Page 51 of The Shift Between Us (Covewood #2)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Luke

O livia and I spent the evening in our usual spots, playing our usual game, falling into our usual conversations.

It felt normal and yet like something completely new all in the same.

Once we became tired, we awkwardly told each other goodnight, and she slipped into her room while I took the guest room.

I knew as soon as my head hit the pillow that I wouldn’t be sleeping.

That was, until Olivia lightly knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to come cuddle with her.

She didn’t have to ask me twice. I happily followed her into her room and wrapped her in my arms. Sharing a bed together over the weekend felt necessary for the lie we were trying to tell, but here, lying next to each other, where pretending is no longer necessary, the truth makes itself known.

That whatever we were before—friends or something in between—isn’t enough anymore.

Her head is laying against me. I can feel every inhale and exhale of her breath on my chest. I’m thankful that I no longer have to suppress my feelings and that, if I want to, I could kiss her and enjoy every second of it.

My alarm starts beeping, signaling that it’s way too early, but I need to get up if I want to make it to work on time.

Olivia stirs beside me, twisting onto her stomach, and presses her face into my arm. She swats a hand toward the sound of my alarm and grunts into my skin.

“Who knew you were such a morning person.” I chuckle, moving her hair from her face so she can look up at me.

“If you’re expecting me to wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed every morning, I suggest you go cuddle a squirrel instead.”

“But you’re cuter than a squirrel, especially when you’re grumpy.” I give her nose a boop before removing myself from her warmth. “I’ll go make us some coffee.”

A few minutes later, I’m dressed, have my bags set by the front door, and have coffee brewing. Olivia has a blanket wrapped around her as she shuffles into the kitchen. I grin, loving that I got to wake up with her this morning.

She tries to blink away the sleep in her eyes.

“Are you awake yet?” I ask as I reach for her favorite mug and pour coffee into it.

“Awake but not yet operational,” she admits, sitting down at the table and taking the mug into her hands. I bring her the creamer from her fridge, my smile growing as she hums in approval as she takes a sip.

I grab a thermos and pour myself some coffee. Olivia perks up once she realizes I’m about to leave. She frowns, clearly disappointed, and boy, do I like this look on her—not that she’s sad, just that she is disappointed to be away from me.

In the past, when I’ve spent the night here in her guest room, she’s normally still in bed when I wake up to go to work.

On the rare occasion that she’s awake, she waves me goodbye without a second glance.

Today, she stands up and wraps the blanket around me, muttering into my shirt that she doesn’t want me to leave.

Me too, Liv. Me too.

“I can come over after work, if you’d like?” I tip her chin up until she looks up at me.

“I would.” A shy smile takes over her face.

I look down at her lips, not caring that there is a bit of drool crusted down the side of her chin, and say, “I like that I can kiss you now.”

“Me too,” she whispers, placing her hands on either side of my face and tugging me toward her.

LIV

Wren really did break my dishwasher. RIP Rinse Charming, the best coworker I’ve ever known.

Remind me to never trust her alone in my house ever again.

I baked Ms. Johnson a sourdough bread shaped as a gnome. Do you think if I gift it to her, she’ll finally be my friend?

*Photo of her smiling next to her gnome bread*

Well, that could have gone better with Ms. Johnson. Instead of saying thank you, she told me to quit stealing her customers . I made sure to shove the gnome bread, who I named Breadly Cooper by the way, into the ground next to her other creepy gnomes.

“Who’s got you tied to your phone today?” Rick asks.

I look over at him, clicking my phone off quickly so he can’t see the stream of texts from Olivia on my screen, and eye him curiously. “Nobody.”

“Uh-huh. I don’t think nobody makes that stupid grin spread across your face like that,” he adds, poking my chest with his stubby finger.

I return my attention to the window, pretending to scope the area outside of the police car, since we’re supposed to be patrolling and all, but my heart isn’t into work today. I left my heart with a spunky redhead this morning, who—by the feel of my phone’s vibrations—is still blowing me up.

“You gonna check that?” Rick questions, a laugh hidden behind his words.

“Nah.” I shrug my shoulders, trying to look unfazed, when it’s silently killing me knowing Olivia is messaging me, and I haven’t had time to reply back to her. I don’t want her to think I’m ignoring her.

