Page 24 of Ms. Lead

She glances up at him, back to her old self. “You didn’t say hi to Aunt B.”

He scowls at her, brows furrowed. “Well, I must remedy that right away.” Turning to me, the frown transforms into a warm smile, and his eyes sparkle as if he’s highly amused. “Hello, Aunt B.” He adds a smirk for flavor, and our eyes meet for the first time in what seems like weeks.

And there it is again, that pull, that certainty, that unexplainable connection between us. It makes me return his smile, but mine is tentative. I’ve been here before, thinking something was happening between us but being horrifically wrong. I don’t want to go through that again. I lost days trying to work out what happened, and I still don’t have a good answer.

“Hello, Oliver.” I nod to him briefly and then focus on putting the car in gear and driving. That’s my job, after all.

He doesn’t react initially, but I think I see him deflate slightly at my short greeting. Wouldn’t that be nice, if he really cared that much?

“That’s not Oliwer. That’s Mr. Belly, silly.” Ava is quick to correct me.

Oliver recovers. “I’ll just be Mr. Belly for you. How’s that?”

Watching her in the rearview mirror, she considers his question carefully. Once she decides, she nods. “Okay. But you need a name for me.”

He rubs his chin thoughtfully. “How about Miss Avocado?” Turning, he sees her scrunch her face and shake her head in distaste at the nickname. “No? Well, then, I’m going to need some time to come up with something as amazing as Mr. Belly. Is that alright with you?”

She sighs heavily, the weight of the world on her little shoulders. “I guess so.”

Somehow, I keep a straight face during the entire interaction. I sense Oliver next to me, smiling. When I glance over, our eyes meet again, and lightning flashes through me, making the hair on my arms stand on end. God damn it. I rub my arms to get rid of the goosebumps, and Oliver is still watching me. It’s unnerving now since he is apparently immune to anything having to do with me. It’s not fair.

My phone rings in the car’s Bluetooth over the speakers. Looking at the dashboard screen, I see it’s my brother. He really has horrible timing. I touch the screen to send the call to voicemail.

“Isn’t that your brother?” Oliver asks, and I’m surprised he remembered my brother’s name for some reason, though I don’t know why. I have no basis for thinking that.

I nod. “Yeah, I’ll call him back later.”

As soon as I say that the phone rings again. Enzo never does this unless it’s an emergency.

“You should probably get that, no? It might be important.” The concern in his voice scratches at me. He doesn’t have the right to be concerned about my family or me.

I sigh heavily. He is right, though. I need to answer. I touch the dashboard again to accept the call. “Lorenzo? What’s the emergency?”

“Hey, sis, the emergency is your sorry excuse for a love life. I’m calling to check on things with you and your British book boyfriend. Any progress?”

Oh. My. God. I’m going to kill Enzo with my bare hands the next time I see him. The heat that rises in my cheeks from embarrassment could leave sunburn. I’m stunned and speechless, which is rare for me. I can’t believe what’s happening right now. Even my ears feel like they could burn off.

I instinctively disconnect the call yet again with a fast swipe at the dashboard. If I wasn’t aware of Oliver next to me before, I sure as hell am now. It’s not helping that Ava is giggling in the back seat at the whole situation. Maybe I can find a convenient black hole to jump into nearby.

To his credit, Oliver doesn’t say anything, but he does chuckle softly to himself. I suppose I’m glad that he finds it amusing. But then, what exactly is he laughing at? The idea that we would be together? Or that I would want that? Maybe it’s all of the above. It’s all a joke. Me especially. I’m the biggest joke of all.

Chapter Fifteen

OLIVER

BLACK BUTTERFLIES AND DÉJÀ VU

British boyfriend? Unless I’m completely daft, I know that was a reference to me. Has Bianca been talking to her brother about me? What has she said to him that would make him refer to me as her boyfriend? I’m intrigued, but I can’t ask her about it with Ava around. I know Bianca had feelings for me when we first met, but that seems to have cooled off since then. And rightly so. Denying her visit yesterday didn’t help to warm her to me again.

Is that what I want? Do I want Bianca to have feelings for me or not? She’d be wise not to. And I shouldn’t pursue it if she’s already past it. It would be selfish and cruel to revive those emotions in her if nothing can come of it.

So, if I were smart, I’d let it go. But when it comes to her, I’m completely dead from the neck up.

However, I don’t think I can go an entire month feeling this intense attraction to her and not acting on it in some way. Despite all of my issues, or maybe because of them, I don’t have much inner strength left to focus my attention on resisting her. Perhaps there is a chance that she still feels something for me if her brother’s words are any indication. The idea ignites my imagination with possibilities.

We arrive at the café, the bright sun streams through the large windows, and the smell of coffee hangs heavy in the air. For a mid-afternoon, it’s pretty empty of patrons.

After retrieving drinks for all of us, I settle in at a table to wait for Theo Thompson to arrive for our interview, and I’m able to watch Bianca and Ava interact with each other. She is so good with her, keeping things fun but orderly. It’s easy to see that Ava not only likes Bianca, or ‘Aunt B,’ but also admires her. It’s an entirely different type of sentiment. I can tell the little girl looks up to her, and something like that is earned, not just bandied about on a whim, even for a small child such as Ava.

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