Page 2 of Wife By Accident

CHAPTER 2

OLIVIA

“Aunt Olivia!”

Olivia Keller turned at the sound of the young voice and spotted her niece, Lily, racing across the yard towards her. Olivia bent down, opened her arms, and let the nine-year-old fly into them.

“You’re here!” Lily beamed widely as she pulled back from the hug, revealing a gap in her teeth. She wore a pink dress with flowers and a little paper crown, and her cheeks were rosy with enthusiasm.

“I wouldn’t miss your birthday for anything!” Olivia said, beaming at her niece. In truth, it had been a real struggle to get a few days off work to fly out to her Idaho hometown for her niece’s birthday, but she’d done everything she could to make this happen.

After all, it had been Lily’s biggest birthday wish for her favorite (and only) aunt to come to her party.

“Mommy!” Lily called, turning back towards the blue ranch house. Olivia’s older sister, Rachel, was coming down the steps with her other child, two-year-old Tommy, in her arms. She, too, wore a pink dress with little flowers on it, and Olivia smiled.

“Hi, Rachel,” she called, waving.

“You made it.” Rachel descended the rest of the stairs and hurried to pull Olivia into a hug. Tommy pressed his sticky face against Olivia’s cheek as she did so. Rachel pulled back and smiled at her. “I hope Mr. Meany didn’t give you too much trouble about the days off.”

Olivia winced. “Mr. Marley wasn’t exactly pleased. But I had the vacation days saved up — you know I never take time off.” Mr. Marley was Olivia’s boss at the camera equipment company where she’d been working for the last few years. It wasn’t exactly her dream job, but she hoped it would be a stepping stone on the way to one.

“I know,” Rachel fixed her with a stern look, “because he’s a terrible boss, and you deserve better.”

“Maybe, but jobs in Seattle are few and far between.” Olivia had moved to Seattle after college to chase her dreams, knowing that the small Idaho town where she’d grown up didn’t have enough opportunities in photography. But her dreams seemed further away than ever now.

“You shouldn’t be working for a camera equipment company anyway,” Rachel continued as if she hadn’t heard her sister. “You should be a photographer. Your pictures are amazing.”

“Maybe they were,” Olivia sighed, “but I haven’t even taken pictures in months. I’m working too hard.” She gave herself a little shake. “But there’s no way I’m going to focus on my terrible job when my favorite niece is having her birthday party!” She smiled at Lily, who bounced joyfully on her toes.

“Then come on!” the birthday girl said. “I have a bouncy castle and a unicorn and everything!”

“A unicorn?”

“A unicorn piñata,” Rachel explained as they followed Lily into the backyard. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t track down a real one.”

“Shame.”

Laughing, they circled the house to where the party was in full swing. Excited kids jumped on the bouncy house (which had an inflatable slide shaped like a dragon), played party games, and snacked on a buffet Rachel must have laid out, stocked with everything from tiny sandwiches, carrot sticks, chips and dips, to yoghurt pretzels. As they arrived, Cory, Rachel’s husband, walked over. He gave Rachel a kiss, then took Tommy from her.

Watching the quiet moment of domesticity, Olivia’s heart clenched. She’d spent the last few years focused on her career, leaving little time for dating or romance. At twenty-eight, she knew she still had time, but lately she’d been questioning whether she’d made the right call by putting her personal life on hold to focus on a career that had never taken off. She’d never had a serious relationship — the men she’d dated tended to care more about their careers than her, and, frankly, so did Olivia. Recently, she hadn’t even been trying. It felt like years since she’d been on a date.

But now, seeing Rachel so happy with her husband and kids… well, it made Olivia wish for a life that wasn’t just about long hours at work and a demanding boss.

“Nice to see you, Olivia,” Cory said, smiling at her. “How was the flight?”

“Not bad,” Olivia replied. In truth, her back had been acting up, and sitting for several hours on the plane hadn’t helped.

“Come on!” Lily tugged at her hand. “Let’s go on the bouncy house!”

“I’m not so sure…” Her back twinged in agreement with her hesitation.

“Please?” Lily made puppy eyes. “Pretty please with sugar on top?”

Olivia laughed. “How could I say no to that?”

She let her niece pull her to the bouncy house, where she slipped off her shoes and crawled through the narrow flap, and the pair began jumping. Lily laughed, her green eyes shining, and Olivia was happy that she could at least be the fun aunt. That was something.

“Are you Lily’s aunt?” one of the kids asked.