Page 73 of Sweet Escape
An impressive string of something adjacent to curses reaches my ears, and I step around the corner to find an incensed Olivia scrubbing furiously at the inside of the already pristine microwave. She has her headphones in, so she must not hear me approach. Her cheeks are flushed, and her hair is thrown up into a haphazard bun on the top of her head, so artfully disheveled.
The countertops are strewn with every dish and plate imaginable, cupboard doors thrown open, and the contents emptied onto the surface below.
Not wanting to interrupt whatever it is I’ve walked in on, I take up residence in the doorway, arms crossed over my chest as I settle in to watch the show. She’s been tiptoeing around this house,trying to make herself as small as possible. To see her this way, beautifully unbound, is a sight to behold.
She whirls around, tossing the sponge into the sink. Bubbles and water slosh over the sides on contact, soaking her shirt.
“Mother sucker!” She jumps back, the thin fabric of her loose crop top soaked through, her slightly more rounded belly hanging out the bottom. With a resigned sigh, she leans her elbows on the counter and rests her head in her hands, squeezing her eyes shut.
I slink up beside her, pressing pause on her playlist. “I think the word you’re looking for is motherfucker.”
She startles at the sound of my voice, grasping the handle of a whisk, wielding it in what can only be described as the world’s worst attempt at self-defense.
“Woah there, Cupcake. Stand down. You plannin’ to stir me to death?”
“Laugh it up, funny guy. You scared the sh–oot out of me,” she says, pointing it directly in my face this time.
“Why are we censoring ourselves?” I ask.
“I’m trying to get my swearing under control before the baby gets here, and because I’m going to be spending a lot of time around Emmy.”
“Hate to break it to you, but Emmy Lou is around a whole lotta creative cussing as it is between me and my brothers, and the rest of the hooligans around here. So, you might as well say what you mean, and we’ll deal with the consequences later.”
“You’re okay with your kids swearing like sailors?”
“Why not? You do it. I do it. As long as they’re not offending anyone in public, I think we have bigger fish to fry.”
She looks contemplative for a moment, then shrugs, returning to the pile of dishes on the counter.
“Liv. Is there something you wanna talk about?”
She blows out a long breath through her nose, her tongue pressing into her cheek.
“Did I do something to upset you?”
“They’re engaged,” she says, tossing the whisk into the sudsy sink.
My brow furrows.
“Jake and Amber. He asked her to marry him at Red Rocks. I gave that man three years of my life with nothing to show for it, and he took my best friend, too. I did everything right and none of it fucking mattered.” She wipes her damp hands on a dish towel. “I don’t even want him anymore, I couldn’t care less about that piece of shit, but it’s like my heart is grieving the life I left behind. The bakery, all the plans we made.”
The anger gives way to sadness as a single tear slides down her cheek. I’m at her side in seconds, lifting her onto the kitchen island. I push her legs apart and step between them, sliding my hands up her thighs just below the hem of her sleep shorts. “They don’t deserve any more of your energy. Not another fucking tear, Liv.”
We’re face to face like this, her perfect pink lips parted, nipples pebbled beneath her damp shirt. All it would take is for one of us to lean in and close the distance. My thumbs dig into her flesh as I fight an internal battle with myself. I want her so fucking badly, but not like this. Not when she’s been thinking about him.
“He never deserved you,” I say. “You have to know that.”
“I don’t understand why I wasn’t enough for him. Or maybe… maybe I was too much.” The uncertainty in her voice sets my teeth on edge. I wish she could see herself through my eyes—this force of nature, this kind soul, the mother of my child.
Have I not done enough to show her just how incredible she is? I scarcely remember what it’s like to care for someone other than Emmy, but she makes me want to try, and that’s a miracle in and of itself. Olivia is changing us for the better, and she doesn’t even know it.
“If he wasn’t man enough to handle a woman like you, that’s his problem, not yours. You’re beautiful, Olivia, inside and out. You deserve the fucking world. You deserve to be worshipped, every goddamn inch of you.”
“Show me.”
“Liv…”
“I don’t want to think about them anymore. Please.”
