Page 22 of The Viking Blues

They’d been the best of friends, had told each other everything, did everything together.

Even shared their first time together.

But just as he’d finally gotten up the courage to tell her how he felt, she’d left. Signed her life away and hopped on a bus headed for the military college in Canberra.

He’d been too late. Had missed his chance. And he hadn’t heard from her since.

Oliver’s mood soured.

Mia had always planned a career in the military, to follow in her father’s footsteps. He’d known what she’d wanted from the day they’d met, had even helped her study and train, so it shouldn’t have come as any great surprise when she’d left.

But she’d never said a damn thing about leaving him behind.

His hurt had ruled him for years after she left, and he’d made more than his fair share of stupid mistakes because of it.

Slept with more women than he cared to think about.

But sex was a temporary fix. It only gave him a momentary high before dropping him on his arse again, feeling even shittier than he had before. Worse than that was the fact it ate away at him, slowly but surely turning him into the thing people had always said he was.

Trash.

And when it wasn’t women he wanted to fuck, it was women—one woman—he wanted to find. His mother. The woman who’d given him away the day he was born and never looked back.

What an absolute disaster that reunion had been.

It had taken him a couple of years but he’d finally tracked her down in Norway, the country of her birth. Ollie didn’t know what he’d hoped to find, but it wasn’t the entitled drunken socialite who thought he was the sexy young thing she’d hired for the night. She’d sobered up real quick when he’d told her who he really was.

Then just as quickly disabused him of any notions he might have held that she was anything other than a cold, selfish bitch. “I never wanted you. I certainly never loved you. You were nothing more than a blip on my radar. The day your father took you away from me was the happiest day of my life. I have no son.”

If Mia leaving him had been the knife in his heart, Grete’s words had been the hand wrapped around the handle, forcing it deeper and giving it a sinister little twist at the end.

By the age of twenty-one, he’d been abandoned by the only girl he’d ever loved. And the ice queen formerly known as his mother had rejected him twice.

Was it any wonder he avoided relationships like the plague?

“Ollie, lunch,” his sister called from the back door.

Keeping his back to her, he lifted his hand and waved in acknowledgement. “Be there in a sec,” he called over his shoulder.

He didn’t want her to see the anguish he was struggling to conceal. Abby was very protective of her brothers, Ollie in particular seeing as they were the closest in age. He didn’t want her worrying about him, especially as there was nothing she could do to help.

Once he heard the screen door bang shut again, Ollie started towards the house, taking deep breaths as he went. He’d recently started seeing a therapist and the man was a big believer in the benefits of meditation, breathing exercises and being present in the now.

And he be damned if it didn’t work.

His deep breaths helped him centre himself and dragged him from the dark well of his thoughts, and by the time he’d washed his hands and joined his family in the kitchen, he was just about ready to see Mia again.

Ollie reached for the salad bowl just as Mia entered the kitchen carrying a small white box. She was limping slightly even though she was using the hated walking stick, but when he moved to help her, she shook her head at him. She didn’t want him making a fuss.

Gritting his teeth, he sat back down.Stubborn woman.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said. “I popped into the patisserie and got chatting to Mary Melville.” She opened the box before putting it on the table, then took the chair next to his. “Compliments of the chef.”

“Raspberry friands,” Wolf said, licking his lips as he stared at the tiny cakes. “That woman will be the death of me. Do you have any idea how much weight I’ve gained since moving to Melville’s Cross?”

“If you’re that worried about it, we could stay at your place in Sydney for a while,” Abby suggested.

“Wouldn’t help,” Wolf said with a resigned sigh. “My mother is as bad as Mary when it comes to feeding my sweet tooth.”

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