Chapter 19
Robbie
I got out of practice not too long ago and found a text from Olivia.
Boarding now. Can’t wait to see you.
I don’t reply because the text was from an hour ago, but I do head home right away. I shower and change my clothes, feed the cats, and make sure the entire house is clean and that the spare bedroom is packed with everything Olivia would need: blankets, extra pillows, toiletries. I even had my sister, Alice, pick out some candles and nice decorations. Let’s just say that room only had minimal furniture before I gave Alice my credit card and free reign on decorating.
Speaking of my sister, I see her name flashing on my screen and pick up the phone as I look around the house.
“Hey, Al.”
“Hey, Roro,” she uses my childhood nickname to annoy me, but little does she know, it’s actually one of the few I like. When Alice was little, she couldn’t pronounce Robbie so she always called me Roro. I’ll never tell her how much I like it though, she would be insufferable.
I give her an over-the-top sigh and groan and say, “What’s up? Why are you calling? I’m about to head to the airport.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to keep you away from this mysterious girl that has you completely smitten.” Alice is the only one I told about my feelings for Olivia. The rest of my family just knows I’m bringing an extra friend over for the holiday. “Did you like the stuff I bought?”
“Yeah, the place looks very homey. You did awesome, Al,” I say proudly.
“Yes, well, I would have liked to know some more details about her, but you were holding out on me.”
“I was not!”
“You didn’t tell me what kind of books she likes—I would have gotten her a couple and left them on the nightstand. OMG, I hope she’s a romance girlie so I can talk to her about all my favorite books!” Oh no, time to tamp down the excitement.
“Al, I know you’re excited, but please try not to overwhelm her, okay? I have the feeling she’s already going to be skittish.” Olivia and I spent the last week and a half chatting about the holiday and plans, and she mentioned she was nervous to meet my crazy family. I don’t blame her, she’s probably not used to our level of insanity. Between my parents, my two siblings, my sister-in-law and two nieces, and Jordan, Ash and Eli—they join us every year for Thanksgiving dinner—it gets pretty rowdy in the Elliot household.
“I’m not going to accost her, Roro, don’t worry. I’m just excited, you haven’t brought a woman home since Diana, and that was like a billion years ago.”
“It’s been six years, and that was different.”
“How so?”
Well, for one, I don’t think I was in love with Diana. I liked her a lot, and she was my first and only serious girlfriend, but she wanted to get married and start a family right away. I was 26 and still hoping to make it back to the NHL, so settling down at that age was the furthest thing from my mind. She all but told me she wanted me to eventually quit hockey.
We broke up amicably after having some heart-to-hearts about what we both wanted our futures to look like. And the fact that I wasn’t completely, madly in love with her made it easy enough to move on from that relationship. Funny how six years can change a person. Because I think I am ready to settle down now, but the only difference is, I would never ask my partner to give up their dream for me.
“It just is. Olivia means a lot to me, okay?”
“Okay, I won’t push. Just know I’m happy for you, big brother. You deserve to be happy, and from what you’ve told me, she’s at least one source of that happiness. So, I’m team Rolivia.”
“That sounds like a type of medicine you see advertised on TV,” I deadpan.
“Ha! Good one.”
“Alright, I gotta head out now.”
“Oh, one more thing—“ I wait but there’s silence on her end.
“Spit it out...”
“Is Jordan going to bring anyone to Thanksgiving?” That’s a weird question. Jordan isn’t seeing anyone that I’m aware of, so why would he? And why is my little sister asking about it?
“Not that I know of, why?”
“No reason,” she says quickly. Strange.
I sigh and say, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Make sure everyone is on their best behavior, yeah?”
“Aye aye captain!” she says and hangs up and I head for the airport.
I’m waiting by the baggage claim area, pacing back and forth in anticipation. Olivia’s flight landed 15 minutes ago and with how small this airport is, she should be coming out any moment now. My phone buzzes and I quickly take it out of my jacket pocket. It’s a text from Olivia.
Nervous to see me, Bobbert? :)
If she only knew. I look up and around and I finally spot her. She’s wearing leggings and one of those old, faded hockey sweatshirts that I know she loves. Her hair is down, but it looks different. Shorter. While it used to go down to the top of her breasts, it now only reaches her shoulders. She looks at me with a big smile and starts walking a bit faster, dragging her carry-on behind her. She looks breathtaking.
I start walking towards her and we end up meeting in the middle. My hands immediately reach around her to give her a hug. I know she loves them because every time I hug her, she practically melts in my arms. Her head rests in that perfect spot under my chin, and for a moment we just stand there like that. Breathing each other in. Everything is right in the world again because she’s here. In my arms.
