Chapter 19 #2
Olivia clutched her stomach. “I will not be visiting Dave’s fine establishment anytime soon.
My plan is to curl up with a good book and try out Georgia’s wood fireplace.
And I remembered to buy wood at the store.
I am so excited! It’s been ages since I lived anywhere with a fireplace.
I will see you tomorrow morning,” she said, saluting him and saying goodbye to Annabelle.
He physically made himself turn away from her just so he wouldn’t watch her ass elegantly walk out of his shop.
Oh god.
He was a bun head.
* * *
Two hours later, Luca and AB wound their way home through their neighborhood streets. Orange leaves drifted in front of his windshield, and Halloween decorations started to glow in the evening light.
“Know what you want to be for trick-or-treating,” Luca said to AB in the back.
She shrugged. “Probably a glue stick.”
He squinted. “The school supply?”
“Yeah. The purple kind. Or a light bulb.” She said it so off-handedly that his sides hurt from holding in his laugh.
“Those are very unique ideas. You’re really creative, Annabelle.” Her eyes lit up, which he could see in his rearview mirror. He should have been saying this stuff to people this whole time, he realized.
Two blocks from their house, he saw red and blue flashes off in the distance. It looked like it was coming from their street.
His heart dropped when he saw a fire truck in front of Olivia’s house.
Olivia. A desperate clawing fear scraped at this throat.
“What happened?” AB asked from the back.
Luca’s eyes searched the scene as he drove up. The house wasn’t on fire, but her front door and all the windows were open. He couldn’t breathe until he could see her.
Finally, he spotted her talking to a firefighter on the sidewalk, looking unharmed.
He let out a whooshing breath and slammed his truck into park. “Stay right here, okay?” he told Annabelle in the extended cab. “I need to go check on Olivia.”
Locking the doors and keeping the truck running, he jogged across the street as the firefighter walked back to his truck.
Luca gathered her in a hug, needing to hold her. “You okay?”
“Yeah. A neighbor called 911 when I opened the front door to clear it out. Something is wrong with the flue, I guess.”
“Let me go get Annabelle. We’ll figure it out.”
She’d been so excited for her fire, and she did so much for them. And I love her so much.
A few minutes later, he and AB grabbed a snack, and they came over with his tools.
AB touched all the gems hanging from the lamps in the hallway. “Are we gonna roast marshmallows?”
Luca unpacked his toolbox. “Don’t touch those. We’re just here to help for a minute. Olivia isn’t working right now.”
“I, for one, am Team Marshmallows,” Olivia said with a wink at AB. “I have some if your dad is okay with it. Oh.” Her face fell. “No sticks though.”
He shined a flashlight up the chimney. Aha. The same screw that held the flue in place that he’d helped Georgia with last year needed to be screwed in again. “There’s a maple tree with young shoots in our front yard. I can cut some sticks from it.”
“Please,” AB asked sweetly.
“We don’t want to interrupt your night though,” he said, peering at Olivia from inside the mantel.
“I will take all the time I can get with you two,” Olivia said, staring directly at him, looking so earnest it made him ache.
Thirty minutes later, they sat on the pretty Persian rug roasting marshmallows over the fire Olivia had expertly built.
He made sure to tell her that and not be an ass like he’d apparently been for almost thirty years, withholding compliments as if people didn’t want to hear nice shit about themselves.
His ego still smarted from how obvious Olivia’s words had been at his shop hours ago.
AB insisted that Olivia roast her marshmallows, and she “helped” by holding the end of the stick, telling Olivia which way to turn it.
Her teacher had used the word “bossy” to describe her in kindergarten last year, and he’d had to physically restrain Pearl as she yelled “leadership material” at the older woman.
The scent of woodsmoke felt homey as he bit into a gooey marshmallow. They talked about AB’s day, and his day. How the festival dance rehearsals were going.
The glow on AB and Olivia’s faces as they talked animatedly in the orange firelight painted a picture that got all twisted in his heart.
Like it belonged there forever.
Like he’d think about it on his deathbed as the moment he was the happiest he’d ever been.
AB’s face was a mess after eating two marshmallows, and he grabbed a damp cloth to clean her up so she didn’t get sticky hands all over Olivia and Georgia’s stuff.
She spied a ballet barre in the sunroom off of the kitchen.
“Can I practice my ballet here?” AB squealed, hopped up on sugar.
“Sure, kid,” Olivia said, running a hand over AB’s hair. She pumped a tiny fist in the air.
He sat on the couch facing the fire, keeping an ear out for any chaos that might ensue once AB started dancing.
Olivia sat beside him, knees tucked under her chin, a steaming mug in her hands. A cozy quiet settled into the jewel-toned living room. Logs crackled and hissed as the fire danced in front of them.
She’d kept her pretty sage sweater on but had changed into comfy leggings, and her thick hair called to his hands. It looked like burnished rose gold in the firelight.
Olivia tucked her sleeves over her hands and cuddled up, facing him. “Thanks for your help.” Luca slid down the couch and fought the urge to loop his arm around her. She looked cold, all tucked up. “You need a blanket?”
“Oh, uh, I’m okay. You give off a lot of heat.” She smiled, swallowing as she stared at his lips.
Their shoulders touched on the couch as he kept tracing the lines of her face with his eyes.
Nice to see you again, freckles. Smile lines along those cheeks, it’s been too long. Ah, cheekbones. I’ve missed you too. The glow of the firelight looks gorgeous on you.
The cinnamon nutmeg scent of her wafted toward him, and he lost the battle with his hands.
He swept a strand of hair from her face, needing any excuse to touch her. She leaned into the touch, her breath hitching.
Stroking along her temple, his hand lingered. That velvet of her.
The wanting inside him ached as he held himself back.
“’Livia, come see me spin,” AB called and they both startled. She blinked, shaking her head to wake herself up. “Coming!”
“Maybe we should limit our alone time,” he offered, as she popped up from the couch. “Even if we start on opposite sides of the room…”
“We end up together,” she said with a chagrined laugh. She nodded and went to AB.
Burying his face in his hands, he ached for the day when he could finally just be settled and not fight the urge to do everything he’d ever dreamed of to that woman.