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Of losing everything, even the friendly squabbling and teasing we used to do.
Besides my own hang-ups, there’s the fact that soon enough, she’ll be off on a new adventure.
An adventure with a big-time actor.
An adventure that will open up tons of career opportunities and might even make her famous.
An adventure that will take her all over the world.
How could a guy like me compete withthat?
She reaches for the truck door. With her fingertips on it, she turns to face me again.
“I didn’t mean to do that—to make that demand. You can want whatever you want, Cole. It’s really none of my business.”
“Sure, it is. Last night…”
We kissed. We laughed. We watched embers float up into the sky.
“Last night was fun,” she says, her tone strained. “Really fun. This whole week’s been fun. I guess I can’t expect any more than that.”
What’sthatsupposed to mean? She pulls the truck door open and hoists herself up into the passenger seat. Her words ring through my mind as I trudge around to the driver’s side. This is why I’m single. Conversations like this. Touchy conversations, where one thing said—orunsaid—can be devastating.
She’s upset, and I don’t know how to set things right.
By the time I settle into the driver’s seat, she has her phone out.
“We get Wi-Fi here,” she says breezily, as she pulls down the truck’s sun visor and checks her appearance. She primps her curls a couple of times then looks back to her phone...
I know Olivia, and so I know this tone. She’s snapped back into her all-smiles mode. What’s she covering up with this act? Her phone chimes about a dozen times in a row as her messages start to come in. She peers down at her device.
“Everything okay?” I ask, as I turn the truck’s engine over and then roll down the windows. It got hot in here, sitting in the sun.
I’m asking her if she’s okay in a couple of ways.
For starters, all those messages could indicate something’s wrong.
Then there’s her emotions.
It’s confusing to care this much about how she feels.
Is she okay under this front she’s putting up? Is she okay on the inside?
She hides her face from me by staring down at her phone.
Not a good sign.
I messed up, out there. I don’t know how to make it right.
“Yeah—it looks like a bunch of new emails coming in about the job. Whew. The start date is soon.”
I shift into drive and crawl out of the paved lot, giving a wave toward the crew still lingering on the bay apron. When we reach the road out front, I hang a right.
I should have been brave enough, a few minutes ago.
I froze up and lost my shot.
In this game Olivia and I are playing, that was my big chance to make a winning goal and I hesitated.
