Page 55 of The Santa Swap

Luke turned to Olivia to convey the message. Olivia was watching him, her eyes wide. His phone battery was at ten percent. “Are you going to be okay if I turn off the flashlight?”

She nodded, but her face told a different story. Luke turned his flashlight off and gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light that remained. Then he reached for the bags of flowers. “They said it might take a little while, so let’s get these off your arms.”

Olivia nodded, lifting her arms obediently. She was moving like a robot, devoid of any emotion.

Once the bags were set to the side of the elevator, Olivia began to tremble. Luke sat down next to the wall, pulling Olivia down beside him. He wrapped his arm around her. As much as he wanted to believe her shaking was because she was so close to him, he knew better than that. She was terrified.

There wasn’t much Luke could do. He couldn’t make the elevator start moving any more than he could fix the power outage. Instead, he smoothed Olivia’s hair from off her face, rubbing his hand down her back.

“We’re okay. I’m here. We’re okay.” The words were almost a chant. Luke was desperate to calm Olivia’s terror but he didn’t know how. When her breathing began to steady, Luke began to speak.

“Did you know that this isn’t the first time I’ve been trapped in an elevator.”

“Don’t say that,” Olivia said. “Getting trapped in elevators is something that happens on movies and tv shows. Not in real life.”

Olivia’s hair was silky under Luke’s hand. He continued to stroke it. “What happens in almost every movie?”

Olivia sniffed. “They plummet to their deaths?”

Luke nudged her side. “No. In most of the shows, they wait around until some maintenance worker or the firemen comes to help. The only people who plummet to their deaths in movies are the bad guys. Have you been being particularly evil lately?”

“Not that I can think of.” Olivia’s shoulders began to shake with nervous laughter. “I did swear at a cat the other day, but that was because it ran in front of my car so quickly, I had to swerve to avoid hurting it.”

“Your wicked activities include saving a cat?”

“Yeah.”

Luke rubbed her back. “I think you’re good. I haven’t started embezzling money from the company or robbing banks, so I think I’m on the good list, too.”

Olivia was relaxing, her body leaning into Luke’s touch. He kept his voice light. “I’m sure they will get to us before too long.”

“How long were you stuck last time this happened to you?”

“It only happened one other time. My brother and I were much younger. We were in a big fight, that my parents couldn’t stop no matter what they said. When we got on the elevator, we had a scuffle to see who could push the button. James got there first and I was not amused. The elevator had started moving when I pushed him. Seconds later, it stopped between floors.”

“What did you do?” Olivia was leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Pretty much exactly the same thing as I just did. My dad pulled out the phone and called the building manager. Someone came to let us out about ten minutes later.”

“So, no plunging to your deaths in a fiery blaze of screeching metal?”

“Nope.” Luke shifted his hips so Olivia could snuggle in better. “Do you want to know the funniest part?”

“Yes, please.”

“For years I was convinced that the elevator had stopped because I pushed James. Somehow, in my young mind, I knew I was strong enough to actually stop an elevator because I had shoved my brother into a wall.”

Olivia’s laughter was shaky, but she was smiling. “I knew you liked to work out, but this is next level strength.”

Luke glanced at his watch. They hadn’t been trapped for long, but time ran differently in the elevator. Olivia’s breathing was steady now. He wasn’t sure how much longer she’d want to stay snuggled next to his side, so he leaned his head back, enjoying the feel of her soft hair beneath his hands.

He thought about what he had told Susan. He had dated enough women in his life to know that the feelings he had for Olivia weren’t normal for him. She was something special.

As Luke expected, a minute later Olivia straightened up. “Thanks for helping to calm me down.”

She moved over so there was a gap between them. “I’m not usually super claustrophobic, but being stuck in an elevator isn’t high on my list of things I like to do. It’s being in the metal box with nowhere to go that bothers me.” She shook her body like there were spiders climbing all over it. “Gross.”

Even scared, Olivia was trying to put on a brave face. Luke wasn’t able to put his arm around her, but he could still talk to her. “You said you wanted to talk about things later. I don’t know about you, but I’m not planning on going anywhere any time soon.”

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