The Absence of Olivia

Текст добавлен: 20 сентября 2016, 19:21

Текст книги "The Absence of Olivia"

Автор книги: Anie Michaels

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“I’m sure you’ll enjoy it though,” Devon said to Nate with a devilish grin. I tried to stifle a laugh.

Nate stood at the urgent pulling of his hand from Jax and was dragged into the house. Within five seconds, Ruby was trailing after them.

“Do not play on my game, Jax. I don’t want Nate ruining my progress.” More classic Ruby snark. That made it impossible to stifle my laughter any longer.

I heard the sliding glass door slam shut and let out a deep breath, my laughter ending. Then I realized Devon and I were alone, and I suddenly became tense.

I picked up my beer, which was nearly empty, but I pretended as if it still had a swig left in it and took a drink hoping to stall the awkwardness I was feeling.

“I’m glad you made it out for a trip. The kids have been bouncing off the walls all week waiting for you to get here.”

“It’s a little overdue,” I said quietly, thinking about the long years between squeezing those kids. “I don’t think I want another two and a half years to go by without seeing them, Devon.” I knew it was completely up to him. I knew he could tell me that it was over, that the kids didn’t need me in their life, that it was better just to say goodbye for good. “I love them, Devon. And they’re the last piece of Liv I’ve got left.”

“I know,” he said, then surprised me by reaching out and giving my hand a squeeze. He didn’t linger. He removed his hand and placed it back around his beer. “They need you too, ya know. You have stories about their mother I can’t tell them. They deserve that connection. And there are few people on this planet who love them like you do.”

I let out a stuttered breath, feeling a weight lift off me I hadn’t realized I was carrying. Devon was going to let me keep seeing Jax and Ruby. I would get to be a part of their lives. There was something akin to sunshine bursting through me, warming me, calming me.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“No thanks necessary, Evie.” He took a long pull from his beer, and then put the bottle down on the glass table next to him. “Will we be getting a wedding invitation any time soon?”

His question caught me entirely off-guard and it took me a moment to formulate an answer.

“You know, the first time I saw him in my house, I wanted to kill him,” Devon said with a slight smile to his voice, like he was looking back on some fond memory. “For ten years you were a foregone conclusion. I assumed you would be there forever. Then Nate showed up with more plans than just to fix my house.”

“Nate didn’t take me from you, Devon,” I said with as much gentleness as I could muster.

“No, I know that now.” He was silent for a moment and I didn’t know what to say or do to move the conversation back to a safe place. Besides that, Devon and I’d had decidedly few real conversations, and I wasn’t trying to shy away from that one. “But, it felt that way at first, ya know? I don’t know Nate, besides how much we’ve gotten to know of each other here today, but I know he’s a good guy. You wouldn’t be with him otherwise. But, him showing up at my house was the beginning of the end for us.” He shook his head back and forth before I could even say one word in response. “And I know there wasn’t an us in the traditional sense, but we had something, Evelyn.”

I couldn’t argue with him, so I nodded, looking him straight in the eye. “I know.”

“I’m not saying I’m glad we haven’t seen you in so long, but I can say I’m glad we’ve all moved forward in a healthy way. The kids miss you and I agree they need you in their life, so I’m looking forward to having a regular, healthy, friendly relationship with you.” He took in a breath having plowed through his mini speech without taking one, and I could tell that was something he’d practiced saying, as if he knew he needed to get it off his chest. And I could totally appreciate that.

“I would love to be regular, healthy, friends with you, Devon,” I said with a straight face, but when he started laughing, I joined in.

I thought for a moment about Devon and Liv, and about the big, stunning photo of her above his fireplace.

“Are you dating yet?” I asked the question, hoping it didn’t make him uncomfortable. If we were truly going to be friends then this seemed like a completely valid question to ask.

“Not ready,” was his low and nearly whispered response. I didn’t get the feeling he was uncomfortable with my question, but more so, that he was uncomfortable with the idea of dating someone.

“Liv would want you to be happy, Devon,” I said gently, not wanting to overstep my bounds. Moments ago, we’d just solidified our friendship. I didn’t want to make him regret reaching out the olive branch to me.

He sighed. “I know she would. That woman told me on her deathbed that I needed to remarry. She even imagined the woman I would meet. Described this imaginary woman, and had a good time doing it too.” A few silent and pregnant moments passed, but when he spoke again, his voice was a little more strained than before. “She was lying there, no hair, a good thirty pounds underweight, skin so thin you could see all the veins running through her, describing some beauty queen who I was supposed to meet right after her funeral and move on with.”

His voice was becoming ragged and I turned my head to look away from him, trying to give him a moment to compose himself, but he just kept going.

“All I wanted was the woman dying in that bed, Evie. She was all I wanted.” He let out one racked sob and I immediately reached for his hand, grasping it tightly, trying to show him that he wasn’t alone.

“She was only trying to make it easier for you. You know how she was: a little inappropriate. She would have given anything to be here with you and the kids. But she knew that wasn’t in the cards. That was her way of telling you it was okay with her for you to be with someone else.”

“I know,” he said, composing himself. “She might have been inappropriate, but she was the best woman I’ll ever know.”

“I won’t argue with you there.”

He smiled at me, squeezed my hand, and then let it go. “You run a close second.”

“I won’t argue with that either.”

“You happy, Evie?”

I could not, in a million years, have stopped the smile that spread across my face. “Yeah,” I whispered.

“Good,” he said, his voice just as whispered as mine. “That’s all Olivia would have wanted for you.”

“You don’t mind us taking the kids out for pizza tomorrow, do you?” I called out from the bathroom at our hotel room later that night.

“Babe, we’re here to see those kids. Of course I don’t mind taking them out for pizza.”

