Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Mom, you remember Oli, Liam’s sister,” Bax says, and she blinks before focusing on me.
“Olivia?” She gawks.
“Yeah.” I nod, and then I laugh as she swoops in and hugs me.
“The last time I spoke to your mom, she told me you lived in Chicago.”
“I was. I just moved back a few weeks ago,” I tell her, and she looks at her son, then me, before glancing around the room.
“Where’s Liam?”
“He’s not here,” Bax tells her, and she focuses back on him.
“Let me guess. He’s out on a date.” She rolls her eyes.
“Probably,” I mutter, and she laughs.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here, even if he’s not,” she says before she looks over her shoulder. When her eyes land on her husband, she calls his name, and he walks over to join us, wrapping his arm around her waist. For an older man, Nico Mayson is very good-looking, and it’s like getting a glimpse of what Bax might look like in the future since the two of them look so similar.
“You remember Liam’s baby sister, Olivia, don’t you?” Sophie asks, and Nico’s eyes lock on mine for a long moment before his gaze moves to his son, who is standing close.
Very close.
“Yes, I do.” Nico smiles. “Nice seeing you again, Olivia.”
“You too.” I shift on my feet. Something about the way he keeps looking between his son and me makes me wonder if he can feel the tension between us, which I can feel even now, like a constant itch under my skin.
When the doorbell rings, taking their attention off me, I relax—or I start to, until Bax walks away, leaving me on my own so he can pay the pizza delivery guy who Talon opened the door for. While he’s grabbing the pizzas, a few kids who started trick-or-treating early step up onto the porch, and Bax finds my gaze from across the room.
“Babe, you wanna grab the candy off the table in the kitchen?” he asks, and my cheeks flush as I feel everyone’s attention come to me.
“Uh… yeah.” Scooting out of the room, I go to the kitchen and grab a large plastic cauldron off the counter that is filled with full-size candy bars, bags of Skittles, and packs of Starburst. Extra boxes are stacked up next to where it was for when what’s in the bucket runs out. Taking it to the door, I pass out candy to the kids on the porch while Bax carries all the pizza into the kitchen, calling his nieces and nephews to follow so they can eat, then hit the street and gather their own candy.
Of course, when the first group of kids leaves, more trick-or-treaters arrive, and before long, Bax joins me outside to help. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life, and the flow of children seems to have no stopping point. Back in Chicago, I had maybe one or two littles stop by my apartment—nothing like this.
“I thought you were exaggerating when you said the neighborhood gets bombarded with trick-or-treaters,” I tell him, looking at the long line of kids waiting on the sidewalk for their turn.
“I never exaggerate.” He laughs when a little girl and boy, both dressed as hippies, run off the porch, cheering after they each get a pack of Skittles.
“About anything?” I look up at him, raising a brow.
“About anything.” He grins, then the two of us look down and start laughing when a little boy—who’s probably about two years old and dressed as a lion—roars instead of asking, “trick or treat?”
“You’re adorable,” I tell him, glancing up to look for his mom, and my eyes land on Eva, who co-owns the med spa with Julie.
“Hey, Olivia.” She smiles, holding out her hand to her son after he chooses a pack of Starburst from the bucket. “I didn’t know you lived over here.”
“I just moved in next door not long ago.” I motion in the direction of Kourtney’s house.
“Really? My husband and I live a block over.” She glances at Bax and smiles at him, which makes me wonder if she knows who he is. If she does know he dated her friend, she doesn’t make it obvious. “We’ll have to all get together for dinner sometime.”
“I’d love that.”
“We’ll talk about it at work.” She looks down at her son, who is trying to drag her off. “I guess we better go before all the candy is gone everywhere else.”
“Have fun.” I wave goodbye to her, then look over at Bax. “She co-owns the spa where I work… with Julie.”
“Got it.” He nods, and once again, there is no real reaction to the mention of Julie.
“Hey, guys?” Bax and I turn to look at his mom when she steps outside, with Nico right behind her. “The kids are almost done eating and want to go out. Do you want us to take over passing out candy so you two can eat and go with them?”