“Should I go up and check on her too?” Loren asks, just as I notice Olivia coming down the stairs.
“Everything okay?”
She nods and comes over to join us. “She is just super tired and…very, very sad.” She sighs, looking at Loren. “I think we need to give her a little TLC over the rest of this trip. Seeing all of us together has her feeling left out.”
Wow. She really called that one.
“I didn’t even think of that,” Loren says miserably, even as she leans in to hug Mike. “She’s always with us, and it never seemed to bother her before.”
“Yeah, well…then I couldn’t stay in the room because of the dogs and the snoring, and Ash and I hook up, and…”
Hook up.
Buddies.
I have seriously misjudged everything and I’m feeling really stupid right about now.
“Do you think the guys and I should maybe leave for a few days?” Mike asks.
“Wait, what?” I demand, shocked by his question.
“I don’t think we need to do anything that drastic,” Olivia assures us. “But maybe we need to be doing some more separate stuff for a few days, that’s all.”
“That’s fine because there are plenty of activities we can do that have us out of the house most of the day,” Mike explains. “We can’t do anything about meals and whatnot, but I think we’re more than okay with keeping ourselves out of your way for the bulk of the day, right, Ash?”
“That actually sounds great. It’s kind of what I thought this trip was about.”
Do I sound a bit surly? Yes.
Do I care? No.
“Great! So let’s plan on leaving here tomorrow around ten and hitting the place where we can rent jet skis! It’s about thirty minutes from here and we can take them out on the sound all afternoon,” Mike tells us.
“Oh, man! That sounds like fun! Can we go too?” Loren asks, squeezing his arm.
“Um…babe? Remember why we’re doing this?”
“Right. Right. Time to shower Roxie with some extra attention. Got it.”
“Maybe after the guys all leave and it’s just us, we can go,” Olivia suggests. “Although I’m not sure how comfortable I am with riding a jet ski, but it could be research for the book!”
Great. Now she’s already planning for when I’m gone. Do I need the ton of bricks to fall on me?
“Cool. So we’re all good then.” Mike yawns and hugs Loren. “Let’s clean up the deck then and head up. Big day tomorrow! Night, guys!”
“Good night,” Olivia and I both say at the same time, but we don’t move right away. When she turns and looks up at me, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say because I’m feeling a little foolish about how I perceived this relationship.
I nearly jump when she takes my hand and smiles. “You ready to head back up?”
Right. She’s staying in my room.
“Um…yeah. Sure.” My voice is flat, and I let go of her hand and motion for her to head up the stairs first. I don’t miss the look of confusion on her face, but she walks ahead of me without a word. And I do my best not to notice those hot pink panties peeking out from under her robe.
Up in the room, I shut the door and ask, “Should we watch something on Netflix?” But when I turn, she’s standing there, arms crossed, and staring at me.
“Did I do something wrong?”
Inwardly, I groan because this is not a conversation I want to have.
