16. Olivia
OLIVIA
“ P lease, bury me with this chair.”
Callie sprawled across the huge circular armchair I kept in my office. The big, plush chair was incredible for naps and late nights. Truly, one of my favorite pieces of furniture and, clearly, I wasn’t alone.
“I’ll make a note. It wasn’t cheap, though, so you better put me in your will.”
“Done.”
We were wrapping up our meeting, reviewing my workspace, and going through some general ideas for the show.
We’d need to pitch them to her team, but Callie thought it made sense for her and me to establish what I was interested in and comfortable with beforehand.
“Hey, how do you feel about tacos?”
“Is that a real question, Callie?”
She laughed and popped out of the chair.
“It’s settled then! We’re getting tacos and margaritas and I’m not even going to bother asking how you feel about margaritas. If it’s anything other than amazing, I’m going to need you to lie to impress me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her instructions, but I followed orders and grabbed my bag.
“Tacos and margaritas it is.”
Forty minutes later, we sat at a small, colorful table filled with a variety of tacos and two fat margaritas. Callie was in the middle of a story about her weekend’s escapades that included her sweet talking her way into an invitation-only event she did not have an invitation for.
I wasn’t surprised in the least. I hadn’t known Callie very long, but she had ‘Red ropes mean nothing to me’ written all over her.
“Anyway, enough about me! I’m so pumped about your show, Liv, truly.”
“It’s not like it’s a sure thing. You like the idea, but that doesn’t mean the entire team, plus execs, will green light it.”
She scoffed and waved her hand in the air dismissively.
“My entire team has been watching you for months. They’ll all be on board and the show would be pretty cheap to make, so I don’t see it getting held up in the C suite.”
There was a nagging question lingering in the back of my mind. It was ridiculous to even bring up, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. About him.
When we’d first met, Callie had made it clear part of the interest in me was because of my single status. She even referenced the designer/builder cliche and wanting to go another way.
Which made these feelings that kept bubbling up for Lucas Alessi even more inconvenient.
“So you’re thinking your team is all on board because of the original direction?” I asked. Apparently, I couldn’t stop myself from poking around for information.
“Sure. And everything we’ve talked about since. They trust my judgment.”
“Only the original concept?”
Callie’s brows drew together in confusion. “Why? Is there something you aren’t comfortable with? Liv, tell me now! We are trying to make you a show you love.”
“Oh no, I’m not uncomfortable. I think everything sounds great. I was just wondering if anything changed about me, if that might be a deal breaker.”
“What kind of change are we talking about here? You dye your hair blue or realize you want to live life as a man? I think we could make either work.”
A nervous laugh escaped my shaky smile.
“No, no. Nothing like that.” I felt like a teenage girl. This was one of the biggest opportunities of my life and I was seriously sitting here asking Callie ‘What if I date a boy?’ Insanity.
“It’s just. You’d mentioned being interested in me as a single woman. Bucking the trend…”
“Olivia Dawson! Are you dating a man?! Tell me right now!”
Shit. I knew I was going to fuck this up. “No! I’m not. I was just asking, I guess. Definitely not dating anyone.”
She looked incredulous. “But you want to be. ”
Oh my god. This was going terribly. “No! I swear, nothing like that.”
“You are lying to me, Liv. I can see it in your eyes and if you don’t spill the tea right now !”
Wait, what? Spill the tea?
“Hold on. Don’t you care about me staying single?”
“Oh please, Olivia. Sure, that would be an angle, but so is a freshly sexed up, gorgeous designer. I care that you’re not telling me who you currently are or are trying to bone. That, I care about.”
She was insane, but she was giving me hope.
Maybe my single status wasn’t that important?
If I could cross that off the list of reasons not to pursue anything with Lucas Alessi, all that remained was the pesky fact that we were technically coworkers.
That fact was becoming increasingly unimportant to me.
I tried to skirt her probing, “I’m not boning anyone. Charming language, by the way. But I’m not a nun. I don’t know how long television shows take to produce. I wasn’t sure if I was making an oath of celibacy or something.”
Lies. Lies on top of lies.
Callie eyed me suspiciously. She didn’t seem to buy my excuse.
“I think you’re full of shit.” Okay. She wasn’t buying it. “But, I’m going to allow you to lie to me for now because we’re new friends and blackmail seems too damaging for this stage of our relationship. I expect details if the boning continues, though.”
