Page 119 of Love in Fine Print

I needed to be calm. Centered. Zen.

So, I’d decided to go out for a run with Dolly. If I couldn’t burn off all my anxiety, I could at least exhaust myself physically. After a punishing ten-mile run that included four miles of steep uphill climbs, I had finally accomplished that at least. My muscles were screaming, and I could not have pushed myself any further or faster.

When I turned the corner of my street, I saw that Olivia’s SUV was parked out front. The second I saw that she was home, I exhaled a breath of relief. It wasn’t until that exact moment that I realized I was scared she might never come back.

Logically, I knew that she could just be back to get some things, but my fear was that she’d leave again. If she did accept the partnership today, she didn’t need to stay married to me. She could cut her losses. She knew that I would never actually make her stay married to me if she wanted out, no matter what the contract had said.

The contract. Thinking back to just a few hours ago when I’d revised the contract, thinking that I was going to give it to her over dinner and see what she said seemed like a lifetime ago.

I started to head toward the front door, but as soon as I took the leash off Dolly, she raced to the office door. I followed behind her. When I opened it, I found Olivia seated at the desk. She looked up, and I could tell that she’d been crying. I crossed the room to her and extended my arms to pull her into a hug, but she held up her hands, stopping me in my tracks.

“He was sick. He left her,” she stated flatly.

“What?”

She lifted the letter and held it out. “My dad. My mom didn’t cheat on him. That’s what I always thought happened. I don’t know why I did; no one ever told me that. I just assumed because she always had a new boyfriend. But she didn’t.Heleftherbecause he was sick. He had a terminal heart condition. The doctors gave him six months, a year tops, but he ended up livingseven years. He didn’t die from a broken heart…” She sniffed, and took in a shaky breath. “He survived all those years longer than he should have because of how much he loved my mom and me.”

“Is that what it said in the letter?”

She nodded. “And I went to talk to Uncle Mort. He told me that he knew the whole time. My dad told him but not us. He said my mom came to see him after my dad left, she was heartbroken. She wanted to know what she’d done wrong and how she could get him back.” Olivia’s voice cracked. “Shereallyloved him. Uncle Mort didn’t tell her that my dad was sick, because he wanted to respect my dad’s wishes. He said that all those times she got married, it was because she wanted my dad to say something. To stop her. He said that my dad was the only man my mom ever loved, and it wasn’t until he died that she found out he’d been sick.

“Andit wasn’t her choice to stop the life support. Uncle Mort was the one who convinced her to do that. He said that’s what my dad would have wanted. All these years, I’ve hated her. I thought she was spoiled, selfish, and heartless. I thought she killed my dad. But she didn’t. She loved him.”

Olivia’s shoulders began to shake as more tears fell down her face. I knew that she wanted space from me before, but I wasn’t able to stop myself. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to me. She buried her face in my neck and cried, and cried, and cried.

I didn’t know if ten minutes or an hour had passed before she finally pulled back and took in a shaky breath.

Her eyes were huge as she looked up at me, and I opened my mouth to tell her I loved her, that I’d loved her for a long time, but I wasn’t sure this was the right time. So instead, I said, “I’m sorry I’m so sweaty.”

She wiped her cheeks as her lips pulled up in a smile, and she chuckled. “I don’t care. Thank you for…just thank you.”

“Anytime you need to cry, this shoulder is available.”

She took a deep breath and then exhaled. “I think I want to go take a shower and then maybe eat something.”

We started to walk out of the room when she reached down and grabbed the letter. When she did, something caught her eye and she picked up the contract I’d planned on giving her.

“What’s this?” she asked as she started reading it.

I tried to grab it, but she was faster than I was. “Nothing. It was…I was working on something…it doesn’t matter. Today is not the day.”

She scanned the document. “This is our contract. Why was this on your desk?”

“I, um, I made some changes to it.”

Her eyes lifted and locked with mine. I could see the concern in them as her brow furrowed. “Changes?”

“Yes.”

I wasn’t sure this was the right time, but it was too late. She was already reading it. When she looked back up at me, I expected her to say something. But she didn’t. As always, her expression was unreadable.

“I know this marriage didn’t start out real, but it’s real to me now,” I explained. “I love you, Olivia. I have loved you for a very long time. You were right, at your Christmas party when you said I didn’t believe in love. Ididn’t.But I think that’s just because I hadn’t met you. I don’t want to get a divorce. I want to be married to you, to stay married to you for the rest of my life. And I don’t care if you run Ever After or if you took the partnership?—”

“I didn’t,” she interjected. “I turned the partnership down.”

I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. I knew that she was considering it, but she’d worked so hard, for so long. I think deep down I assumed she would accept it. “You did?”

“Yes, and I don’t want this marriage to end either.” She grabbed a pen off the desk and initialed next to the changes I’d made and then signed the paper. “I love you, Ben. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you, but you made it impossible not to.”

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