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Trent picks up his little Nerf basketball and chucks it toward the basket pinned to our wall. He misses the shot. “You said you asked her to the wedding, right?”
“Oh, no! She said she couldn’t go?” Olivia’s voice lilts with pity, which doesn't make my bad mood any better.
“She said she’s supposed to visit her aunt that weekend, so she can’t.”
“Aw, Cole,” Olivia pouts, “That’s girl-talk for saying she doesn’t want to go.”
Trent leans forward to get the ball off the floor, and almost tips out of his chair. He straightens up to take another shot, and this time he makes it. Pleased, he takes a big bite of the sandwich he’s nearly polished off.
It’s like Olivia’s news infused life back into him.
Good.
It’s a relief to see him improving. I’ve been really worried about him for the past couple of days, but I didn’t know what to do about it. Fixing relationship problems is so far from my wheelhouse, it’s not funny...
“She’s right, dude,” Trent says to me. “Girls love weddings. It’s two weeks away. Danielle could reschedule the thing with her aunt.”
“And she would, if she wanted to go with you,” Olivia adds. “Once a guy asked me to a wedding and I canceled an entire trip to Fiji so I could attend. Believe me—if she was into you, she’d make it happen.”
“Wow, guys. Way to make me feel good.”
“You’re tough, right?” Olivia says, before sipping down more of my coffee. “You can handle it. So, she’s going to be catering this couple’s retreat?”
Then, suddenly, her hazel eyes go wide.
“Ooooh! I have an idea. You’re going to hate it.”
Olivia teases me all the time for being slow, but she knows I’m not. I catch onto what she’s thinking right away.
“No. Nope. Un uh.”
“It’s perfect…” she whispers, her pretty eyes still wide.
“No, it’s not perfect. It’s a bad idea and I’m way too busy—”
“Doing what?”
“Working.”
Calling leasing companies.
Nailing down a rig for next season.
Helping my dad with the tractor.
Basically, doing anything except wallowing painfully in the desert in a soup of heartache and angst as other couples work through their intimacy issues. With Olivia. As her fake boyfriend. Let’s not forget that cherry on top of the sundae.
“No, you’re not working,” Olivia says. Then she actually claps again and smiles so bright it’s like she’s a kid watching a magic show. “Goody! This is actually working out. It’s spring and you guys are done until next December.”
“We have tons to do before then. Trent, tell her.” I glance at my buddy, who's too busy chowing down the last bite of breakfast sandwich to help me out.
“We’re in a situation with our helicopter lease,” I tell Olivia. “Problem is, you know the company we’ve been using forever? They went under.”
“Your best friend is incrisis, Cole,” Olivia says. “You are his best man. You won’t be his best man if this wedding gets called off. I need to get them to this retreat in Desolation Valley. You need to get Danielle to see you as more than a guy with stinky grease stains on his jacket.”
I dip my chin to check out my Carhartt coat. Yeah, there’s a stain on it.
That’s what I get for crawling under tractors.
