Page 101 of Charm

CHAPTER SIXTY

Greer

I glancetoward my closed office door. It’s been fifteen minutes since Holden went in there. I know the weight of responsibility that comes with running my small business. I can’t begin to imagine what he’s faced with every day.

That makes me even more grateful that he’s made my daughter feel so special tonight.

His attentiveness to her has been touching. During dinner, they talked about dinosaurs and astronauts. Olive told Holden about her dream to not only run Sweet Indulgence one day, but also to sail a boat around the world. He told her he has a sailboat, which was news to me.

I could tell that impressed my daughter because she talked about it non-stop until I finally cleared the plates. After dinner, when he showed interest in her necklace, her shoulders pushed back and her smile widened.

She likes him. Nothing could make me happier.

The door to my office swings open. That lures Olive to her feet since she’s been stealing glances at it since Holden went to make that call.

As soon as he’s on the approach, I can tell that something is wrong. His steps are determined and heavy, and the expression on his face is unreadable. It’s obvious that he was given very bad news just now.

“Are you okay?” I ask as soon as he’s stepped into the kitchen.

“Yes,” he answers succinctly. “I do need to go, though. I’m sorry.”

“Oh no.” Olive stomps a foot on the floor. “I wanted to show you the pictures from my birthday party. Mom made a scrapbook out of them with pieces of wrapping paper and all the cards from my friends.”

With a slight smile on his face, he drops to one knee in front of her, making sure he’s giving her his full attention. “When’s your birthday, Olive?”

“I was born on March 4th,” she says proudly. “Seven years ago on March 4th.”

His gaze scans her face before dropping to her necklace again. “That’s a very special day.”

“That’s what my grandpa says.” She laughs. “He always tells me that March 4this the best day of the year.”

“I think he’s right.” Holden drops his chin as he sucks in a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I do need to go.”

Her small hand lands on his shoulder. “That’s okay, Holden. Will you come back for dinner again?”

He swallows hard. “I will. I promise I will be back.”

“Good.” Her fingers tap dance over his shoulder. “When you come back, I want to show you a picture of my first mom.”

“You can show me now.” His voice wavers slightly. “I can spare a few minutes to see that before I go.”

“There’s one by the front door.” She sets off in that direction. “Mommy put it in a pretty gold frame. I’ll go get it.”

“I’ll help,” I call after her.

The frame is special. It belonged to Celia. She treasured it because her aunt had given it to her as a gift for high school graduation. After she passed, I had the last image I had taken of the two of us printed to fit the frame. When we moved in here, I placed it on the foyer table along with a few other important pictures, including some of Olive and me and a couple of Martha and Bruce.

As I brush past Holden, I reach for his hand. He takes mine in his, squeezing it slightly. We walk side-by-side toward the foyer, dropping hands as soon as we near Olive.

She pushes the frame at Holden. “Here it is. You can see that I look like her.”

He carefully takes the frame. He studies the picture, not saying a word as he does. The image was taken just a few months before we lost Cels. She had just moved back to Manhattan from Buffalo, so I could help her when the baby arrived. We were having lunch at a restaurant in the West Village. The light from one of the windows was hitting her just the right way, so I shifted my chair to get closer to her and snapped the photo.

“Do you think I look like her, Holden?”

My daughter’s voice lures his gaze to her. His bottom lip is trembling as he nods slowly. “You do look like her, Olive.”

“I’m the luckiest girl ever because I had two mommies.”