“I’m Sammy. But Mr. Van calls me Mouse.” With those words, she wrapped an arm around my leg. “He made me the best bookcase in the whole world, and we have tea parties together!”
Nolan looked at me, then Liv, realization dawning.
“Oh, really?”
“Sammy, hush. Go with Grammie.” Liv said, her voice shaking.
Nolan bent one leg, kneeling close to Sammy. “No, it’s fine, Olivia. Tell me, Mouse, what else does Mr. Van do for you?”
I knew in that instant we were fucked.
Van
Elly’s teacup hit the saucer with a clatter. Liv reached over, patting her hand. “Mom, please calm down.”
“I didn’t know.” Elly stared at Liv. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Liv sighed, running a weary hand over her face.
“I planned on telling you tonight, Mom. I didn’t want to upset you while you were visiting Aunt Jane.” Liv’s shoulders dropped. “Bad decision, I guess.”
Elly sighed, resting her head on her hand. “What have I done?”
I leaned forward. “Stop this—both of you. As far as we know, nothing is going to happen. He saw Sammy. Talked to her for a few minutes and walked away. That’s it. It’s not as if he didn’t know about her.”
Even as I spoke the words, I knew I was lying.
Liv shook her head. “He’s going to cause trouble. Now that he’s seen her, he’s going to do something. Even if it’s verbal. It’s the way he works.”
I glanced down the hall to make sure Mouse was still in her room. All three of us had done our best to act normally. I had ordered pizza, knowing Elly wouldn’t feel like cooking, and the treat would distract Mouse from the lack of conversation. She was happily playing in her room, waiting for dinner to arrive.
“He signed his parental rights away,” I insisted. “He can’t do anything aside from asking some questions which you don’t have to answer. He has no claim on her.”
“I know he has no interest in being a father, but he can make my life miserable for the next while.” She met my eyes. “Yours too. He saw how Sammy was with you, Van. He knows we’re more than coworkers.”
I covered her hand with mine. “I know. I don’t care, though.”
She looked over my shoulder. “He’s going to start with his remarks. He doesn’t want us, but he doesn’t want me to be happy either. He’ll belittle me every chance he gets, the same as when we were together. Remarks about my clothes, hair, weight. He’ll question every decision. He’ll question your decisions. Say things about when we were a couple. Tell you all the things he found wrong with me.” She snorted. “Tell you how I didn’t meet his high standards.”
I tilted my head at her words with a frown. “He can go fuck himself.” I looked at Elly with a shrug. “Sorry.”
“Not a problem. I agree,” she said.
I hunched closer. “Liv, I don’t give a rat’s ass about what he says or thinks. His thoughts mean nothing to me at all. I hate the fact that what he says might hurt you. But if you think they’ll sway me in any fashion, you’re wrong.”
She nodded, not meeting my eyes. I looked at Elly and she stood.
“I’m going to check on Sammy.”
“Hey,” I called softly when Elly left the room.
Liv looked up, and I tugged on her hand, bringing her onto my lap. “Nothing,” I repeated, “Nothing he says matters.”
“He’s awful,” she whispered. “I don’t want him near Sammy.”
“I don’t want him near either of you.”
“Not much choice right now.”
“We can ask Bentley to pull you from the project.”
“Then he still wins. I love this project, and I want to see it through. If I let him chase me away, he still wins.”
“Then you aren’t alone with him. We won’t give him the chance to say or do anything.”
She pushed off my knee and paced, rubbing her temples.
“In theory, that’s great. But it won’t work, Van. There are times I will be alone with him. In fact, I have to be. You can’t shadow me all day and be effective in your role. And I can’t let him know how much he affects me.” She pushed off me and paced the kitchen. “He has never been physical. There are only words. I’m not the same young, insecure girl I was six years ago. I can ignore him now because he means nothing. I’ll deal with it, and you have to let me.” She leaned against the counter. “And you have to deal with it too. We both have to see this through. It’s six weeks until his part of this project is done, right?”
I hated she was right about this, but I knew she was. If I shadowed her, it gave that asshole more ammunition. We both had to ignore it.
“Yes.”
“Then for six weeks, we handle it. We don’t react. We don’t engage unless it is work-related.” She lifted one shoulder. “He’s the typical bully on the playground. The one who knows your knee is sore, so that’s where he’ll hit you. He’ll look for the weak spot, and he’ll keep pushing at it until he gets a reaction. Don’t give it to him.”
I nodded grimly. Not punching him in the face was going to be an exercise in restraint for me.
She approached me, standing between my legs and laying her hand on my chest. “His opinion or thoughts mean nothing anymore, Van,” she repeated. “You do. Your positive words and support mean everything. He can’t change that.”
I lifted her hand and kissed the palm. “I’m here, Liv. There is nowhere else I want to be and no one else I want to be with. You amaze me, and I adore you.”
“I’ve never been adored before.”
“It’s only the tip of the iceberg of how I really feel,” I confessed. I wanted to tell her I loved her, but I didn’t want it to be because of this shit situation. I wanted to tell her when the time was right and we could explore it. When we were both ready.
Her eyes glowed. “I adore you right back,” she whispered. “I’m right there with you.”
I held her face and kissed her. “Good.”
The buzzer sounded, and I stood to go get the pizza. “Six weeks. We can do this.”
She sighed. “Six weeks.”
It took him three days to get under my skin. He was, as Liv described him, insidious. His remarks were snide and nasty, yet never said directly to Liv or me, instead muttered observations or offhand sentences. I tried to hold back, but at times, I couldn’t. He hated my responses, but he’d hate my fist in his face even worse.
“Jeez—does she own anything feminine?” he muttered eyeing Liv as she crossed the pavement, her steel-toed boots hitting the ground in easy strides.
“She doesn’t need it. She’s sexy enough wearing my shirt.” I smirked.
Nolan stomped away.
“Olivia is late again.” He glanced at John. “It happens a lot. I wouldn’t allow it.”
Jordan saved me from responding.
“Liv is with another client. When she is done with them, she’ll arrive and give you the same undivided attention she gives them. It’s one of the things BAM admires most about her. If we don’t have an issue with it, neither should you. Let’s carry on.”