Page 63 of All the Right Words
‘I can’t see Brenda’s book failing if that’s what you mean. But I mean, I hope you have other books coming out?’ Harper asked.
‘Of course we do. But, not to be crass, Brenda’s the cash cow. It’s mostly been on her. Thank God you got her there with this one.’
‘I can’t take that much credit. A lot of it was…’ Harper paused with Gina’s name in her throat. She suddenly remembered what she was supposed to be doing right now before she’d gotten sidetracked by all this allergy business. She’d let herself get caught up in the mystery. But what did it matter? It wouldn’t be her business soon enough.
‘You know what, we should get some champagne,’ Olivia said, excited. ‘You’re right. Tonight was a success.’ She saw the waitress passing. ‘Hey, could we have a bottle of champagne?’ The waitress nodded and went to fetch it. Harper felt trapped. The champagne was about to come, and when it came, it would be popped, poured, glasses would be clinked, and they would officially be celebrating. Once they got past that point, there was no way Harper would feel able to dish out the bad news. She had to do it now.
‘Olivia, I need to talk to you about something,’ she said in the appropriate tone.
‘Sure, what’s up?’ Olivia said breezily. The woman honestly couldn’t read her tone for shit.
‘I’m er…’ Harper spotted the waitress coming out of a door with the bottle, and she sped up. ‘I just think that maybe it’s not a good time…’
The waitress crept ever closer with the bubbles.
‘Good time for what?’ Olivia asked, confused.
The waitress drew level.
‘I don’t think I can date you!’ Harper spat.
The waitress’s eyes widened, and she sped up, walked right past the table, lapped her way around the restaurant and went right back into the kitchen with the bottle.
Olivia was stunned. ‘What?! You don’t… You don’t want to do this? But I thought… I thought we were… I thought we worked. I thought we connected.’
‘Yes, I… I mean, we did. But I think that has to be as friends,’ Harper said, disgusted at her own words. Was she really going the friends route? She’d been broken up with like this and found it cowardly and dishonest. But it was the most amicable way she could think to say this in a desperate moment. She supposed there was a reason it was a classic.
‘But, but… I…’ Olivia said, looking shell-shocked. ‘What did I do? Didn’t I do it right with you? Because I tried. I reallytried. You wouldn’t believe the lengths I went to for you.’
‘What do you mean?’ Harper asked.
Olivia swallowed and glanced away. ‘I mean, I just had to work through some stuff and learn how to… I was trying to work on myself. That’s what I mean. To be better for you.’
Harper sighed. ‘Yes, I know. I appreciated it. More than you know.’
‘Not enough, apparently,’ Olivia snapped. ‘You’ve led me a merry bloody dance. Blowing hot and cold, making me chase you, work for it. And it was fornothing.’
‘I wasn’t doing any of that intentionally. I wasn’t sure how I felt. I tried to be honest about that,’ Harper said with a lump in her throat.
‘But… I thought you liked me.’
Jesus, this was hard. But Harper knew it should be. ‘I did. I do. I’m sorry. I just think we’re not a good fit.’ That was a lie. Harper had thought theymightfit. Until she was fitting her mouth onto Gina’s.
‘I don’t understand what went wrong. I mean, what even changed…’ Olivia’s voice trailed away, and she narrowed her eyes. ‘Did you… Did you meet someone else?’
Harper should have seen that question coming. But somehow, it had surprised her. ‘No,’ Harper replied, but her eyes flicked away. Olivia chose that moment to become observant. ‘Good Christ. Youhave. You’ve met someone else. You could havewarnedme that you were still dating. It would have been nice to know.’
Harper couldn’t help but be incensed at that accusation. ‘I’m not, though. I wasn’t. I’m not dating anyone.’
‘How the hell did that happen if you weren’t dating anyone? Answer me that!’ Olivia said, and now she was becoming quite angry. And a little bit frightening. Harper had forgotten there was this side of Olivia. The powerhouse who commanded rooms. Who saved companies from going under. Who could shift the world with her will. The other side to that was someone who did not deal well with rejection. And that side was coming right at her. ‘So who is this person? You owe me that much.’
‘I never said there was anyone else,’ Harper lied weakly.
‘Don’t treat me like an idiot, Harper. I’m a lot of things but I don’t think I’m that.’
‘I know,’ Harper said truthfully. But she couldn’t tell her. She simply had to bear through this uncomfortable situation and take every bullet Olivia had to fire. ‘But please understand that I’m not ending this to be with anyone else. Seriously.’ That was true. She wasn’t going to end up with Gina.
Olivia blew out through her nose like a bull about to charge. ‘So you’re just ending it for no reason. I just suck?’
