Chapter 3
For the past hour, Olivia had tried to peg Todd O’Brien. She prided herself on being able to read people. Maybe it had something to do with working retail or maybe she was just observant. Or maybe Crystal had rubbed off on her.
As he’d talked to Sarah, she’d listened to every word he said, and the ones he didn’t.
She’d picked up on his distress when Sarah had talked about his mother and instantly understood that, whatever had been between mother and son, he was not comfortable talking about it. She could totally understand.
She understood from his silence that he had enough money that he wasn’t going to be out job hunting anytime soon. She itched to ask him some more questions, but since she’d just met the man, and one of the first things he’d done was berate her as a mother, she kept her mouth shut.
He was single, that much was obvious. He didn’t have any kids of his own but liked kids, which might translate to wanting his own.
Some men you could tell instantly that they didn’t want to deal with kids.
Brock had been like that initially. He had struggled with Simona at first. Their daughter had been almost two before he even took an interest in her.
Brock had made the excuse that he only liked kids when they were big enough that they could communicate what they wanted. Even then, Brock hadn’t really known how to talk to Simona or any other kids he’d been around. He’d always seemed awkward and slightly annoyed.
Todd seemed genuinely happy to converse with her daughter. When Simona had opened her eyes, called out, and reached for Todd, he’d sat back down and let her sleepy daughter climb into his lap.
“You’re still here,” Simona had said with a yawn. “I thought you left.”
“Nope, not yet. I got stuck talking to the boring adults.”
Simona had giggled and reached up to touch his chin. “I like you. Will you come to my house and play with me sometime?”
Olivia gasped slightly. “Simona, you shouldn’t invite someone you just met to our house.”
Simona frowned over at her. “But he saved me. I was running away, and he talked me into coming back.”
Olivia felt a little tired and overwhelmed by her daughter sometimes.
“We really should be going. You’re going to have a big day tomorrow.” She started gathering their things up.
“Tomorrow. Will you come to my graduation?” Her daughter said the word very slowly, as if making sure she said it correctly.
“Don’t tell me you’re already graduating high school?” Todd asked playfully, causing her daughter to go into another bout of giggles.
“No, first grade.” Simona bounced up and down on Todd’s knees.
Olivia saw Todd wince slightly and wondered about it, but then she was reaching for her daughter.
“Simona, I’m sure Todd is too busy to come to your graduation tomorrow.” She shifted her bags and Simona then turned to Todd. “Thank you for convincing my daughter to not run away.”
“Where and when is the graduation?” he surprised her by asking. She was so surprised by his question that Kayla had to jump in and answer for her.
“I’ll try to make it, okay?” he said to Simona.
“Yippee.” Her daughter started bouncing on her hips.
“Easy,” she said, getting Simona to stop. “Now, why don’t you thank Mr. O’Brien for helping you out tonight.”
“Thank you, Todd.” Simona smiled up at Todd and Olivia could have sworn Todd melted a little bit. He was falling for her kid. Who wouldn’t? Simona was… a-freaking-mazing.
“You’re welcome.” He bent closer to her and tapped her daughter’s nose lightly. “Promise me you won’t go off on your own like that again.” Simona sighed and rolled her eyes like she always did when she didn’t want to own up to or agree to something. “I may not be there next time to help you out.”
“I promise,” Simona agreed finally. The fact that her daughter had a smile on her face when she did so concerned her slightly.
She never agreed to anything she didn’t want to do unless she was being bribed.
Agreeing to not running off on her own again without any fuss?
Yeah, she didn’t trust her daughter. She’d been burned before.
“Thank you,” she said to Todd.
“Any time.” He nodded and picked up his pizza box, then turned to go.
Okay, so she may have watched him walk away. What woman wouldn’t have? The man knew how to move. Especially in those jeans.
“That is one tall drink of yummy,” Kendra said as she stopped to pick up the receipt he’d signed.
Kendra had at one point worked at the store with Olivia but had found that she rather enjoyed the tips at the pizzeria.
The woman was roughly her age, but she had way more game than Olivia could ever hope for. Maybe that’s why she earned more at the pizzeria? She knew how to flirt. The last time Olivia had tried flirting with a man… it hadn’t turned out so well.
