Page 115 of Love in Fine Print

This past weekend we hadn’t talked about the decision Olivia was making today. We’d spent most of our time in bed. I told her I was there if she wanted to talk about it, but that she didn’t have to. She’d chosen not to discuss her thought process. When she left for work this morning, I kissed her goodbye and almost asked what she had decided, but stopped myself. So, I still had no clue if she was going to walk away from her career in law andstep into a new role in Ever After or if she was going to take the partnership at her firm.

I didn’t care which partnership she went with; I just wanted her to be happy. And I wanted our marriage to be real. Not fake. Not with an expiration date.

If she was going to step into the role of my partner in Ever After, I thought it was only right that she knew what my intentions were. If she decided to take the partnership at her firm, then she needed to know how I felt about her, and that I was going to spend the next six months doing everything in my power to convince her not to walk away from this marriage. I wasn’t naïve. I knew there was a good chance she wasn’t in love with me. Which was why I was so fucking nervous.

I’d been in talks with my agent, and he said that the Golden State Wolves had reached out and were interested in signing me. I was ninety-nine percent sure that I’d be signing with them next season. That part of my future was set. The rest was up in the air.

First, if she’s decided to accept the partnership at the law firm, she may have everything that she wanted, and she’d leave. That would hurt, but at least I would have put my cards on the table. She could also want to run the business but not be married to me. If that was the case, I had to admit, it was going to be difficult to work with her, but at least she’d still be in my life.

My best-case scenario would be that Olivia felt the same way that I did. We would remain married and she, and Trevor, of course who had told her that he was going to be her Renée Zellweger if she left, could run Ever After, and I could go back to playing ball.

Even if my playing days were over, I was thinking that maybe I could coach. Or do some commentary. I missed football. I hadn’t known how much I loved the game until I left it.

Whatever my future was, I just hoped it would include Olivia being my wife forever.

I heard a knock at the door, and I stood as it opened. A beautiful woman who looked to be in her early fifties walked inside. Ever After didn’t really have many walk-ins, but it did happen.

Although, on second thought, I realized she might be a current client. I’d done my best to meet everyone on Gran’s roster face to face, but I still had about ten percent that I hadn’t been able to meet yet. This woman looked vaguely familiar. It was in the eyes and the nose.

Maybe I’d seen her photo in the files.

I smiled. “Hi, can I help you?”

“I hope so. I’m Bianca Bradshaw, and I believe thatyouare my son-in-law.”

As soon as she said who she was, the similarities between her and Olivia were as plain as day. They both had the same sweetheart-shaped face, full lips, turned-up nose, and almond-shaped eyes. The only difference was Olivia’s eyes were light brown, and her mother's were bright blue.

“Oh, hello, Ms. Bradshaw.” I came out from behind the desk and held out my hand. “Yes, I’m Ben Whitaker.”

She looked me up and down before shaking my hand. “Nice to meet you, Ben.”

“Is Olivia expecting you?” I asked as I dropped my hand.

She sighed. “I’ve been trying to reach her, actually.”

I remembered Olivia mentioning that she’d had a few calls from her over the weekend, but she hadn’t picked up. She’d said she didn’t have the ‘emotional bandwidth’ to deal with her.

“Olivia’s actually not here at the moment.”

“That’s fine. This gives us a chance to get to know each other.”

“Of course, yes. Please, have a seat. Can I get you something? Coffee, water, tea?”

She lowered down into the seat and cleared her throat. “Tea would be lovely.”

I grabbed a mug and placed a tea bag inside of it then filled it up with hot water from the water cooler. After grabbing a few sugars and a teaspoon, I handed her the drink and placed the sugar packets beside her on the table then sat in the seat across from her.

“How is my daughter, Mr. Whitaker?”

“She’s good,” I responded vaguely. I felt strange having this conversation with someone who Olivia was estranged from, even if it was her mother.

Olivia had felt so bad about finding out that my dad wasn’t my biological father, and I hadn’t understood why. But now I sort of did. I hadn’t asked to see Ms. Bradshaw, but it felt wrong to speak with her without Olivia knowing about it.

“And you two were married six months ago?”

“About that.”

“Right.” She nodded. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to make it to the wedding. I was out of the country.”

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