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“Hello.” He surprised her again by walking not to the bar or the kitchen — where he usually grabbed a drink, the tension between them still thick after the night they’d had sex — but to the sofa.
He sat on the other end, near her feet, bundled in a pair of the wool socks from the drawer in her bedroom.
She shifted. She’d been careful to keep her physical distance, not wanting to send the wrong message about what had happened between them, not wanting him to think she was letting him back into her life.
Because that would be stupid with all that she knew.
“I have something to tell you,” he said, his expression solemn.
“Olivia—”
“Is fine,” he said. “I’m sorry, I should have started with that. She’s fine and so is your father and Brooke.”
Ruby set her book aside. “What then?”
“It’s time for you to call Olivia,” he said.
She swallowed and shook her head. “I’m not doing that to her. Not until I know what Adam has told her.”
“He told her you’re on a business trip. And he’s expecting your call,” Roman said.
She took a deep breath, her chest constricting at the thought of Olivia, thinking Ruby had been on a business trip for two fucking months. As if baristas went to conferences and international meetings.
Not that Olivia would know any of that, but leave it to Adam to come up with the laziest and most absurd excuse imaginable.
At least he hadn’t told Olivia her mother was dead.
Relief washed over her. That had been her big fear — that Olivia thought she was dead, that she’d grieved the loss of Ruby at such a young age. It would make coming back so much harder for them both and would leave Olivia with lasting trauma.
Of course, she’d probably have that anyway, depending on how Adam was behaving as a single parent.
That was the thing about life. Trauma seemed to be part of the deal. Ruby had tried to give Olivia a shot at a normal life by removing Adam from their home, but that choice had just led to trauma of a different kind: having divorced parents, shuttling back and forth between them, and now this.
“Ruby?” Roman’s voice broke through her thoughts. He looked concerned.
“Yeah, sorry. I just…” Her brain was short-circuiting, sending her down rabbit holes so she didn’t have to think too hard about what Roman had told her. “What do you mean Adam’s expecting my call?”
“I mean I told him you’d call to speak to Olivia tonight,” Roman said. “You won’t get any interference from him.”
She stared at him. “What did you do?”
“We just had a little chat. Nothing to worry about.”
“A little chat?”
He nodded.
She should have been mad. She was supposed to be keeping Roman out of her life, as much as that was possible under the circumstances.
But she couldn’t stop the smile that teased the corners of her mouth. “What kind of chat?”
He gave a shrug of his giant shoulders and something worse than lust blew through her: affection.
Dammit.
“I made it clear that it wasn’t right to keep a child from her mother, that’s all. Luckily, he agreed.”
“He just… agreed? Just like that?” She couldn’t keep the skepticism from her voice.
