Page 27 of The Gift Rarely Given

“Sorry sir,” he says. “Actually, sorry to you both,” Alex continues. “The last thing I wanted to be was disrespectful in your home. But I care about your daughter, and I don’t like hearing those words about her. Now if you’ll excuse me,” he adds, standing up and walking toward the back of the house.

“Olivia,” my mom says, but before I can answer, my brother interrupts.

“He’s not wrong, Mom. Let her go after him.” Not that I needed her permission, but when she nods at me with tears in her eyes, I know she heard him.Bothof them. I get up and follow Alex past the dining table, to the back door, and onto the porch.

16

I LOVE IT WHEN YOU CALL ME THAT

THE DOOR (STRIPPED), TEDDY SWIMS

Alex

Great fucking job,Alex. It was going fine until you decided to yell at her parents. So much for winning them over so she has no choice but to keep you. Now you’ve fucked that up, too.

“Hey,” Livie’s soft voice echoes behind me.

“On a scale from one to ten, how much do you think your mom hates me right now?” I ask, not turning to see her. I’m so disgusted with myself but I couldn’t stand there hearing her mom talk shit about her like that.

“Probably a seven, but you know what’s more important than that?” she asks, curling her hands around my waist and hugging me from behind. The air outside is chilly and even though I’m not cold, I feel instantly warm with her arms around me.

“What? Because the whole reason I’ve been fake datingyou is to get your mom off your back; now I’m guessing I just made it worse.”

“More important right now is how much more I like you because of what you just did back there.” I hold her hands in mine and turn around to face her. Livie’s arms are still wrapped around me and when I look down at her face, she’s smiling softly at me even though tears are running down her cheeks. “No one has ever stood up for me like that, and you did it so respectfully. Her jabs don’t affect me anymore; I’ve worked through healing the inner me and loving me the way I am. But still, having someone in my corner when she was being like that was beyond what I could have expected. Thank you,” she whispers.

I bring my thumb up her face and wipe a tear from her cheek.

“I’m so sorry she talks to you that way, Liv. Nobody should have a say in what you eat, how much you eat, or your body for that matter. Unless it’s to tell you how perfect your body is,” I add. I cup her face, holding her in place so she has no choice but to look at me. “Do you hear me, Liv? Nobody. I’m sorry if I crossed the line, but I’m not sorry I spoke my mind.”

She rises on her tiptoes and kisses me gently on the lips. “Thank you. That was the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

I grab her hands and pull her to sit on the swing hanging on the screened-in porch. She sits on my lap, her hands reach for my face before kissing me again. She kisses me with care. She kisses me tenderly. Her lips are caressing mine and I’ve never felt this love before. I don’t care what people might say: I love this girl, and I think she might love me back.

“Liv,” I whisper against her lips.

“I love it when you call me that,” she whispers back.

“I love calling you that, Shortie.”

“I love it when you call me that, too.” We both laugh at that and continue kissing, exploring our lips and getting tangled in each other. I’m sure plenty of time passes before we stop kissing. It’s not the first time that the construct of time feels less of a reality than ever. Are there really twenty-four hours in a day, and what is actually a day? Anyone who might hear this story might think I’m crazy falling in love with someone after eleven days—but I don’t think I am. I could say that this feeling, this rush, is lust but I don’t think it is. Lust is ephemeral and I don’t think this feeling—this hug around my heart, this hold she has on me—is anything but love. Even if she doesn’t feel the same way, I don’t think there will ever be an ‘after Livie’ for me. I think there is before her and after I met her. Everything after will be either pure bliss with her or an eternal nightmare without her.

“I have something to tell you, Livie,” I start.

“Me too, but you go first,” she replies.

“You know this whole arrangement we have going on?” I ask.

“Yeah… it’s coming to an end and I couldn’t be more grateful for you coming with me today. Thank you so much. I know I was a mere stranger to you less than two weeks ago, and you’ve given me more than I asked for.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Livie, but please let me just say this one thing.”

She looks up at me with her pretty doe eyes, but before I can begin to tell her how I feel, we hear the door opening. We look to the side and see her mom standing there.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt, but do you think there’s anyway I can talk to Livie?” she asks. When I look at Livie, her eyes widen and she slowly shakes her head no.

She turns to look at her mom and a couple of seconds pass before she says, “You know what, Mom? No; if you have something to say, you can say it in front of Alex, considering you just embarrassed me in front of him, too.”

“Olivia, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I was just simply making a comment.”

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