2. Olivia
OLIVIA
“Aunt Olivia!”
Olivia Keller turned at the sound of the young voice and spotted her niece, Lily, racing across the yard towards her. Olivia bent down, opened her arms, and let the nine-year-old fly into them.
“You’re here!” Lily beamed widely as she pulled back from the hug, revealing a gap in her teeth. She wore a pink dress with flowers and a little paper crown, and her cheeks were rosy with enthusiasm.
“I wouldn’t miss your birthday for anything!” Olivia said, beaming at her niece. In truth, it had been a real struggle to get a few days off work to fly out to her Idaho hometown for her niece’s birthday, but she’d done everything she could to make this happen.
After all, it had been Lily’s biggest birthday wish for her favorite (and only) aunt to come to her party.
“Mommy!” Lily called, turning back towards the blue ranch house. Olivia’s older sister, Rachel, was coming down the steps with her other child, two-year-old Tommy, in her arms. She, too, wore a pink dress with little flowers on it, and Olivia smiled.
“Hi, Rachel,” she called, waving.
“You made it.” Rachel descended the rest of the stairs and hurried to pull Olivia into a hug. Tommy pressed his sticky face against Olivia’s cheek as she did so. Rachel pulled back and smiled at her. “I hope Mr. Meany didn’t give you too much trouble about the days off.”
Olivia winced. “Mr. Marley wasn’t exactly pleased.
But I had the vacation days saved up — you know I never take time off.
” Mr. Marley was Olivia’s boss at the camera equipment company where she’d been working for the last few years.
It wasn’t exactly her dream job, but she hoped it would be a stepping stone on the way to one.
“I know,” Rachel fixed her with a stern look, “because he’s a terrible boss, and you deserve better.”
“Maybe, but jobs in Seattle are few and far between.” Olivia had moved to Seattle after college to chase her dreams, knowing that the small Idaho town where she’d grown up didn’t have enough opportunities in photography. But her dreams seemed further away than ever now.
“You shouldn’t be working for a camera equipment company anyway,” Rachel continued as if she hadn’t heard her sister. “You should be a photographer. Your pictures are amazing.”
“Maybe they were,” Olivia sighed, “but I haven’t even taken pictures in months.
I’m working too hard.” She gave herself a little shake.
“But there’s no way I’m going to focus on my terrible job when my favorite niece is having her birthday party!
” She smiled at Lily, who bounced joyfully on her toes.
“Then come on!” the birthday girl said. “I have a bouncy castle and a unicorn and everything!”
“A unicorn?”
“A unicorn pi?ata,” Rachel explained as they followed Lily into the backyard. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t track down a real one.”
“Shame.”
Laughing, they circled the house to where the party was in full swing.
Excited kids jumped on the bouncy house (which had an inflatable slide shaped like a dragon), played party games, and snacked on a buffet Rachel must have laid out, stocked with everything from tiny sandwiches, carrot sticks, chips and dips, to yoghurt pretzels.
As they arrived, Cory, Rachel’s husband, walked over.
He gave Rachel a kiss, then took Tommy from her.
Watching the quiet moment of domesticity, Olivia’s heart clenched.
She’d spent the last few years focused on her career, leaving little time for dating or romance.
At twenty-eight, she knew she still had time, but lately she’d been questioning whether she’d made the right call by putting her personal life on hold to focus on a career that had never taken off.
She’d never had a serious relationship — the men she’d dated tended to care more about their careers than her, and, frankly, so did Olivia.
Recently, she hadn’t even been trying. It felt like years since she’d been on a date.
But now, seeing Rachel so happy with her husband and kids… well, it made Olivia wish for a life that wasn’t just about long hours at work and a demanding boss.
“Nice to see you, Olivia,” Cory said, smiling at her. “How was the flight?”
“Not bad,” Olivia replied. In truth, her back had been acting up, and sitting for several hours on the plane hadn’t helped.
“Come on!” Lily tugged at her hand. “Let’s go on the bouncy house!”
“I’m not so sure…” Her back twinged in agreement with her hesitation.
“Please?” Lily made puppy eyes. “Pretty please with sugar on top?”
Olivia laughed. “How could I say no to that?”
She let her niece pull her to the bouncy house, where she slipped off her shoes and crawled through the narrow flap, and the pair began jumping. Lily laughed, her green eyes shining, and Olivia was happy that she could at least be the fun aunt. That was something.
“Are you Lily’s aunt?” one of the kids asked.
“I am!”
“Wow, my aunt would never do this!” Lily’s friends looked impressed, and Lily beamed with pride.
“You’re so cool.”
“I try.” Olivia winked.
“Now watch me!” Lily bounced and landed on her bottom before returning to her feet.
“Nice!” Olivia grinned.
“Can you do that?”
“Sure.” It was probably a mistake, but why not make her niece’s day while she still could?
Olivia repeated the trick. “Now try this!” She jumped, spun, and landed — but then, her feet slipped out from under her.
Her stomach lurched as she fell onto her hip, the shock radiating through her back.
The back pain she’d been fighting returned with a vengeance, and Olivia swallowed a few choice words that she’d never say in front of her niece and her young friends.
“Are you okay?” Lily dropped to her knees next to Olivia, her eyes wide with worry.
“I’m fine!” Olivia managed to roll onto her knees, gritting her teeth against the flashing pain. “But I think it’s time for me to chase down some cake. You kids continue.”
She slid out of the bouncy house and crossed back towards her sister, doing her best not to let herself grimace at the seizing pain in her back.
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked with a sympathetic look.
