Liv looks at me for guidance. She will not abandon me, but she does not like to make problems for me either. Her expression is much easier to read. She is torn and does not know what to do.
That makes two of us.
Tick tock, tick tock the clock inside my head whispers.
“Liv is not going anywhere. We are hosting Thanksgiving here,” I say again to buy myself a little more time.
“There is no good reason for you to do that.” Mom’s tone is losing patience.
“I already put a bird in her oven, so yes, there is!” I blurt.
My head immediately regrets that choice.
A flurry of expressions and words assault my ears.
Mom’s mouth drops open before she screams, “What?”
Liv’s eyes widen. She slaps a hand over her mouth and the other over her stomach.
That is an unfortunate choice of reaction because Mom immediately rushes into action.
I think I just screwed myself.
3
Olivia
“You just rest here. I’ll get you some juice and some crackers, and we’ll have you feeling better in no time.” Mrs. Cucinelli pats the hands that she literally folded over my stomach for me after depositing me on the couch and forcing me to lie down.
Ollie hovers at the periphery of the room, looking wildly guilty.
As well he should.
The second his mom is out of earshot, I hiss, “What did you do?”
“I’m sorry!” he whispers back. “I did not have time to think! Your baby fever is obviously contagious!”
“That’s not how that works!”
We both clam up when Mrs. Cucinelli returns with the promised light breakfast that will “send that morning sickness running for the hills.”
She holds the orange juice to my lips like not really being pregnant might make my arms inoperable. “Here, sweetheart. Just sip, don’t chug. Oh, you poor thing. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it might not let up after the first trimester like so many doctors promise. I had morning sickness all morning, afternoon, and night for the whole nine months with Maria, Gina, Ava, Collette, Eliza, and Oliver!”
“Those are all of us, Mom,” Ollie says, confused.
She glances over her shoulder at him. “I know! Pregnancy is so much harder on women than people realize; it’s a wonder any of us do it more than once.”
I cough juice into my nose. Ollie’s family is hardcore Roman Catholic, so I’m pretty sure they don’t actually believe in contraceptives. Every sperm is sacred, or something like that.
“Oh, dear, no, no! We mustn’t eat or drink lying down!” She pulls me upright even though she’s the one who laid me flat to begin with. Tears shine in her eyes as she beams at me. “I’m just so pleased. So very, very pleased. I was losing hope this day would ever come. My prayers have been answered!”
Ollie looks like he’s going to throw up. I don’t feel much better even though I’m definitely not suffering from morning sickness.
“Oh!” she goes on after ping-ponging her smile between Ollie and me for way too long. “I have the perfect idea. You can announce the pregnancy to everyone when you host Thanksgiving dinner.”
I choke on my juice some more. Ollie chokes on air.
Mrs. Cucinelli pats my back while offering Ollie a knowing smirk. “Just friends, hmm? I suppose you thought your father and I would be disappointed that you didn’t choose marriage before baby? Oh, honey. I hope you know by now how much we love and support you. I’m so happy you decided to tell me the truth!”
She turns to me with barely a pause to breathe even though I’m pretty sure I’m hyperventilating. “While I respect your decision to perhaps not get married even though you’re expecting, I really hope you’ll consider it. My Oliver will make a fine husband. He’s handsome, smart, loyal, funny—”
“I believe we are beyond the point of selling me to her,” Ollie interjects.
I lean around his mom to glare at him. “I could do with a little more selling, actually.”
Mrs. Cucinelli laughs like I’ve told the joke of the decade. She gives me a conspiratorial wink. “You let me handle the family. If you want to wait until after the baby is born to get married, then I will run all the interference necessary to make that happen.” A sob slips out of her mouth that jars me. She wraps her arms around my neck and hangs on for dear life. “Thank you, Olivia. Thank you so much. You’ve made me the happiest mother in the entire world, and I just know Oliver is going to make you the happiest wife and mother, too!”
I glance over her shoulder to Ollie, who has his face cradled in his hands. A startling realization washes over me.
I can’t do it.
I can’t be the one to crush her hopes and dreams for her son.
She pulls back and wipes the tears from her cheeks, a hint of blush staining them as if she suddenly thinks she’s being melodramatic. “I’m going to run to the store and get you some supplies. You two are so busy working all the time, and since I’m the first to know, I feel like I should help you pull off this secrecy until your big announcement.”
I simply nod and watch while she can’t help but tidy the living area that’s already a thousand times more orderly than my condo before she waltzes out the front door in a flurry of smiles and tears of joy.
Long after it’s just the two of us, silence reigns supreme. He has his thinking expression on.
“Ollie,” I whisper, different kinds of tears choking my voice. “I don’t want to break her heart.”
I blink, then he’s kneeling on the carpet before me, but he won’t meet my gaze. He wraps my hands in his own. His voice is low, almost the brush of a whisper. “I am sorry. Truly. I am responsible for this misunderstanding, so I will tell her the truth. You will not have to break her heart. I will. But…Liv?” He raises his black-brown eyes that are framed with the thickest, lushest lashes. “You want a baby anyway. Maybe I could give you one.”
I stroke his cheek, unused to the feeling of so much scruff there. With all the chaos this morning, he hasn’t even gotten to shave yet. “Ollie, that’s really not how it works. I know your mom is kind of old-fashioned, but I wish that for you, too. You should give a baby to a woman you really love.”
He glances back down to the carpet with a sigh. “I know, I know. Romantic love and love between friends are not the same thing.”
“Yeah.” We had plans to decorate the outside of our condos for Halloween today. Now, I don’t know if we’ll even be able to look at each other for a few weeks. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to look Mrs. Cucinelli in the eyes again. My heart feels painful and sluggish in my chest to think this might be the beginning of the end of me and Ollie. I knew it would probably happen someday. I just didn’t have time to prepare for the idea it would be today.
“Will you consider it?” he whispers, still staring at the floor. “You are exploring options for artificial insemination. At least I would not be a stranger.”
The implications of his words slap me in the face. “Oliver Leonardo Cucinelli, were you snooping on my computer?”
He snaps his wide-eyed gaze to mine. “You asked me to fix it. All those sites were what crashed it in the first place.”