Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
LUCA
Five minutes later, he pulled up to his house and escorted Olivia to the back, where Reed sat tending a fire pit. He’d asked him to come start one so he and Olivia could enjoy it rather than fuss with building a fire.
“Thanks, man. Say hi to your parents for me,” Luca said as Reed walked past, patting Luca’s shoulder and waving at Olivia.
Twinkle lights crisscrossed through the backyard. A cozy fire pit crackled beside two chairs. Warm blankets, a packet of marshmallows, a bottle of whiskey, two glasses, and new marshmallow roasting sticks for her with a bow on them had been carefully laid out.
She looked as if he’d given her a shiny new Corvette.
“What?! What?!” She clapped, looking as enchanting as a wide-eyed Disney princess. “When did you do this?”
He laughed and squeezed her against him. “Turns out, people want to help me when I ask for it. I wanted to finally have you on my lap while we roast marshmallows and drink whiskey. And get you some better sticks for your house.”
“Oh,” she said, looking disappointed by the metal roasting sticks. “I like the ones you made. Because you made them.”
His heart melted. She made everything he did feel special. “I’ll go get the ones I made last time. Why don’t you cozy up by the fire?”
Her eyes and smile full of warmth, she gave him a quick kiss. “See? That’s why I love you so much.”
Her eyes went wide as she froze, looking shocked at what she’d just said.
He froze, too, trying to understand what was happening.
“Shoot,” Olivia said, squinting her eyes together, cursing herself. “I wanted to make it a whole thing.”
He gulped, still not believing what was happening.
She looked at him nervously, twisting her hands. “So, um. It turns out… I’m in love with you. Like, a lot. An embarrassing amount.”
She grimaced as if she was sorry, rather than it being the most astounding thing he’d ever heard.
“And I’m sorry for not making it more special when I told you, and now I’ve forgotten the speech I had, and you don’t have to say it back, but you do deserve to feel special.
You know when I sent that audio message and said not to play it? I, um, accidentally said it then too.”
He nodded, trying to follow her rambling, fast speech. “I know,” he said with an apologetic shrug.
Her eyes went wider. “You knew? You said you wouldn’t play it.”
He smiled through his panic as he looked at her. “Technically, I promised I wouldn’t play it… again. You freaked out, and I thought it was like when a cab driver says, ‘Have a safe flight!’ and you say, ‘You too!’ Just… muscle memory. No meaning.”
The firelight danced in her wide, pretty eyes.
He gulped as he brushed the backs of his fingers against hers. “Couldn’t get my hopes up,” he whispered.
She looked touched and surprised. “You hoped I loved you?”
“Liv.” He sighed out her name, as if that alone didn’t make his feelings obvious.
His hands were shaking, but she had to know. Had to know how much she was loved.
“The first second I saw you in Bookish, I knew you were kind.”
He fought past the emotion in his throat. “The next second? I knew you were gorgeous. Stunning. So far out of my league I shouldn’t even be allowed to look at you.”
His thumb stroked over the freckles he’d memorized that night, the smile lines. Impossibly lucky with his good fortune of finding her.
His heartbeats thundered in his ears from the adrenaline.
“That third second, though?” He blew out a breath as his lip trembled.
He shook his head helplessly as he shrugged at the obvious truth. “That third second, I fell in love with you. Hook, line, sinker… rod… boat… heart.”
She stared open-mouthed in shock.
His thumb stroked her soft bottom lip. “As soon as I saw you, I knew you were mine. Like I know these veins are mine. I have no idea how they came to be or why I deserve them, but I know I’d die without them. Without you.”
Her cheeks had gone pink in the cold, and the firelight shimmered on her pretty hair. “This whole time?” she whispered.
“Yeah.” He laughed at the ironic misery of his life the last two months. “This whole time.”
She shook her head slowly in disbelief.
“The thing you don’t see, though,” he said, cupping her cheek, “is that everyone falls in love with you. My kid, my shop team, my sister who doesn’t like anybody, your ballet kids, every person in the theater when you danced. How could anyone help but love you when you shine like you do?”
He pulled her hand to his heart, needing her to know it beat for her. “You bring light to all the spots that need it most. Like me. You never notice it because it’s always light where you are. You’ve luckily never known how dark and lonely life feels without you in it.”
He gulped, miserably laying everything he felt for her at her feet.
“I love you, Olivia Maroo, with every molecule in my body. My fibula, my right pinky nail, my carotid artery. They’re all yours if you need them.”