“How was your flight?” I ask, eager to hear her voice.
“It was good, a little disappointing I couldn’t find one that was nonstop. I could have been here two hours sooner if I did.”
“That’s okay, you’re here now,” I say cheerfully, grabbing her carry-on and leading her to the baggage carousel. “What does your other suitcase look like?”
“It’s just plain black, but it has a pink tag on it.”
“Grams?” I ask at the same time she huffs out, “Grams.” We both laugh, and I throw an arm around her shoulders, keeping her close to me.
After we grab her bag and make our way to the car, Olivia asks, “Do we have any plans tonight?”
“Not really, I planned on making us dinner while you unpack. Afterwards we can watch a movie if you’d like.”
“Ooh, what are you making for dinner? And also, are your cats cuddly?” she asks excitedly.
“Chicken parm. And no, not really. Since I’m not home all the time, they’ve learned to be pretty independent. They love to play though and have lots of toys.”
“Oh. Cool,” she says, but I can tell she’s a bit disappointed by that. If she’s feeling cuddly, she can just use me.
“Feeling cuddly?” I ask, wiggling my eyebrows at her.
She shakes her head but smiles down at her lap as she says, “Maybe a little.”
“Well, I’m sure we can find a solution,” I look over at her again as I say it and give her a quick wink. I see her cheeks go a little pink.
We pull up to my ranch-style home that’s a little ways north of Grand Marquee. Even though it’s not fully dark yet, I made sure to turn on my white Christmas lights that I’ve had up the whole year. I pull in to the garage.
“You have two cars?” Olivia asks, eying my truck as we get out and start unloading her suitcases.
“Yeah, I use the truck a lot over the summer, it’s useful for lots of things. Plus, Alice borrows it quite frequently and I can’t seem to part with it.”
“That’s cool,” she says.
“I know two cars for one guy seems a bit overkill, but trust me, it’s kind of a need when I have such a big family.”
She places her hand on my forearm and says with a chuckle, “Robbie, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. I’m not judging you, I promise.”
“I just don’t want you to think I’m an entitled prick,” I say, frowning. I don’t want her to get the wrong impression. I want to get this right.
“You’re not a prick. You’re literally the nicest person I’ve ever met,” she squeezes my arm and I give her a smile.
“C’mon, let me show you inside.”
The first thing I show Olivia is the kitchen and living room. She’s immediately impressed by the openness of the floor plan, taking a lap around the kitchen island, pausing to gawk at the large dining room table that can easily sit twelve people.
“Wow, how often do you use this?” she asks.
“Weekly,” I respond with a smile and give her the space to continue her perusal. As soon as she notices the large couch, she makes a beeline for it and sprawls on it dramatically.
“If you think that couch is comfortable, let me show you the bedroom,” I say, looking down at her from behind the couch.
She sits up alarmingly quick and her eyebrows go up. Shit, I didn’t mean to imply I’d be showing her my bedroom. “I mean, let me show you your bedroom, down the hall.”
I can see the amusement lighting up her face as she says, “Okay.”
Once we get to the spare bedroom, across the hall from my own, I place her bag down and nod for her to explore.
“Do you treat all your guests like they’re in a five-star hotel?” she asks, sniffing one of the candles on the dresser.
“Just you,” I reply honestly. She takes a deep breath and continues to look around. “Is it too much? I asked Alice to help me decorate the place a bit. It was hardly used before.”
“No, it’s perfect. I like her style,” she says and I feel relieved.
“She was mad I never asked you what your favorite types of books are. Fair warning, she’s a book nerd and very excited to talk to someone else about it.”
“I love that. I’ll make sure to bring it up tomorrow. Any other family-bonding tips you can give me?”
I shake my head and step closer to give her a hug. “Just be yourself, I promise they will love you.” She nods her head against me.
We don’t stay like that for long, because the next second her stomach rumbles so loud it scares Caramel, my orange tabby that was apparently circling our legs and purring. He scurries out of the room and we both look after him, amused.
“Sorry, Caramel,” Olivia yells after him.
I chuckle. She’s adorable. And hungry. “How about you unpack and get comfortable for the night and I’ll go get started on food.”
“Okay.”
I move around my kitchen with ease and pull out all the ingredients I need for dinner. I already breaded the chicken, it just needs to be fried, so I get a pan ready with oil. I didn’t have time to make pasta from scratch, so I am boiling a pot for dried spaghetti. While the chicken is frying, I am getting salad ingredients out and prepping the mozzarella.
