Page 79 of Texting, Trouble & Touchdowns
Lucian Crawford shared a playlist: “Hot Girl Walks and Emotional Damage”
Olivia: . . . I’m afraid to open this. Is it radioactive?
Lucian: You’ll love it. Starts with Beyoncé and ends with a surprise acoustic cover that’ll make you question your entire personality.
Olivia: If you slipped Little Big Town in, I swear . . .
Lucian: Relax. I have taste. Mostly. Don’t listen to track seven unless you want to feel like you’re in a rainy breakup montage.
Olivia: Fine. I’ll listen to it on Sarah’s afternoon walk. But if she starts crying again and I end up in my feelings next to a fire hydrant, it’s on you.
Lucian: If you cry in public, take a selfie. I’ll add it to the album. Also, tell her I miss her.
Olivia: She knows. She wrote you a letter this morning.
Lucian: What?
Olivia: [Image: A piece of paper with a paw print in the corner and a chewed pen. Captioned:] Dad: I still smell you in the couch cushions. Come back to me. The woman you left me with complains that I chew her socks. She also sings off-key in the kitchen. I am unwell.
—Sincerely, Sarah (Dictated but not read)
Lucian: :crying emoji:
Lucian: You’re not okay.
Olivia: Neither is your daughter. She also included a P.S.
Olivia: [Second image: Close-up of Sarah lying dramatically on her back, tongue out. Caption:] P.S. The birds outside mock me. I bark, but they do not listen.
Lucian: I am losing it.
Lucian: Please make this a series. I want daily letters from her grief spiral.
Olivia: She’s very literary when she’s miserable.
Lucian: Clearly. Tell her I still love her and I’ll be home soon. Tell the woman with the sock issues I said thanks for walking my girl and not abandoning her in a field.
Olivia: She says she forgives you. Also, you owe her a heated blanket, several pairs of socks for her collection, and at least three apology biscuits.
Lucian: Done. And tell her to stay out of my closet. She’s been wearing my hoodie in every picture.
Olivia: It’s emotional support fashion. Let her live.
Lucian: Unreal. I’m gone for a few days and you have turned my dog into an influencer mascot.
Olivia: Correction: She’s the influencer. I’m just her assistant.
Lucian: And her emotional support human.
Olivia: Unfortunately.
Lucian: You love her.
Olivia: Don’t tell her. It’ll go to her head.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Olivia
