Page 33 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

“It wasn’t bad at all. I got an education, and I didn’t have to go into debt to do it, so I can’t really complain. But every time I see a movie about campus life or hear one of my friends talk about how much fun they used to have with their roommates, I get a little sad. It’s a part of life I’ll never know, and I want Izzy to have it.”

Charlie nodded. It made a lot of sense, and he felt bad about the fact that he’d never thought of things in those terms before. Olivia had reassured him that it was understandable, but he still wished that her struggles had come into his thoughts without her needing to explain things to him. “You do a lot for your family,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s anything much,” Olivia countered. “I care about them. I don’t want my mom to have to work as hard as she does, and I want my sister to have all the best things in life. And, you know, we’ve been very lucky.”

“You have?” He wouldn’t have put her story in those terms.

“Of course,” she said. “Mom might have to work two jobs, but at least shehaswork. Not everyone does. We’ve never been hungry. We’ve always had a roof over our heads, new clothes when we needed them, computers for school. I was able to go to community college, and now I have a good job that pays for everythingIneed, and I have enough left over to help my mom and Izzy out. Anything on top of that is just gravy, right? It’s just that I want my sister to have some of the gravy.”

Charlie was humbled by her response. “I’ve never known someone so grateful for what they have,” he admitted. “It’s so different from the way my siblings are. They all have more than enough money to never work another day in their lives, and yet all they can think about is how upset it makes them that I got this house and they didn’t. They don’t need the money that would come from selling it, they just think it’s unfair that they won’t be getting it. I can’t imagine hearing any of them talk about how lucky they’ve been — and yet, they have so much more than your family does.”

“I think maybe it takes having struggled to really appreciate the things you have,” Olivia said. “I don’t know if I would appreciate it the way I do if I didn’t see how hard my mother works for it all. But I’m more than ready for her to be able to stop working so hard. She’s not young anymore. She deserves a rest.”

“It’s great that you want to give her that. I really admire that about you,” Charlie said. “I hadn’t realized that’s what you were doing all this for.”

“Does it change things?”

“It doesn’t change anything except the way I see the situation,” he said. “I just… I think of you differently now that I know this.”

“You really thought I was an opportunist before, didn’t you? That I was just grabbing at whatever I could in order to advance my career.”

“You make that sound so much worse than it is, though. I didn’t think any the less of you for it,” he told her earnestly. “I admired you for making the most of an opportunity, really. It’s the kind of thing I would have done, and I thought it was a good move for you. But now… well, that’s all still true, but also, I think you’re incredibly caring toward your family. I’m glad I know you.”

“That’s a really kind thing to say,” Olivia said softly.

“Yeah, well, I can be nice on occasion.”

She smiled. “You’re usually nice.”

“Not just a rich playboy?”

“Not only that, no.”

“Cheers.” He held up his wine glass, and she clinked hers against it.

They sat in silence for a few moments, sipping occasionally, neither one of them speaking. The silence was nice, Charlie thought. Usually, such a thing would have made him feel uncomfortable, and he would have felt the need to speak in order to fill it. But he didn’t feel like that now, with Olivia. He thought he could have sat quietly with her all day.

She was the one to finally break the silence. “Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“When this is all over, when we’ve ended the marriage, do you think that you and I will still talk sometimes?”

He looked at her, trying to read the expression on her face. Her eyes were wide, and she seemed earnest and hopeful.

“I’d like to,” he said.

“I’d like that too.”

“This might be a fake marriage, but I think it’s a real friendship,” he told her. “Which is… surprising. I didn’t expect that. But I feel like I can talk to you — more openly than I can with just about anybody else, if you want to know the truth.”

“I feel the same way,” she said. “I don’t know when I’ve ever confided in anyone about my worries for my family’s future. I always assume people won’t want to hear about that. That they’ll find it annoying or think that I complain too much.”

“I don’t think that.”

“I can tell you don’t,” she said. “And it means more than I can tell you to have someone I can talk to without feeling like a burden. I just never would have guessed that that person would be you.”

“Because I’m a rich playboy.”

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