Page 20 of I Love You, I Hate You
“Lily, did you want blue?” he asked. Lily grabbed his leg and hid behind his calf, peering up at Victoria curiously. The line advanced and he pretended he couldn’t move with Lily attached to his leg, making her giggle. “Blue?” he asked again, and Lily nodded. “Vee?”
The gentle nickname continued to surprise her but she kept her face implacable. She peered at the chalkboard list of flavors. “Raspberry,” she decided. Owen ordered—two raspberries, two blueberries—and she watched him pull out his wallet, wondering just what the hell she was doing. She’d agreed to come along mostly to put him in an awkward spot, but now she was in the awkward position of letting her opposing counsel buy her a snow cone like they were friends instead of mortal enemies slash . . . something.
But Owen handed her the cone as if this was normal, instead of the last thing she expected to do today, and fell into step beside her as they followed the girls back through the park, towards the bridge. “Nirvana, huh?” he said, with a nod toward her shirt. It was one of her mom’s old shirts, and Victoria had taken it apart and put it back together so it was no longer a boxy black concert tee but instead a sleeveless tank that clung to her spare curves.
“You have a problem with them or something?’
“No, just doesn’t seem quite your style,” he replied mildly. Olivia paused and looked back for approval before running towards the pedestrian bridge, her little sister in tow. “I take it you don’t have any younger siblings,” he said, changing the subject.
“Nope.”Closest thing was an almost-stepbrother when I was twelve, she almost added, but then she remembered this was Owen she was talking to and kept her mouth shut. “Are these two it for you?”
He shook his head, his lips a comical, deep red from the snow cone. “I have three former step-stepsiblings, two older and one younger.”
“Big family,” she observed. Ahead, the girls stopped at the railing to peer through at the muddy, foamy river.
“What about you? Big family?” he asked.
“Nope.”
“Glad to see you’re just as warm and fuzzy out of the courtroom as in it,” he said drily.
Here was where she would normally snarl at him, but instead she decided to put him off balance by doing the unexpected. “It was just me and my mom growing up,” she said. “And one set of grandparents up in Fargo, but we never really saw them.”
It worked, because Owen failed to have a snappy remark in response. They fell silent as they reached the girls. Their cones were long gone, the evidence all over their faces, and Victoria wiped surreptitiously at her own face, worried she might have followed suit.
“You missed a spot,” Owen said, and she wiped her lips again. “Nope, still there,” he said, holding his hand out hesitantly. He waited for her nod to touch his thumb to the corner of her lips. Her whole body went still, eyes locked on his, and he blinked slowly.
And then he grinned. “Kidding,” he said, dropping his hand and pulling a surprised bark of laughter from Victoria. She shoved at his chest in mock-annoyance and he laughed too, her heart abruptly slamming against her ribcage.
Olivia reached for Victoria, breaking their momentary spell. Her hand was sticky with melted blue syrup but she took it anyway, crouching down to be at the girl’s level. “Owen says this is the biggest river in the country,” Olivia announced.
Victoria spared a glance for Owen, who was now trying—and failing—to clean off Lily’s face, his ears perhaps a little redder than before. “He’s right, for once,” she agreed, hoping he didn’t hear her, but an amused snort from his general direction told her he did.
Olivia looked down at Victoria’s strappy sandals and poked at her bright blue toenail. “My mom says I’m not old enough to wear shoes like you,” she said.
Victoria assessed her three-inch heels and had to agree. “You know, these are grown-up shoes. But when you’re old enough no one can stop you from wearing them, no matter what, if that’s what you want.” Olivia grinned and Victoria turned to Owen. “I think you’ve got a budding fashionista on your hands,” she observed.
Owen smiled fondly at his little sister. “You have no idea. Half the reason we’re out here is because my other option was for her to make me play dress-up, and there’s only so many times I can be Anna to her Elsa.”
Victoria laughed delightedly. “Please tell me she makes you wear a dress.”
“And braids my hair,” he deadpanned, and broke into a grin. It was the damnedest thing, standing on the bridge with the wind ruffling her hair, laughing with Owen like they were friends. Her phone buzzed in her purse and she dug it out, her heart doing something strangely like falling when she saw the message and realized what time it was.
“Sorry, I actually have to get going,” she said, surprised to find she meant it. “Meeting my mom for dinner and it’s a ways away, so I’ll have to head out now.” She tugged Olivia’s ponytail and crouched down to be at her level. “I have to go, Olivia. But it was very nice to meet you, and thank you for the snow cone.”
Olivia was entranced by a set of ducklings paddling after their mama down the river, but tore her gaze away. “You’re welcome,” she said formally, and Victoria stood to go.
“Uh, thanks for letting me crash,” she said, not really sure how to end this strange encounter.
But Owen, of course, took it all in stride. “Thanks for entertaining the little monsters,” he said with a grin and a glance at his half-sisters.
Victoria started off the bridge, headed back towards her apartment building several blocks from the river, but she couldn’t help but keep looking back over her shoulder, watching Owen talk animatedly with the girls as they shrank in the distance.
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Do you ever just get sad sometimes? Or feel lonely? Isolated?