Page 51 of Love Off-Limits
“Yes, ma’am. My great-grandfather immigrated from a village outside of Venice in 1923.”
“And your mother’s family?”
“Mom,” Olivia said through gritted teeth.
“What? I’m just getting to know him.”
“By asking for his family tree?”
My smile stretched wider. They reminded me of my mom and Darcy. “My mama’s family has lived in South Carolina for as long as it’s been South Carolina.”
“Goodness. Well that explains how you sound. I’ve never met an Italian with a Southern accent.” She looked at Penelope. “How would you feel about meeting your grandpa, huh? You want to meet grouchy Ray? I bet you might make him smile.”
“Dad’s here?” Olivia asked.
“Sure. On the couch in the other room reading one of those Louis L’Amour novels he loves. Are you up for seeing him? He’s been in a terrible mood since his fall. Though I suspect Penelope will cheer him right up.”
“I’m up for small talk and shallow conversation,” Olivia hedged, a warning note to her voice. “But nothing more than that.”
Her mom frowned. “I’m beginning to regret telling you not to bring it up.”
“No, you don’t. His focus right now should be his recovery. You made the right call.”
“But at what cost? I don’t like seeing you like this. And eventually, he’s going to notice you’re keeping yourself apart. He’ll feel the distance you’re creating.”
Olivia scoffed. “Hecreated the distance, Mom. He chose Perry. What else would you have me do here? I won’t pretend like it didn’t hurt. Honestly, you’re lucky I haven’t left the farm altogether.” Olivia met my gaze and lifted her shoulders as if to apologize for the family drama.
“Well, don’t be going and doing something rash like that,” Mrs. Hawthorne said. “We need you here, Liv. You know we do.”
Olivia sighed and smiled at her mom, but the expression seemed more sad than happy. “I know you think so, Mom. And I know some part of Dad thinks so too. But don’t ask me to pretend like this isn’t hard.”
Mrs. Hawthorne nodded. “I know it’s hard, sugar. All of this is.”
Olivia shifted her gaze to me. “Areyouup for saying hello?”
I nodded and followed them down the hall, feeling surprisingly little trepidation.
It wasn’t how I’d expected to spend my Saturday, but watching the emotions play across Olivia’s face as she talked to her mom, I realized with crystal-clear certainty, there wasn’t anywhere else I’d rather be.
Something about the farm was making Olivia sad, and all I could think about was what I might do to make her happy again. That had to mean something—that I wanted it to be my arms that held her through the hard parts.
But I also wanted to be the person she called when she heard something funny and just couldn’t wait to share it. I wanted to be the first person to hear her new favorite song. The first person she asked for advice.
Strange, when we’d spent so little time together. But that was just it. It didn’t feel strange. It feltright.
Of course, I wanted to get to know her better. To understand what made her tick. But at this point, that all just felt like gravy.
Because I couldn’t imagine learning anything that would change my mind.
Chapter Fifteen
Olivia
Truly, there wasn’t anyone who had a bigger heart than my cantankerous father. But I could kick him in the shins for grilling Tyler as hard as he did.
While Tyler handled another volley of questions about what he planned to do after his summer at Stonebrook, I motioned for Mom to follow me into the kitchen.
“What did you tell him?” I asked her, my eyes wide, my arms crossed over my chest.
