8. Olivia
CHAPTER 8
OLIVIA
“D on’t talk to Izzy,” Olivia implored Charlie as they pulled up in front of the school.
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not allowed to talk to her?”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“You think I’m that much of a bad influence? What do you think is going to happen if we have a conversation?”
“It’s not about you being a bad influence,” Olivia told him. “It’s about… I was trying to keep these parts of my life separate from one another. You and I decided together not to let my family know about this marriage. That’s why they weren’t at the wedding.”
“Well, I wouldn’t tell her about that.”
“No, I know, but when I’m at home with my family, I want that to be a space where I don’t have to think about what things are like when I’m here with you.”
“It’s that bad being with me?”
“Charlie, stop it. I’m not trying to insult you. I’m just trying to keep things separated. You can understand that, right?”
“What if she wants to know who I am?”
“She will want to know that, and I’ll tell her.” Olivia spotted her sister out the window. “Here she comes. Please.”
Before he could protest any further, she hopped out of the car and held up a hand, knowing that Izzy might have trouble locating her since she was in an unfamiliar car today. Izzy frowned, but she came jogging over.
“Did your car break down?” she asked Olivia.
“No,” Olivia said. “I was with a client, and our meeting ran late, so he drove me over here to pick you up.”
“Oh,” Izzy said.
“Is that okay?”
“Sure. That’s fine.” Izzy hesitated for a second, then got into the back of the car. Olivia got back into her own seat.
“Hey there, Izzy,” Charlie said.
Olivia could have slapped him.
“Hi,” Izzy said. “You’re the client?”
“Charlie Coldwell. Nice to meet you.”
“Hang on,” Izzy said. “I know that name.”
Olivia gritted her teeth.
“Yeah,” Izzy realized. “Your family owns that big mansion by the water.”
“That’s the one,” Charlie said. “Although not for long, thanks to your sister here.”
“You’re selling that house?” Izzy asked, and Olivia saw her eyes widen in the rearview mirror. “Are you serious, Olivia?”
“It’s not that big a deal,” Olivia said. “It’s going to require a lot of fixing up, and I’m advising Mr. Coldwell on how he can best get it ready for resale.” She shot Charlie a glare. The last thing she wanted was for her family to find out the full details of what she was working on before she was ready to tell them. Until she had the money from this sale securely in her bank account, she didn’t want them planning for or dreaming about a windfall. It would make it that much more difficult if something went wrong.
“Oh,” Izzy said. She didn’t appear to be thinking too deeply about it. “That’s cool, I guess. Can I come see the house?”
“If we do an open house, you can come see it,” Olivia said. “Until then, we wouldn’t want to intrude on Mr. Coldwell’s property.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” Charlie said genially.
“See, he wouldn’t mind,” Izzy said.
“We can talk about it later,” Olivia said. There was no way she was having Izzy over to the house. All of her own things were there, and Izzy would figure out in an instant that something strange was going on.
“And you can call me Charlie, by the way, Izzy,” Charlie went on. “Mr. Coldwell is way too formal for me.”
“Okay, Charlie.” Izzy grinned. “If you’re moving out of that big house, are you still going to live here in Old Prescott?”
“No, he’s not,” Olivia said. “He’s going to be moving back to Boston, which is where he’s from. He inherited that house when a family member died. He doesn’t live here permanently.”
“Well, I don’t know,” Charlie countered. “Old Prescott is really nice. I’ve always liked this town, and now that I’ve been spending a little more time here, I’m starting to think it might be a good place for me permanently. What do you think, Izzy? You’ve lived here all your life, right? Do you like it?”
“Yeah, I like it,” Izzy said. “I think it’s good if you like small towns. But I’ll leave when it’s time for college.”
“Where do you want to go to college?”
“I’m thinking of the west coast.”
This was news to Olivia. “You are?”
“California,” Izzy said dreamily. “I could learn how to surf.”
“Izzy, you’d be going to college to get an education. Not to surf.”
“Learning how to surf would be an education, Olivia.”
“She’s got a point there,” Charlie chuckled. “You want to learn to surf, Izzy?”
“I’ve tried a little around here,” Izzy said. “But the waves are kind of a joke.”
“Yeah, that’s true. If you really want to learn, you have to go out west.”
“I don’t know where this surfing thing is coming from,” Olivia said. “You’ve never talked about surfing before.”
“Sure I have,” Izzy countered. “I talk about it all the time. Surfing and skydiving.”
“ Skydiving ?”
“Have you ever been skydiving, Charlie?”
“Can’t say I have,” Charlie said. “I’ve thought about it, but I think that might be a little too intense for me.”
“Not me,” Izzy said. “I’m dying to go.”
“You’re not going skydiving,” Olivia said firmly, but at the same time, she knew that if her sister wanted to go, she would do it. There was a closing window of time during which Olivia could tell Izzy what to do. Soon enough, she would be on her own, and she would make those decisions for herself.
It was a frightening thought.
“Hey, Izzy,” Charlie said, “what’s the best restaurant in town? I mean, I have my favorites, but where do the kids like to eat?”
“Paul’s Diner. That’s where we go after basketball games.”
“Why don’t we check it out?”
Olivia glanced at him. “You want to go to Paul’s Diner?”
