Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
OLIVE
I pack up my things, feeling uneasy about time alone with Liam. I’m trying to figure out if his problem is with me, with his family, or just the world at large when Lacey stands and smiles at me.
“You’re so good at this, Olive,” Lacey says, and the words land in a fragile space inside of me.
Jo gives me a nod, hand still on my shoulder from her hug. “I knew you would be.” She squeezes one last time and then walks out, leaving me standing there with Lacey, who has had quite the turnaround since last night.
“You can leave your stuff in here if you want to,” she says, nodding at the table. “Nobody will mess with it.”
I glance down at my iPad, thinking that once upon a time, my whole life lived inside that device.
It felt good to dust it off and see if I remembered how to create.
It felt even better to discover that I did.
I set my things down on the table, and pull on my coat, but before I can leave the room, Lacey says, “So. Olive.”
I smile at her and mimic her tone. “So. Lacey. ”
She straightens her shoulders as her face turns serious. “I need you to help me with something.”
“Okay,” I say. “With what?”
Her face turns sour. “With Liam.”
I scoff. “I think you’re asking the wrong person.”
“Why? Because he’s cranky?” she asks.
“Because that crankiness seems to be aimed at me,” I say nonchalantly, like it’s not bothering me one little bit, thankyouverymuch .
“Oh, it’s not you. He’s an equal opportunity grump. He just doesn’t like being here.” Lacey looks at me. “Eh. And maybe it’s a little bit you.”
My frown deepens. “Why? What did I ever do to him?”
Lacey’s face goes blank. “You forgot about him.” She says this like I should already know it.
“I—” I snap my jaw shut, processing, then say, “What? When?”
“After we moved,” she says with a shrug. “I think he thought you guys would find a way for things to stay the way they were.”
“That’s crazy. We were . . . kids,” I say, searching for logic behind why he would feel that way. “Not even teenagers.”
“Liam doesn’t have many people that he’s close to. Shocking. I know,” she adds dryly. “There was our grandpa, who had a heart attack and died way too young, a friend who totally stabbed him in the back, me, of course, because I’m awesome. And . . . you.”
My frown holds because yes, Liam and I had a special friendship, the kind of friendship you only have when you’re twelve, but everyone has friends when they’re younger. Most of them you outgrow.
Right?
When she sees my face, Lacey shakes her head. “Actually, I don’t know what I’m talking about. Liam says I’m a crazymaker. Sometimes I forget he doesn’t think like me. ”
But the words still hang there, in the air, waiting for me to pay attention to them.
“Okay, so this favor—” Lacey takes a breath. “I need you to help me convince Liam to buy the farm with me.”
“Uh, you just said he hates it here.”
“I know, but you said you were going to make him love it.” Lacey grins.
I frown. “How do you know that?”
Her smile holds. “I was eavesdropping.”
I shake my head, realizing that this is why her mood shifted. She’s not focused on the last, best Christmas. She’s focused on convincing Liam to stay.
“This place is our legacy, Olive,” Lacey says. “I don’t want to lose it. It’s. . .important.”
She pauses, looking momentarily emotional.
“Maybe you don’t get it, but it is.”
“No, I do get it.” I chew the inside of my cheek. “I guess I just didn’t realize that was an option. You know, you and him taking it over.”
She pulls a face. “It’s not, really. I’m not sure I could do it without Liam. It was always supposed to be him taking it over, you know.”
Whoa. “I didn’t.”
“Yeah. It was his if he wanted it. But he didn’t. He took a different path.”
That’s the truth. I can’t think of anything on the complete opposite spectrum from a tree farm than video game design. It’s like a longshore fisherman’s son going into theatre.
“And what, he won’t even consider it?”
She shakes her head. “No. It’s a sore spot. He and my dad have never seen eye-to-eye about it.”
“Then you might want to leave it alone,” I tell her, starting to get a clearer picture.
“I can’t. And if they give me a chance, they’ll see that I could be great at this too. I could be a legitimate asset. Liam knows everything about how this place works, and I know I could get more people out here, falling in love with it—” She goes quiet for a beat before going on.
“I get it, people think I’m some flighty, impulsive, whatever, but I know this place, too. Nobody showed me—I had to ask—but I know more than they think I know. And I love it here. I also firmly believe that I can figure out anything.”
I’m in awe of that confidence.
“If I hang around with you, will some of your confidence rub off on me?” I half-joke.
“I would love it if you hung around! And listen—Liam and I could do this.” An earnest pleading washes across her face. “We would be an amazing team.”
“What about hashtag van life?” I ask honestly, because Lacey has turned her “hashtag van life” into a whole brand, a legitimate money maker and, by my calculation, that job feels like a dream. No boss. No time clock. No chance of failing.
She sighs. “I’ve seen so many amazing places and met so many amazing people.” She talks with her hands, excited. “It’s just . . .”
I stay quiet, giving her space to finish her thought.
“I think about roots sometimes.” She looks at me, and I see a shift behind her eyes.
She shrugs. “Mine are here.”
On some level, I understand, but I can’t get in the middle of this. It’s a family business, a family affair, and from what it sounds like, a family drama.
The last thing I need to do is stick my nose in it.
“I get it, Lacey. I do. But . . .” I hesitate
Her face falls. “I know he’s being weird right now, but I think he’s just processing all of this. If anyone can get through to him—it’s you. He values your opinion.”
“Oh, I’m not sure that’s true.” Not anymore, I think .
At that, I hear the barn door open and Liam call out, “Olive! Little help here?”
I side-eye Lacey, and she puts up her hands and shrugs.
“If he thinks that’s the way to get my attention, he’s got another thing coming,” I say. I pull out a chair at the table and sit back down.
She laughs. “Atta girl.”
A few seconds later, Liam is in the doorway, glaring at me. “What are you doing? Didn’t you hear me?”
I quirk a brow. “Did I hear you bellow at me? Yes.”
“Nobody says ‘bellow.’”
“I just did.”
“Are you coming or not?” he asks.
“That depends on whether or not you can be nice.”
He glowers. “Are you serious?”
I raise my eyebrows. “Try me.”
He huffs and storms back out. I look at Lacey, who gives me a knowing look. Seconds later, Liam is back in the doorway.
He pauses for a second, then steels himself and says, “Olive, are you ready for your tour?” He seems to be using every ounce of energy to speak calmly and politely, but he’s speaking through clenched teeth. It’s like Beast when he’s asking Belle to dinner, Cogsworth and Lumiere reminding him to be a gentleman.
“Why, yes, Liam, I would love for you to show me around,” I say, mock sweet, with a Southern twang. “It was so kind of you to wait for me to finish my conversation.”
I stand.
He glares, unamused.
I zip my coat, and when I look up, he’s gone again.
“See?” Lacey hisses, with a smirk. “He listens to you.”
I shake my head. “We’ll see how long this lasts, Lace.” I walk past her, but turn back and see her brow knit in worry. “You said you know more than they realize. ”
She meets my eyes and nods. “Way more. I was always around. Manny used to let me help him after Liam went away to school and I’m naturally curious, so I asked a lot of questions.”
“Prove to them you can handle it,” I say. “Let your actions speak louder than your words.”
She straightens, like she’s just been zipped up in the back. And then, a slow smile spreads across her face. “You really are a genius, Olive.”
I grin. “I know.”
I leave the office, bolstered by the encouragement and reaction to my ideas, but the second I walk outside and see Liam’s grim face?
Good feelings gone.