“Jesus Christ, Olivia.No!” he said, and flung out his arms.
The scene fit like an old glove, her glaring up at him and him glaring down while they were at each other’s throats. She could see the vein in his forehead that ticked like a time bomb when they fought. She felt its mirror in the side of her neck.
“Olivia, please see this for what it is,” he came back, trying to sound calmer. “They are preying on our problems by putting us in a position where I can’t tell you the truth about something, which is only making you think it’s way worse than it is. They sprang this on us on purpose. You have to trust me.”
“Trust you?Trust you.After you’ve spent the past week in here making me fall for you all over again only to find out you’ve beenlyingto me? What’s more, now it’sin the newsfor everyone to see!” A tearful crack splintered her voice.
Chuck flinched at the sound, knowing how tender that particular wound was given her family’s history. “Olivia, I’m so sorry about that. I will fix it, but you have to listen to me—”
“You can’t fix this, Chuck!”
He reached for her when she turned again. They’d made it to the entryway now. “No, Liv. Don’t run!Don’t run.We can’t let them win.”
But it was too late. The urge to flee was too strong. She slipped out of his grip, tears blurring her eyes and heart hammering. She had to get away. Away from the lies. From the truth. From the same fate that had ruined her parents.
The front door was wide open, left that way by the production crew, and before she knew it, she’d passed through it to the other side. It wasn’t until she heard Chuck shouting behind her that she realized what she’d done.
“Olivia,no!”
She turned and saw him on his knees inside the front door. Pure anguish mottled his face red. He squeezed his eyes shut and held both fists to his forehead like he might tear himself in half.
The production crew crowded the entryway behind him, catching the whole thing on camera. Tyler blinked in shock, Parker looked conflicted, and TJ full-on smiled.
It was the sight of the latter that made her fully realize what had just happened. What she’d done.
The wave that would drown her for the rest of time had only begun to swell when she too fell to her knees, breathless with regret.
Chapter
14
Two days later, Olivia layfacedown on her couch while her grandmother sipped tea from her armchair and her best friend dripped nips of whiskey into everyone’s mugs. When she’d finally changed out of the yellow jumpsuit that she’d fled the house wearing, she’d turned to a pair of sweats and a hoodie she’d called home for almost forty-eight straight hours. She’d refused to see anyone or take any calls until Mansi had shown up with Grandma Ruby and bags of Mexican food that evening and threatened to break down the door if she didn’t let them in.
Now the three of them sat in her stuffy living room surrounded by half-eaten takeout containers and watched at least the fiftieth episode ofFriendsOlivia had left playing scroll by on her TV screen.
Grandma Ruby sat close enough to pet Olivia’s hair, which was in dire need of a wash. “My sweet girl, you mustn’t be so hard on yourself.”
“Grandma,” Olivia said into the throw pillow she’d reacquainted herself with after half a burrito, “I gave up a million dollars.Well, nine hundred thousand something and change after all the rules we broke.”
She’d come clean about the premise of the show and her financial situation. She’d had to after everything, especially now that her grandmother’s living situation was hanging in the balance again. She’d also told her the truth about what had sent her running from the house.
“Well, yes. That is true,” Ruby said, and sipped her tea. “But it was just a game.”
“If that were the case, it wouldn’t be such a big deal that I lost it for us.” She smashed her face back into the pillow.
“Look on the bright side, Liv,” Mansi said.
Olivia lifted her head to see her sitting at her dining table still dressed in a slick skirt suit from work. At least she’d kicked off her red-bottomed heels. “You’re not locked in that house anymore,” Mansi said with a shrug before she blew on her tea and sipped it.
Olivia groaned and face-planted into the pillow again.
“Have you talked to Chuck yet, my dear?” Ruby said.
“No,” Olivia said to the pillow.
Surprisingly,he’dcalled and texted. It was their modus operandi: she ran, he came to find her, but in this case, Olivia thought he’d never want to speak to her again. He’d even tried to get to her through his sister; she’d gotten anR U Ok?text from Chelsea begging for a response. Yesterday, Chuck had gone as far as coming by her apartment and knocking until a neighbor came out and told him Olivia obviously didn’t want to talk to him. She’d huddled on the couch through the wholething, hugging a pillow and crying over wanting to open the door and being too ashamed to face him.
“Well, then, how do you expect anything to get better?” Ruby said.