Chapter 9

Olivia

Olivia checked the address on her phone as she approached the small cafe nestled between a sushi restaurant and an overpriced dry cleaner. 

She checked herself in the reflection of the window before going in. She had decided on a pair of jeans, a white tank with an open yellow button down on top, and a pair of clean white sneakers. She wanted to look presentable, but not like she was trying too hard. Casual enough, as if to say, ‘I’m just stopping by while out running errands on my busy Saturday.’

She felt so stupid as she looked herself over, thinking about how much time she spent picking out her perfectly casual outfit. The way she blow-dried her hair just so and applied just enough makeup, doing her best to make it look like she hadn’t tried at all, when in actuality, she tried so hard. I’m so fucking pathetic.

She ran a nervous hand through her hair as she took a deep breath, pulled the door open and walked inside. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, her eyes zeroed in on her. 

Sophie.

Her light brown hair was shorter than the last time Olivia had seen her. But the same soft curls remained, falling just past her shoulders as they framed her heart-shaped face and dimpled cheeks. She stood from her seat, smiling as Olivia approached the table. Her full curves had become a bit more pronounced over the years, just as the faint lines at the corners of her eyes had deepened slightly with time. But she was still Sophie. My Sophie.

The mere sight of her after two years apart sent Olivia’s heart racing in her chest. Was it because Sophie had, at one time, held the most special place in Olivia’s heart? Because no matter how much time had passed, or how the progression of age may have taken hold, Sophie would always be one of the most beautiful women Olivia had ever laid her eyes on?

 Or were these heart palpitations due to the anger and resentment Olivia still harbored for her former lover? Was it because she was still burned by the way things had ended the last time they had seen each other? 

Olivia had no idea.

“Hi, Liv,” Sophie greeted as she awkwardly outstretched her arms for a hug. Olivia leaned in, wrapping her arms loosely around the other woman’s shoulders, letting the sweet scent of her floral perfume fill her nose. 

“Hey, Sophie,” Olivia said, her voice monotone as they pulled away from each other.

 They sat down across from each other, Olivia immediately taking hold of the coffee that awaited her, just so she would have something to keep her hands occupied. 

“Thanks for coming,” Sophie said softly. “It’s so nice to see you. You look really good,” she said, shining a bright smile directly into Olivia’s eyes.

“Thanks. You look good too.”

“Um…” Sophie started, looking down at her hands. “I know it’s kind of strange, asking you to meet me out of the blue like this.”

“Yeah, why did you Sophie? Why am I here?” Olivia asked with an exasperated shrug of her shoulders. 

Sophie’s eyes kept darting between Olivia and the bakery counter behind her. “I wanted to see you, Liv.” She let out a deep sigh. “John and I are getting divorced. It just isn’t working anymore. I’m planning on coming back to New York.” Tears threatened to spill from Sophie’s eyes as she looked back at Olivia.

“Yep. I’ve heard this story from you before, Sophie,” Olivia said coldly.

“I guess I deserve that.” Sophie fidgeted with her fingernails as the tears finally fell down her cheeks. “Liv…” Sophie said, a pleading tone to her voice as her eyes looked back at the counter on the other side of the cafe again. “I don’t know how else to say this, but I made a mistake all those years ago. I never should have left you the way I did.”

Olivia’s mouth fell open. Although she had expected as much to come from this conversation, to actually hear her say it was still a bit of a shock. 

“You mean you shouldn’t have left me right before our wedding to be with the man you had been cheating on me with? