the press with another allegation.
In the evening, Olivia and I leave way later than we usually do. She to go home and me to go to Alec’s for dinner. I walk her to her car and remembering the photographer in the parking lot, I don’t kiss her goodbye and explain why.
It feels lonely when she goes. I get in my car, glad that I’m not going straight home to an empty apartment. I make a stop at a mall to get a gift for Ryder at the toy shop. I settle on a megaphone with eight different sound effects that Ryder will love and his parents will hate. It makes me grin and cheers me up to no end.
I pay and when I go back to my car I removed the megaphone from the shopping bag, take a picture of it and send it to Olivia with laughing emojis. She texts me back immediately.
Olivia: *laughing emojis* You won’t get invited for dinner again.
Me: I suspect so but Ryder will be my saving grace. He’ll pester his parents to invite me.
Olivia: You realize that one day all this will come back to bite you, right? When you have your own child?
Me: You mean when we have our own child??
Olivia takes so long to answer it makes me worry that I’ve fucked up again. I’m tired of being careful. Watching my words. It’s what I think about when I’m alone. The family that Olivia and I will make together.
Olivia: Sorry, that kind of left me speechless for a moment.
Me: Why? Don’t you ever think about us in that way? Married, with a family of our own?
Olivia: I don’t allow myself to.
It’s an odd comment and before I can ask her what she means, another text comes in but it’s from my brother.