I laughed, shaking my head at her very eloquent description .
“I will make you a deal. If you never say boning again, I will tell you if and when I have sex with someone.”
A satisfied smirk spread across her face as she took a sip of her margarita.
“Deal.”
My eyes probably rolled to the moon, but they stopped short when they landed on a familiar woman with deep brown hair pulled into a French twist. She was perfectly put together in a cream blouse and navy linen pants. The woman had her many faults, but she knew how to dress.
Her eyes met mine and her face broke into a small, reserved smile. How polite.
As she approached, Callie seemed utterly oblivious to my shift in demeanor.
“Livvy! What a surprise.”
My mother was flanked by two equally put together women.
Callie, ever the optimist, beamed at the three older women.
“Mom, hi. This is Callie Klepner. Callie, this is my mother, Linda.”
“Hi, Mrs. Dawson! Wow, you must be thrilled for Olivia. If my kid was getting a TV show, I think I might die of excitement. I’m beyond happy for her and I only just met her when we offered her the show.”
My mom barely missed a beat, but she did pause for an extra second. It wasn’t because she was hurt I hadn’t told her, but Callie had clearly thrown a wrench in her next rehearsed sentence. I watched her rework it.
“Mrs. Jones,” she corrected. “Olivia’s always been able to surprise me.
Look at us today! Who’d have imagined we’d end up at the same spot for work functions?
It wouldn’t have been my choice but Joy,” she turned to the redhead on her right, “just loves the quirky atmosphere here, and we needed to discuss our latest string of open houses. We have such an incredible slate of homes opening up and need to make sure they’re in top shape. Well, you know how that is.”
It was always interesting watching people react to my mother. So much so that I’d stopped listening to her in favor of watching Callie’s face.
Over the course of my mother’s little monologue, Callie had moved from elated, to confused, to angry. Currently, she looked like she was about to lay into her.
“Sure, of course.” Callie was searching for her voice. “I’m sure after the shock wore off, you were through the roof happy for her…?”
“Yes, yes. I always support what she does with her little videos.” Linda turned to me with a smile as effective as a bucket full of holes. “Wonderful for you, dear. Anyway, we’ve got to get back to the office. Good to see you, dear.”
She leaned down and squeezed my hand briefly before turning and making a hasty exit. Her cronies were quick to follow suit, immediately launching into more details about their upcoming open houses.
I turned in my seat and loaded a chip with guacamole before making eye contact with Callie. Her eyebrows looked like they were trying to escape her face.
“Olivia Gabriela Dawson. What the fuck was that?”
I chuckled. “My middle name is Marie.”
“That was your mother ? She literally could not have given a single shit about the show. Did she even know about it?”
“No. If you couldn’t tell, we’re not exactly besties.”
“Well, that became pretty obvious. What’s her deal? Is she like Mommy Dearest?”
“No. She’s not cruel, really. Just wildly uninterested in me as a human. I’ve made my peace with it.”
“Damn, Liv. That’s cold. Of her, not you. She seems like a narcissist. Immediately dove into talking about her own thing to overshadow your tremendous accomplishment.”
That made me laugh too, because what else could I do? The situation with my mother was always absurd. I’d learned a long time ago to detach from my feelings. It was my means of survival.
“I need another margarita. And a shower. I think her bad vibes are hanging on me.”
“Sorry about the vibes, but I won’t say no to another margarita.”
Callie shook her whole body in an effort to remove the vibes.
“Why is she Jones? Were your parents divorced?”
We paused briefly to order another round when the server popped in. Once she left to get our drinks, I grabbed the last of the one I had and polished it off. If we were going to chat about Linda, I’d need it.
“She left my dad when I was a kid. Showed a home to a man and moved in with him a month later.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah, his wife thought so, too.”
Callie was ready to throw down .
“Wow. What a bitch. She acts so proper, but she’s out here home wrecking.”
That made me laugh.
“So, did you even see her after that?”
I sighed. “For certain holidays, but I stayed with my dad after she left. For obvious reasons.”
“Damn Liv. She sounds like a monster. I need two showers now.”
Our server placed two fresh drinks on the table and I proceeded to drown out that lovely interaction with my mother via tequila and tacos.
Linda Jones strikes again.