18
O livia hung up the phone and did another happy-scream into the empty air of her apartment. A familiar blue-and-gold crest stared up at her from the envelope on her bedspread, and she snatched the letter from its resting place to read it for the fourteenth time.
Ms. Olivia Cohen,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the UT Chattanooga Master of Social Work program, beginning in the fall...
She stomped her feet like a child and laughed out loud, the sound conveying both excitement and relief.
She’d done it. She’d gotten in! Her parents were thrilled, of course.
She’d had to hold the phone away from her ear while her mother had done her own happy screaming, and her daddy actually sounded like he might have teared up.
They were probably notifying the rest of the Cohen clan at that very moment.
Olivia fired off a quick text to Lexie, who was spending spring break with Jake’s family in Copper Hill, and then grabbed her car keys from the top of her dresser.
She didn’t second-guess herself as she headed for the door.
She didn’t try to analyze her motives as she thundered down the stairs and slipped behind the wheel of her Mustang.
She didn’t even make excuses as she left the parking lot and made the turn toward the highway.
She simply let herself accept the unbelievable fact that the person she wanted to see the most just then was Noah.
Noah, who had been leaving random flowers on the hood of her car after work all week; who had beaten her soundly in mini-golf and then let her drag him onstage at a karaoke bar; who had eaten the seafood alfredo she’d made without mentioning that it was terribly oversalted.
Noah, who had somehow become her go-to person on heavy days and the first one she texted in the mornings.
She raced down the almost-empty streets of a college town that had been temporarily abandoned by half its inhabitants, leaving only those students who had to work or who simply had nowhere else to go.
Olivia and Noah both fell into the first category, a fact that had brought them together for part of every day that week.
Olivia laid down on the horn as she pulled into his driveway. It was after ten in the morning; if Noah wasn’t awake, then he should be. Sure enough, his tall frame appeared in the garage moments after she came to a stop, his T-shirt and sweatpants still rumpled from sleep.
“Are we under siege?!” he yelled from the gloomy interior, but Olivia barely let him finish.
“I GOT INTO UT!” she screamed, bailing out of the car with her letter in hand.
“You’re kidding!” he replied. He might have had more to say, but Olivia launched herself into the air and wrapped herself around him like a monkey in a tree. Noah staggered back a step but didn’t fall .
“I got into UT! In Chattanooga!” she shouted again. She shoved the sheet of paper in his face, and he took it with the hand that wasn’t holding her up.
“For this fall?” he asked, his eyes scanning across the words.
“Yes!”
Noah’s face woke up all at once, and a blazing smile coursed across it like wildfire. He let out a whoop that lacked words but spoke volumes, and Olivia clutched his neck as he whirled her around in circles. “That’s amazing, Pix!” he gushed when he came to a stop. “I have bad news, though.”
Olivia leaned back for a better look at his face. “Oh? And what’s that?” she asked.
“I’m gonna be in Chattanooga’s physical therapy program in August,” he answered.
Now it was Olivia’s turn to be dumbstruck. “You’re kidding!” she cried, echoing his words from a minute before, but Noah shook his head.
“No. Not kidding.”
“You’re following me?” she exclaimed, finally disentangling herself and letting her feet fall to the concrete floor. She tried to act dismayed but failed miserably.
They would both be in Chattanooga in the fall. What were the odds?
And who would have thought she’d be okay with it?
His smile only grew wider. “Actually, I was accepted in November, so technically you’re following me ,” he pointed out.
“I would never do that!”
“And yet you are.”
Olivia shook her head and moved past him toward the kitchen door before letting herself in without asking. For some reason, she couldn’t stop smiling. “Okay, but you can’t tell anybody that. They’ll definitely start to think I like you, and I’d hate for people to get the wrong idea,” she quipped.
Noah followed her into the house, which was marginally cleaner this week since Conner wasn’t home. The sink was empty, at least, and the table wasn’t piled high with old pizza boxes. In fact, it didn’t look like he’d even had breakfast yet.
“What were you doing before I got here?” she asked suddenly. She whirled around in time to see the sheepish look on his face.
“Umm . . .”
