“Oliver, what are you…” she started, but I couldn’t listen to any more of her lies.

I had stalked away, and that was the last time I’d spoken to either of them until recently.

I blinked away the memories to find Lex looking up at me with wide green eyes.

“My dad told me about you two,” I told her, trying not to feel the old resentment. I felt sick, just like I had that day.

She scowled. “Why did your dad dislike me so much?” she muttered. Her eyes locked onto mine again. “Also, you knew he didn’t like me. Would it have been so hard to imagine that he might not have had your best intentions in mind when he told you that?”

“It’s water under the bridge,” I finally said, pushing all of the thoughts, memories, and heartaches away. “I forgive you.”

“That’s the thing, Oliver. It’s not. You’re still angry, you still haven’t apologized… to me or to Tristan. It’s not water under any bridge because you aren’t over it,” she scoffed, and of course, she was right, but I didn’t want to talk about this any more.

God help me, despite everything, I wanted her back in my life. I needed her around, needed her near me, and last night only proved that. Waking up this morning without her, thinking she might have run away again... I couldn’t handle that.

I needed her.

“Why did you leave this morning?”

“I didn’t want your kid to find me in the house,” she muttered.

I nodded. “Fair enough.”

“I also need to look for jobs,” she said.

“You have a job,” I insisted.

“Yes, and I’m grateful for it,” she said, then paused with a sigh. “It’s part time, Oliver, and I’ll never make enough money to get out of Wagontown if I don’t get a second job.”

“You’re going to leave Wagontown again?”

She stared at me incredulously. “Of course I am, Oliver. It’s not like this place is full of great memories for me. I just want to get the hell out of here. Also, there’s no way for me to make a living here, if you haven’t noticed. I can’t even pay you rent. ”

My heart sank. She was going to leave me all over again, and I didn’t know how I was going to handle it.

I assumed not well.

“You always wanted to get out of Wagontown,” I muttered.

“We never would have made it together anyway,” she said in a soft voice, and my head was spinning.

How could she say that? I had planned to marry her, have a family with her. Even now, I still wanted her, though I didn’t know in what capacity that was possible.

In the meantime, however, if I could get her a job and keep her near me...

“Why don’t you work for me?” I suggested. Lexie looked at me, blinking.

“Work for you? Like as an assistant or something?”

I chuckled. “Nothing like that.” I already had an excellent assistant. “I’m buying a bar, and you could work there.”

“Oh, Richy-rich,” she teased, a smile on her face. “Must be nice to be able to just buy a bar.”

I shrugged. “So will you do it?” I asked her.

“What, work as a bartender?”

“It’s a living,” I argued, and she took in a breath.