Page 40 of Olivia’s Only Pretending (Sweet River #3)

Twenty-Nine

Victor

I think I’m getting worse at saying goodbye to you

Me

It’s always been a problem for us

I woke up before my alarm, restless and excited like when I was a kid on my birthday or the morning before I left for summer camp.

I pulled the covers up under my chin, grinning to myself in the dim morning light.

Was last night real? I touched my lips. Victor had kissed them so assuredly, so confidently, as if he’d meant to be kissing them all along.

Last night, as the night stretched on and the campus quieted, we walked hand in hand toward the parking lot.

We couldn’t shake the smiles from our faces.

Victor kept his arm around me, and my arm snaked around his waist. No doubt, we looked like a couple. We were a couple .

But when we got to our cars, we didn’t want to go.

Is it really that late? I’d asked, wrapping my arms around his waist, looking up at him from my chin on his chest.

He’d pushed me against my car door, kissing me breathless under the moonlight. He’d hoisted me up, my legs around his waist, whispering against my ear, Think the security guards are gonna bust us?

I blushed at the memory this morning, palms over my warm cheeks. Victor had always made my pulse race, but this new side of him made me blush, made my stomach flutter.

My phone vibrated on my nightstand. I leaned across the bed, sliding open my phone.

Victor

check your doorstep

I jumped out of bed. I only had on an oversized T-shirt, so I quickly stumbled into a pair of baggy white sweatpants. What’s Victor left for me this time?

I skipped down the stairs with bare feet, throwing open the door to find Victor standing on my faded doormat with a large to-go coffee cup in his hand, with the word chai written in Sharpie. A sleepy grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Morning delivery,” he said, stepping inside and giving my forehead a tender kiss. Now the coffee came with a kiss. I could get used to this.

My hair was a slept-on, tangled mess. And my face was still puffy from sleep. “I’m a mess this morning,” I said.

“You’re adorable,” he corrected me.

He headed into my kitchen. I spotted a cap folded into his back pocket. “How’s things? I know it’s only been a week, but it feels like we haven’t talked in a year. Give me the update.” We’d been too distracted with things like kissing last night to play catch-up.

He wiggled his brows, reaching into his other jeans pocket for his wallet. He whipped out a business card, dropping it on my kitchen island. I peered down, reading the name printed in bold font.

HERNANDEZ WOODWORKING

VICTOR HERNANDEZ

Woodworking & carpentry

“ I ’m so proud I could burst.” I grabbed the shirt over his chest.

He grinned down at me. “I had to do something to get my mind off you. I went all in on the paperwork and legal stuff I’d been dragging my feet on.”

“Are you calling me a distraction?”

“Oh, no doubt.” He reached behind him, grabbing the cap I’d spied earlier from his back pocket. “I wanted to show you this, too.”

He set the navy green cap with the name HERNANDEZ WOODWORKING stitched across the front and his name on the back.

I could already see a row of these hats hanging in a future shop downtown with matching shirts.

I could already see the beautiful things Victor would build and ship around the country, and this was just the first step.

I was so proud of him for taking that first step.

I stole the cap from his hands and tugged it over my messy bed head.

His eyes twinkled with pride. No longer downcast eyes while talking about this passion of his—he was proudly stitching it on a cap. He reached around me, unbuttoning the back and snapping it tighter around my head so it fit like a glove.

“I’m definitely keeping this.”

He cupped his hands around the back of my head. “My name’s sewn on the back,” he said, running his finger over where the name Victor was stitched.

“That doesn’t mean you’re getting it back,” I said, grabbing the bill, grinning up at him.

“Keep it,” he said, his eyes like melting butter watching me wear his hat.

I grinned victoriously.

“Now.” He leaned against my kitchen island with his arms crossed, eyes serious on me. The morning sun glinted through my window blinds, dancing over him like a spotlight. “Give me your update, baby girl.”

V ictor and I used every bit of morning time we could before he had to head to city hall for a meeting with Adam, and I had to race upstairs to throw on real clothes. We walked out onto the front porch, with his hand tangled in mine.

He pulled it up to his lips and gave it a light kiss. “Hey, what do you think about coming to Emma and Gabe’s rehearsal dinner and wedding as my official date?”

I hummed in interest. Birds chirped in the copper-colored trees in my front yard.

“I got an in with the groom, you know. I could make a call and get you seated right by me and all that good stuff.”

