Caden: Ride with Me

6. 6

Olivia couldn’t seem to keep Caden off her mind, even if the days before the wedding seemed to fly by. Before she knew it, she was at the salon, getting her hair and makeup done with Lainey.

“Your new guy isn’t backing out, is he?” her sister asked for what seemed like the millionth time just that day.

“No. He’s going to pick me up at my place and we’ll be to the gardens in plenty of time.” Olivia didn’t look over at her sister because the stylist was working on her hair.

“Are you sure meeting our family won’t scare him off?” Jennifer asked from the other side of Kaley.

“If it does, then better to know that now than after I’m more invested in him.” Olivia wasn’t worried about it because Caden wasn’t really her boyfriend. She’d just met him. Would she like to date him? Maybe. She had liked what she’d seen when she met him for lunch, but that was an hour.

As she sat there with her sisters getting ready for Lainey’s big day, Olivia started to wonder if maybe inviting Caden hadn’t been her best idea. What would her mother think of him? She’d never made any bones about her opinion of tattoos or bikers. But even as she thought about it, she noticed the smile slowly curving her mouth as she thought of him and what her mother might say.

Olivia had been irritated by her mother the last few months, and as Lainey’s wedding got closer, the more that irritation grew. As her middle daughter’s wedding approached, Mom had been more and more pushy asking when Olivia would settle down. Until it had progressed to the point that Olivia dreaded seeing her mother for fear of what she would say this time.

It wasn’t that Olivia didn’t want to settle down and have a family, eventually, but she had yet to meet anyone that she could picture herself with a year from now, much less in ten or twenty years. And all the pestering in the world wouldn’t push her into something she wasn’t ready for.

That was one thing she had to give her parents credit for. They’d raised not just independent sons, but daughters as well. The downside of it was they didn’t put up with much shit from their parents either. It wasn’t that they were disrespectful about it, and Olivia was close to telling her mother just where she could shove her expectations that Olivia would settle down soon. But her sister’s wedding wasn’t the place to lose her cool.

No, bringing Caden might just be the perfect thing to get Mom to leave her alone for a while. Maybe she should keep him around for a while. Mom would never encourage her to settle down and get married as long as she thought the one Olivia might settle down with was a tattooed biker.

“What’s got you with that secretive smile?” Elizabeth asked, watching her in the line of mirrors they all sat in front of.

“I think she’s thinking about her new boyfriend. Tell us more about him, do we know him?” Lainey said.

“I don’t know what to tell you. He’s not from around here, so probably not.”

“If he’s not from here, where’s he from?” Elizabeth frowned. “Do you not get to see him often?”

“Well, he lives here now. He’s just not from here. He’s not really from anywhere, his dad was in the military, and they moved a lot.”

“He’s a military kid. Mom will like that,” Elizabeth put in.

Olivia didn’t say anything, even though she wasn’t so sure about how Mom would feel, especially after she saw him.

“But what does he look like? Is he cute?” Lainey wanted to know.

“I think so. He’s tall, built. Red hair, beard, green eyes.” She wondered what else she could tell them about him, without giving away the parts she wanted to surprise them with.

“Sounds like you’ve got a hot one! I can’t wait to meet him,” Elizabeth said, fanning herself with one hand.

“Elizabeth, you’re married!” Lainey sounded appalled.

“Honey, you’re going to figure out that married doesn’t mean you can’t look. It just means hands off. Or that you take what looking makes you feel back to your partner.” Elizabeth gave her sisters a look that told them she felt like she was imparting an important bit of wisdom.

Olivia could see how this would work. It was like seeing an actor she loved and wouldn’t mind getting to know a bit better, then taking that desire to a partner where she knew she could get what she needed. It made sense and made her wish she had someone she could do that with these days. It had been weeks, actually months now that she thought about it, since she’d had any kind of closeness with anyone but her family, much less any kind of deep relationship, any kind of connection, with a partner. And she had to admit, if only to herself, she missed sex. She liked sex and while there had been a bit with Scott before they’d parted ways, it hadn’t been less than satisfactory and while she missed sex, she didn’t really miss sex with Scott.

“There you are,” the stylist said, pulling Olivia out of her thoughts and back to the present. “What do you think?”

“What do you think, Lainey?” Olivia turned to her sister. It was her big day and Olivia wanted to make sure her sister was pleased with how she looked.

“You look great.” Lainey checked the clock. “What time is your guy picking you up?”

Olivia glanced at the clock. “I’ve got plenty of time, but if I’m all done, I’ll head home and get changed.”

“You never did tell us this mystery guy’s name,” Elizabeth piped up.

Olivia scrunched her nose as she pretended to consider that. “I haven’t, have I?” She shot her sisters a grin. “I think I’ll keep that to myself for a while. You’ll meet him in a few hours.”

She waited while the stylist finished getting her ready to go, removing the smock and one last fluff of her hair, then she stood and looked around for where she’d left her purse. She said her goodbyes and headed home. She couldn’t help the flutter in her stomach at the thought of seeing Caden in only a couple more hours.