Always with You - Part One(20)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN



Olivia



Despite the turmoil that permeates nearly every corner of my life right now, I'm overwhelmed by the strangest peace, one that assures me everything is going to be all right. It makes no sense really. I mean, my father is in surgery-crazy serious surgery-fighting for his life and my husband might have a daughter attached to a sneaky bitch from his past. I have no reason to think anything is going to be fine.

Yet I do.

When my phone rings, I don't even glance at the caller ID before I answer. "Hello?"

"How ya holdin' up, doll?" comes Ginger's voice.

"I'm okay. Pretty sure I'm going crazy, but otherwise I'm okay."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I'm optimistic."

"That doesn't mean you're crazy. It just means you're naïve."

Even though she can't see it, I shrug. "Maybe they're the same thing. What do I know?"

"Sounds like you could use some company. Want me to come sit with you?"

"Only if you're going to give me gory details about you and Gavin. I'm tired of thinking about and talking about my problems."

"You're using the spillage of details as a means of blackmail? With me? It's like you don't know me at all."

At that, I smile. "Or do I?"

"Sneaky, sneaky," she clucks. "I like the cut of your jib, young lady. Give me a few minutes and I'll be there, ready to share things you'll probably never be able to forget. Consider yourself warned."

"You and your insane sexual escapades don't scare me."

"So you say now," she replies, adding a maniacal laugh before she hangs up.

I'm still shaking my head when she rounds the corner into the waiting room. She grins. I grin.

"What if I'd said I didn't want company?" I ask, sliding over on the small vinyl couch to make room for my friend.

She rolls her eyes and tucks her blonde hair behind one ear as she takes a seat beside me. "Like that would ever happen."

"Right? Because no one ever doesn't want your company."

"Exactly," she says, leaning back, satisfied. "So, why are you going crazy?"



       
         
       
        

My sigh is deep and long. "My perfect life is turning into a worse pile-up than that one on I-85 last week. Little by little, one by one, my cars are crashing."

Ginger's face melts into an expression of tolerant sympathy, like she might be dealing with a deluded child. "Your life isn't a wreck. These are just road bumps that are happening all at once. In a year, you'll look back on this and wonder why you ever doubted that things would work out."

"But that's the thing. I'm not really doubting that they will. That's the most absurd part of all this. I should be a tangle of nerves and anxiety, yet I'm … surprisingly calm."

"For the moment," she adds knowingly. "I know how your meltdowns come on. They're like well-orchestrated sneak attacks from a team of deadly covert operatives."

"So you're saying that I really am crazy."

"I said no such thing."

"Calm one minute. Under attack the next. That sure sounds crazy."

"No, that's life, Liv. Nothing is perfect all the time. If you get perfect some of the time, you should thank your lucky stars. And you get perfect a lot! A man like yours … all hot and tattooed and delicious … who worships you and tries to put a baby in you every time you're alone together … that sounds pretty damn perfect to me."

"Well, the baby part isn't working out so perfectly, is it?"

Ginger shrugs. "Maybe it is. That whore did all the work. You got off scot-free. Let her have the wrecked vagina and you can just be the sweet, beautiful woman who has all the good stuff. Like the man. And the kid she can send home after the weekend."

"But I want the wrecked vagina, Ginger," I moan woefully.

She gasps theatrically. "Bite your tongue! We only get one of these. Take good care of it or you'll end up with a latex allergy and twenty thousand in Duracell stock."

I laugh, happily abandoning my distress for her lighter take on life. "Looks like you're faring pretty well. Did you trade in your stock for something … warmer?"

Her blue eyes twinkle merrily. "A lady never tells."

"Good thing you're not a lady. Now spill it, woman."

And she does. Ginger gives me all the romantic, erotic details of her encounter with Gavin. Turns out he's an even hotter Aussie than I thought he'd be. And I had a pretty good idea that he'd be a scorcher.

For the first time since I got the call about Dad, the minutes seem to fly by. When the phone in the otherwise empty little waiting room rings, I jump, throwing a hand up to still my runaway heart.