Page 76 of Semi Sweet

“I’m going home,” Angie said as she pulled on a coat and put the manuscripts in her satchel. “I’ll see you in the morning, Olivia.”

I wasn’t far behind her, tidying up my desk and shutting off the lights as I locked the office up for the evening. I had about an hour until I was meeting my family down at the pizza place, so I got in Sean’s Saab and headed to the apartment so I could let out Bear and feed him.

The last thirty days had been different, new, and sometimes lonely, but the apartment had become comfortable, almost like a home. Now all I needed was for Sean to come home and complete things.

“I’d have them come here,” I said as I pat Bear on his head, “but I’m not sure what my mom’s allergies are like these days.”

After changing into something more casual, I drove downtown. There were several places I could have met my family that were much more indicative of Aspen, but I’d gotten attached to the pizza place. I’d given up one corner booth for another. I needed human contact and it had started off as dinner one night while I worked on a new story idea. I’d been so happy to hear human voices that weren't on Netflix, I hadn’t been prepared for supermodel ex-girlfriend extraordinaire Katie to be waiting on me.

“You know, I never got your name the other day,” she said after I’d ordered a caesar salad.

“I’m Olivia.”

“Well, you're very lucky,” Katie replied. “Sean is a wonderful guy. I didn’t deserve him.”

After that, I’d started coming to Carmello’s even if it was to pick something up to bring back to the apartment once a week. Katie and I had graduated to small talk, mostly about my outfits or what I was writing. Katie had to notice Sean hadn’t been around in a while, but she never said anything and I appreciated it.

Tonight, the place was busy and I didn’t head to my usual spot, though it was open.

“Ordering takeout tonight?” Katie asked once she noticed me standing there. “It might be a while.”

“Actually, I’m meeting some people. There might be two or as many as four and they look like me.”

She shrugged. “There is a group in the back corner I’ve never seen before. You can go check if you like.”

I made it about three steps before someone shouted my name and the restaurant went quiet. I locked eyes with my younger sister Elenore. Her blonde hair was the longest I could ever remember. Beside her sat Allison. She had our father’s features, staring like she was glimpsing a ghost, someone she would never see again. Elenore got up and crushed me in a hug.

“I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “It’s really you.”

“I could say the same about you, you know,” I replied as I tried to keep my emotions in check.

The restaurant went back to being noisy as Allison patted the cushion next to her and I slid between my sisters. I felt lightheaded as I faced my parents. My mother was dabbing her eyes with a napkin, but it was my father’s expression that I was afraid to see. It wasn’t too late for him to say he was disappointed in me or would never forgive me, but I risked a look anyway. Same light brown hair, same perpetually furrowed brow, same large weathered hands.

I smiled at him softly. “Thank you for coming. It means a lot.”

“Tell me everything.”

The words were probably as close to an ‘I missed you’ as I was going to get.

“I just finished my graduate degree in marketing.” I didn’t tell him that I’d passed by the skin of my teeth–because I’d fled Denver, I hadn’t been able to take my final exams. That could be a tale for another time. “I rent the first floor of a house up in the mountains and I’m an assistant to an editor not far from here.”

My father looked pleased. He no doubt remembered my plan to be in the writing industry. “And how did you end up in Aspen?”

Where did I begin? Did I start when Evan proposed? Did I talk about the night I found the flyer for the Rocky Mountain Press? Or maybe the day I met Sean, the day I was running late and it changed my life forever?

“It’s a long story. We should probably order first.”