Page 4 of No More Words

“No!” She sulks. She loves that perfume, and it’s not cheap.

Blaze starts to pick up the glass shards.

“Leave it,” she barks, more upset with herself than with him. How could she have been so gullible? He cheated on her with Macey Brown, of all people.

If it weren’t for Macey, Olivia wouldn’t have broken up with Blaze. She wouldn’t have met Ethan.

And Lily wouldn’t have run away.

“Whoa, Liv. Chill.” He holds up a hand. “Just getting my shoe.” He slowly bends over, his gaze locked on Olivia as if she’s a wild animal ready to pounce. He picks up the PUMA and tucks the shoe under his arm.

“Let me explain,” he begs not for the first time, standing to his full height.

“Please don’t.” She retreats into the walk-in closet. The other shoe has to be in here somewhere. She nudges her own shoes with her foot and pulls designer handbags off the shelf, leaving them in a heap on the floor. There isn’t any logic behind her search, but right now she isn’t thinking logically. She wants him to leave, and he won’t go anywhere until she finds the cherished mate to his favorite pair of sneakers. But the shoe, like its namesake, remains elusive.

“Liv ... Liv ...Olivia.”

“I’m looking. Damn.” She moves aside the laundry basket and returns to the room. “I can’t find—”

Blaze holds up the second shoe. “It was under the bed. Hey, baby.” He crosses the room to her. “I—”

“Don’t ‘baby’ me.” She wags a finger. “Macey Brown? Really?” When Macey’s name flashed on Blaze’s phone, Olivia felt like she’d been tackled from behind while at a full sprint. It knocked the wind from her, leaving her gasping as decades of old hurt and sorrow flooded her lungs.

“It wasn’t me. It was Shane.”

Does he take her for a fool?

“Not buying it. We are over.”

“The hell, Liv.” He looks thoroughly bewildered.

She leaves the room that’s starting to smell like a perfumery—and memories of another relationship that soured long before its expiration date. Ethan had gifted her a bottle of Jimmy Choo her first birthdayafter they started dating. She’s been attached to the scent ever since, unable to let it go, like the memory of the way they parted.

Blaze follows her into the hallway toward the front of the house, his step heavy and purposeful behind her. “Shane borrowed my phone last night. How was I supposed to know the asshole would stuff it down his pants?”

Ew.Her face twists. Spare her the visual.

“Not one text mentions they came from Shane. Macey thinks they came from you, that it’s you in the photo. From where I’m standing, you sent Macey a picture of your—”

“It’s. Not. Mine. Shane borrowed my phone to make a call. And text his dick.” He grumbles the last bit.

“Then you should have told Shane to make it clear it wasn’t yours.” And she shouldn’t have thought dating Blaze again would be anything less than complicated, not when they had too much history. What’s the saying, evade the flame else you’ll get singed? She avoids entanglements for a reason. They hurt. No, they burn.

“I didn’t know about it until you called me.”

“Why is Macey even a contact on your phone?”

“It’s from eons ago.”

An object in the front room catches her eye. She veers into the room, her attention on the entertainment system. Blaze dogs her heels.

“She plugged her info in at our ten-year reunion. I never deleted it. I should have. I’m sorry.”

Olivia missed that event. She can blame work or living out of the area. She was in San Francisco at the time. But the truth is, she didn’t want to run into Ethan. To see him and Blaze in the same room? It would be like holding up a mirror to her past mistakes. If she hadn’t allowed Ethan into her life, her little sister would still be in it.

Later she learned that he, too, was a reunion no-show.

“Give me some slack here, Livy. That was years ago. You and I weren’t even dating.”

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