I shook my head and walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and change clothes. There wasn’t much I could do about my appearance. My face showed every bit of the exhaustion I felt.
After doing a quick sweep of the room, I grabbed my duffel and headed down the stairs. Voices carried in from the kitchen, but I slipped out the back unnoticed. I wasn’t quite ready to face the music yet.
I opened the back door of my truck to toss my duffel inside, but was immediately halted by the sweet, honeyed scent of Olivia’s perfume. It lingered better than any freshener I’d ever bought, which was a real fucking problem, seeing as that was the last thing I wanted.
Get it the fuck together, Duke.
And then I saw the small travel purse she’d tucked beneath my seat. I’d told her it wasn’t a good idea to leave her things behind, but she did it anyway. Completely and totally determined not to listen to me.
Grabbing the back, I closed the door and headed back into the house. I’d just rounded the truck when a hard body collided with mine.
Olivia’s hand gripped my forearm to steady herself, digging her nails into my skin as she looked up at me.
“Shit, sorry,” she murmured, taking two quick steps back. “Didn’t see you there.”
“You didn’t see me?” I asked slowly.
I was fucking six foot four. How did she not see me?
“Must not have been paying attention.” Her gaze dipped to her purse. “Ah, but I was coming out for this. Sorry. I know you said not to leave it in there. Guess if I’d listened, it would’ve saved us this weird conversation, huh?”
“Probably.” I held it out, and she quickly took it from my grasp. Neither of us attempted to move or speak. We justawkwardly existed in each other’s company. There was so much I wanted to say, but where the hell was I even supposed to begin?
“Cleo and I’d like to take the girls in her car, if that’s okay. Figured you boys could ride together in your truck,” Olivia said, breaking the silence. “Might make it less awkward and all.”
“If that’s what you want,” Olivia muttered something beneath her breath, but I didn’t catch it. “Sorry. What was that?”
“Nothing.” She blew out a breath, forcing a smile. “That is what I want. We can trade off when we get to Lukas’s house.”
“You make it sound like we’re getting a divorce. Trading off the kids like that.”
“Yes, well, that would be silly, wouldn’t it? Seeing as we were never even really together.”
Olivia wouldn’t meet my eyes. Hell, I couldn’t even blame her. I scratched the back of my head. “That’s not what I meant. The divorce thing—it was just a bad joke.”
“It’s fine, Duke. It’s for the best. I mean, it’s not like we’ll ever be rid of one another, so we might as well get used to it.”
I didn’t want to get used to it, though. “It sounds terrible,” I admitted. “Feels pretty shitty, too.”
Her smile faltered. “Yeah, it does.”
There was so much I wanted to say. Yet I couldn’t. The words wouldn’t come. They were struck, lodged in my throat like bitter bile. It would only make things worse between us, and that was the last thing I wanted.
Olivia held up her purse. “Thanks for this.”
I dipped my chin. “You’re welcome.”
When she left, she took what was left of my barely beating heart with her.
OLIVIA
There wasa paint chip on the wall directly behind what used to be my uncle’s desk. I’d never noticed it before. Why would I, when I’d spent more time sorting files in this room than appreciating the years of wear and tear?
What else had I not noticed?
The walls were lined with photos from his years of travel. There was one of us on my first trip to Paris. John had taken me there not long after my father died because he thought it’d take my mind off the horrors back home, but it hadn’t worked. All I could think about as I meandered down miles of museum hallways was how Dad would’ve loved it, which only made me miss him more.
And then there was the same picture that sat on my nightstand. One of Duke, Lukas, and me on the same dock I’d stood on only yesterday.