Page 54 of Sweet Silver Bells
“This was plenty awkward,” Sadie said, turning around, hands in her jacket pockets as she walked off toward her car parked on the curb.
15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
“Who is this?” Olivia demanded the next morning.
Something sharp poked his chin, so Hunter forced his eyes open, his body sore from another night on the couch. A lone bird was chirping as the light flooded the house. It was early, far too early.
Olivia stood over him, wearing his oversized clothes again, with a framed photo in her hand. It was another photo of Sarah, in her wedding dress, arm in arm with Hunter, carrying a bouquet of red roses. They were both smiling, happy, in love, and safe.
“Where did you find that?” he asked, sitting up, taking it from her, and running his fingers over Sarah’s face. It was the opposite of Olivia’s; there was no mystery there, no hollowness, only proof of a thriving life. She had brought so much of that life to him.
“It was behind some boxes in the back of your closet. Is that her? Your wife?”
Hunter looked up into Olivia’s face. There was an eagerness there for this discussion. Although he wasn’t entirely ready, he might as well try.
“She died three years ago this coming May,” he said. “She was a scientist working with food preservatives. The chemical she worked with sucked all the oxygen out of the room, and three others died with her.”
Hunter let himself live in the silence that grew between them, the both of them processing a life he’d lived that Olivia would never know.
“She was the love of my life, Olivia. I never could express the pain that I have been dealing with. It’s as if my heart had gone missing. I loved her. I loved her more than I’ve loved anything, anyone. When she died, I died too.”
Olivia nodded. “When I was young, I hoped to marry a man who could speak so romantically. To be his sun.”
Hunter smiled softly and took the frame out of Olivia’s hands, setting it beside him on the couch. “You are no sun, Olivia.”
She frowned, chin down. His words had hurt her. She started to pull away.
“Let me finish,” he said, his gentle grip tightening, finding bravery in their new, fragile relationship. “You are the moon, you are the stars, a candle aflame. The only light is when darkness wraps itself around you. You are a cool breeze on my face, reminding me that I am here and alive and can keep living.”
Olivia’s hands went limp in his. She raised her chin, her eyes gleaming from held-back tears.
“I’m sorry, Olivia, I’m broken. But I am trying to heal. I really am trying. Maybe it's all for you.”
“I’m broken, too,” she said. “And maybe your words, your song can mend me.”
“My song?”
“Thank you,” she said before grabbing the frame from the couch. “I can go put this back. It just seemed so hidden, so lonely. It made me sad for her.”
“Like I was sad to hear that you hid away in a tree.”
Olivia nodded.
Hunter stood. “How about I make some coffee? We’ve got a big night tonight. Are you sure you want to go? You don’t have to. My colleagues' peer pressure isn’t serious.”
“I’ll go,” she said with a sad smile. “I’ve never been to a holiday market before.”
“I’ll see if we can get you some more clothes,” he said, walking over to the kitchen, swiping his phone off the counter, and texting his mom. Before he could grab the kettle off the gas stove, his phone dinged, a reply back on his unlocked home screen.
Mom 6:33 am:
I WOULD LOVE TO.
The oven squeaked as Hunter opened it. Decorative oven mitts covered his hands, and he pulled out a hot sheet pan with the only gourmet single-guy meal he had the ingredients stocked to make.
Olivia had been zipping around the house, humming to the poinsettias and mistletoe, making them all grow before Hunter’s eyes, their colors and brilliance illuminating like expensive fake house plants he remembered seeing at open houses.
