“I know, but it came out all wrong. What I meant was, sometimes it’s hard to see your dismissive attitude toward the industry I’m killing myself to make it in. Call it a weird kind ofenvy, I don’t know. Regardless, it’s not fair of me to expect you to leverage your parents’ story if you don’t want to. I know I can’t fully understand what it’s like for you.”
Olivia absorbed his words and blinked wide at him. “That’swhat you meant?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not at all what you said.”
“I know. I’m bad at fighting. No one ever taught me how. Also, you never stick around long enough to let me figure out the right thing to say, so this is new for me too.”
His confession softened her into staying even longer. “The one disservice Sam and Barb ever did for you, huh? Who knew never arguing in front of their kids would lead to this.”
Chuck softly smiled and shook his head. “Still deflecting, I see. But you’re right. They never fought, so I never learned how. And I can see I’ve got about thirty more seconds of your tolerance for this conversation before you run, so I want to say something else.”
She lifted her brows in question, trying not to let on that he was right about her being ready to head for the door. All the disclosure had her itchy with discomfort.
“I’m sorry for how dismissive I was about the tabloid article earlier. I should have realized how that would impact you given your family history and been more sensitive.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised to learn he was still thinking about their interaction from that morning. “Thank you.”
“Of course. And what I said out there in the interview about you being capable of things, I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” he said. “Well, you did make me sleep outside, and I didn’t think you’dactuallydo it, but I more meant capable of things that scare you. Like being here. Doing this show. I know youdidn’t want to, but it’s for someone you love, which is really admirable.”
With the way he was giving her his only-girl-in-the-world eyes again and with the tender vulnerability she’d spoken of during the interview as plain as day on his face, it took her a heart-thudding moment to realize the person she loved whom he was talking about was Grandma Ruby.
“Right. Yeah. Thank you,” she said awkwardly, thinking that her comment about him still surprising her was as true as ever.
“That’s why I think that if you everwantedto tell your parents’ story—not saying you have to—I think you’d be able to do it. And I think you’d be good at it.”
His faith in her gave her a non-negligible ounce of courage. She gave him a weak smile. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.”
The air that had softened between them reshaped into something with a slight edge. Chuck stood up with another sigh.
“What were you doing in here?” she asked him. “When I walked in, you looked like you were doing self-affirmations with the ceiling.”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “It was nothing.”
“If you’re going to lie, at least try to make it convincing.”
He smiled down at her, and she thought they were going to continue with the intimate and uncomfortable self-disclosure, but he dodged the subject and continued unbuttoning his shirt instead. “I’m going to hit the gym again.” He turned for the closet, and she was thankful he didn’t strip down in front of her.
Left standing in the middle of the room, Olivia had two thoughts. One, hitting the gym sounded like a good idea because she could definitely use a run to burn off some steam. And two, Chuck had lied to her about being all right becausehe only did double workouts when he was training for a part or when something was bothering him.
•••
As Olivia pounded her feeton the treadmill’s belt, she wondered what could be eating at Chuck. Perhaps it was simply the aftermath of all their arguing and the scene in the bedroom earlier; she was spent from it too. From her position on the treadmill, she could see him in the mirrored wall going hard enough on the rower to snap the cable. Sweat poured off him, and he’d probably put in enough meters to be halfway to Hawaii already. She was at least thankful he’d opted for cardio and wasn’t putting on another show in the squat rack.
She further wondered about his mood when he easily agreed on having chicken Caesar salad for dinner without a fight. He even cleaned up the dishes again.
By the time they’d wound down for bed, his odd behavior was distracting her enough that she forgot they needed to decide who was sleeping where.
She ran into him in the hallway outside the bedroom on her way back from brushing her teeth in the kitchen. He’d already put on a cozy shirt and his glasses. He was barefoot and loose shorts clung to his hips. The distorted light coming from the pool cast rolling shadows through the back wall of windows and turned them both a dark shade of blue.
“Oh,” Olivia said when they crossed paths. “I was just coming to ask where we’re sleeping tonight.”
He eyed her pajamas and the toothbrush in her hand. He didn’t say anything, and Olivia wasn’t sure what it meant.
She tried to break the odd tension. “If I sleep on the couch,you aren’t going to wake me up in the morning with another stunt like you pulled today, are you?”
His lips twitched into a small smile. “What stunt?”