I leaned out of the doorway just enough to see Nate lying on the bed in his signature flannel lounge pants. I met his eyes and said, “You’re the best.”

“You say that like hanging out with those kids is a hardship. They’re pretty awesome.”

“Told you,” I yelled again from inside the bathroom. Suddenly, he was in the room with me, coming up behind me, meeting my eyes in the mirror. I was startled at first, not expecting him, but then continued to floss.

He was right behind me, his front pressing into my back, and I soaked up the warmth he was giving me. He leaned down and rested his chin on my shoulder, his hands behind his back, and just looked at me as I slid the floss between my teeth.

After a moment, it became weird, the way he was staring at me and not speaking. I stopped mid-floss, and asked with a garbled voice due to the fingers in my mouth, “What?”

“Nothing.”

“What?” I asked again, more insistent the second time.

“Have you ever played Minecraft?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “No, can’t say that I have, what with being an adult and all.”

“It’s a pretty sweet game. Jax showed it to me. Ruby too.”

“Glad you enjoyed your time with them,” I said with a laugh.

“I did. But I felt bad, them showing me something special to them, so I had to show them something special too.”

“Did you show them how you can fit your whole fist in your mouth?” I asked, letting out an exceptionally unladylike snort with my laughter.

“No,” he said, all laughter gone from his voice. “I showed them this.” As he said the words, one of his hands came out from behind his back, and it was holding a black, velvet box. Nestled inside the box was a solitaire diamond ring. Princess cut. Perfect.

“What is that?” I asked in a whisper, a piece of floss still wedged between two teeth. I quickly pulled it out and turned to face him.

“I’m hoping it’s the ring you’ll wear for the rest of your life.” He slowly knelt to the floor on one knee, took my left hand in his, and looked up at me with the most intense but beautiful brown eyes. “Evelyn Marie Reynolds, I’ve been waiting my whole life to fall in love with you. I’d like to spend the rest of my life showing you how hard I’ve fallen. I can’t promise it will always be easy, but I can promise it will always be better with you by my side. Will you marry me?”

He asked the question, but didn’t wait for my response before he slid the ring onto my finger. My mouth was still gaping open, and I couldn’t make any words come out. Tears welled in my eyes, making everything blurry, but I couldn’t pull my gaze from the ring that sat on a previously empty and unadorned finger.

“I asked Jax and Ruby if they thought it was okay for you to marry me, and they were totally cool with it.”

I blinked down at him. “You did what?” I said, my voice squeaky and sharp.

“Ruby and Jax give their blessing,” he said, smiling at me and rising to his feet.

I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I flung myself at him, arms wrapping tightly around his neck and, of course, he caught me, holding me around my waist.

“I love you, Lyn.” His words were a whisper against my ear. “I want to have everything with you. And I want to start now.” He took in a breath, and then said, “Marry me.”

I shook my head against his shoulder, trying, with terrible results, not to cry. He pulled away from me, his hands coming up to my cheeks, wiping away my tears with his thumbs.

“Don’t cry, baby,” he said. Then, after he’d finished drying my tears, he said, “I’d like to hear an answer.” He was smiling, and even though we were in a bathroom of a hotel room, it was the most perfect thing I could have ever imagined.

“Yes, Nate. Of course, I’ll marry you.” I had no sooner said the words than he had me in his arms, lifting me up and spinning me around. When he set me down, I was on the countertop, his hips were between my knees, and he was kissing me.

“I love you,” he said against my mouth between kisses.

“I love you too,” I said, pulling back and looking him in the eyes. “I mean that, Nate. You’re everything to me.”

“I know, babe,” he said with a brilliant smile on his face. “You’re going to marry me.”

“I am,” I laughed. “And you’re going to marry me right back.”

He hauled me into his arms and carried me into the bedroom, flipping the lights off as he went, and tossing me onto the bed. I lost myself in a fit of laughter, but all the joking ceased as he appeared over me, his eyes dark and full of love.

Later that night as I lay in a foreign bed, in a foreign city, with Nate’s arms wrapped tightly around me, holding me close, I found myself unable to sleep.

I lifted my hand up into the moonlight that shot through our room in rays, examining the beautiful ring that fit me perfectly. I couldn’t remember a time when I was that happy.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard my best friend’s voice. You’re my very best friend, Evie. Promise me, you’ll be happy.

“I’m happy, Olivia,” I whispered into the dark room. “I’m finally happy.”

The End

I hope you will all look forward to reading about Devon’s happily ever after in

The Presence of Grace

Slated to release in 2016

Acknowledgements

I would first like to thank my readers. I know this book is a little different than my others, but those of you who dove in, enthusiastically, I love you so much. You make my job and life so amazing. Thank you.

To Lindy – thank you for your constant motivation and friendship. The last half of this book was written and inspired by all the texts we’d send back and forth, challenging each other, pushing each other, and teasing each other. I met you IRL while I was writing this book and it was awesome.

To my early readers, those who volunteered to read it when it was only half way written just simply to assuage my fears that it was crap – Leslie, Rachel, Kathy, and Joanne. Your love for the book made it possible for me to continue. Thank you.

To my eagle eyes – Jen, Andrea, and Kelly. THANK YOU for beta reading the book and helping me find the parts that needed work. I am so grateful to have people like you on my side.

Becca – Thank you for taking my words and making them beautiful with images and pretty fonts. You are so creative in a way I could never be. Thank you so very much for your support and help.

To every blogger and Give Me Books Promotions – Thank you for spreading the word about The Absence of Olivia. I am so appreciative every time sometime spends their precious time telling someone about my books; it means the world to me.

Other books by Anie Michaels

The Never Series

Never Close Enough

Never Far Away

Never Giving Up

The Never Duet

Never Standing Still

Never Tied Down – coming soon

The Private Serials

Private Affairs

Private Encounters

Private Getaway