“Oh, look, there's Olivia,” he says, and my head whips so fast toward where he’s pointing there's a pop in my neck, and I wince in pain. Rick lets out a belly-shaking laugh as he sees my expression once I realize Olivia is not really there. “You should see your face.”

“You should see what my fist feels like,” I grumble and slump down into my seat.

He raises one bushy eyebrow as he asks, “So, when did things change between you two?”

“I don’t?—”

“I’m not stupid. I could tell the second you walked through those doors this morning that something good happened to you. And with how much you’ve been smiling down at your phone, where I saw Olivia’s name on the screen, I put two and two together.”

“You’re the nosiest partner I’ve ever had.”

Rick laughs again, and I find it challenging to hold back my smile.

I turn in my seat and decide to fill him in on everything that happened over the weekend, including the talk that I was able to have with my father and the information he gave to me about the criminals we can finally try to put away.

He listens quietly, focusing his attention on driving, nodding his head or giving me a hum of approval from time to time. Once I’m finished, I sit back in my seat and release an exhale, thankful to have that off my chest.

“Sounds like one heck of a weekend,” he finally says, a grin lifting up his mustache.

“Yeah. It was.”

I look over and see that we’re passing Ms. Johnson’s house, and once I see the bread gnome that Olivia made sitting in her yard, a burst of laughter escapes me. I lift my phone and grab a quick photo to send to her.

LIV

I hope you’re having a good day.

I miss you

I read the text messages she sent along with an image of her delicious Earl Grey-blackberry scones with lemon glaze that has my stomach growling in protest before I send her the photo and type a reply.

It’s been a good but busy day. I miss you more.

“There’s that stupid grin again.”

I shove Rick’s shoulder, the grin never leaving my face. “Shut it.”

“I’m happy for you,” he says once he parks the car in the station’s parking lot.

He stays buckled in his seat and turns until he can face me.

I stay in my place, waiting for him to say what he needs to say.

“You said that you all haven’t made things official yet because there’s some things you need to talk about? ”

I nod, waiting for him to continue, feeling the pit of my stomach twist with anticipation.

Anytime the thoughts of what I need to tell Olivia pop into my head, I quickly shove them away to deal with later.

I know it’s cowardly of me to want to avoid the whole subject, but we’re finally at a good place together.

I’ve waited a decade for this second chance, and now that we’re shifting into more, I don’t want to mess it up.

However, my mistakes from the past always find a way to haunt me. If I learned anything from this weekend, it’s that letting go of the past is healing. And that's exactly what Olivia and I need in order to move forward together.

“Don’t delay. Talk with her as soon as you can.

Trust me, the longer you wait to rip off that Band-aid, the longer it takes to heal.

” He gives me a sympathetic smile, experience written in his expression, as he clasps down on my shoulder.

“Now, let’s head in here and share with everyone what your father told you about his old gang.

Let’s lock these men up once and for all. ”

I give Rick a nod and follow him inside the station.

As the day shifts from afternoon into evening, I know I have to tell her tonight.

There’s an ache growing inside my chest that I can’t ignore any longer.

Even if it ends up slicing through me, it needs to be done.

I say a silent prayer for guidance and that Olivia will be able to find forgiveness in her heart for what I am about to admit to her.

Thin streaks of soft pinks and yellows paint the sky.

The stars are shyly peeking through the clouds, and the moon’s pearly light shifts through the tree branches above Olivia’s house.

I’ve been sitting in my car for the last fifteen minutes, watching the sunset, trying to gather the nerves to walk into her house and face her.

Eleven years .

Eleven years of secrets tucked behind inside jokes, and wordless conversations, and every time she’d fall asleep on my shoulder without even realizing she already had my heart. I’ve buried this secret and kept it to myself because of my shame and fears.

After this weekend—after we kissed and everything changed—burying it doesn’t feel possible anymore, and that scares me because what we’ve built together could fall apart.

What if she looks at me differently afterward?

What if she pulls away from me? What if this fragile thing between us shatters before it even has the chance to become something real?

What’s worse than that—worse than losing the hope that has kept me going this weekend—is the thought of never telling her.