Chapter Eleven #2
she had to deal with. “I don’t want them to watch me fail again.”
Miranda groaned. “Shame leads us to make poor choices.
Olivia, there is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“My parents have a perfect marriage,” Olivia argued.
“They do not,” Miranda shot back with a smile. “No one has a
perfect marriage. No one. My mom and dads seem perfect, and they get along, but
I assure you they’ve fought over the years. It’s not about never having
confrontation. It’s about how you handle it. Your parents handle it well, but I
remember your momma being mad as hell at your dad over how he handled Nicole.”
Oh, who could forget that? Not that she’d been there, but
she’d gotten all the tea. Her father thought Nicole had been hiding her past
when she’d actually been on the run from a stalker. But all her father had seen
was a woman using his sons, and he’d been ruthless.
Her momma had not approved.
It was perfect, but still. “It’s hard to have grown up
around all these amazing love stories and to not have one of my own.”
“Yet. It’s not like you’re moving into old age, Livie.”
“They worry about me. They worry I don’t have good
instincts. It’s why my mom is always trying to set me up. So does my sister. I
think my fathers would prefer if they bought me a husband.”
“No, they would be happiest if you never needed a man at
all, and I swear women of a certain age think they’re all matchmakers. You
should try to tell Rachel Harper you don’t want to date.”
It was Olivia’s turn to chuckle. She knew the woman who
worked with Miranda’s mom. “I’m sure it’s worse in a small town where you’re
beloved.”
“Not worse. Just different,” Miranda said quietly. “Give
them a chance. I see how they look at you.”
She did, too, but she needed to hear it. “How do they look
at me?”
“Like you are the sun in the sky. Like my dads look at my
mom. Like your dads look at your mom.” Her lips curled up. “Of course, I think
they’re more like your parents than mine because I also see how they look at
each other.”
The very thought did something to her. “They’ve never
touched each other sexually before.”
“Really?” Miranda asked. “Because there’s some heat between
those men.”
“I know. I think they need… I think they’re a lot like my
dads.” She’d thought about this endlessly. “I asked Papa once when he knew he
loved Dad. He told me he knew he loved him a long time before they decided to
be more than friends. I asked him why, and he said they were waiting for my
mom. Mom made things possible that weren’t before. They were afraid to lose the
friendship. They depended on it all their lives. But my mom saw what they
needed and when my dad offered to do whatever she wanted, she said she wanted
them to kiss.”
That story had played through her head a million times since
she met Keane and Garrett.
“I would bet they didn’t look at each other like this before
you,” Miranda said. “I would bet they’re starting to open up to the
possibilities. Does it bother you?”
“Yes. It’s killing me.”
A loud laugh came from her friend. “You know some people
would think you were talking about the fact that the two men you’re into are
into each other and it bothers you.”
“No, I want to watch.” She really did. “But I also don’t
want to push them. I haven’t wanted to push them because it didn’t feel right.
Not if I wasn’t staying. But what if I want to try?”
“Then everything is open to you. I love them so much,”
Miranda admitted. “Keane is quiet but sweet. He comes out and helps Gigi with
all the medical stuff that she takes out to the resort. He just started packing
it. Now Gigi leaves it by the car and gets an extra coffee because she knows
he’ll do it for her.”
“I would talk to her about using one of my men for free
labor, but he likes it. Keane’s the kind of guy who needs to feel needed.” She
winced. “He’s like my dad. That should scare me more than it does.”
Miranda shrugged. “Nah. Your dad is a good man and a great
husband. I don’t think you could do better than your dad, and Garrett might not
be your papa but he’s close. This could be so good for you.”
She held her friend’s hand for a moment. “I needed this.
Thank you. How did you get so good at the whole therapy thing, because this
feels like therapy.”
“I am the firstborn child of a man who lost everything to
cocaine and strippers once,” Miranda declared. “My dad is big into therapy. And
coffee.”
Olivia felt a real weight lift. She didn’t have to make a
decision today, but she could start trying. She could start not thinking it had
to be temporary. She could talk to her mom.
Oh, she could talk to her mom and her sister, and they could
give her advice and she would listen because they loved her.
“Olivia,” Garrett began, “we need to… Baby, are you okay?
Keane? Keane, she’s crying.”
He sounded like that was the worst thing that could happen.
Like this was an emergency that had to be handled right this instant. Like she
was precious.
“What happened?” Keane was there in seconds.
She stood up and wrapped her arms around him. “Nothing,
Master. I was reminiscing with Miranda, and the memories were sweet. They’re
making me think about things in a different way.”