Yeah, Todd was one tall drink that she’d like to enjoy. But this was real life, and she had far too many responsibilities to allow herself to dream about a man who had sexy brown eyes and a body she dreamed of getting her hands on.
Halfway home, Simona started nagging her that she had to use the bathroom. By the time she pulled into the driveway of their little home, her daughter was crying big crocodile tears.
Rushing her inside, she helped her daughter and then went back outside to gather up their items and bring them inside. Simona had changed from her party outfit to her pajamas already.
“Are you forgetting it’s bath night?” she asked her daughter.
“Aw, mom.” Simona’s standard complaint caused her to sigh. “How about tomorrow morning I take a shower?”
Just looking down into her baby’s silver eyes had her heart melting. Then her daughter pulled out the big guns and pushed out her bottom lip and put on a sad face.
“Fine.” Olivia rolled her eyes. “But I better not hear a complaint tomorrow. Not a single one.” She bent down and wrapped her arms around her daughter as she locked eyes with her. “Promise?” Simona reluctantly agreed by nodding her head.
The next morning it took all of Olivia’s strength to lift her daughter’s dead-weight sleepy body and carry her into the shower with her. Setting her on the shower seat, she allowed her daughter to slowly wake while she did her own morning ritual before helping Simona wash her long black hair.
She was thankful that it didn’t take much to care for the girl’s hair, since most mornings they ran late, thanks to Simona’s aversion to early hours.
Thankfully, her daughter kept up her end of the bargain and showered peacefully. But that was the extent of Simona’s cooperation. It took twice as long as usual to get her daughter dressed, her wet hair combed and braided, and both of them out the door.
They were running more than ten minutes late to drop her off at Kayla’s for day care. She’d pick her up for the graduation later that evening. Olivia was due to open up the store and planned on working until just after one.
It was so nice to have friends that could help her out with Simona and who had kids that her daughter liked to play with.
Lately, she’d been complaining about CJ teasing her, but Olivia figured it came with the territory since the kids were around each other all of the time and CJ was at an age where having a little girl trail behind you just wasn’t cool.
She and Kayla had talked in great detail about how CJ was changing and wanting to hang out with boys his own age rather than his little sister and Simona.
They’d determined to separate the kids’ playtime by having some of CJ’s other friends over each day.
Kayla had decided a few months back that she needed to open a day care of sorts.
It had turned from a joke into reality as the summer drew closer and several of their friends’ day care options ran out.
Today was Simona’s very first official day at Kayla’s day care. Kayla had eight kids signed up, not including her own two.
Olivia wasn’t nervous about leaving Simona there for a few hours. After all, she and Kayla had been each other’s backup babysitters for a few years now.
It was one of the reasons she had grown to love Silver Cove.
So many people had stepped up to help her after Brock had been sent to prison.
There hadn’t been a moment since then that she hadn’t felt loved and accepted.
Which was new to her, as her own parents had shunned her years ago, long before Brock had come into her life.
They’d never been good parents, but kicking her out a week after her eighteenth birthday had given them the ultimate ‘good parents’ award. But they were old news.
Crystal and Rory had stepped into the role of Simona’s grandparents seamlessly. Simona even called them MeMa and G-pa, names Simona had chosen for them. Her daughter did have a way of making others feel comfortable and loved.
By the time she unlocked the store, she was almost ten minutes late. She hated being late. Especially when it was her job to unlock the store and let the other employees inside. Lea was waiting for her along with her first client of the day.
Normally Crystal or Daisy would have been there to unlock the door, but Crystal wasn’t due back in town until later that morning, and Daisy appeared to also be running late.
There was a small line of yoga class attendees standing out front.
“Sorry,” she said as she pushed the doors opened, walked in, and flipped on the lights.
Many of the people mumbled their hellos or good mornings as they passed by, heading to the back rooms.
She locked her purse up in Crystal’s office and got right to work setting the displays out on the sidewalk and rearranging some products that had gotten knocked down or put in the wrong locations.
More people shuffled in for the yoga classes, and she greeted each of them.
It wasn’t as if early mornings were high sales traffic times. Although, since it was officially summer, she knew the tourists would start coming in waves each day, which meant more work for her and the four other employees underneath her.