Page 2 of Tempting Promises
Olivia goes back to reading, circling another steer. Clearly, she’s not going to give this up or she just really wants to use the paddle.
I turn my attention back to the group of beautiful women over in the corner who keep looking my way. I wink at one, who smiles and then dips her head a little.
From behind me, I hear a voice that instantly makes me want to leave. “If it isn’t the bane of my existence.”
I turn, coming face to face with the one woman in Sugarloaf I can’t stand. “If it isn’t Charlotte Sullivan. My favorite person in the whole world.”
Olivia shifts as well, smiling and waving energetically at her.
Charlotte waves back. “Will you interpret for me?”
I nod. “Can’t promise I won’t ad-lib.”
The sigh that comes from her says she expects that from me. I am the villain in her story. At least she knows that Olivia can read lips and, if I do sign something mean, she has a chance of knowing the truth. “Hi, Olivia, are you having fun?” Charlotte asks.
I translate. Olivia nods.
“She said yes,” I say to Charlotte, who rolls her eyes.
“Tell her I really love her hair.”
I translate incorrectly. “She said you took her chair.”
Olivia jerks back. “I’m sorry.”
This is really fucking fun. I look to Charlotte. “She said she’s sorry.”
Now it’s time to see the confusion on her face. “Oh. Okay.”
I fill her in. “I might have told her you saidsomething else. Might.”
Charlotte’s green eyes narrow and she lets out a heavy breath through her nose. “God, you’re so immature.”
I lift my hands to sign to Olivia. “God, I love the smell of manure.”
Liv looks to Charlotte, then to me, and then back to Charlotte before shrugging.
“She’s not sure she agrees,” I tell Charlotte.
“Thanks, genius.”
I turn to Liv. “She thinks I’m a genius.”
Olivia’s shoulders shake with laughter. “She does not.”
“She does.”
“She didn’t mean it. We all know Charlotte doesn’t like you.”
“What did she say?” Charlotte asks.
I sign and speak aloud so they both know my answer. “Olivia said she doesn’t like you because you are mean to me.”
Olivia shakes her head quickly. “That’s not what I said.”
“Fine,” I say to them both.“She didn’t say that. She said that she knows you don’t like me.”
“She would be correct,” Charlotte says slowly.