“So.” He inhaled a shaky, big breath at how overwhelmed he was. “Yes. I hoped you loved me three days ago. Because… I might die of whatever this is otherwise.”
His face was pained as he looked at her, afraid she’d bolt like any reasonable woman would after hearing how desperately he loved her.
“Cool.” Her voice was watery with tears as she bit her lip. “We’ll just keep things casual, then,” she said, a teary, snorting laugh escaping her as she wrapped her arms around him.
He laughed with her at the shared torturous honor of loving someone so much. He held her tight against him, savoring the silk of her hair against his cheek. Marveling at the miracle of her loving him back, even after he told her how he felt.
She sniffed into his chest, rubbing her face against him as they cuddled. “How did you keep all that inside for so long?”
He wheezed with aching laughter. “Practice.”
She stared up at him with those pretty eyes that he now knew loved him.
Amazing.
She shook her head. “I felt like I’d been punched in the gut when you glowered at me in Bookish. Like there was something about what we were supposed to be to each other, but I couldn’t figure it out.”
He smiled indulgently as he kissed the tip of her nose. “I did not glower.”
She kissed the corner of his mouth, smiling impishly. “Mmm, you did. But I wasn’t enough for someone to want. I was a mess. Or… more of a mess. But you felt all that for me for two months?” She still looked confused.
As if he’d somehow mixed her up with some other drop-dead gorgeous, thoughtfully kind, and strong woman in his life.
He tucked a lock of hair behind her cute ear, brushed the earlobe he’d fallen for. “I don’t know why it hit me like a ton of bricks, but all I know is that I love you. Just as you are. Snorts while laughing required.” He held her chin with his thumb. “Toe shoes optional.”
“I would never want to confuse AB or upset your dynamic. But I want you both in my life for as long as you’d like to be in it. Since I’m staying here, we can take things slow—”
“What?” He blinked, his mind coming to a screeching halt. That had been key information he’d missed somewhere along the way.
“Since I’m staying here—”
“What? Since when?” He replayed their conversations.
She’d talked about college. Doing something other than dancing.
Not that she was staying.
Olivia laughed at his expression. “I told you, I’m going to explore what makes me happy.”
“Here?” he asked, the word coming out in a ragged whisper.
She looked at him like he was an adorable lunkhead. “Obviously. I don’t know if you heard me earlier, but I’m in plan-shattering love with you.”
He gulped as she turned away from him, reaching down into her bag. “Speaking of, I have a present for you.”
“Liv, you staying is the best present I could ever hope for.”
She handed him a thin, rectangular gift box with a shy smile. He shook it close to his ear.
“Ah, you’re a shaker?” She grabbed for the box with a smile, but he evaded her. “No, I take it back, not in love with you.” She grabbed again as he laughed, catching her around the waist and kissing her instead.
“We can negotiate gift-giving protocols.” He kissed her cheek, laughing as he opened the lid.
His laughter fell as his heart stopped.
Yellow rubber dish gloves, laid tenderly in tissue paper.
The same ones he’d stared at weeks ago, imagining a perfect life with her.
“Size XL for you,” Olivia said nervously. “So we match.” She pulled out yellow gloves in her size from her bag.
Soapy dishes as the result of a hundred happy memories.
He reached for her, untethered to reality without feeling her in his hands.
She nuzzled his hand against her cheek. “I want to do dishes with you. Buy plates we like, and eat the food you cook. Take care of AB. Argue about whose turn it is to take out the trash—”
“Mine, forever,” he interrupted, feeling overwhelmed at how much he loved her. How lucky he was.
She laughed. “Okay, or vacuum—”
“I love vacuuming,” he added, not letting her imagine a future where they wouldn’t be happy.
“Well, we’ll figure something out.” She smiled, her eyes dewy. “In our house, where there’s no yelling.” She brushed his cheek with her soft fingers, and the beauty of it shattered through him.
He closed his eyes, savoring this perfect moment in his life.
Instantly, he saw a road map of the next ten, twenty years of amazing things that would happen.
The house they’d eventually buy. Maybe another kid someday.
One with Olivia’s pretty eyes. A wedding somewhere in there.
The vacations they’d take AB on, seeing her graduate and do whatever made her heart happy.
The nights they’d fall asleep together, tangled up after making love.
“I’m gonna restart therapy,” he said suddenly. The future was too shimmery with potential. He couldn’t mess this up. “I went after the accident, but I thought I’d fixed everything. Or… enough. Now, I want to be better because I have an amazing life to live.”