I was pretty sure they were already going to seat us together, but I played along. “A real live wedding date?”

Victor’s forehead wrinkled. “Oh, you know, there’s no pressure. I don’t want you to feel rushed or pressured,” he reassured me. “I know my Dr. Rhodes might want to take this slow, keep it in the research period, before you’re sure about it all.”

My young, playful Victor handled me with such intention and care. “I want to go as your date.”

His shoulders dropped in relief. We kissed goodbye, and as he was driving away, all I could think was how sure I was about us.

A fter work the next day, I met Lucy at a dress boutique in downtown Sweet River. We piled our arms with gowns in autumnal colors for the November wedding. Both of us were humming along to the early 2000s pop music playing from the speakers overhead.

“I like you in this emerald green color,” Lucy said as I twirled in front of the dressing room mirror in a shiny green satin slip dress that fell right under my knees.

The two of us were crammed into the same dressing room. We’d shared one since we were preteens and never stopped.

It was a benefit of having a sister—real feedback right away, without having to leave the dressing room.

“How cold is it supposed to be this weekend?” Lucy asked, sifting through the dresses hanging on the rack in our room. “Do we need jackets or shawls?”

“We should double-check the weather. You know how it is in Texas.” The weather was moody and unpredictable.

I shimmied out of the green dress, ready to try on a burnt orange one next in my lineup.

“How dressy should Adam be? Is it like a dress shoes and slacks wedding, or a boots and button-downs type wedding?” Lucy asked, slipping a long-sleeve, flowy dress over her head.

“I can shoot Victor a quick text to double-check.”

“You know, I was at Coffees and Commas this morning and overheard Katie telling a customer all the Hernandezes were bringing dates,” Lucy said, eyes wide. “I can’t believe I’m just now telling you. Do you know who he’s bringing?”

“Me,” I said, trying not to smirk. I could literally feel the twinkle in my eyes.

“Like … officially? A real deal, proper date?”

I nodded excitedly. “I’m Victor’s official, real deal proper date.”

“Olivia Rhodes.” Lucy’s chest puffed, dropping the hanger in her hand. “When did you two decide this?”

“He asked me yesterday.”

“How did you not immediately text me this information? I thought we were making progress with your sharing.” Lucy collapsed onto the small bench in the corner.

“It’s been one day since he asked me, Lucy.” I cocked my head at her theatrics. “Plus, I told you about the kiss right after it happened, didn’t I?”

“You texted me.” She pulled open her phone, clearing her throat before reading my message aloud, “‘Hey, FYI, Vic showed up at my work thing tonight, and we kissed again. But I’m not freaking out this time or anything. I think it’s a good thing.’”

“That’s pretty vulnerable and open,” I said, raising my hands defensively. “The kiss was a good thing, and I openly admitted that.”

“I replied, ‘WOW! I’m so glad it feels like a good thing. Does this mean the pause is off?’ To no reply .

” Lucy cast me a glance from over her phone, then resumed reading.

“I sent a follow-up, ‘Hey, how are you feeling now since the kiss?’ Still no reply, until you called me this evening and invited me to shop for dresses.”

“Baby steps, okay? I’m getting better at sharing in person.

It might take time for that to translate over the phone, if it ever does.

” I checked myself out in the mirror. I was usually a decent texter, but I’d been highly distracted by Victor since the kiss.

I’d felt like I was floating on a cloud these past couple days, and he and I had been trading text messages and phone calls in all the spare non-working moments.

“I’m not asking for a play-by-play via text. A simple ‘I’m going to the wedding as Victor’s date’ would’ve sufficed.”

“You knew we’d kissed. I would’ve thought you would assume if Victor was taking a date, he was taking me,” I said, pulling down a zipper on the back of my dress.

Lucy was by my side in seconds to assist me with the zipper—another perk to shopping with my sister. “You guys have been such dorks the past couple months, so for all I know, you two had kissed but were still in denial, and maybe he’d given up and gone for someone else.”

“Well …” I spun around to face her. “We’re not in denial. The pause is thankfully over, and we’re most definitely on .”

She clasped her hands together in front of her chest. “Adam and I have been waiting for this moment.”

“You know what? The kisses are …” I shuddered happily. “Amazing. But one of the sweetest moments of the night was when I looked out into the audience and saw him sitting there in the front row. My heart melted, and I realized, who am I kidding, this is the guy for me.”

Lucy sighed.

