Page 19 of Love Her Always

She loved Will as a friend, liked him as a man but as far as anything else she didn’t know. Her old crush on him was the hardest part of liking him as a man now that she’d actually spent quality time with him. If only she’d taken a chance on that crush before she met Scott, her life would be vastly different right now.

They were all meeting up later to celebrate with Jess for her birthday, and Olivia knew if she didn’t get herself under control, they’d realize something was wrong. As the day went on, she avoided Will to keep herself in check and as the clock closed in on five, her phone rang. She checked the id and held her breath answering. She was putting it away when Will came out.

“Ready to go meet up with the others?” he asked coming over to her.

“I need to run home first. Scott can’t find something he needs, and you know how he is. I’ll meet up with you all later,” she stated with a smile his way.

“Okay,” he agreed watching her go. He knew there was something going on with her he just didn’t know what.

She hadn’t been herself for a bit now and he needed to know if it was partly his fault. He couldn’t see her as just a friend anymore. When he looked at her he saw everything he wanted but unless she told him she felt the same, no longer loved Scott he couldn’t do anything to hurt her. He wouldn’t lose her because she didn’t feel the same.

He was trying to figure out what it was as he sat at the bar later waiting for them.

“Will…fancy running into you here,” Dan joked joining him. “How’s life treating you?”

“Good,” he stated as his mind went back to Olivia and the way she looked at him at times.

He could almost swear she felt what he did, felt it towards him and not Scott, at least, not anymore. Every time he’d seen them together in the last six, seven months it wasn’t the same. Hadn’t been since that night in his office when he’d started undressing her—innocently as it was.

The look in Scott’s eyes when he saw them…it was almost as though he knew what Will’s feelings for her were. Knew and also knew that Olivia wasn’t feeling the same towards him any longer. It’d explain why Scott didn’t want her working with him anymore.

Yeah, Olivia might have claimed he didn’t want her to work late but he knew it was really that Scott didn’t want her working with him. The only reason he could come up with as to why Scott felt that way was because he sensed Olivia’s feelings had changed and he wasn’t ready to let her go. The anger in Scott’s eyes that night…the way Olivia pulled away quickly from him, would jump when he surprised her…it wasn’t sitting well with him any longer. Especially mixed together with her mood swings. One minute she’d be his Livy, and the next, she was treating him like a total stranger, and he didn’t understand why.

“I know that look…who is it and what have you done?” Dan questioned as Jess came over to hug them. “Finally made the big two-one there huh?”

“Yup, I wish Liv could have come out with us last weekend. I hardly get to see her anymore.”

“You’ve seen her more than me,” Dan countered.

“But Will gets to see her every day,” Jess stated as they looked to him. “So where is she?”

“Home probably. Scott called and she left,” he told them, the look in her eyes coming back to him again.

She hadn’t seemed happy to be going home. Hell, he knew when she was purposely dragging things out and he’d never said a word about it because it meant spending more time with her. He’d thought that she wanted the same thing but now…was it more than that? Was it to avoid Scott more?

“There’s that look again,” Dan said watching him. “What’s it about?”

“Tell me I’m way off base here but has Liv been acting strange the last…I don’t know couple years really now that I think about it,” Will said looking between them. “Ever since Scott moved into homicide she’s started pulling back.”

“Isn’t that what we were just talking about?” Jess asked.

“I meanreallydifferent. Think about it, he’s always calling her, checking in with her. If she doesn’t answer, he calls back immediately, even if it’s not an emergency. She…she’s not as open anymore. When’s the last time she invited any of us over to her place?” he added looking between them.

“I mean, yeah, she’s been distant, a little off…and so has Scott. He almost took my head off when I caught him kissing her at the barbeque this past summer,” Dan admitted.

“So-what? What do you think it is Will?” Jess asked him.

“Honestly…I don’t know,” he stated. “When we were in Vancouver it was like I had the old Liv back but then she heard about Scott, and she was gone.”

“Do you think it’s that she’s worried about him?” Dan offered.

“I don’t think so, man. Homicide is a bit safer than undercover work and she was fine while they dated and the first year they were married but now…as you said I’m around her more than you all anymore but she’s not our Liv. She jumps if someone slams a door or sneaks up on her. She’s moody—really moody, like not our Liv moody. She never tells us what she’s doing, or what she did on weekends we don’t see her, not to mention she’s…”

“What?” Jess inquired as he broke off.

“Clumsier than ever,” he said looking at Dan as fear slid into his heart and held on tight.

“What are you thinking Will?” he asked.

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