Chapter 14 Olivia
OLIVIA
The familiar chime of the bell sounded out as Duke, Harper, Charlie, and I stepped through the door of Lucy’s. Thankfully, it wasn’t nearly as busy as it was after Harper’s game.
“Sit where you like, sweeties! I’ll be right over,” Lucy called from the register.
The girls looked at one another with knowing smiles before running to the same booth as before. And just like last time, they sat on the same side, leaving Duke and me to squeeze in together.
Only this time, it didn’t feel awkward.
When I told Duke I needed to run errands, I was expecting him to bail. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had. Instead, he jogged over to his truck, moved Harper’s booster seat over to my car, and told me to get in the passenger seat.
I had half a mind to argue, but then he draped his hand effortlessly over the steering wheel to back out of the drive, and I lost every coherent thought I had.
Duke wasn’t classically handsome. He was rugged.
Ridiculously so. He reminded me of the videos I saw on social media of a lumberjack competition in Alaska, where every guy wore flannel, had a beard, and was muscled up to perfection.
Sometimes, I caught a faint whiff of pine when he walked by, so it fit the bill.
Except this lumberjack wore a tight-fitting black t-shirt, had a mustache, and a permanent scowl stretched across his face. One I noticed slipping more and more lately.
Today alone, I caught him smiling at least four times. Not that I was counting, of course. That would be ridiculous. But it did make me curious to see if I could make it happen again.
For science, of course.
When we pulled up to the school and told the girls we were going to grab an early dinner, they giddily piled in the back of my SUV. I wasn’t sure they’d stopped talking since we picked them up, which warmed my heart.
Though Charlie and I had a rough start when I first showed up, we had settled into a groove.
I was grateful for the co-parenting relationship Grady and I shared.
He didn’t mind that she stayed with me most days.
It let me see a side to her I never got to see in the stolen moments I was home before.
Like how grumpy she was when I woke her up for school every morning, or the small burst of energy she got after dinner.
Every now and then, I’d find her curled up in bed beside me without any recollection of when she’d crawled between the covers.
If I wasn’t careful, I could get used to this kind of easy life.
“Not that I’m complaining about such fine company, but it’s not a Saturday afternoon,” Lucy said, sidling up to our table with a smile. She sat two coloring mats and crayons on the table for the girls. “Are we celebrating something?”
“My uncle told Duke to get me out of the house,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Apparently, I’ve been driving him crazy, so we thought we’d take the girls out for a treat.”
Lucy’s eyes lit up at the use of the word ‘we.’ She glanced between Duke and me with a barely concealed smile. “Well, what a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Are we gonna do the usual?”
“Burgers, fries, and shakes for the table, if you don’t mind,” Duke cut in before I could say anything. He turned to me. “Chocolate, right?”
I blinked, surprised he remembered. “Right. Is that okay with you girls?”
Both of them nodded before excitedly trading crayons.
“Perfect! I’ll put this in for y’all. Be back shortly.” Lucy winked and strolled off, leaving Duke and me to stare at the girls.
“Here. Y’all can do this one.” Charlie shoved the second coloring mat and crayon pack toward Duke and me. “We’ll see whose is best before we leave.”
I stared down at the page. I’d never been much for coloring books, not even as a kid, but I downright loathed them as an adult.
Cleo tried to get me into it one night after one too many glasses of wine.
By the end of the night, I’d nearly thrown her coloring book and fancy markers in the trash because I’d gotten so mad.
“Oh, I don’t need to do this to know yours will be better, sunshine,” I said.
Duke bumped my shoulder with his. His green eyes damn near sparkled with mirth. “What? You’re not up for some friendly competition?”
“Not when I know I’ll lose,” I muttered.
“Mom’s a sore loser,” Charlie added. The little shit.
I turned toward her. “So are you, dear daughter. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
She just shrugged. “At least I’m not afraid to try.”
Jeez. Getting kicked out of my uncle’s house and put in my place by my nine-year-old wasn’t on my bingo card for the day, but it looked like I didn’t have a choice.
I reached forward and yanked a blue crayon from the cheap cardboard box, pointing it at my daughter. “Alright, smarty pants… Let’s make a deal. Whoever loses has to do dishes for a week.”
