Page 96 of 7 Days and 7 Nights

“Were you googling new diets?” Olivia sniffed suspiciously. “Do I need to do a McMuffin search?”

“I’m clean, boss. Really. No back-sliding for me.” Diane slid the laptop away from the edge of the desk, never breaking eye contact.

“So what are you hiding?”

Di swallowed. “Nothing… I was just looking at Facebook"

Olivia narrowed her eyes. “It’s nothing you want to see. Believe me.”

That could mean only one thing. Olivia shook her head ruefully “Diane you do not have a poker face. Just tell me. Who’d he go out with this time?” Her tone was carefully nonchalant, but her stomach was clenched against the blow.

Diane re-opened the laptop and turned it toward her boss.

Olivia leaned in, using the trackpad to scroll. “Oh, good, another picture.”

Together they studied the candid shot of radio personality Matt Ransom “out on the town” with Chicago anchorwoman MaryAnn Hightower. Even shot through a restaurant window, Olivia noticed, Matt looked like an advertisement for tall, dark, and handsome. His companion, an angular blonde with perfectly styled hair, had the kind of cheekbones that belonged on the cover ofVogue.

Two days ago it was an instragram photo of Matt sandwiched between twin brunettes and the day before that a selfie taken by a stunning redhead with her face pressed close to Matt’s and a twinkle in her eye. There seemed to be new pictures of Matt with women on social media every day since the remote and in every one of them he looked happy as a clam.

Olivia could hardly believe how much it hurt. Every post, every picture that she shrugged off in public tore its own little piece of flesh. She’d taken so many direct hits that if she were a submarine, she’d be lying at the bottom of the ocean right now. And the more she shrugged off Matt’s actions, the more frenzied his social life became—not exactly a healthy scenario for any of the parties involved.

“How many tall, beautiful, professional women do you think there are in Chicago, Olivia?”

“I don’t know,” Olivia responded. “Millions—and it looks like Matt intends to date them all.”

She kept her tone flip because admitting to the hurt would only make her an object of pity. But the time had come to end the psychological dance she and Matt had been doing.

As much as she wanted to believe Matt could deal with his baggage and come out the other side, her experience, both professional and personal, told her just how wishful that kind of thinking was. The time had come for her to cut Matt loose—not just on the outside, but deep down inside where he’d taken hold and wouldn’t let go.

???

Giarielli’s was mobbed. Customers stood three deep at the bar and elbow to elbow in the entrance. Those unlucky enough to be without reservations did their waiting out on the sidewalk.

Matt let the maitre d’ escort his date to their booth while he went in search of his sister. He found her busing a just-vacated table.

“Wow. I’ve never seen it like this. What happened?”

“You did.” Sandra shouted to be heard above the crowd. “Toss me a dishcloth, will you?”

Matt did as she asked, squeezing by a rowdy party of six to reach the other side of the table she was turning.

“That Facebook post yesterday with you and that woman from Channel 7 had the restaurant tagged in it. It apparently got a lot of local views and tons of comments because the phone’s been ringing off the hook since we opened.”

“So, I guess you owe me.”

“You’re right. And because I’m so grateful, I’m going to give you some free advice.”

“Oh, now there’s a change.”

“Cut the shit, Matt. You’re going too far and you’re taking too long. If you keep waving women under her nose, the good doctor is going to write you off.”

He broke eye contact with his sister to watch his date accept the glass of wine he’d had sent to their table. Like the others, she was beautiful and entertaining. She didn’t have Olivia’s keen intelligence or her sincerity, and she didn’t listen with the same kind of intensity, but then, who did?

She accepted him at face value and had no interest in turning him inside out and forcing him to grow as a human being. Being with her and the others was easy, restful… and surprisingly shallow and unsatisfying.

Matt frowned. “You don’t really think Olivia has any interest in hearing from me at this point, do you?" he asked.

Sandra stopped shoving chairs into place. “That’s it, isn’t it? You want to scare her off. This whole public date-athon is your pathetic attempt to get out of having a serious relationship.”

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