15. Leo
LEO
Leo glanced at the clock on the wall where Kyle’s desk used to be.
It was barely three o’clock, an unheard-of time for him to leave work, but Leo felt antsy.
He wanted to go back home and see Olivia.
He wanted to talk about history and encourage her to show him her pictures.
He wanted to make her laugh. He wanted to make sure she had everything she needed.
Of course, the main reason he wanted to see her was to figure out what her intentions were — even though it was hard to remember that, at times.
A minute slowly ticked by while Leo stared at the clock, willing time to move faster. Then, with a sigh, he stood. There was no point willing away the seconds. He might as well just pack up and go home.
Few employees were here on a Saturday afternoon, so Leo slipped out without anyone seeing him.
He passed Jake’s office, where the other man was working, and felt a stab of annoyance that Jake had made him so doubtful of Olivia the day before.
They’d had a nice dinner and a good conversation, and Leo was more certain than ever that he had nothing to fear from his temporary bride — or he wanted to be certain.
There was still a sliver of doubt in his mind.
Outside, he walked the few blocks home. That had been one of the reasons for purchasing the penthouse he now lived in: he could commute in just a few minutes, even running home to grab lunch or a change of clothes if needed.
Kyle had made fun of him, saying that if he were further away he’d have more work-life balance, but Leo loved his penthouse. He still did.
Within a few minutes, he was stepping out of the elevator into his familiar apartment. He found Olivia in the living room on her laptop, her lip tucked between her teeth. She was wearing a pair of leggings and a top that he didn’t recognize. It was a soft green that brought out her eyes.
“Leo!” she closed the laptop and smiled at him as he entered.
“How was your day?” He scanned the racks of clothing he’d had Julian send over, which stood next to her. “Did you like the clothes?”
“Yes,” Olivia smiled. “Thank you so much for your generosity. I’ve never seen such beautiful clothes, and I really appreciate it.”
“I’m glad you like them.” Leo smiled back — though he felt the tiniest flicker of doubt.
He’d wanted Olivia to take the clothes and enjoy them, but was the fact that she’d so readily done so a sign that she was looking for something from him?
Leo shook himself mentally. There was no point overthinking things. “What did you do today?”
“Well, I wanted to explore, but I got caught in the rain. So, I ended up looking through my old portfolio and thinking about the kind of pictures I might like to take now.”
“And what did you decide?” Leo sat on the couch across from her.
“I decided that I need to get back outside with my camera and see what catches my interest.” Olivia rolled her eyes jokingly.
“I know, it sounds simple, but I think I used to worry too much about taking the right kind of pictures when I should have been trying to take pictures that were meaningful for me. If that makes sense.”
“It does,” Leo said. “When I started Palasa with my brother, I was so worried about doing exactly what he would do. I wanted to be just like him. It took a while to realize that I needed to do my own thing, not just emulate him.”
“Exactly,” Olivia nodded. “Anyway, how was your day at the office? And do you always work on Saturdays?”
“It was okay.” Leo didn’t mention that he’d struggled to focus on his work, instead thinking about her at home. “And yes, I usually work on Saturdays. Like I said before, working is basically my biggest hobby.”
“How fun,” Olivia joked.
“It is.” Leo smiled at her.
“Oh!” Olivia got to her feet and set her laptop aside. “I almost forgot. I poked around your kitchen a little — I hope you don’t mind — and found some things to make dinner. I already did a little prep, but we can always put it away.”
“A home-cooked meal sounds wonderful,” Leo said. “I really appreciate you doing that.”
“Good,” Olivia smiled. “I thought I’d try to repay your hospitality a little.”
“There’s no need for that,” Leo said quickly. “It’s no trouble. You’re the one who’s doing me a favor by being here.”
“In that case, maybe you can come help me chop,” Olivia suggested.
Leo had hired a private chef the second he could afford one — before that, he’d mainly lived on frozen dinners and bags of salad.
He was the opposite of a good cook. But if Olivia, at that moment, had suggested that they go dive into the icy and polluted Hudson River, he probably would have said yes.
“Sure, I’d be happy to. Just don’t expect masterful chopping from me.”
“My standards are very low. To be honest, I’m not a great chef myself.”
“Now I’m really looking forward to this dinner,” Leo joked.
“You should be.” Olivia wiggled her eyebrows. “It’s still early, but should we start? A few things have to bake.”
“Sounds great.”
