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 drop the sander. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”
She comes closer, and I hold my hands out. She grabs one of them and holds it. “Yeah, everything is fine. I was just hoping we could talk, that’s all. But I can come back later.”
“No,” I tell her. I turn toward Chris. “Chris, this is Olivia.”
He comes over to stand next to me. “Hey, Olivia, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Same,” she says. She pulls her hand from mine and walks away, but I trail after her. “These are beautiful, Jason. Did you do these?”
I nod my head, feeling the heat in my cheeks. “Yeah, Chris and I did.”
“Oh no, buddy. This is all you. I’m just here hanging out, talking a little,” Chris says.
For the thousandth time, I wish I could see her. But one thing I love about Olivia is she’s not going to keep me guessing. She’s talking to me as she moves around the room. “I’m walking around looking at all the tables, Jason. I can’t believe how amazing these are. They’re beautiful. Are you selling them?”
I shake my head. “No—well, I’m really not sure. Walker is doing something with them. I can make you one, if you really do like it.”
Chris interrupts me. “She likes them.”
I puff out my chest a little more. I don’t know why it means so much to me what Olivia thinks, but it does. “Chris, you okay with me cutting out a little early?”
Olivia comes back toward me. “Oh no, I don’t want to take you away from your work. I can come back later.”
I reach for her, and she threads her fingers through mine. “This isn’t really work. It’s therapy.”
Chris laughs. “Oh, it’s work, Jason. I mean, yeah, I’m here to do the therapy part, but once you finish with therapy, this is going to be your job.”
I suck in a breath. “Wait. This is my job? This is what Walker is going to have me do?”
He laughs. “Yeah, as soon as you complete therapy, this is your job.”
I reach for Chris, and he shakes my hand. “Take off, man. I’ll lock up. I’ll see you after your appointment tomorrow.”
I nod. “Sounds good.”
“Nice meeting you, Chris,” Olivia calls out to him, and Chris replies with the same.
We walk down the path toward the apartments. “I need to shower and then we can go somewhere if you want.”
“Okay,” she says.
We talk a little bit, and when we get to my apartment, I leave her in the living room while I go wash the sweat off me.
I hurry through the shower, get dressed, and I’m rubbing a towel through my hair when I walk back into the living room. “So where do you want to go? Are you hungry? We can eat. Or go for a walk. Whatever you want to do.”
“Can we talk?”
There’s something in her voice that has me stopping mid-motion. I set the towel on the back of the kitchen chair and then walk into the living room. I find my way to the couch and sit down next to her, our legs touching. “Yeah, we can talk. What’s going on?”
She jumps up and starts to pace back and forth. “This is so stupid. I should just let it go, but I could barely sleep last night for thinking about it, and Abby said I should just talk to you, but it’s ridiculous. I mean, we’ve known each other a few weeks—”
“Olivia,” I say to stop her rambling. I hold my hand out. “Come here and talk to me.”
She puts her hand in mine, and when she goes to sit down, I pull her by the waist so that she sits on my lap instead of the couch. She shrieks and then laughs. “What are you doing?”
“I’m listening to you, but I’m afraid you’re going to freak out again and run on me. This way—if you’re in my arms—you’re not going anywhere.”
She settles into my lap. “Okay, I don’t know how else to say it but just say it.”
I nod and nestle my nose into the crook of her neck. “Okay, say it.”
She trembles and then puts her arms around my neck. “I feel like this is a conversation we need to have without me sitting on your lap.”
I shake my head. “Tough. This is how we’re having it. So far, it doesn’t sound good, but whatever it is, we can figure it out because I’m not letting you run again, Liv.”
She sighs. “Okay. Why don’t you want me?”
“Excuse me?”
Her voice doesn’t sound anything like the Olivia I know. She leans away from me, but I don’t let her go. “I mean, I just don’t get it. Last night you left. If you wanted me, you would have stayed.”
I pull her snugger against me. “You do know that I could literally say the same thing to you. You left me the night before.”