Page 33 of Love for a Lifetime

Olivia scoffed. “You couldn’t have been more than eight.”

“I was, but I watched your dad do it, and I was getting my chance to show Mom what I knew. I had the jack set up under the frame when a police officer stopped to see if we needed help. I told him I had it handled, and he stayed and talked to me and Mom until I had the tire changed.”

Olivia smiled, gently pushing the injustice that Dawson’s own dad hadn’t been the one to teach him that important life skill to the side. “And you wanted to be just like him?”

“No, he told me changing tires for people was part of his job and said I was well on my way to being qualified to serve and protect.”

“That is the sweetest story,” Olivia said. She could just imagine a little Dawson holding a grown-up conversation with a police officer.

“Plus, Mom always said being an officer was the only way I’d stay out of jail.”

Olivia choked on the mouthful of milkshake. She coughed and sputtered past the burning in her throat until she could catch her breath. “You’re lying.”

“I am not. I never did anything terrible, but I didn’t make things easy on her.” He rested his head back against the pillow and his eyes fluttered closed for a second. “My leg feels better.”

Those pain meds were starting to kick in, and Dawson was looking more relaxed by the second. “Good. You need anything?” she asked.

“No, but it’s my turn.” He reached out a hand for the milkshake, and she passed it to him.

He took a sip and only hesitated for a second before asking. “What’s something about you that I don’t know?”

Olivia turned his question over in her mind, trying to decide how to address it. She could go with something as simple as her first crush or something as big and convoluted as her unspoken feelings for him.

One memory stuck out and gnawed at her conscience. “There’s something you don’t know, but please don’t be mad at me.”

Dawson shook his head. His eyes glinted with joy as he held her gaze. “I could never be mad at you.”

Oh, he might eat those words sooner rather than later. She picked at her fingernails and considered how to tell him. Ripping the bandage off would probably be best.

She looked up at him and sighed. “I didn’t vote for you for homecoming king.”

Dawson raised his head, eyes wide, and gasped. “Are you serious?”

Olivia hid her eyes behind her hands. “Yes. I’m sorry. I feel terrible. The guilt has been eating me alive for twelve years!”

“Because you have been living a lie! How could you?”

“I said I’m sorry!” Their voices were raised now. Someone would probably burst through the door any minute to break up the fight.

“Who did you vote for?” he asked quickly.

Olivia let her hands fall into her lap. “Micah Harding.”

Dawson clenched his hand at his side. “Of course it was Micah. My constant rival.”

Olivia humphed. “If the two of you were rivals, Micah had no idea about it.”

She’d hung onto a crush on the eldest Harding brother for most of her high school experience. He was the strong, silent type, and she’d been drawn in by his broody, mysterious ways.

The joke was on her. Micah didn’t have an ounce of attraction to her, but she’d only figured that out after basically begging him to ask her to the prom.

Now, Olivia was good friends with Micah’s wife, Laney, and it was clear the two of them were made for each other. There might be someone for everyone in this world, but Micah and Olivia weren’t meant to be.

Dawson shook his head. “Micah had no chance of winning homecoming king.”

“And that’s why you won,” Olivia pointed out.

“No thanks to you!”

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