CHAPTER 48
OLIVIA
I t’s been a week since I got out of the hospital. The wounds on my body are slowly starting to heal and my muscles ache less and less with each day.
After getting the all-clear to fly, I booked my flight back to London for early next week, which leaves me five days to get my shit sorted – not an easy feat with only one working arm.
I’m also still without a car so I’ve been relying on Savannah to drive me to and from any doctor’s appointments and feeling guilty while doing it. She insists it’s not a problem, but with her third trimester quickly approaching, I can see the exhaustion written on her face.
“Thank you for taking me, Sav,” I tell her for the hundredth time since she’s picked me up and she rolls her eyes.
“I told you; it’s no problem. I needed to get out of the house anyway. Hunter is driving me crazy,” she says with an exasperated sigh.
“Oh? Trouble in paradise?” I ask in surprise.
Savannah’s shoulders drop as guilt takes over her face. “No, nothing like that. He’s just hovering around me like a mother hen. I swear, ever since I started to show he’s done nothing but worry. He follows me everywhere, Liv.”
A laugh bursts out of me as I take in her serious expression. “He loves you, Sav. He just wants to make sure you’re okay.”
Her head drops back against the driver’s seat. “Ugh, I know. And I love him for it. I just need him to stop treating me like I’m incapable of doing anything on my own.”
“You know, he sounds like someone else I know,” I raise a brow at her.
She bats my comment away with her hand. “Yeah, yeah. Message received.”
“How’s Reign dealing with the idea of having a sibling?” I ask, steering the conversation in a different direction.
“She’s so excited. They’re decorating the nursery right now, and she loves having an input. She misses you.”
Guilt eats at me at her comment. I’ve dropped the ball with my niece recently. We went from spending almost every day together to barely seeing each other. “I miss her, too.”
“Why don’t you come for dinner at Amelia and Roman’s tomorrow?” Savannah asks, her voice hopeful.
I grimace. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea me coming to the ranch, Sav.”
“Gray’s been keeping his distance from everyone, so the chances of running into him are slim.”
I still haven’t heard from him since the accident. The first few days of silence hurt. On more than one occasion I found myself opening our chat on my phone and typing out a message before deleting it altogether. But now, I’m just pissed off. If he doesn’t have the decency to even ask how I am, then he can politely go fuck himself. I refuse to chase after a man who can walk away without even an explanation as to why.
“Okay, I’ll come,” I sigh, and she beams at me.
“I’ll pick you up at three and you can come with me to collect Reign from school. She’s gonna be so happy.”
“Sounds good,” I say, her excitement rubbing off on me. Some time with Reign is exactly what I need right now after the shitty few days I’ve just had.
***
Savannah picks me up at exactly three PM the next day and we arrive at Reigns school twenty minutes later. I decide to wait at the car while she goes in and collects Reign so I can surprise her when she comes out.
Within minutes I see my nieces blonde pigtails swinging side to side as she walks alongside her mother. It takes a while for her to spot me but when she does, her eyes light up and a wide smile takes over her face as she runs at me. “Aunty Livvy!”
I open my arms and catch her with an oomph. “Hey, baby girl.”
“I missed you,” she says against my neck as she holds onto me for dear life.
“I missed you too my girl.”
“Are you coming to our house?” she asks as she pulls back, her tone hopeful.
I nod with a smile. “I am. ”
“Yay!” she exclaims loudly, punching one fist in the air and earning the attention of passerby’s. My heart warms in my chest at her excitement over simply spending time with me.
“Let’s go then,” I say, returning her excitement as I place her on the ground and usher her towards the back of the car.
I strap her in her car seat and climb back into the passenger side before Savannah takes off in the direction of the ranch.
Unfortunately for me, the drive is only ten-minutes and before I know it, we’re turning onto the gravel road leading to the main house. Nervous butterflies take flight in my stomach as the Calloway’s farmhouse comes into view and Savannah slows the car to a stop.
She climbs out and rounds the car to retrieve Reign from the back seat and I take several calming breaths before following behind her.
“Mummy, I thought Livvy was coming to our house?” Reign asks as we climb the steps to Grayson’s parent’s house.
“She can come to our house later. We’re having dinner here first,” Savannah responds, and I send up a silent prayer that this dinner will be over quickly so I can spend some time with my favourite girl in the world.
“Okay,” Reign says, satisfied with that answer.
The two girls enter the house, and I follow behind, dragging my feet a little as though that’s going to delay me having to face the Calloway’s after their son ghosted me . I don’t want to see the pitying looks on their faces. Or for them to dance around the subject of Grayson altogether to avoid making things awkward for me .
We follow the sound of light chatter and round the corner into the kitchen where Amelia stands with Roman, Hunter and Noah. Amelia spots me first and her face lights up as she walks towards me, wrapping me in a hug. “Hey sweet girl.”
“Hey. Something smells good in here,” I reply, returning her embrace.
She pulls back and gives me a proud smile. “I’m making chicken parm tonight.”
My stomach grumbles in response and we both dissolve into a fit of giggles. She slings an arm over my shoulder. “Come on, I’ll get you some wine.”
“That might be the best thing I’ve heard all week,” I say, allowing her to steer me toward the fridge, giving the others a quick hello as we pass.
Once I’ve got an oversized glass of wine in hand, Amelia shoos us towards the dining room to take our seats as she dishes up dinner and begins bringing out the plates of food. Savannah and I offer our help but are quickly shot down as Amelia insists she is perfectly capable of doing it on her own and the two of us decide it’s best not to argue with her.
She lays the food out family-style, with large plates and bowls of food spread across the table for us to help ourselves. We each take turns piling food onto our plates before digging in. It’s a little harder for me to cut my food with only one hand without drawing attention to myself and after I drop the knife for the third time, I give up on the utensil altogether.
Savannah takes pity on me and leans over, cutting the chicken on my plate for me and my face flames with embarrassment .
A door slams somewhere in the house, and I feel the air shift as Grayson enters the dining room behind me. My stomach plummets as his heavy footfalls come to a halt.
Reign… my sweet, beautiful Reign, chooses that exact moment to speak up. “Don’t worry Auntie Liv. Mummy cuts my dinner for me, too.”
Noah chokes back a laugh. Hunter coughs into his fist to conceal his amusement. Savannah pulls back slowly, her eyes flicking between me and the man behind me. The entire room falls into an awkward silence as I close my eyes and pray for the ground to open up and swallow me whole for the second time at this dinner table.