Charlie narrowed her eyes. “What about Duke and Harper? That’s not fair if they don’t have the same rules.”
I turned to Duke. Charlie was right. If it was going to be a team event, he had to be on board. “Well?”
Duke looked at Harper, who had a smirk on her face. A dare. A challenge. With a simple nod, he said, “Alright. I’m in.”
Lucy stared between our two art pieces, tilting her head back and forth as though she was a famed art critic instead of a restaurant owner we’d paid twenty bucks to judge us impartially.
Twenty bucks was a good investment if it meant I won.
Of course, there was no way to tell whose was whose. Our mats had been face down when we asked her if she’d be willing to do it. Then we mixed them up a couple of times for good measure.
“Well?” Charlie asked. Her big blue eyes were so wide; it was the perfect puppy-dog pout. Lucy looked her way, visibly softening under my daughter’s gaze.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” I snapped my fingers in front of Charlie’s face. “That’s the oldest trick in the book, and it’s not allowed.”
“She doesn’t even know which one is mine, Mom. How could I possibly cheat?”
Okay, so she had a point. But I knew my daughter would do some shady things to get out of doing dishes for a whole week. I couldn’t trust her when so much was on the line.
“No tricks. Keep those big, blue eyes to yourself,” I said, leaning back in the booth.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Duke shaking his head in silent laughter at our banter. There was something different about him today. He seemed lighter. Less guarded. And I’d counted two smiles since we sat down.
Our newfound camaraderie felt an awful lot like friendship. Being able to spend time with someone who not only understood the pressures of being a parent but also the impending demise of my uncle was freeing somehow. It had been a long time since I had a friend who understood.
My only problem is that I wasn’t sure friendship was what I wanted. At least, not entirely.
I didn’t have much experience with relationships.
Before I married Grady, I had a handful of boyfriends who never made it past the six-month mark.
Then I married my best friend in a ruse to take over my family’s company and help his music career.
We were only supposed to stay married a few years.
Enough to satisfy the press and the Hartstrings board of directors so they’d allow me to assume my position as the company’s CEO.
But as the years passed, neither Grady nor I had any interest in going through the divorce process. He would forever be pining over the one who got away, while I was convinced I’d be the really cool single aunt someday.
And then came Cleo.
I personally had zero interest in dating. Which was fine, seeing as I also barely had time to fly home and see my daughter a couple of times a month. For whatever reason, being around Duke was changing things for me. And it wasn’t just the realization of how lonely I’d been since the divorce.
It was him.
His looks. His smell. His moody demeanor. His stupid slutty little mustache. His deep voice. His calloused hands.
Oh god, his hands. They were massive and looked like they were carved from marble. On more than one occasion, I’d found myself wondering how they’d feel as he ran the rough pads along my body gently. Reverently. How he’d grip my hips, bruising them with each mindless thrust.
I’d had to charge my little pink bullet twice since I got here.
While I could blame the sudden horniness on the fact that it’d been a very long time since I had sex, it wasn’t that simple.
Nothing and no one else made me feel the way I did when I was with him.
Not even my trusty book boyfriends, which I found extremely frustrating as I tried to relax one evening with my favorite one-handed read.
A mustache showing up on my favorite fae prince really put a damper on things.
“You good there?” Duke asked, pulling me from my thoughts. The entire table was staring at me with concern.
“Sorry. Must have zoned out there for a minute,” I said, smiling weakly. I looked toward the girls and Lucy. “Did you pick a winner?”
Lucy shook her head. “You know, this is a lot of pressure to put a single person under,” she muttered. “But I suppose if I had to choose, I’d go with…” Her eyes darted between the two sheets. “This one.”
I closed my eyes to the sound of Harper and Charlie whooping loudly. Everyone turned towards our table as Duke and I launched into our complaints, demanding to know why theirs won over ours.
“They colored in the lines, and you didn’t,” Lucy said, slapping down our bill on the table. “Come see me at the register when you’re done so I can take care of this bill for you.”
“You’re cruel,” I said as she walked about. “This was rigged.”
Across the table, Charlie and Harper wore smug expressions. “Looks like we’re off dish duty for the week.” Then they turned to one another and did some kind of handshake that looked like a strange secret code.
“Braggarts,” Duke mumbled, looking down at his empty milkshake glass.