“We should stay the hell away from each other for the rest of the day, that’s what.”
“Right. Yes. Good idea. But, um…how?”
Olivia chewed her lip and thought. “Well, at least we have another bathroom now.”
“Anda dishwasher.”
Olivia snapped her fingers again. “Yes! That’s a good place to start. I’ll go clean up the kitchen from breakfast, and you go move all your stuff into the new bathroom.”
He nodded. “Wait. Why doIget the smaller bathroom?”
“Do you want to do the dishes instead?”
“Not particularly.”
“That’s what I thought. Now,go, and don’t talk to me for the rest of the day.”
His face pinched in angst. “That’s going to be a very long day.” He glanced over at the crew and then leaned toward her like he might try to steal a kiss while they weren’t looking.
She held up her hand between their faces. “Ten thousand dollars, Chuck.”
He grumbled in frustration and stomped off.
Olivia chewed away her smile, still buoyant from their trip down memory lane, and reminded herself that she needed to behave herself too.
Chapter
11
They managed as best theycould to keep out of each other’s orbit for the rest of the day. Olivia spent most of it sequestered in the office trying to distract herself with a book. She wasn’t sure what Chuck was up to and decided not to ask when she ventured out into the kitchen for a snack and found him weirdly pacing off distances with measured strides and glancing up at the ceiling over and over. He gave her the bed that night, and she made sure to lock the door and shove a chair in front of it for everyone’s benefit.
By the time Sunday rolled around and they were free of the camera crew, Olivia was looking forward to her phone call with Grandma Ruby as a break from the tension straining the house at the seams. She sat on the pool’s edge with her feet in the water, smoothly kicking them back and forth in slow motion. She’d put her earbuds in so that she didn’t have to hold anything while they talked.
“Olivia, my darling, how are you?” her grandmother answered.
“Hi, Grandma. I’m okay. How are you?”
“Oh, just fabulous, sweetheart. Vi and I have been taking walks before it gets too hot every day. I’ve almost finished the Sudoku book you gave me.”
“I’ll have to send you another,” Olivia said with a warm smile.
“I would love that. How are things with Chuck? Are you enjoying your time with him?”
Olivia flushed, weighing how much to say. “Sure.”
Despite the fact that we kissed the other night, got charged ten thousand dollars for it, are redeveloping problematic feelings, and have been avoiding each other since so that we don’t lose any more money, she silently added in her head.
“Well, that’s wonderful, sweetheart. Listen.” Her tone shifted into something more serious, and Olivia took notice. “I saw something in a magazine about you, and about the show.”
Cold dread seeped over Olivia like the sun had gone behind a cloud. “Grandma, please don’t read tabloids.”
“I don’t! You know I don’t, but Vi’s granddaughter left one behind the other day, and I thought I’d pick it up and flip through it. I saw this little story about you and Chuck, and it said he’d been fired from a movie! You never told me that, Olivia.”
Olivia flinched on reflex, feeling like she was in trouble. “I’m sorry, Grandma. It happened a while ago, and Chuck doesn’t like to talk about it.”
“Well, what happened? I can’t imagine a boy that sweet doing anything worth getting fired over.” She clucked her tongue in dismay.
Olivia gazed back toward the house, wondering if she’d catch a glimpse of Chuck through one of the windows. The burning daze she’d been living in since the night in the hallway cooled and sharpened back to reality at the reminder that theworld existed outside the house. “I don’t know what happened. He won’t tell me.”