Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
I throw my head back in frustration. “That’s sort of hard to do when you don’t know what’s even happening tomorrow.”
Chris’ voice is level and without emotion. “Right. So let’s worry about the things we can control. We can’t control when or even if you get your sight back, but we can control how you respond to it. One of those ways is living your life. Making plans for the future. Doing things that will help you even if you don’t want to.”
“Yeah.” I answer him without much conjecture.
“Back to the girl,” he starts.
I cut him off. “Olivia.”
“Right. Back to Olivia. Tell me more about the date.”
“I cooked her dinner, which really made her happy. She said she’s never had a man cook for her before. I guess her ex-husband was a real douche and cheated on her. Anyway, we ate and talked a lot. She made sure to tell me that she doesn’t want anything serious, which I understood.”
Chris makes a noise, but I keep going. “I didn’t fight it because I like her. I really like her. But if she doesn’t want a relationship, then I can’t force her into one.”
“Right. Then what happened?”
Man, I’ve never been the type to kiss and tell, but I open my mouth anyway. “We kissed. And it wasn’t just a kiss. It was the best damn kiss I’ve ever had in my life. That’s when she freaked.”
I start thinking about last night, replaying it all in my head, wondering if I missed something. I groan in frustration and then get back to work. We’re working together and nailing the boards together. He instructs me and helps me but then lets me do it on my own. All the pieces come together, and I can’t help but wonder what it looks like. Did I mismatch pieces? Is everything flush? “Well?” I ask him. “How does it look?”
“You tell me.”
I roll my eyes and run my hands along every crevice of the table. I’m squatting on my knees and working my way all around it. Everything is lined up and seems right. “I think it’s good.”
He laughs. “It’s perfect, man. I’m really impressed. Let’s sand and stain it. We’ll show Walker tomorrow and then start on the rest.”
I nod and go grab the sander. Before I start it up, Chris starts to talk. “So I know you’re going through some shit, Jason.”
I burst out a laugh. “That’s an understatement if I ever heard one.”
“Well, I’m just here to say that it sounds like Olivia has some shit going on too.”
My forehead creases, and I stop all activity, completely focused on what he’s saying. “She told you she was divorced and her husband cheated on her.”
“Yeah, but that was a few years ago.”
“She told you that she doesn’t want a relationship.” Before I can interrupt him, he continues, “And then after you two kiss, which by your standards was pretty intense, she wanted to leave. ‘She freaked out’ is what you said.”
“She did,” I agree.
“Right, well, maybe, just maybe, she felt that intense connection too. Maybe that did freak her out.”
“You think…” I start but I don’t dare put voice to what I’m thinking. Fuck, could Olivia be freaked out because she may want more than just a fling? Did that scare her off? Or is she going to change her mind? Hope starts to build, and I do my best to tamp it down.
Chris is moving around the room again. “I’m going to grab the stain.”
I nod my head, lost in thought. “So you think, maybe…”
Christ interrupts me. “I think you need to talk to her, that’s all. Figure out what she’s thinking.”
I nod, and before I can stop myself, I grab my phone out of my pocket. I tell Siri to text Olivia. “Looking forward to tonight.”
I can feel my cheeks heat in embarrassment. I don’t usually talk like this with other men, but there’s something freeing about working in a barn, elbow deep in wood and stain.
I’m caught off guard when my phone dings.
“You going to see what it says?” Chris asks.
What if she shoots me down? Fuck it, I have to know.
I press the button for the messaging app to read the text, and it says I have a message from Olivia. It then repeats the words from her message, and even though it’s only two words, they tell me more than I was hoping for.
“Me too.”
She could have backed out and made up some kind of excuse, but she didn’t. She said, ‘Me too.’
I pocket my phone, and Chris slaps me on the back. “Come on, let’s finish up. It looks like you have plans tonight.”
CHAPTER 16
OLIVIA
I moved around my last appointment so I could get off early. I made it home in time to shower and get ready. I am just hanging up from ordering dinner when my doorbell rings. I open it and barely notice a truck driving away because all I can look at is Jason in his Wrangler jeans and his button-up black shirt. The top two buttons are undone, and I can see the shadows of his tattoos.