“Everything about you is perfect,” I say, and she shakes her head.
“Be better, Olivia.” She mocks her mother. “You can do better than that, Olivia.” She looks at me now, and I see the tears rolling down her face. “I never want to have children because I don’t think I am going to be a good enough mother.” It’s that line that breaks me. I pull over the truck, and she looks over at me. Getting out of the truck, I try to calm myself before I open the passenger door. But nothing could calm me down, so I unbuckle her seat belt and turn her in the seat.
“Look at me, darlin’.” I try not to grab her too hard, but my hands grab her face to make her look at me in the eyes. “You are going to be the best mother I know,” I say, hoping she hears me. “You,” I say, and she looks at me, and my thumbs catch her tears. “You put everyone before yourself. You are caring and kind, and most of all, you have so much love to give.”
“Casey,” she says my name softly, putting her own hands on mine.
“Listen to me,” I say. “You are going to have all the babies and be the best mother.” Just saying the words makes my stomach burn. Knowing that eventually she’ll move on, find someone who loves her and who can give her all the babies she deserves. “They are going to have the best mom. You know why?” I ask, and she just looks at me. “Because you’re you, and that,” I say, my voice going down, “is everything. You …” My thumbs rub her cheeks as more tears fall. “You are everything.” I lean forward, and I kiss her, a soft kiss. A kiss for her to feel everything that she should feel. I want her to feel safe, I want her to feel comfortable, but most of all, I want her to feel love. Even for a brief time. I try not to think about her getting married, and I try not to think about her pregnant with someone else’s child. I try to live in the moment except I can’t. I already feel her loss, and she’s not even gone yet.
“Cowboy,” she says, letting go of my hands and running her hand through my hair. “I was always told there was no such thing as a perfect man.” She starts to tell me, and she looks into my eyes while she does this. The blue of her eyes going soft. “They were wrong,” she whispers and leans forward to kiss the side of my mouth. “He does exist; he’s just deep undercover.” I try not to let her words get to me, but they do. They seep into my bones along with her touch.
“We should get you something to eat.” I try to avoid her eyes this time and build a wall around my heart. Except it doesn’t go up as easily, and I have a feeling the more time I spend with her the longer it will take me to get over her. She smiles at me, and I get lost in her once again. “What do you want to eat?”
“Anything you want to feed me.” She winks at me, and I throw my head back and laugh. “Hint, hint.” She laughs, and I shake my head and turn her around in her seat, closing the door as the sound of her laughter fills the air.
I walk around the truck, glancing over at her to see that she is looking in the mirror and dabbing her eyes with a Kleenex. “You look perfect,” I say, and when she looks over at me her whole face lights up.
“You know, in all this time, no one has ever said that to me,” she says, looking back in the mirror. “I was told I’m beautiful, and outstanding, exquisite, but I was never perfect.”
“That’s because you weren’t asking the right people.” I turn back and make my way over to the hotel.
“So does this hotel have room service?” she asks, and I have to laugh.
“If it doesn’t, they need to rethink their prices.” I pull up to the front of the hotel. I park the truck, and two bellhops come out right away.
“Welcome to the St. Regis Hotel,” he says, and I hear a gasp from beside me.
“Sorry, it’s not the Waldorf.” I wink at her, getting out. One of the bellboys grab the bags from the trunk.
“Are we checking in?” the bellhop asks, and I nod my head.
“Mr. Barnes,” I say my name, and he nods. “Your butler is waiting for you at the concierge station.”
“Thank you,” I say and look over to see Olivia standing beside me. My hand goes out to hold hers. There is no way I’m walking into this hotel and it’s not known that she’s mine or at least that she’s with me.
When we walk in the lobby I look around and someone must have called them because someone in a suit walks up to us. “Mr. & Mrs. Barnes, so great to have you with us.” I don’t correct him and neither does Olivia. “I’m Diego, if you will follow me this way.” He smiles at us and I nod following him to a secret hallway where a private elevator is waiting for us. “You are on the twenty-sixth floor. The penthouse takes the whole floor.”
“Penthouse,” Olivia whispers from beside me followed by a whistle. “Mr. CEO.” She laughs and I look down at her as she leans over and pinches my ass. “You think you know someone and then poof. Millionaire.”
I shake my head, looking over at the butler who tries to hide his smile. The elevator pings open and the butler waits for us to get out. “It’s a two-bedroom penthouse,” he says, and I look over to see if Olivia noticed, and of course, she did. For the past week, we’ve been sharing the couch. She follows Diego as he takes us from room to room showing us the master bedroom, his and her bathroom. The kitchen that leads to the great room and then finally to the private covered terrace. “Is there anything that you would like to eat?” He looks at me, and I just look at Olivia.
“I’m good with anything,” she tells him and then looks at me. “Do you want a burger maybe?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” My phone pings in my pocket. I get it, seeing that it’s a text from Derek.
“Excuse me.” I look at them and walk out to the terrace calling Derek.
“Hey.” He answers right away. “They just left your house.”
“Good,” I say. “Did they get everything done?”
“They did,” he says, and then his voice trails.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask him and turn to look over my shoulder seeing Olivia talking to Diego.
“They left a note,” Derek says, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up.
“What do you mean? What kind of note?” I ask him, my eyes never having Olivia out of my sight.
“What the fuck does that mean?” I ask him and then see that Olivia is coming outside and the smile on her face goes away when she looks at me.
“What happened?” she asks, and I look down and wonder how I can say this.
I think about lying to her but then I will be like all the other ones and I refuse to be in the same category. “They left a note,” I say and she walks over to the couch and sits down.
“What note?” she asks almost in a whisper.
I put the phone on speaker. “Derek, Olivia is here, and you’re on speakerphone. She wants to know what was in the note.”
“Um,” he starts and I know he isn’t sure what to do.
“The truth,” I say and I watch her face as he tells her what he just told me and her eyes fly to mine.
“Okay,” he says, his voice going low. “The sooner you give us what we want, the sooner you get to live your life.”