Page 36 of Artifice

Her lungs tightened.

Why did she feel anxious? She wasn’t usually the nervous type, especially when it came to things like this. However, nothing had felt right with Jason ever since she discovered that fact about Jason’s dad.

Maybe she would tell Jason what she’d discovered. Get his thoughts on it.

She wasn’t sure yet.

“Hey, Olive.” Jason’s deep voice filled the line.

Against her will, her heart quickened. “Hey, yourself. Bad time?”

“Never when it comes to you.”

Warmth filled her chest.

For someone who’d been mostly on her own for the past ten years, it felt good to hear those words coming from him.

However, she needed to nip those feelings in the bud until she figured out how to proceed.

“How’s your new case going?” he asked.

Olive filled him in on the situation. She knew she could trust him, at least in that regard.

When she finished, Jason said, “Be careful, Olive. I don’t like the sound of that. I wish I could be there with you.”

“I appreciate the sentiment. But?—”

“I know you can take care of yourself. That you’re a trained professional and very competent. But that doesn’t mean I still wouldn’t like to be there with you.”

Her muscles loosened slightly.

Having someone watching out for you wasn’t all that bad. “I appreciate you wanting to have my back. I really do.”

He paused before asking, “When do you think we’ll be able to see each other again?”

That was a good question. How did Olive even answer? She didn’t want to lead him on. But she didn’t want to ghost him either.

“Let me check my calendar, and I’ll get back with you. Hopefully, soon.”

“Good. Because we haven’t really had the chance yet to talk about . . . us.”

A lump formed in her throat. “No, we haven’t, have we?”

They weren’t really an official item yet. Sure, they’d exchanged one kiss—one very nice kiss—but that didn’t mean they were in a relationship.

So maybe she should try to get together with him once this assignment was over. By then, she could decide how much she wanted to share with him.

It would be even better if Tevin discovered the connection Jason’s father had with her family’s case before then. He was working to see what he could find out.

Voices sounded in the background on the other side of the line.

“Listen,” Jason said. “I’m being called so I need to go. But I look forward to talking to you more and hopefully seeing you soon.”

“Same here.” Olive’s heart felt heavy with the possibility that maybe this thing between them wouldn’t work out.

She ended the call and stared out over the tumultuous waves, realizing they were a good reflection of her soul.

Olive headed to the bed-and-breakfast to get freshened up—and maybe to talk to Tevin if he was back from his hike.