Olivia arched a brow and crossed her arms, waiting for what was sure to be a doozy of an answer.
“Well, I was, uhh . . .”
“You were what ?”
“I was asleep,” Noah answered—too quickly—and his eyes darted toward the hall beyond her.
Olivia instantly knew he was lying. Without warning, she spun on the spot and bolted toward the door.
“Pixie!” he warned, his voice almost a growl as he lunged after her, but she scrambled beyond his reach, bouncing off one wall as she made the turn toward his room. “Pixie, don’t—”
Olivia skidded through the door of his bedroom and stopped dead, her face splitting into a huge grin when she recognized the movie playing on his television screen.
“Noah Campbell!” she cried, delighted. “ Why are you watching The Princess Bride all alone in your room?”
He raked his hand through his dark hair and glanced toward the ceiling. “It was just on, alright? We only have so many channels.”
“And you stopped on this one?” she asked, watching as the Dread Pirate Roberts struggled to climb a sheer cliff face .
“A decision I now deeply regret,” Noah muttered, but Olivia ignored him. Instead, she yanked his comforter up to cover the bare sheets and settled herself on top. Then she patted the space next to her and reached for the remote.
“Well? Aren’t you going to finish it?” she asked. “I warn you though, I can basically quote this whole thing.”
The mattress sagged slightly as he sat down beside her. “I take it you’re staying?” he asked.
Olivia turned to him, a dubious expression on her face. “Did you want me to leave?”
“No! I just have to go to work in a little while.”
“Again? Did you have any days off this week?”
Noah shrugged and bent one leg at the knee. “Extra hours are extra hours,” he replied. “It’s a short shift today, though; I’m only covering for Jamison from noon to four.”
“Alright, well, just kick me out when you need me to go,” she compromised, and she turned up the volume until Inigo Montoya’s most iconic lines filled the room.
“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a Princess Bride fan,” Noah remarked.
Olivia huffed out a laugh. “This is my mom’s favorite movie, so I’ve seen it a thousand times. It’s one of those things you learn to love for nostalgia’s sake—plus, what woman doesn’t like a good ‘as you wish’ from time to time?”
He chuckled. “‘As you wish?’ That’s all it takes?”
“Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt.”
The bed creaked as Noah shifted, and Olivia smiled when she felt his shoulder press against hers. She really shouldn’t be this comfortable sitting on his bed with him alone in his house; this is the exact situation she would have avoided like the plague a few months ago .
And yet, here they were.
Some time later, he got up and gathered clothes from his dresser before heading down the hall, and Olivia heard the shower start. She stayed safely in his room until he returned, already dressed in his Watson’s uniform.
“You can hang out here and wait for me, if you want,” he offered. “Or if that’s weird you could come back later. Your call.”
Olivia considered the options. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll snoop if you leave me here unsupervised?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m sure you will, but whatever you find is your fault,” he warned. He retrieved his wallet from the bedside table and slipped it into the back pocket of his pants. “Want me to cook when I get back? I have burgers.”
“Sure!” Olivia agreed. She watched him step into his shoes and buckle his belt. For some reason, those little things felt strangely intimate, even though he was fully dressed.
“Alright, four hours,” he said on a sigh. He double-checked his pockets and headed for the hall. “Make yourself at home, Pix!” he called back. “Lock the door behind you if you leave.”
Olivia grunted in reply, though she was sure he couldn’t hear her.
She sat still while the door to the garage snapped shut, and the wheezy whine of his ancient car told her he was backing out of the driveway.
But then, the house was quiet, save for the sounds of her movie and the pop of something that was probably the pipes.
It was weird to be in someone else’s space when that someone else wasn’t present.
After a few minutes, she climbed off the bed and looked around, taking in her surroundings with unfiltered curiosity.
She wouldn’t actually invade his privacy—she did have limits, after all—but anything he’d left out in plain sight was fair game .
She wandered slowly around the room, looking at the pieces of paper tacked to the walls: his UTC acceptance letter, a reminder to register for graduation, a birthday card from his mom.
There were three sizeable holes in the drywall, and Olivia remembered his story about finding a Bluetooth speaker Conner had hidden along the baseboard.