CHAPTER 54
OLIVIA
I t’s been two and a half weeks since I arrived at my parents’ house and so far, I feel like I have achieved nothing.
I decided to take it easy on myself the first week as I adjusted to being back here, opting to pack away the empty guest room and bathrooms.
Even that was a challenge.
After finding my mums perfume, I made the rookie error of spraying some on myself which promptly led to another epic meltdown.
The second week, Carter and I worked as a team and cleared out the living room and kitchen, boxing up pictures and keepsakes. We’ve kept the furniture for the time being and the new buyers will have the option to keep anything they want. The rest will be sold, donated or thrown out.
I’m yet to make it through a single day without crying and I haven’t even stepped foot in their bedroom. I briefly thought about asking Carter to tackle that room, but I know that’s an unfair ask so instead, I have formulated a plan.
All items of clothing will be bagged up for donation and everything of the sentimental kind will be placed into boxes and shipped to Rosewater Creek so I can sort through them at a later date.
That way, I’m not putting too much pressure on myself, and Savannah can be there with me when I undoubtably break down again.
Carter has been a huge help. I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without him these past few weeks.
Hell, the past few years.
If it hadn’t been for him, this house would’ve fallen into disrepair years ago. He has kept the place going and respected my mum and dad and their belongings without complaint. I honestly don’t know what I could ever do to repay him.
Today we decided to deal with the attic. If I were to weigh up which room holds the most belongings, it would definitely be this one.
I thought it would be easy enough, considering I’ve never been up here, and never once saw my parents venture up here either, but I was wrong.
Apparently, this is where they stored their collection of photo albums. I’ve also come across a few items that I thought were long gone. Things from my childhood that I threw out as I grew up.
One of them must have been paying attention because there’s a whole box filled with things like the blanket I used to sleep with until I was seven years old. The first teddy I ever owned. My first tooth. I pull item after item out of the box, each one shocking me more than the last.
They kept everything .
I fight hard against the tears threatening to fall. I refuse to cry today. I just want one day where I can be strong enough to get through it.
I close the lid on the box and push it to the side, deciding to move on from that. Carter is sorting through the multitude of work tools my dad kept stored up here but never used.
A large plastic box with the words ‘X-mas’ scrawled across it catches my eye and I move towards it.
Stretching up on my tiptoes, I try with all my might to reach the box where it sits on a high shelf and after the third attempt, I admit defeat and turn to Carter.
“Carter, could you help me get this down, please?”
He looks up from the wrench he’s examining and lets out a chuckle, placing the tool down and taking careful steps towards me.
Carter reaches above me, his hands grasping the box and pulling it to the edge of the shelf, leaving it hanging there. I wait for him to lift it down, but he just smirks at me.
“I think you can reach that now,” he says playfully.
I look between him and the box, raising an unimpressed brow. “Seriously?”
“Mm-hmm.” His smile conveys just how proud he is of his little joke, and I roll my eyes at him, reaching past him for the box.
Standing on my tiptoes again, I grip the box on either side, the cast on my wrist making that difficult, and pull it from the shelf, completely misjudging the weight of the items inside it.
“Oh fuck,” I grunt as I drop back to the balls of my feet. My arms are dragged backwards from the weight, and I stumble slightly. Carter reaches out, attempting to take the box from me but I let go too soon and the entire contents are dumped over my head.
“Oh shit,” he gasps with a laugh, and I drop my arms in defeat as I stare at the piles of tinsel and baubles at my feet.
My eyes shift to him, a scolding insult on the tip of my tongue, but the moment they land on his face I burst into laughter.
Red glitter covers his head and shoulders as he stands there in hysterical laughter. I join him, buckling over as the moment replays itself in my mind, only making me laugh harder, until tears stream from my eyes and my stomach hurts from exertion.
“You’re covered in glitter,” Carter wheezes and I look down at myself, noting the same red sparkles on my shirt.
“So are you,” I point out and he wipes his eyes as he inspects himself.
“Jesus Christ, what a mess.” He looks at the floor around us.
“That was your fault.” I scold him.
“It was. Poor judgement on my part, but at least it made you laugh,” he says and something in my chest cracks.
He’s right.
That is the first time I’ve laughed in weeks, and honestly, I feel lighter now. For a second, I wasn’t in my parent’s attic, clearing out their belongings. There was no Grayson Calloway haunting my waking thoughts. We were just two people fucking around.
I clear my throat. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”
He nods, his eyes taking on a sympathetic gleam. “Me, too.”
** *
It takes three attempts at shampooing my hair before it stops sparkling. I’m surprised my scalp isn’t bleeding from the vicious scrubbing I just subjected it to.
I found glitter in parts of my body no person should ever find glitter in, and I have no clue how it managed to get there considering I was fully clothed.
I turn the shower off and wrap a towel around my body before climbing out.
Wiping the condensation from the mirror, I pick up m hairbrush and begin tackling the knots in my hair just as the doorbell rings.
I pause, listening for footsteps to indicate that Carter is answering it, but all I’m greeted with is silence. I sigh and reach for the robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door. I pull it on and cringe at the feel of the fabric against my wet skin.
The doorbell rings again and I yank the door open in annoyance, muttering curse words as I pad on wet feet across the hallway and down the stairs.
The bell rings a third time just as I reach the door, and I pull it open with more force than necessary, ready to give the person on the other side a firm telling off for their lack of patience.
But when my eyes land on the person on the other side, I lose all train of thought.
I blink, trying to clear my vision because there is no way that this isn’t some kind of hallucination.
Maybe I inhaled some of the glitter and it’s messing with my brain.
When my eyes open again, he’s still standing there, his emerald-green eyes searching mine.
“What the fuck?” I whisper, mostly to myself because there’s a six foot one, cowboy who definitely doesn’t belong here, standing on my doorstep .
“Liv? Who is it?” I hear footfalls coming down the stairs behind me and my shoulders tense as his eyes flick over my shoulder.
I don’t need to turn around to know Carter is about as dressed as I am. And it doesn’t take a mind reader to see the wheels turning in Grayson’s head as he looks between the two of us.
Fuck.