“In a good way?”
“In the best way,” she said, and went on her toes to kiss
him.
“Uh, what’s Gabe doing?” Miranda asked.
“Damn it.” Garrett strode off, following Gabe.
Keane smiled and took her hand. “Come and dance with me. We
need to keep Gabe from making an idiot of himself. He doesn’t like the guy
Gigi’s dancing with. Says he looks like a criminal. I asked if I looked like a
criminal and he said yes, so he’s also an asshole.”
Olivia grinned but the thought of being on that dance floor
with all those people around her held little appeal. Especially since the music
had picked up and everyone was two-stepping. She could be klutzy. “Take
Miranda. I want to sit and drink my margarita for a minute and watch the soap
opera playing out around me.”
Miranda stood, ready to play her part. “I noticed that
Clancy and Penny are not speaking to each other, and it looks like Jonas
brought his sister-in-law. Does Hannah know?”
It was a small town, and there was always drama. Always.
Miranda loved the gossip in Willow Fork. Despite the church ladies, who swore
that being in small towns was the only things that kept people from sinning,
there was a shit ton of sin to go around.
“I don’t know who any of those people are,” Keane admitted,
taking Miranda’s hand like the gentleman he was. “But you can tell me why Gabe
seems to think he’s Gigi’s bodyguard. I would love that story.”
Miranda’s eyes glittered with enthusiasm as they hit the
dance floor.
She loved that they fit in with her friends.
It felt right.
She noticed that sure enough, Clancy and Penny were on
opposite sides of the dance floor, glaring at each other. They got married
after high school but still liked to pretend they were in a teen drama.
Everyone on that dance floor had their own problems. Every
single one of them. They all had choices to make.
What were the pros when it came to Garrett and Keane?
Too many to list.
And the cons? She still didn’t know whatever secret Keane
was keeping, but she was starting to think she had an inkling. He joked about
prison a lot.
If he spent time in jail, he’d learned his lesson. He was
forthright and kind. She found him talking to a hand who’d completely screwed
up. Keane had been patient with him, teaching him.
She was content if he never wanted to tell her.
So the cons were mostly about her. About the potential for
failure and everyone watching her lose again.
Her mother would tell her the only way to lose was to never
try again. She could hear her mother’s voice clear as a bell.
“Is this seat taken?”
She looked up and sighed. Scott was here.
She really should have danced.
* * * *
Garrett moved in before Gabe could pounce. Sure
enough, the cowboy Gigi was dancing with did have his hand pretty close to her
backside, but they did not need another run-in with the sheriff. That’s what they
would get if Gabe had his way.
“Can I cut in?” he asked, holding a hand out to her.
“Hey, I’m dancing here,” the cowboy protested.
“Yes, you’ve had her for a while now. It’s time to share her
with the rest of us.” He hoped he didn’t have to get mean, but he couldn’t
leave her with this guy.
The cowboy frowned his way, but Gigi took the out he was
offering her. She put her hand in his and let him lead.
“Thanks so much,” she said, looking up at him with a smile.
“He was starting to get a little aggressive. Which is sad because that guy can
dance.”
Garrett was well aware he wasn’t the best dancer. He spent
his college years studying and working three jobs to get by. Any free time he
had he spent driving down to Huntsville to see Keane. He hadn’t had the same
college experience many people his age had so he didn’t know all the moves, but
he did know how to two-step. If he counted in his head.
“Well, I came to save you so Gabe didn’t,” he admitted. He
saw over her shoulder that Gabe had found them, but he held back now that she
was with Garrett.
Hopefully he didn’t stalk after the cowboy.
Gigi frowned. “Of course he was mad. If I have the slightest
bit of fun, he comes in to stop it. He’s like the big brother I never wanted.
My actual brothers are cool. I think it’s because they’re afraid of our mom.”
Gigi’s family sounded fun. He’d come to realize that the
grounded, smart young woman who seemed so down to earth was from a wealthy,
influential family. Most women in her place would have either worked for the
family firm or been content with playing the socialite, but Gigi had gone to
nursing school and worked long hours because it was her passion, and she was
extraordinary at it.
Of course there were women from wealthy families who found
their passion in the companies their parents built. Olivia, for all her stress
about it at the moment, loved her job. She wouldn’t want to do anything else.
It was good to be around people who knew who they were and
what they wanted.
Except Gabe. Well, Gabe knew he wanted Gigi. But he didn’t