Chapter Six

SHOULDERS HUNCHED, BEN followed his OT out of the lobby, and Olivia allowed herself a slow, leaking sigh. He had been stuck at a sullen simmer since Tuesday night. If the “ch” in chair even crossed her lips, he scowled. After cycling through her usual tactics—encouraging, sympathetic, stern—she was stuck waiting him out.

She stalked to a deserted corner, tossed her backpack on a seat, and sank beside it. Her phone chirped. Tapping the work email, she skimmed the words while her mind wandered to Ellie. Their brief contact had consumed her. In the parking lot, lost in her self-recrimination, she was startled enough to draw back, but the echo of Ellie’s fingers clung stubbornly to her cheek.

Did you get a picture yet? Arti’s text popped up.

She stabbed at the phone with her thumbs. I’m not sneaking a picture!

I need to see what this woman looks like!!!

Not even sure I’ll run into her.

No way that woman doesn’t seek you out after hitting on you.

She didn’t hit on me. Go away!

She scowled at Arti’s characterization. It cheapened the moment. Hitting on someone was a deliberate act, but Ellie’s hand on her face felt spontaneous, and her earnest admission was even more intimate than the touch.

“Olivia?”

The phone almost slipped from her hand when Ellie manifested in front of her. She chose to blame her accelerating pulse on surprise and not proximity. Ellie was the kind of woman anyone would notice—gregarious and confident, beautiful in a relaxed, uncalculated fashion—but Tuesday’s moment amplified those qualities from the abstract to the personal in a way that glued Olivia’s tongue to her mouth.

“Mind if I sit?”

Olivia moved her bag off the chair, and Ellie perched on the edge. When their knees brushed, Ellie jerked her leg to the side as if any contact might be unwelcome.

“I’m sorry about Tuesday night. It was completely inappropriate to touch you. Seeing you hurting…it was instinct, reaching out. I would hate it if anything I did made you uncomfortable at TTC. I’m so, so sorry.”

The apology was sincere—Ellie practically vibrated with regret—but she didn’t disavow any interest. Her lack of a denial lit a small flame Olivia tried to stamp out.

“It’s all right, don’t worry.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Thanks for the apology though.”

“Thank goodness. I haven’t stopped thinking about you, and I wanted a chance to clear the air.”

“You’ve been thinking about me?” Olivia didn’t fight a smile.

“I meant thinking about what happened with you. I’m sorry. I didn’t want this anywhere near Ben or TTC.”

Ellie’s flummoxed distress was so keen it tempted Olivia to reach out in comfort. It would be simple to end it here. A final lighthearted assurance, a quick thanks-but-no-thanks, and they could move on. The receptionist’s phone trilled from the other end of the lobby, triggering a wail from a nearby stroller. Olivia grabbed her bag. “Let’s step outside.”

The hollow thump-thump of car doors closing bracketed the silence as they hid from the wind in her car. She turned toward Ellie. Through the window, she could see the light pole they had stood under two days ago. A giddy impulse took hold to bring Ellie’s hand to her face, to reenact the moment and not pull away. Ellie followed her stare. Pink stained her cheeks.

“Honestly, I’m not upset.” She had planned an easy excuse about not being ready to date, but in these close confines, Ellie’s warm presence overwhelmed her. The tiniest details captured her attention—the way Ellie worried at her lip with the edge of her tooth, the curl escaping her ponytail, the mole below her left ear. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Ellie’s mouth opened, then closed. Her sudden speechlessness was endearing.

“Pretend Tuesday didn’t happen. What would you say?”

Ellie rubbed her palms on her thighs, the scrape of skin against fabric mingling with the muffled wind outside. She lifted her eyes. Hope and nervousness merged into one disarming expression. “I want to ask you out. On a date. Properly. I was waiting until…I guess until I could find a way to not have this conversation at TTC.” Her hands lifted in a helpless gesture. “Which obviously didn’t work.”

“Waiting since when?”

More pink bloomed across Ellie’s cheeks, and she buried her face in her hands. “Since the first day I saw you.” The words leaked between her palms.

Delight and consternation danced in Olivia’s chest. This woman had waited months to ask her on a date? She tugged Ellie’s hands down. “Really?”

“It wasn’t fair to Ben to approach you here. This is his space. If I’d met you at a bar, the gym, anywhere else, I would’ve said something sooner.”

“I’m flattered you liked me enough to be so patient.” She was flattered, and touched Ben had been so much in Ellie’s thoughts. Then Jen’s stunned, tear-streaked face came into focus. She rubbed her eyes to dispel the image.

“It’s fine if you need time. This happened faster than I planned.”

“It’s not that.” Three more days or three more weeks wouldn’t change the fact that Ellie’s touch had cracked open a door, one she hadn’t been able to close again. “Getting time alone…”

“I can do whatever’s easiest. Maybe a quick coffee while he’s in therapy, or a lunch date during school, or—”

“You’ve been thinking about this.” Olivia smiled as Ellie’s natural enthusiasm rebounded.

“A little.”

“Can I ask how old you are?” Their age difference hadn’t registered before, but she wondered if Ellie had considered it.

“Thirty-five.”

“The big age gap doesn’t bother you?”

“Five or six years is nothing.”

“You made my week! I just turned forty-five.”

Surprise splashed across Ellie’s face, and insecurity pricked at Olivia. She had half hoped to scare Ellie with her age, so why was she upset it might have worked?

“I don’t care. At all.” Ellie grabbed her wrist. “You’re breathtaking.”

Olivia blushed at the compliment and the spark of contact. She had built a wall of objections to protect herself from what could go wrong, but in this moment, she couldn’t stop thinking about what could go right. Ellie’s fingers, soft on her pulse, supplied all the force needed to collapse her carefully constructed arguments. “Okay, let’s have a date.”

“Really?” Ellie squeezed her wrist harder. “What do you want to do? Pick whatever’s easiest.”

All she wanted was quiet conversation, enough to see beyond the fizzing attraction that crackled along her skin every time Ellie touched her. “How about you come over on Saturday after Ben’s bedtime? We’ll need to hang out on the front porch so he doesn’t hear us and wake up. He’d be confused if he found you in the house.”

Ellie’s exultant dimple popped for the first time. “Yes! What time?”

“Nine-thirty? I’ll text you the address.”

They exchanged numbers, and Ellie touched her knee. “I’m sorry about how this all came up. I never wanted to interfere with Ben’s world here at TTC. Thanks for being so understanding.”

“Thanks for being considerate of Ben.”

“He’s a great kid. You’re an amazing parent.”

Olivia found herself blushing for the second time.

“You’re also the kind of person who doesn’t give herself enough credit.” Ellie’s lips curled into a smile she hadn’t seen before, soft and tender, the kind that whispered secrets across pillows and shimmered beneath a fluttering sheet. Olivia’s heart surged against her ribs, desperate to embrace the promise in that smile.

Ellie stepped out of the car, a gust of cold rushing to fill her spot. The rearview mirror framed her as she broke into a quick jog to escape the wind. When the sliding doors opened, she spun around, waved, and then did a small skip into the lobby. Olivia stayed fixed on the mirror even after the doors closed, resting her hand on the passenger seat to catch the last of Ellie’s warmth.