“That smells delicious,” Olivia says, as I am flipping over the chicken. The crust is crispy and perfectly browned.
“Hopefully, it tastes even better,” I say with a smile over my shoulder. “Would you like some wine?”
“Sure.”
“Any preference?”
“White, if you have it.”
“Why, I do, Miss Olive. Take a seat.” I gesture to the bar stools at the kitchen island. I reach into the wine cooler that’s built into the kitchen island and open a bottle of Chardonnay.
“I want to help. What can I do?” Olivia says.
“Would you like to make the salad? Everything you need is right here, it just needs to be mixed up.”
She squints at me, but her lips are tugging at the corners. “Are you saying I can’t handle something more complex than a salad?”
“Honey, you told me you burnt pasta the last time you made it. I am not letting you anywhere near my stove.” I grin at her and catch the cherry tomato she chucks at me.
“I may not know how to cook, but I want to learn.” I nod along and point over to the stove for her to join me. My other cat, Beans, is circling the area, looking for bits of food and Olivia stops to pet him on her way over to me. I’m surprised he lets her. Like I said, my cats are not super friendly.
“Okay, so the chicken is fried now, so we are going to move it into this pan, then top it off with lots of sauce and mozzarella.”
“Got it, I can handle that.”
“Good, in the meantime I will add the pasta to the boiling water.”
“Okay, that’s good that you’re doing that. I’d probably manage to burn myself somehow,” she says, eying the pasta water like it personally offended her.
I laugh and she does too, and we work in companionable silence for a few minutes. Once the chicken is in the oven and the pasta is boiling, we take a few sips of wine and a couple bites of salad.
“How often do you cook for yourself?” Olivia asks.
“As often as I can. I really like cooking and baking, it soothes me somehow. I like having something to do with my hands I guess. I was never still as a kid, so my mom would always take me in the kitchen with her and make me help out.”
“It’s nice that you learned so young.”
“Yeah, she taught me a lot,” I say softly. “I’m actually baking some pies and focaccia tomorrow. So if you hear noises early in the morning, I promise it’s not a burglar.”
She laughs, “I wondered why there were earplugs left on my nightstand. I just figured you snore really loudly.”
I bring my hands up to my chest in mock offense. “I do not snore…that badly.”
“I’d like to help with those too, if you want company in the morning,” she says looking up at me with her hopeful, bright green eyes.
“Of course I want company. That’s kind of the whole reason you’re here.” I lightly jab her with my elbow.
After we eat dinner at the kitchen island, we fill up our wine again and move to the couch for a movie. I’m a gentleman so I let Olivia pick and she chooses Back to the Future. Not even twenty minutes into the movie, Caramel jumps up on the couch and loaves up between me and Olivia. I was going to try to get closer to her, but now I can’t. What a cockblock.
Olivia tentatively reaches out a hand and pets him all over and he starts purring so loud he sounds like a helicopter about to take off. Traitor. He never sits with me like this. Beans is usually around me and more likely the one to ask for pets.
Speaking of Beans, the devil appears. He jumps up on the other side of Olivia and after taking one look at Caramel and all the pets he’s getting, he decides to get in on the action as well. He slowly moves to Olivia’s lap and after making some very defined biscuits on the blanket covering her legs, he sits down. In her lap. Fucking hell.
I’ve had these cats for years and they never do this with anyone except me on occasion. It looks like I’m not the only one that’s smitten with Olivia.
She turns her wide eyes at me and mouths, Oh my god!
“These bastards are trying to steal you from me,” I whisper with a head shake.
“Trying? I’m sorry Bobbert, but they had me the moment I walked through that door,” she says, grinning at me.
Fuck. She’s goddamn perfect.
We spend Thanksgiving morning baking the pies and the focaccia, working together seamlessly. Olivia asks me lots of questions and I have her assist me with every step. We work so damn well together. I wonder if she notices that too. It’s like we’re in perfect sync.
We head out to my parent’s house, which is an hour drive out of town and right on a small lake. While it’s not snowing yet, the temperature has dropped to freezing, so we make sure to bring coats. I turned the car on early and preheated the seats for us which Olivia made fun of me about. Whatever, at least her butt was warm the whole drive.
As we pull into my parent’s driveway, I can tell Olivia is nervous, even though I did my best to reassure her she has nothing to worry about.
“Hey,” I say, and turn in my driver’s seat to look at her, “you remember what you told me when I met your grandma?”
She stops fidgeting and turns to face me as well, “Not really.”
