Page 54 of Little Did You Know

Anthony's shoulders sagged. "I know." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "I didn't find out until too late, and I tried to find where he'd pawned it, but I couldn't find it."

"Why didn't you ever tell Olivia about Emmett?"

Anthony crossed to the window, his reflection fragmenting in the glass. "For the same reason you won't tell her when you get back to Florida." The corner of his mouth lifted in a hollow smile.

The truth of it hit like a physical blow, and I sank deeper into the chair. We'd both chosen silence to shield her. I started to speak, but he held up a hand.

"Every year, I told myself this would be it. This would be when Emmett pulled himself together." He gestured at the empty room, at all the years of waiting. "Still waiting."

The clock on the wall ticked between us, marking time like all the birthdays and holidays Emmett had missed.

"Can you stay for dinner? Liz would love to see you again." Anthony straightened a framed photo on the side table—him and Liz on their twentieth anniversary.

My hand was already reaching for my keys. "No, I want to get back to Olivia, but do give Liz my love."

Anthony's fingers drummed against his thigh. "Is she still having nightmares?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, the muscle tension there a constant reminder of interrupted sleep. "Yeah."

"I was hoping that would get better once she was out of New York."

"I had no idea it was as bad as it is." My hands found each other, knuckles white with tension. "Anthony, I don't know how to help, and it tears me apart to see her like that."

He leaned back, something knowing settling in the lines around his eyes. The look made me shift in my seat, shoulders tensing.

"What?"

"Nothing." Anthony's gaze skittered away from mine, finding sudden interest in a family photo on the wall.

I shifted forward in my chair, the leather creaking beneath me. "That didn't look like nothing. What is it?"

"If I didn't know any better..." Anthony tilted his head, studying me with the same careful attention he'd given to watching over Olivia all these years. "I'd say you're in love with her."

The words hit like ice water. My carefully constructed walls, my precise definitions of what Olivia meant to me—they all threatened to crumble. I did love Olivia, but I wasn’t in love with her. I wasn’t the fall in love type of man.

"That's not—" The denial died in my throat. Images flashed through my mind: her smile in the morning sun, the trust in her eyes when she fell asleep against me, the way my heart stopped every time she had a nightmare.

"You don't have to answer," Anthony whispered. "Just... don't wait nine more years to come back."

We said our goodbyes, and I headed to the airport.

The drive to the airport was a blur. Every mile put more distance between me and Anthony's knowing look, but brought me closer to Olivia. And that thought alone told me more than I was ready to face.

Each step up the airport terminal felt like wading through wet cement. My shoulders sagged under the weight of everything I'd learned, everything I couldn't tell her. All I could think about was the way Olivia's breathing always steadied when I held her, how her nightmares seemed to loosen their grip when she wasn't alone. But more than anything, how much I needed to hold her right now. I'd be home soon.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jackson was waiting for me when my plane landed to escort me home. I relaxed into the leather seats before asking Jackson, "Did you take Olivia home after work?"

"No, sir. She's with Hannah this evening."

"Where?"

"I don't know. They didn't say."

My phone buzzed as we pulled away from the airport—one new message.

Justin: Heading to Lucky's for a drink. Meet us there.

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