“Olive, listen to me very carefully,” her mother said. Olive pressed the phone to her ear and held her breath. Even though logic told her Jill couldn’t sort everything out for her in a single phone call, a part of her couldn’t help hoping for that outcome all the same. “I’ve told you your whole life how smart you are. What I never told you is that you didn’t just inherit your mother’s big brain, girlfriend.”
“What do you mean?” Olive was puzzled.
“You’ve got gorgeous looks in addition to your brain!” her mother exclaimed. Olive swore she could hear a grunt of agreement from her father in the background; evidently, he hadn’t walked far enough away. “You’re a knockout, and I should have told it to you sooner! I was so concerned with raising you up to be a young woman who didn’t emphasize looks that I’m afraid you went in the completely opposite direction and totally failed to realize how beautiful you are!” Jill Owen paused as if to come up for air, but carried on before the speechless Olive could think of anything to interject. “Honey, what you’ve struggled with your whole life isn’t your brain chasing men away. Everything about you is striking.”
Olive colored and looked around, hoping no other shoppers were overhearing this pep talk right now.
“And from what you said, it sounds to me like Levon is a man who won’t be intimidated. He may not have handled everything perfectly, but it sounds like he valued and appreciated you every step of the way, even if he didn’t always know how to show it. You need someone to call you on your shit, or, in your case—get you out of your head. You’ve got to live life, Olive; not spend all your time analyzing it.”
“You’re right,” Olive expelled a ragged breath. “But Mom, what if I already screwed it up?”
“According to my calculations, that’s impossible!” her father hollered in the background. “Your stars are in alignment, kiddo!”
Olive’s face practically caught fire. “Mom, am I on speaker? And Dad—you’re so not helping!”
After her parents had finished embarrassing her, Olive hung up the call. She headed over to the mall pretzel stand and deliberated.
Maybe she couldn’t win Levon back. She had to accept that as a possible outcome. Maybe, despite her parents’ cheerleading, she had already fatally messed it all up on that front.
But at least now she knew what bedding she wanted for the baby.
* * *
It took all of Levon’s courage, as a father and an ex-SEAL, to knock on Olive’s door that same evening.
As the seconds passed, he wondered if she would answer. He could tell by her car, and the lights on in the upstairs windows, that she was home. The raid was done. He’d texted Olive himself to tell her the danger had passed, so there was no reason for her to worry anymore, but still. Just because she was there didn’t mean she’d answer the door. Especially when she saw it was him.
When the door finally did open to reveal Olive, wearing baggy denim overalls and covered from head to toe in splattered paint, Levon nearly dropped the gift-wrapped box he was holding. “Olive, what...?”
“It’s okay. It’s safe.” She smiled. “I triple-checked the brand, and it won’t be a problem as long as I keep the room ventilated while working.”
“Uh, okay.” He had no idea what she was talking about. He squinted again, but still couldn’t make out the color of the paint covering her. It was too dark in the twilight realm of her porch, and she was backlit by the lights indoors. “Well, I trust you of all people to have done your research.”
He wanted to kick himself. He wanted to turn around and walk out of her life before she could throw him out of it.
“Want to see the nursery?” To his surprise, Olive stepped aside to invite him in. Levon wondered for a moment if he imagined that shy, flickering glance up at him before she looked away again. Levon nodded gratefully, and followed her inside.
She led him down the hall to a room with dark and tranquil blue walls. Yep, that was the color on Olive’s skin and hair. He’d never realized the color could be so beautiful and... cozy.
“I decided to match it to the nightlight you made,” Olive explained.
“The nightlight we made,” he corrected reflexively. She ducked her head and nodded, but couldn’t hide the shy, happy smile. It transformed her from gorgeous to breathtaking, and the urgency inside Levon couldn’t be denied any longer. “Olive, we need to talk.”
“We’re already talking,” she pointed out.
“Right.” Levon gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. Shit. He was blowing it already and he’d just gotten here. The adrenaline ricocheting through his system only tangled his thoughts more, and he needed a few extra seconds-to-minutes to mull over his words. He had practiced his apology in the car coming over here, but all of his anticipated excuses seemed to vanish as soon as he was in her presence. Back when they’d been lab partners, Olive had always told him direct and plain was the best course, so he went for it, blurting out, “I love you.”
She didn’t respond. Just stood there blinking at him, looking as poleaxed as he felt.
Dammit. That didn’t go well. And the fact she obviously hadn’t expected him to say it made him feel even worse. Had he bungled their relationship so much she’d not known how he felt about her? Sure, he’d never said the actual words until today, but he’d thought he’d shown her—by being there for her, protecting her. When he couldn’t
