Olivia took off at the same second, knowing he was muchcloser to them given the house’s layout and praying they were already locked. She ran through the halls, her injured toe throbbing, and got there just in time to see him trying to yank them open against the lock.
“Olivia! Let me in!”
Her laughter returned. “You’ll be fine. It’s summertime in L.A. You might as well be sleeping on a tropical beach. And don’t even think of hopping the fence into the front yard and losing us this game on the first night. I’ll lock the door before you get there anyway.”
He gave her a look worthy of treason and stomped off.
“Good night, Chuck!” she sang.
She returned to the bedroom and climbed into the plush bed. Through the door she could see that he’d settled on one of the lounge chairs with his back to her. She peacefully drifted off, thinking that surviving a month might not be so bad after all, but also that she might have just started a war.
Chapter
8
Olivia woke in the morningat first confused about where she was. The sheets were softer than hers at home, and the silence was punctuated only by gentle bird chirps—not the rush of traffic and occasional clang of a dumpster lid being dropped. It was almost jarring. She quickly remembered she was in a secluded house in the Palisades and not her apartment.
She sat up when she also remembered that Chuck had spent the night outside.
Through the back door, she caught sight of him still in the lounge chair, one arm dangling off the edge. His broad shoulders eclipsed the sides of the frame. He’d put the shirt on at some point and left it unbuttoned.
A pang of guilt hit her at the thought that he might have truly gotten cold.
She took the silence within the house to mean that the camera crew hadn’t returned yet and figured she should use the opportunity to let Chuck back in before they made a scene, although the blinking red dots in the ceiling corners remindedher everything was already being recorded. She cringed at the thought as she climbed out of the bed and did her best not to look directly at any of the lenses aimed at her.
It was barely after seven a.m., the morning fresh and dewy outside. A marine layer had settled over the house while they slept, turning everything muted and gray, and she remembered they were much closer to the ocean than where either she or Chuck lived. The washed-out sky would burn off later and return to California blue, but for the time being, it felt like there was a dull dome over the top of them. As if they were in a snow globe filled with gauzy fog.
Chuck didn’t stir at the sound of her sliding open the door; he was notoriously difficult to wake. He’d made her late to so many events. On the occasions they’d had to get up early for anything during their relationship, Olivia had resorted to yanking off the sheets, swatting him on the butt, threatening to pour cold water on him just to drag him out of bed. In all her trials and errors, she’d found the most effective tactic to be simply announcing she was getting in the shower and walking through the room naked.
There would be no nudity this morning, at least not on her part.
A blast of air fresher than anything she breathed just a few miles inland hit her when she opened the door. The rustling palms and chirping birds greeted her like a garden lullaby. From beneath her bare feet, the chilly concrete pool deck sent a wave of goose bumps raising her skin. She wrapped her arms over her chest.
Chuck’s glasses sat on the ground below his dangling arm, as if he’d dropped them when he fell asleep. Olivia picked them up and safely set them on the small table for fear anythingmight happen to her favorite accessory of his in the impending storm she was about to incite when she woke him.
“Chuck,” she said. “Time to wake up. The camera crew will be here soon.” She didn’t know if the last part was true, but she’d rather not get caught red-handed for having made him sleep outside by any in-person witnesses.
He stirred at the sound of her voice and took a deep inhale. He mumbled something and turned on his side.
Olivia rolled her eyes, knowing it would be easier to drag a bear out of hibernation. “Chuck!” she called, and clapped her hands with a sharp smack. “Wake up!”
He growled at her and sat up with a stretch. “I’m awake. Stop yelling at me.”
Like the traitorous magnets they were, her eyes went straight to his bare chest. Her ogling was cut short when Chuck let out a sharp breath with a wince.
“What?” she asked with a jump, startled.
He reached for his glasses on the table and threw a hand to his lower back. “Ouch.”
“Ouch, what?”
His face screwed up into a knot and his breath grew shallow. “What do you mean,ouch what? I slept on a lounge chair. What do you think I’mouchingabout?”
She stepped back as he climbed off the chair in slow, painful motion. She thought he was only being dramatic until he froze halfway hunched over and groaned like his body was splitting in half.
“Oh!” Olivia blurted, and threw out her hands like she might need to catch him. “Are you okay?”
He tried to straighten up but didn’t get far before he let out another pained gasp. “I strained my back in the gym the otherday, and this— Nope! Nope, this didnothelp.” He crunched over into a crescent shape and hissed through his teeth. “I need to go inside and lie down.” He hobbled like a brittle old man with Olivia trailing on his heels.