“I’ve never been there.”
“I don’t think it’s your kind of place. It’s a twenty-four-hour greasy spoon.”
“You don’t know everything about me yet,” Charlie said. “Let’s go. Let me treat you ladies to dinner.”
“That sounds awesome,” Izzy said.
“It’s too early for dinner,” Olivia protested.
“You and I missed lunch,” Charlie said. “And Izzy — are you hungry?”
“I’m starving .”
“Of course you are. When I was in high school I was constantly hungry. Growing kids need food. Let’s go. How do I get there?”
“It’s downtown,” Izzy said. “Right by the movie theater.”
“Oh, sure. Okay. I know where that is.” Charlie took a right turn.
Olivia sat back in her seat, deeply frustrated at the fact that no one seemed to listen to her about anything.
And yet, if she was being completely honest, she would have to admit that there was something pleasant about seeing her sister get along with Charlie so well. She was enjoying it in spite of herself — and there was a part of her that really did want to get dinner with the two of them.
* * *
“Your car is so cool, Charlie,” Izzy said enviously, taking a bite of her cheeseburger.
“Yeah?” Charlie beamed. “Thanks, kid. You know, my sister says it makes me look like I’m having a mid-life crisis.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means she thinks that only insecure men drive little red sports cars. She thinks I’m trying to prove I’m cool.”
“Are you?” Olivia asked him.
“Cool people don’t have to prove it,” Charlie said. “Izzy, did you get those blue streaks in your hair to make people think you were cool? Or did you do it because you liked those blue streaks?”
“I liked them,” Izzy said. “My mom doesn’t like them.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” Charlie said. “My mom wouldn’t have liked them either. But the point is, if you’re really cool, you do what you want to do because you want to do it. Some people like it, and some people don’t, but none of that is your reason for doing it. Right?”
“Right,” Izzy agreed firmly. She dragged a fry through her ketchup.
Charlie turned back to Olivia. “So no, I’m not trying to prove anything with my car. I got that car because I always dreamed of having a car like that when I was a kid, and now I can have one.”
“When I get a car,” Izzy said, “I think it’s going to be one of those SUVs that look like a cube.”
“I love that.” Charlie said. “Those things are so weird.”
“I know. My friends and I have a contest going to see who can spot the most of them. In order for it to count, there has to be at least one other person around when you see one, so you can have a witness confirm that you did see it.”
“Right,” Charlie said. “Otherwise you couldn’t be sure that people weren’t padding their numbers. That’s smart.”
“Olivia thinks it’s dumb.”
“No, I don’t!” Olivia protested. “Where are you getting that?”
“You said we were probably just seeing the same three cars over and over.”
“In a town this size, you probably are,” Olivia said. “How many people do you think honestly own those SUVs around here? That doesn’t mean I think it’s dumb .”
“Hey, I’ll tell you what,” Charlie said. “Maybe we can go up to Boston for the weekend sometime — you, me, and Olivia. There are tons of those cars up there.”
“Hold on,” Olivia objected. “Now we’re taking weekend trips?”
“It wouldn’t count if I didn’t have a friend with me,” Izzy said.
“You could take pictures. Besides, we’d have fun. Boston is a fun city. Have you been?”
“Once, on a school trip.”
“This would be more fun than a school trip, probably, because you’d get to set the agenda for it.”
“That does sound fun.” Izzy looked at Olivia. “Could we?”
“I don’t think Mom is going to go for that, Iz.”
“We could ask, couldn’t we?”
“We could ask.”
“You two see if you can soften up your mom on the idea,” Charlie said. “I’m sure she’d be okay with it since Olivia would be along too. In fact, it could really be your trip, and I’d just meet up with you in town and take you out to lunch a couple of times. How does that sound?”
“It sounds great to me,” Izzy said. “Olivia, how come you haven’t introduced me to Charlie before? He’s so cool.”
“I don’t usually make a habit of introducing my clients to my family,” Olivia said.
“Maybe you should, if this is what they’re like.”
Olivia sighed. “Charlie… I think we need to tell her the truth.”
“I thought you didn’t want to do that.”
“Hang on,” Izzy said. “Tell me what truth?”
“You were the one who said we shouldn’t do it,” Olivia said. “You were the one who said the fewer people involved, the better. Did you forget that? I’ve been going along with your plan. And I still would be if you’d done like I asked and not struck up this conversation with her — but you two are acting like the best of friends, and Izzy’s not stupid. She knows there’s something going on here.”
“ What truth?” Izzy repeated.
But Olivia didn’t know what to say. She wanted to come clean to her sister, but how could she possibly explain all this?
Fortunately — or unfortunately, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it — Charlie had never been lost for words in his life.
“The thing is, Izzy,” he said, “I’m married to your sister.”
Izzy’s jaw dropped. “No you’re not.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Olivia said. “I know this sounds crazy. And it kind of is crazy. There’s a lot that went into the decision. But… yes. Charlie and I are married. That’s why he’s so eager to get to know you, and that’s why he’s not like any of my other clients. He isn’t just a client. He’s my husband.”
Izzy looked from one of them to the other, clearly at a loss for what to say.
And Olivia felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach as she realized the full weight of what she had just confessed.
There was a lot of explaining to do, and none of it was going to be easy.