“You said, don’t worry, she won’t bite.” She gives me a small smile and takes a deep breath. “They won’t bite either. Except for my nieces, they might actually bite you. Just fair warning.” That gets me a laugh and I’ll take it as a sign that we’re good to go. “Ready?” I ask.
“Yeah, let’s do this.”
We don’t ring the doorbell because my parents always leave the door unlocked. I lead Olivia inside, both of us carrying the dishes we made. The house is already a mess. There are toys everywhere, courtesy of my nieces Lory and Katie and there is loud conversation coming from the kitchen. We pass the living room and I see my dad, Jordan, and my sister, of all people, sitting on the couch watching the football game. Jordan and my dad are watching the TV, having a conversation about how our team is making a comeback this year, and Alice is watching…Jordan.
I shake my head, astounded I’ve never noticed her crush before and call out, “Hey, Al. Can I get some help here?” Her head immediately turns in my direction and her cheeks are bright red from getting caught ogling one of my best friends. I give her a smirk expecting her to get mad, but she’s not looking at me anymore. Her eyes are glued to Olivia.
Alice gives me a smirk right back and says, “Olivia, hi, it’s so nice to meet you!” Then she all but tackles her with a hug. “I’ve heard so much about you!”
To her credit, Olivia accepts the hug albeit wearily and squints her eyes at me. “All good things, I hope.”
“Of course! I’m so happy you’re here,” Alice says, and I can see the relief in Olivia’s shoulders as she takes in my 5’4” sister with her dark blonde hair and blue eyes. Out of my two siblings, Alice and I look the most alike. My brother inherited my father’s dark hair and my mother’s brown eyes.
Speaking of my brother, he rounds the corner to the living room and pats me on the back. No hello, no how’ve you been, no offer to take one of the three pies I’m balancing in my arms. He does however notice Olivia and introduces himself.
“Hey, I’m Michael. You must be Olivia!” He’s all smiles and politeness now. “Can I take those focaccias from you?”
“I don’t see you offering to take some of these pies,” I grumble.
“You’re not a guest, dummy.”
“Honey, be nice,” Tangela says, coming out of the kitchen to see what all of the commotion is about. She grabs one of the pies from me and I give her an appreciating smile, which she returns.
“Good to see you, Robbie, and nice to meet you, Olivia! Let’s get all these in the kitchen and introduce you to the rest of the family.”
The kitchen is overrun with both people and food. There’s barely any space to put down the bread and pies, but somehow I manage. Tangela rounds up her daughters and gets them to join their grandpa and uncle on the couch. Eli is helping my mom peel the potatoes and Ash seems to struggle arranging a charcuterie board.
“Who let Ash in the kitchen?” I quip.
“Ha-ha, just because I’m not as good as you, Grandpa, doesn’t mean I can’t help out,” he says, shoving a handful of cheese in his mouth.
“Classy,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“Olivia, is that you?” he says with a mouthful. Everyone’s gaze turns to the woman that’s half hiding behind me and she gives a shy wave and a nod.
I clear my throat and move my arm around her, letting my hand rest on the small of her back and bringing her forward. “Everyone, this is Olivia.” I keep my eyes trained on her face and notice the slight pink there.
“Nice to meet you all.” She barely gets the words out before my mother comes over and wraps her in a big hug. If it catches her by surprise, she doesn’t show it. Olivia immediately returns it and gives me a small smile.
“We’re so glad you’re here,” my mother says. “Any friend of Robbie’s is practically part of the family.” She lets Olivia go and returns back to her pot of gravy.
Olivia is quiet and when I look over at her again I see her eyes are a bit misty. I move in front of her and use my fingers to bring her chin up. There’s a vulnerability in her eyes that makes me pause. I can tell she’s overwhelmed right now and my mom’s comment about being part of the family is probably what caused it. I ask her in a whisper so no one else hears, “Are you okay?”
She takes a deep inhale and nods. Her smile is small, but it’s there. But I need more, I need to make sure she’s fine.
“Let me show you where the bathroom is,” I say loud enough for everyone to hear so they don’t follow us around. Alice especially. I look over my shoulder and see Alice watching us in that assessing way of hers. She mouths, All good? and I nod.
“You didn’t have to rescue me like that. I promise, I’m okay,” she says as we reach the end of the hall where the bathroom is.
I search her face to make sure then say, “Okay. I believe you. And even if you’re not, that’s okay too. I know my family can be a lot?—“
“No, that’s not it. I just didn’t expect them to be so nice to a complete stranger. I should have realized it though, you must take after them,” she says.
“I told you they won’t bite.” I smile at her and give her another hug for good measure. I have a feeling she’ll fit in just fine.