Page 33 of The Ruthless and the Strong

I hadn’t realized I was frowning until now. I shook my head and tugged on her brown hair. “Nothing, Olive. Just thinking.”

“You must be thinking really hard about something for you to look like that. Is there anything I can do to help?”

I shook my head. “Just being your wonderful sunshiny self helps a lot.”

That was the truth. I wouldn’t ever burden her with my troubles, but being near her had helped me overcome some of the darkest moments of my life. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, though she was smiling.

I started the car and opened the garage door, pulling out to the bright outside. Spring was well on its way, and I was glad we were finally getting over those depressing, dark, and cold winter months.

I drove us to her favorite restaurant for a late breakfast, a nice little bistro located just outside the city, not far from where we lived.

It wasn’t that long of a drive, and I was content to silently listen to Olivia telling me a funny story about work, and to Emma’s every-once-in-a-while babble when she ran out of things to distract her.

By the time we got there and I’d parked to get out, Emma was feeling a little flustered from being trapped in the car for a full twenty minutes. I carried a wiggling Emma and held her tightly against my chest while Olivia grabbed her big bag filled with things Emma might need every time she left the house.

We walked inside the bistro, and I was happy to note it wasn’t as busy as normal. We got seated right away and I placed Emma next to me, with a small booster for her.

Olivia watched. “You’re so good with her,” she said softly. “Not that I’m surprised. You were really good with me.”

“Well, you were a pretty easy kid. And Emma might be a little bit wilder than you, but she’s still good.”

She smiled at that. “I always thought you would make a good father one day.”

I didn’t miss the meaning behind her words. I wondered how much Lizzie had told her about us. Hell, at this point, I wasn’t even sure if there was even an “us” with Lizzie and me. She had run out pretty quickly after our kiss yesterday.

I hadn’t missed the tears or the heartbreak in her eyes. It seemed I was always hurting her. It only confirmed my belief that I wasn’t good for Lizzie. I wasn’t good for Hunter. If I was a better man, I might stay away from them. I should.

If only I knew how.

“I’m happy with the way things are going now,” I told Olivia, because I knew what she was getting at. And I was happy—or, at the very least, I was content. Or I had been. I had a pretty good job going, and a group of people I held close.

Now that Lizzie was back, there was an ache in my chest and I didn’t know how to get rid of it.

“Are you really?”

My brows pulled down a bit as I took her in. “Of course.”

Olivia looked down and played with her menu. “I always thought the reason why you stayed alone all these years was because of me.”

“Hey.” I grabbed her hand and waited for her to look at me. “That’s not true and I don’t want you to think that, understand me?”

“How could it not be true? You were forced to take care of a kid that wasn’t yours, just because you fell in love with the wrong person?”

I shook my head. Grace had been easy to fall in love with.

Staying in love with her, however, had been a different story. It didn’t take me long to realize that as quickly as I had fallen in love with her, I had also fallen out of it, though we stayed friends. Because even when I wasn’t in love with her, I still loved her.

But loving Grace was nothing like loving Olivia. She wasn’t mine, I knew that, but I loved her as if she was. That moment in the hospital room had changed the course of my entire life. Everything I had done, every decision made after, had been with Olivia in mind.

I was not regretful over that, or resentful. No, quite the opposite. I was grateful.

“Force? No one forced me to do anything. No one can ever force me to do anything.”

“Okay, so perhaps saying force is a bit too much. But you didn’t have a choice, did you?”

I didn’t say anything for a moment. I hadn’t realized Olivia had carried around so much weight on her shoulders until now. I never thought she would think I didn’t have a choice to take care of her, or that I was resentful about it. I wasn’t.

Taking care of her had been my saving grace. It killed me that she couldn’t see this.

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