CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Olivia waved to Brian and Mickey as they walked over to the McDonald’s play land area.

“Mommy,” Mickey said, rushing into her arms. She hugged him tightly and visibly fought back tears.

Olivia turned to Brian as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Olivia,” he said flatly.


“Thank you for bringing him to see me.”


They sat down at a wooden picnic table.
 “Mommy, do you have to go back to Atlanta?” Mickey asked.


She nodded her head. “My job is there. Maybe one day you and your daddy will come visit me again.”


Brian clinched his jaw. He wasn’t ready to think that far ahead.

Olivia would have to prove herself over the next few months before Brian would even consider visiting her again.

“Mickey,” Brian said as he reached for his wallet. “Why don’t you go inside and order a Happy Meal.”

The little boy smiled broadly as he took the five dollar bill from his father. When he was inside the restaurant, Brian turned to Olivia.

“I want to be civil to you when it comes to Mickey.”


“I appreciate that.”


“But there are going to be ground rules. You’re going to have to respect Paige. She’s going to be my wife.”


Olivia rolled her eyes. “Fine.”


“I mean it. And let’s be honest. Our marriage was over long before you left.”

“I know,” she replied. “I guess I was jealous of you. I mean, you’d made a name for yourself and there I was just a housewife with my mother telling me that I was destined for more than just being your wife. After hearing her in my ear for so long, I bought into it. That’s no excuse for anything that happened, but that’s the truth.”

“And you never thought of talking about this with me years ago?”

Olivia shrugged her shoulder. “I don’t know, I resented you and I didn’t think you would listen.”

“Have I ever...Never mind, that’s water under the bridge.”

Mickey returned to the play area with his Happy Meal, interrupting Brian and Olivia’s conversation.

About an hour later, Mickey and Brian walked Olivia to her car. The little boy reached out to hug his mother.

“Mickey, I’m so sorry,” Olivia said. “I’m sorry about everything that happened, but I love you.”

“I love you too,” he replied.

She turned to Brian. “I’ll call you next week to talk about visitation.”

He nodded and placed his arm across Mickey’s chest. They watched as Olivia drove away and for the first time since the divorce and custody hearings, Brian felt as if everything would be all right.

“You ready to go home?”

The little boy nodded and they headed to the truck and home to Paige.

Paige paced back and forth on her front porch waiting for Brian to return. In her heart, she knew Olivia had done something to upset Mickey.

I just wish she would leave and never come back. Maybe I should have gone to McDonald’s with them.

Paige perched herself on the edge of porch, swinging her legs back and forth. She hated waiting. Seconds later, Brian pulled into his yard. Mickey leapt from the truck and ran across the street into Paige’s arms.

“Hey, darling,” she said as she hugged him. She looked over Mickey’s shoulder at Brian. “How did everything turn out?”

“Surprisingly well,” Brian replied.

Mickey pulled at his dad’s pant leg. “Can I go inside and watch cartoons?”

“Sure,” Brian said. “Care to join us?”

Paige immediately obliged and they headed across the street to Brian’s house. Once the trio was inside, Mickey parked himself on the sofa and Paige and Brian went into the kitchen to talk.

“Olivia’s gone?” she asked.

“Yeah. We talked about what went wrong between us and how we got to this point.”

Paige held her breath, praying that the next words that came out of Brian’s mouth weren’t that he and Olivia were going to try their marriage again.

“I told her that I want a civil relationship with her because of Mickey, but she’s going to have to respect the fact that you’re going to be my wife and a part of my life.”

“I’m sure that didn’t go over well.”

“I don’t know if it was because Mickey was there or not, but Olivia actually did handle everything well. All I know is, you and I have a future to look forward to and Olivia isn’t going to be a problem for us anymore.”

Paige flung herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. God, please let him be right.