“Bouncy houses and back problems maybe don’t pair so well together.” Olivia rubbed her back.
“We aren’t kids anymore, are we?” Rachel smiled. “Luckily, pi?atas and cakes have no age limit.”
“That’s good, at least.” Olivia smiled gratefully at her sister.
Rachel smoothed her blond hair and smiled back.
The sisters looked completely different—Rachel had fair hair and blue eyes, while Olivia had curly black hair and green eyes.
Somehow, Lily had ended up looking more like Olivia than Rachel — people sometimes thought she was Lily’s mother when the two went out together.
They were different in more ways than looks.
As teenagers, they hadn’t been close. Rachel had been popular and well-liked, always invited to parties and surrounded by friends.
Olivia, meanwhile, had been shy and reserved, preferring to look at the world through the lens of a camera.
No matter their differences, though, they’d always helped each other.
Their family hadn’t had much money, and Rachel had always made sure Olivia had everything she could give her.
As adults, the sisters had reconnected and become closer than ever.
“Is it time for cake now?” Olivia asked with a grin.
“Absolutely. Come on, let’s light the candles and start singing.”
Olivia was following her sister into the kitchen when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.
Drawing it out, she saw the caller’s name and winced.
It was her boss, Jonah Marley. He almost definitely had some complaint or another about her work that he’d want her to solve urgently, regardless of the fact that she was on vacation.
“What’s going on?” Rachel turned back, and Olivia held up the phone to show the caller ID. “Don’t answer. You don’t have to be on call all the time. You’re supposed to be on vacation!”
“Sorry, I have to take it.” Wincing again, Olivia swiped to answer. If she didn’t answer, it would just cause more problems in the future. And despite everything, she wanted her boss to finally see that she was a hardworking employee who could handle more responsibility and a raise.
“Olivia?” Mr. Marley’s gruff voice came over the line.
“Hi, Mr. Marley.” That was one of the ways her boss sucked — although he called her by her first name, he insisted that she address him formally.
“Lucy dropped out of the conference tomorrow,” Marley said. “Apparently, her kid is sick.” His words dripped with derision, as though bowing out of work to care for one’s sick child was the worst excuse in the world.
“I see,” Olivia said.
“I need you to replace her,” Marley continued. “You know the products. Head to the airport — if there are airports in Idaho.”
Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “There are airports,” she said. “But I’m on vacation right now, and I’m right in the middle of my niece’s birthday party.”
As if to punctuate her words, the partygoers outside began to sing to Lily as they carried out a cake laden with candles.
“Are you coming or not?” Marley asked gruffly. “I’m giving you an opportunity here, whether I should or not. I wouldn’t miss it if I were you. With your track record, this may never come again.”
“I…” Olivia swallowed her anger. The event was a huge photography conference in Las Vegas.
Professionals and hobbyists from all over the world flocked there to find the best equipment — as did cinematographers and large companies.
It was an invaluable experience and a chance to make lasting connections in her field.
Connections that could eventually allow Olivia to quit this job and find something better.
If Marley had asked her first, she wouldn’t have hesitated.
As it was, she needed to do this.
“I can fly out tonight,” she said.
“Now would be better.”
“The conference only starts tomorrow,” Olivia pointed out. “I’ll be there in plenty of time.”
Marley sighed as though Olivia were bent on purposefully ruining his life. “Fine. You need to be at the conference hall at six a.m. tomorrow for setup.”
This time, Olivia stifled a sigh. As usual, Marley would expect her to take the majority of the tasks, especially the ones he considered beneath him.
Even though Olivia had been working for CameraOptics for several years now, Marley still treated her as though she were an inexperienced intern while touting the skills of her male colleagues.
“I’ll be there,” she said.
“Good.”
Without a goodbye, Marley hung up. Olivia hurried outside in time to see Lily cut the first slice out of the cake, which she offered to Olivia.
“Thanks, sweetheart.”
Olivia stepped back and was joined by her sister.
“Let me guess.” Rachel gave her a look. “Even though he called you useless, your boss needs you.”
"Yeah.”
“And you’re leaving.”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“Tonight.” Olivia couldn’t meet her sister’s eyes. “I’ll fly out after the party.”
“Just… promise you’ll think about finding another job.” Rachel squeezed her hand. “You deserve way better than Mr. Meany. You’re a talented photographer and a wonderful person."
"Thanks. Although you being so nice makes me feel even worse about cutting my visit short.”
“That’s what sisters are for, aren’t they?” Rachel winked. “Making you feel good and bad at the same time.”
Olivia laughed. “You may be right.”
“I’m going to leave it up to you to tell Lily, though.”
“Fair enough.”
As Olivia watched the kids run and play in the backyard, little Tommy toddling after them, Cory supervising the cake, her heart ached. It was nice to visit and feel like part of a family, even though she knew she was just watching from the outside.
Maybe this conference would be the big break she needed.
Maybe she would finally be able to prove herself to her boss, and, in turn, he’d back off a little.
Or maybe she’d make connections that would allow her to land a better job, one with a more understanding boss and better hours, that would make better use of her skills.
Then she could have a life outside of work…
maybe even start dating. Nothing huge. It wasn’t like she was looking to get married yet, or anything like that, but it would be nice to see what was out there.
She could dedicate a little time to looking for romance and a little time to nurturing her photography skills.
But first, she had to ace this conference. She had to network like crazy and do everything perfectly.
She could do it.
For now, Olivia quickly booked a flight on her phone with the company card, then rejoined the partygoers. It was still Lily’s birthday, and she’d make it as wonderful as she could.