I chuckled. “The next morning, he showed up at my door with coffee, and we were chatting. And I realized, I’m getting all my favorite parts of our friendship, but even better now. No more resisting the urge to grab his hand or tell him he’s adorable.”

“Wait, wait, no zipping forward to the next day until after you’ve told me everything I missed from Monday,” she said, laser-focused on me and waiting for the story.

A s we walked out of the store together, giggly like we were in high school again, Lucy squeezed my hand and said, “I’m so happy to see you so happy.”

Cars zoomed past us on the downtown streets. People bustled by on the sidewalk. The sun had set, streetlights glimmering overhead. “I am happy,” I said.

“For what it’s worth, I think Victor is worth taking a chance on.”

“It feels like more than taking a chance on him,” I said, my voice wobbly. I’d been circling around these thoughts since we confessed our feelings the other night, but they were big and something I could’ve easily shoved away for later. Maybe past versions of me would’ve done exactly that.

But here I walked, arm in arm, with my sister, walking down the street toward dinner. I felt safe. I felt ready. “I’m in love with him, Lucy.”

Lucy stopped our quick pace. The two of us were at a standstill outside the Mexican restaurant. The air was cold around us. “Love?”

“Love.” I turned to her. “I love him. I’m in love with him.”

“Have you told him?”

I shook my head. “I’ve only thought about it so far. I had to process it?—”

“Of course, you’re Olivia. You’ve got to let it simmer for a minute.”

I chuckled. “I’m going to tell him. I mean, I don’t see how I could go on without telling him with the way he kisses. If I don’t find the right moment, it’s going to slip out accidentally.”

T hat night, after I showered and wrapped myself up in my plush pink bathrobe, I called Gracie. We’d both been so busy. We hadn’t caught up in a while, and I wanted to check on my little sister. I put the phone on speaker.

“Hey, Liv.” Her voice echoed through my bathroom from where I had my phone sitting on the bathroom counter.

“Gracie,” I squealed. “You picked up.” Gracie was a busy college student, so it was a rarity to get her to answer a phone call.

“I mean, I’ve been waiting for your call. I’ve heard from Mom and Lucy today that you have news …”

I ran a brush through my wet hair. “That’s correct. I do have news. Victor and I are no longer just friends. We’re taking it to the next level.”

She cheered on her end of the phone. I reached for my vanilla lotion.

“I’m happy for you, and honestly, relieved. You were two little idiots pretending you weren’t head over heels.”

I snorted, rubbing lotion down my arms. “Honestly, Gracie, I wanted to check on you, too. We’ve barely spoken, except for a few text messages checking in, since your call about Austin the other night.”

The memory of Gracie sniffling on the other line was still fresh in my mind.

Gracie groaned. “I’m sorry I woke you up the other night just to talk about boy drama.”

“You can call me at four a.m. for all I care. If it means talking you out of getting back with him, I’m answering.”

“You did a good job. The morning after our phone call, Austin and I talked, and we broke up. For good. I deleted him off socials. I blocked his number. I can’t keep playing this back-and-forth game.”

I hummed in agreement.

“It hurt.” Her voice was throaty, like she was holding back tears. “But it was necessary to end it for good. Make a clean cut.”

“I’m sorry it hurt, even if it was necessary. Even if it will be good for you in the end, I’m sorry for how it hurts right now,” I said, my heart aching for my sweet, bubbly little sister. I hated how Austin dimmed that bright light in her.

“I’m going to be fine,” she said. “I can distract myself with studying for finals. They’re coming up before Thanksgiving break. I have a giant paper due that I’ve barely started.”

The conversation broke into a long discussion about school, professors, and studying tips. I wound up curled up in my bed, the phone to my ear, before we started to say goodbye.

Gracie yawned. “Thank you for calling to check on me.”

I propped my pillow under me, the wind rustling outside my bedroom window. “Of course, Gracie.”

“I’ll talk to you later, then,” she said. “Remember to send me pictures from the wedding.”

“I will,” I said.

But, before we hung up, I quickly added something I’d had in my head since our call began. “Gracie, I hope you know that someday you’ll find yourself with someone who treats you so well that it’ll be hard for you to believe that you ever considered settling for someone like Austin.”

I felt it coming for my sister like thunder before a storm—she would find the one who made her realize why it didn’t work out with anyone else. Like I did.

“I do know that,” Gracie said softly. “Sometimes.”