Em: Hello?
Fallon: Sorry. Yeah, I’m still not sure about Europe. I’ll keep you posted.
I set my phone down, trying to make sense of the mess in my brain. There has to be a way out of this. I stride into the kitchen to fill up my water bottle, but I just end uppacing the length of the counter, back and forth, back and forth.
I’m jolted out of my trance when I see Ollie set a grocery bag down on a stool. He leans over to me and gives me a kiss.
You okay?he asks.
Yeah, fine,I lie.Anxious about my test.
You’re going to kill it, seriously. We’re on a string of good luck, you and me. And you know how I know that?
I shake my head, but he starts signing, not really waiting for an answer.
Because my dad called.
I cock my head to the side, because Ollie’s dad and good luck do not belong in the same conversation.
I know,he signs,but it’s good news.Really good news. I was just doing stuff for the charity committee and I met an associate of my dad’s. We work well together, and I guess he’s been singing my praises to dad whenever they talk. So much so that my dad wants me to work with him. Well, I think that’s what he wants. He used a lot of business lingo, but the gist was that when he and his buddy invest in a local resort, he wants me in on it, too, acting on his behalf.
I blink, because that is a lot to process.Your dad wants you to work for him?I sign.
As long as I keep “living up to my potential,” yeah. It’s crazy, but it’s good. I know he didn’t win you over at first, but I promise you’ll love him once you get to know him. This is actually so fucking cool. He’s proud of me, Fallon. It took twenty-two years, but he’s proud of me. And I’m not letting him down.
Ollie kisses my forehead before turning to put the groceries away, while I fight off the knot that's forming in my stomach.
When he faces me and reaches past me to put a bottle of olive oil away in the cabinet behind me, I catch hisattention.That’s amazing, I manage to sign.I have to get back to the library, though, so I have to run.
I thought we were having dinner?he signs, frowning.
I’m sorry. There’s a study group meeting for my test and I don’t want to miss it.
Ollie’s frown deepens.The test you already studied for?
Fuck. Ugh. This is why I don’t lie. I’m really bad at it.It’s a really important test.
Okay,he nods.I’ll make a plate for you and put it in the fridge.
I manage to make it out to my car before I start to lose it. Tears fall and I swipe them back as I pull out onto the road.
I don’t remember a lot about the night Ollie and I got married, but I remember taking shots with him at the bar. I remember that I’d been complaining about my situation and telling Ollie that my grandparents' world was a little too restrictive for me. He asked me if I could have anything in the world, what would I choose.
My answer was freedom.
And Ollie’s response was to propose marriage so no one could dictate my choices ever again. He promised he never would, and that’s something I know to be true.
And now, the only solution is to end it. Ollie offered me a partnership so I could have my freedom, but that means his will be taken away, and I just can’t do that.
He loves hockey, and I won’t jeopardize that for him. But he’s wanted his father’s approval for his whole damn life, and that’s not something I’m stealing from him. Louis Jablonski is not a man who would look past his son’s MyFans account. Perception is everything to him. Maybe that’s why he never valued Ollie. My husband isn’t about perception or surface value. He’s all about substance. It’s one of the reasons I love him.
But now I know what I have to do,even if it breaks my heart.
36
Ollie
I’m left standing in the kitchen when Fallon walks out to go to the library.
