Page 75 of Awakening

His lips press to mine as he threads his hands in my hair. His kiss feels like the hope and relief of a new beginning. I wrap my arms around his neck, and deepen the kiss. When we part, we rest our foreheads together.

“I want my life back with you too, Olivia. Even if it means making all new memories. I just want you.”

“New memories are good,” I say with a small smile, “but I’m going to try my hardest to get the old ones back too.”

Nineteen

Olivia

“So,” Chloe says, then takes a sip of wine, “how are things going?”

She insisted that I get out of the house and join her for happy hour at a wine bar today. Ethan was wary of me leaving the house without him. He’s being twice as vigilant about my security after seeing the video of Ian hitting me with his car, but I convinced him it isn’t healthy to keep me locked away out of grief and fear. He agreed, but as a compromise, I’m surrounded by security guards who act as if they blend into the background, even though they’re obviously here.

I raise my eyebrows and take a sip of my Pinot Grigio. “You mean other than being surrounded by giant, armed men who are pretending to enjoy happy hour in a wine bar?”

Chloe looks around and shrugs. “I know, but you have to understand where Ethan is coming from.”

“I do.” I have a whole new perspective on things after seeing Evelyn yesterday. I now realize just how much Ian has taken from us.

“How are you both doing after yesterday?”

“We’re doing okay, actually. We’ve really been leaning on each other, and I think we’re in a good place moving forward.”

“Oh, I love hearing that,” Chloe gushes with her hand over her heart. My phone chimes with a text, and I look at it with a sigh. “Everything okay?” she asks.

“It’s Anthony.”

Chloe’s eyes widen. “What does he want?”

“He’s texted me a couple times since I’ve been back just to be sure I’m okay.”

“Does Ethan know?”

I shrink a little as I say, “No. They’ve literally been two sentence exchanges, and nothing inappropriate, so I guess I haven’t felt the need to disrupt things. Is that bad?”

Chloe blows out a big breath and raises her eyebrows at me. “Olivia.”

“I know. You’re right. I’ll tell him to stop checking on me.”

“I think that’s probably wise.”

Olivia

I appreciate your concern, but I really am fine. I think maybe it’s best if we don’t text anymore. I need to focus on moving forward with Ethan.

“There. Done,” I say, showing Chloe. “How’s that?”

“That’s good,” she says. “I know you care about Anthony, and you don’t want to hurt him, but he’s got to let you go.”

With a nod, I say, “You’re right. I’ve made a commitment to Ethan to focus on us, and that’s what I’m going to do. He wants to take me out tonight.”

“That’s wonderful. What are your plans?”

“He won’t tell me. All I know is that dinner is involved, but it’s all a surprise.”

“That’s kind of fun.”

“Sure, it could be. I just have this feeling he’s going to try to take me on a trip down memory lane.”

---