Page 44 of Reckless Intentions
Chapter Twenty-Two
The sofa had become Olivia’s world. Since Brody had left, she’d barely moved, only leaving to answer the door to various delivery men or to use the bathroom. The area around it was covered in junk: half-eaten takeaways, packaging, empty bottles.
It was a most un-Olivia state of being.
She hadn’t been in to work for three days, and had barely even opened her laptop, choosing instead to watch magazine programmes and quiz shows until she drifted off into slumber. When she did sleep, it was fitful and disturbed. Her dreams were clouded with Brody and Nic. Often when she awoke she was covered in sweat or had tears running down her face.
If she analysed it, the break-up with Brody appeared to have hit her harder than the one from Nic. Or maybe it was a delayed reaction. Either way, she knew it hurt and the ache in her heart was real.
The intercom buzzed, and Olivia automatically went to the door and pushed the button to allow the delivery man in. She couldn’t remember what was being dispatched this time, probably more wine, maybe some ready meals. When there was another knock, she went to the entrance and opened it, not caring what she looked like.
“Christ, Olivia, what the hell happened to you?”
Caro pushed past her into the hallway, before she had a chance to shut her out. She followed her friend back into the living room, seeing the wreckage that was once her smart home as if through Caro’s eyes and winced.
“I’ve been calling you, why didn’t you answer?” Caro cleared a space on the sofa and sat down, wrinkling her nose at the mess.
Olivia sank down beside her. She hadn’t been able to put into words how she felt, which was why she felt she couldn’t speak to anyone. Having realised that she was more upset about a short-term fling with some she’d met on holiday, versus someone she’d been in a serious relationship with for years, seemed stupid. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about Nic—she had, for a long time—but the intensity of everything with Brody had been all consuming and she had fallen hard, and fast.
“Is this about Brody?” Caro, as ever, knew her so well.
The tears started coming as Olivia finally began to speak.
“I know it’s crazy to be this cut up about it. Plus, I don’t want you to think badly of me because Nic’s your friend too.”
Caro wrapped her arms around Olivia. “You’ll always be my friend first, never mind any guys who might be around, no matter who they are. You and Nic were coming to an end. I could see that. When you said you were moving in together, I have to admit that I was sceptical.”
“Then why didn’t you say something at the time?” Olivia pulled away. “You could have saved me three months of pain. Did Nic talk to you?”
“You had to make your own decisions. And no, Nic didn’t say anything at all.”
“Have you said anything to Brody?”
“Aside from the fact that I’ll kill him if he doesn’t deliver The Roca Bar on time, I haven’t mentioned anything about you at all. It’s not really my business.”
“Oh.” Olivia found she was disappointed. She had hoped that perhaps Caro might have spoken to Brody, told him how upset she was and smoothed the way for a reconciliation.
“What I will say now though, is that the two of you need to sort things out.”
“How am I going to do that? I don’t want to speak to him on the phone.”
“There’s a final round of checks that need to be made on the bar. I was going to do them, but I think your need is greater. So, I’ve taken the liberty of booking you a flight, and obviously you can stay in the apartment. It leaves tonight.”
Olivia’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe that Caro would do that for her.
“What if he doesn’t feel the same way?”
“And what if you don’t get to find out? You stay here thinking that he doesn’t care about you when he does. You’ll die alone, surrounded by pizza boxes and cheap Pinot Grigio…”
Despite herself, Olivia giggled. Her behaviour recently had been out of character, so why didn’t she really push herself and do this?
“Can you help me tidy up before I go?”
The familiarity of Caro’s apartment went some way to calming Olivia’s nerves. She had arrived late the previous evening and tumbled in to bed, sleeping a long, dreamless sleep for the first time in a few nights. It was after ten when she awoke and wondered where she was for a few moments.
Sitting up in bed, she ran a hand through her hair, which was greasy and lank, there hadn’t been time to wash it before leaving North Ridge. She didn’t want Brody to see her at her worst. A fresh sense of purpose ran through her and she threw the covers off.
A long shower, washing and conditioning her hair, made her feel better. She moisturised her skin with a light, flowery scented body lotion, and applied natural make-up. A couple of outfits hung in the wardrobe for her to choose from. One was short, sexy, flirty and the other more restrained, a simple maxi dress, that could be considered a little more business-like. Given that everything was out of character for her, she selected the sexy one. Then she scrubbed off her original choice of cosmetics and started again, finishing off with the dark red lipstick she had worn on their first dinner date.
