Page 114 of The Temporary Fiancée
“It was our pleasure,” I say, rising to my feet.
She does the same, and reaches to shake my hand firmly. “You really seem like you’ve got your feet under you now, Mr. Eastwood.”
“That’s nice to hear, coming from you.”
Maisy turns to Olivia. “Keep a close eye on this one, you hear?”
“Of course,” Olivia laughs. “I’m sure he’ll behave himself now.”
“Congratulations to both of you—I mean it. You work well together.”
Before we reach the office door, Maisy pipes up again.
“By the way—I do intend to get some interviews in with a few of your former coworkers, Ms. Quinn. If you want to email me some contact information for some of them, that would expedite the process considerably.”
“I’ll do that,” Olivia says.
“Good.” Maisy nods. “We’ll see if we can’t get the word out about your old place of employment within the next few days. You deserve the chance to tell your side of the story, and I’m going to make sure you get that.”
On the way home,both of us are silent. The tension that hangs between us is unlike the tension of the past few days, however; that was broken earlier, in the midst of the chaos from Keller’s interview.
This is a new tension. I can tell that Olivia still feels awkward about the revelation of her crush. She’s resolutely silent, like she’s hoping I’ll just forget about it, or let it go.
But I can’t. It’s all I was able to think about as we were leaving the Post’s offices, and it’s still all I can think about now,as heavy clouds above us open up and a steady drizzle sends rivulets down the windshield.
“So,” I say into the quiet, “you had a crush on me, huh?”
I glance at her. Her cheeks are bright red. “It was nothing,” she says, turning to the window.
“Really?”
She nods.
I breathe in through my nose, letting my shoulders rise and fall. “Well, that’s too bad. I hoped it wasn’t nothing.”
Her head whips toward me, but I keep my eyes on the road.
“Because I liked you, too.”
Another glance in her direction, and this time, her jaw has dropped open almost comically. Then she snaps it shut and shakes her head. “You don’t have to say that.”
“It’s true,” I tell her softly. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her shake her head again, so I add, “No, listen. It’s true. I always thought you were funny, and bright. You lit up every room you were in. And of course, you were fucking gorgeous on top of everything.”
“But—”
“It never even occurred to me to make a move, or anything,” I press on, undaunted by the disbelief in her voice.
The rain hasn’t yet begun in earnest as we approach The Luxe. We have enough time to exit the car and slip inside before it starts pouring. I try to help Olivia with her coat but she has already shed it by the time I’m done with mine.
I turn to face her in the entryway. She looks beautiful, the flecks of rainwater in her hair glistening. We stare into each other’s eyes for what feels like eons, and the silence between us grows deafening.
“I—” I begin to speak, but she starts at the same time.
“You—” She breaks off, shaking her head. “You go. I’ve done enough talking for today.”
There’s a hell of a lot I could say right now, but I feel like maybe we’ve both done enough talking for the day. Words won’t reach out to seize this thing that’s hanging between us. Words won’t do what needs to be done.
So I cup her face with my hand and I kiss her deeply.
