"Do you mean that?" Ellis asked, his eyes widening. I took his hand and nodded. "You protected me, got hurt for me, and seeing you like this…" I trailed off as hot tears sprang to my eyes. Sniffling, I squeezed Ellis' hand. He tried to sit up and I propped up some pillows behind him so he wasn't lying flat. "Olivia, I never should have let you walk away that day. There is so much I want to tell you and I will explain everything," he said, a slight frown on his lips as he spoke. "Don't worry about that right now," I said. "I realized you really do care for me, regardless of how we came together.""Of course, I care about you!" he said. He squeezed my hand and winced, bringing his free hand to his shoulder and gently rubbing over the bandage. "I should have realized that sooner. I was silly to think…" I trailed off with a shrug. It hadn't been silly for me to be upset. Ellis had lied to me. But I could see past that now, knowing he'd protect me against anything. "You
Jenny helped me stack up the final boxes. I looked around my apartment. It was completely empty now. I'd had most of the furniture put in storage until I could get to where I was going and have it all shipped to me. "Well, no turning back from here, at least for a while," Jenny concluded. "It is better this way, anyway," I said, putting a hand on my belly. I'd told Jenny everything about what happened with Ellis since he'd gotten stabbed right up to the conversation I'd overheard with Claire. "I'm going to miss you," Jenny said. She hugged me tightly. "I'll miss you too. But you'll come visit me and meet my baby," I said. "You know it," Jenny promised. We pulled apart and I sighed. "Will you keep me posted? Let me know when you leave and when you land." "I will," I promised. Jenny left me alone in the apartment to get my bags together. I had an early flight the next morning and I wanted to get everything together now so I could get a good night's sleep and not have
I stared at the plane as it raced down the runway and took off. Olivia was gone.My focus shifted to my reflection in the glass. My hair was a mess, sweat trickled down my face and my suit jacket was wrinkled. I looked as awful as I felt. I ran my hands through my hair and smoothed it back. I straightened my clothes and took a deep breath.I needed to find out where Olivia had gone.Returning to the service desk, I tried to talk to the agent again. "Can you tell me where the flight was going?" I asked."Do you have the flight number?" she asked me."No. I only know the terminal it left from," I said."I'm sorry, Sir, I can't look up a flight by terminal. I need the flight number," she said."It just left, less than ten minutes ago," I said, pointing towards the terminal. "You can't tell me which one just left?""The computer doesn't track by terminal number. It tracks by flight number," she explained. "I can't look up a flight destination on the computer without the flight number."Gro
**Oliva POVLights beamed at me in every direction. The echo of silence took over the auditorium. I was alone on stage with nothing but a concert grand piano. The audience was lost in the shadows behind the glare of the lights. They were silent, but I knew they were there. My fingers ran across the keys, the notes drawing from the piano and echoing around the auditorium. My foot moved back and forth across the pedals, making all the right exaggerations to the notes. Five years of secret heartache flowed through my fingers. While I played, nothing else mattered. Just me and the music and how it felt in my bones. I took a deep breath in, savoring the crescendo before the inevitable decline into the outro. I slammed the pedal to draw out the final notes and then I let the music fade once again into silence. The audience exploded with cheers and clapping. My heart hammered with bittersweet excitement, and I smiled, standing up and stepping to the edge of the stage. Roses and bou
He motioned for me to follow him and I did. Walking next to him I leaned into the comfort of his easy stride and relaxed manner. We headed to the business office he kept on sight. He sat down at the large, mahogany desk and I sat across from him. Bennett looked so regal, like a prince or a king, in his chair. He was strong, intelligent, and he had been good to me. "You know I admire your talent as a pianist," Bennett began. "It has been a dream, playing in your orchestra," I admitted. I crossed my legs and hooked my hands around my knees. "I want to bump Nina back and let you headline solos primarily," he offered.I lit up and met his eyes. My cheeks burned under the intensity of his smoldering gaze. He was so smooth, his hair slicked back, his suit perfectly tailored. "That would be a dream come true," I said. Then I looked away. "Then what's the problem?" he asked with a chuckle. "I don't want to cause any more problems with Nina," I said with a troubled sig
Ken started to fuss as I packed up from rehearsal to head home. The session ran more than an hour over and his little head was already bobbing up and down. I didn't like carrying him long distances but I scooped him up and walked as quickly as I could from the building to our car. Ken mumbled a little and continued to fuss as I packed him into his booster seat. I kissed his forehead and closed the car door. Something near my front tire caught my eye. I went over and knelt down to see what was there. A crumpled piece of paper. I picked it up and was getting ready to unfold it when something slammed into me from behind. Grunting, I pitched forward, slamming into my car. The wind left my lungs and every time I tried to breathe, my chest heaved and spasmed. "Wh-wh…" I couldn't talk. My voice was hoarse and no air would come out. "You really think you're better than me?" Nina's nasally voice asked. She shoved me again.I braced my hands against the car and turned around. I
I wanted to ignore the call that came in just after I got Ken tucked back into bed. But, very few people had my current cell phone number. I checked the caller ID and saw that it was my mom calling. I hadn't heard from her in a while. "Mom?" I whispered, my breath coming in short bursts. "Are you okay?" I asked. "Olivia, it is so good to hear your voice," my mom said. Her voice trembled and I could tell she had been crying. "What's wrong, Mom?" I asked, chewing my lip nervously."Oh honey… I was just missing you and wondering how you've been," she replied, but there was a hitch in her voice. I stepped out of Ken's room and shut the door almost all the way. He liked when I left it open a crack. "Well, I started playing my own solo at the Klein Theater," I began. I could tell in her voice that there was something really bothering her but she was having a hard time saying what it was. I carried the phone to my room and sat on my bed. "It's going really well.""That's gr
Ken walked beside me as we got off the plane wearing a cartoon backpack and pulling his own little roller suitcase. He was growing up much too fast for my liking. We went to the entryway of the airport where my mom said she'd have a driver waiting for us. She couldn't leave my dad. I looked around for someone holding a "Richardson" sign but there wasn't anyone there. While we waited, I noticed several men looking at me, eyeing me up and down as they walked by. Sometimes I'd get a wink or a smirk. I'd learned how to tune those out and not react. Ken, on the other hand, seemed upset by it. He glared at the men passing by. "Don't look at my mom!" he hissed at a few of them. As soon as they were called out, my onlookers would look away quickly and hurry off. "You're growing into a young man," I told Ken as he tried to protect me. He looked up at me with starry eyes. "I'll protect you until you find me a good daddy. Then he will protect us both," Ken said, laughing a li