Page 35 of Olivia’s Only Pretending (Sweet River #3)
Her face fell, just a fraction. Only a sister would be able to tell. I’d ignored her nudge to share. “He’s adorable as usual. His mom is actually coming to spend Thanksgiving here in Sweet River. He’s excited and anxious, in pretty equal measures.”
“Meeting the mom,” I said, my eyes wide. “Big step.”
“That is a big step, huh?” Lucy said. “I thought I’d feel more nervous to meet her, but really, I feel more anxious for Adam. I know he wants this visit to go well for his family. He wants the kind of closeness we have.”
Late-night phone calls. Heart to hearts. Family dinners. Little rituals. Group messages. Every holiday was decorated with their voices and their faces. My family, the Rhodes women, were close—the four of us with our lives so intertwined it would be unraveling tapestry to try and pull us apart.
They were undoubtedly my safe space.
Then why did I freeze when it came time to ask for help? Unable to open my mouth and verbalize my feelings, my needs.
I knew Lucy would listen, eyes intently on me.
Mom would do anything for me. She’d race across town. She’d drain her bank account.
I’d been this way since I was just a kid.
I thought back to my childhood years, right after Dad left. How exhausted Mom would look when we were at home in our tiny rental house. She was working long hours as a nurse and trying to juggle the demands of a mom to three. She refused to let any ball drop. I could see the tiredness.
Lucy and Gracie were too young to notice. I wasn’t sure they even remembered those years clearly. But I saw. I saw the weariness in her eyes, the tears on her cheeks. I was scared for her.
Lucy and Gracie would ask every question in the way little kids do. They’d incessantly ask for more. They were loud. They were wild. They were needy. Mom would give her all, and then some.
I couldn’t do much. I was still so young myself. But I could help by keeping my mouth shut. I could meet my own needs, so Mom didn’t have to. I could try to rush ahead and help my sisters, so they didn’t ask Mom.
I could be one less thing she worried about.
Lucy grinned, rambling on about Adam, and I smiled at her, knowing she’d love nothing more than for me to break open my chest and lay out every feeling I was battling. But it was in my training to keep it locked up. I wasn’t even sure I knew where the key was.
I flinched at the loud laughter coming from Gabriel and Emma’s table. I hated how tuned into them I was—every single scrape of their chairs against the floor, wondering, had Victor shown up?
After a couple of margaritas, I wasn’t hiding it very well, and Katie noticed my eyes on them. She and Emma waved at me, then Lucy twisted in her seat, calling them to come join us for a minute.
“You guys having a little girls’ night?” Emma asked, sliding into the booth beside me, her long blonde hair hanging in a loose, messy braid.
“Yes, a girls’ night was needed,” Lucy said, scooting in to make space for Katie.
“We’re on a double date,” Katie said, nodding toward the boys, Gabe and Terrence, at the table, talking in depth about something. “The boys get so into their conversations, though, they’ll probably take a while to notice we’re gone.”
“You guys working on wedding prep?” I asked. “I know the countdown is on.”
“Oh, actually, no. We’re mostly catching up on Sweet River gossip,” Emma said, sipping on the glass of rosé she’d carried over. “I needed a wedding talk break.”
“Oh, what’s the Sweet River gossip?” Lucy asked, resting her chin on her fist, ready to listen.
“It is girls’ night, and girls’ night needs gossip.” I lifted my palms up.
Katie and Emma exchanged a glance as if asking each other, who would start the story?
“Well …” Katie leaned in conspiratorially. “Did you guys know Violet and Tristan back in school?”
“Oh, definitely,” I said. “Those two were inseparable.” Violet and Tristan were best friends all through high school. If you saw one, the other wasn’t far behind.
“I always thought they would get married.” Lucy sighed dreamily.
“We all did,” Katie said emphatically, patting the table.
“See, Gabriel and I went to this writer’s conference in Seattle for journalists—and you know, they’re both writers.
The main difference is that Tristan stayed in Sweet River while Violet travels all over the world.
Somehow, they both wound up at the conference,” Emma said.
“And the two were avoiding each other the entire weekend. And I brought Tristan up to Violet, and she said the two haven’t spoken since their senior year of high school. ”
“There had to be some massive falling out for a friendship like that to end like that,” Katie tried to whisper, but failed, making me giggle.
“I’m in shock,” Lucy said. “I thought those two were bound to end up together. I mean, they were ‘best friends.’” She made air quotes with her fingers. “But I thought they were one of those couples who aren’t together yet, but there’s that big implied yet at the end.”
“I know.” Emma leaned back against the booth. “Tristan and Violet were inevitable.”
I wondered if this was how these same people talked about Victor and me. If they made air quotes when they said we were best friends. If they said Victor and Olivia are inevitable .
My stomach dipped low, my cheeks going pink at the thought. I hated how I made another thing about Victor. And even worse, how badly I hoped they said that about us.