Leo followed Olivia into his kitchen, where it was clear that she’d been at work for a while before he’d arrived.
She must have been taking a break in the living room.
There was a casserole dish of what looked like gratin and a whole chicken marinating on the countertop.
Where she’d gotten the chicken, Leo didn’t know.
He didn’t think it had been in his fridge. Had she gone shopping?
A cutting board and a large bowl with the beginnings of a salad stood next to another bowl, which was covered with a kitchen cloth. Leo pulled back the cloth, intrigued, and found a mound of rising dough that smelled deliciously of yeast.
“I thought you said you weren’t a good chef,” he said. “This looks and smells amazing.”
“It’s not quite ready,” Olivia said, blushing. She took the bowl from him and set the cloth on the countertop. “In a little while, these will be garlic dinner rolls.”
“You should stay forever,” Leo blurted out, before he could think better of it.
He immediately regretted what he’d said.
What if Olivia thought that he only appreciated her for her cooking skills?
Or what if she thought he was serious (he couldn’t have someone like her in his life forever)? But she just laughed.
“Let’s wait until you taste everything before you decide if you want to keep me around,” she replied.
“Fair enough, but based on how things look now, I’m pretty sold.” Leo surveyed the kitchen. “So, what can I do to help?”
“How do you feel about peeling and chopping carrots to roast?” Olivia asked.
“I feel like I can manage that.” Leo went to the cutting board, picked up a peeler and a carrot, and got to work.
While he painstakingly processed the carrots, Olivia flitted around the kitchen, pinching dinner rolls out of the dough, putting the chicken in the oven, and chopping a variety of herbs.
“Was all this in my kitchen?” Leo asked as Olivia plucked leaves off a sprig of rosemary.
She gave him a funny look. “You don’t know what’s in your kitchen?”
“I have a private chef,” Leo told her. “She comes in twice a week and meal-preps a bunch of stuff for me so that I can eat healthy and quick food without having to cook.”
“That explains all the neat little containers of food,” Olivia said. “I was surprised that you’d done all that.”
“Because I didn’t,” Leo filled in. “Anyway, Pauline also does all the shopping, so whatever you found, she bought.”
“I hope I didn’t use up all her ingredients,” Olivia said, looking concerned.
“Not at all. I’ll just let her know,” Leo told her.
“So, you have a private chef,” Olivia said. “And an assistant. Are there any other helpers I should know about? Was the driver in the limo yours?”
“No, he just works with a rental company. I don’t usually travel by car in the city, when I can avoid it.
Let’s see. There’s my chef, my assistant, my pilot, my housekeeper, my personal trainer, my accountant…
” Leo trailed off. “To be honest, if there’s something other than my work at Palasa that I can delegate, I do it. ”
“I can’t imagine living like that.” Olivia bit her lip.
“It is pretty luxurious.” Leo stole a glance to see if she seemed to be jealous of what he had, but her attention was focused on the rolls she was shaping expertly between her palms.
“I suppose,” she said absently. “But I like doing all those things for myself. Shopping, cooking, even cleaning… After working all day, it can be nice to do something a little mindless. Something that involves working with your hands. Granted, I often don’t have time for any of that stuff, but I don’t mind it when I do it. ”
“I never thought about it that way,” Leo said.
“And when I was doing more photography, I often got ideas for my work while I was driving, washing dishes, or going for a walk or something. You know, when I was doing something that kept my hands busy but let my mind wander a little. I would think that kind of creative brain space would be important for a CEO, too.”
“You might be right.” Leo had always thought that by pouring every minute he had into his work, he was doing the best job he could. But maybe he needed life outside of work in order to do a good job in the office, too. “Then again, I think that if I tried to cook, I’d end up poisoning myself.”
Olivia laughed. “Cooking isn’t rocket science.”
“Where did you learn?”
“From my grandmother. She loved to cook and had a huge book of old family recipes passed down through the generations. My parents often worked on the weekends, so my sister and I would go over to my grandmother’s house. She’d read to us and cook with us and all that. She taught me a lot.”
“She sounds wonderful.”
“She was. She passed away when I was ten.”
“I’m sorry to hear it.” Leo thought immediately of his brother, but he didn’t want to cheapen Olivia’s grief by adding his own.
“We had a lot of good years together,” Olivia said. “And I still think of her when I cook.”
“Are any of these her recipes?” Leo asked.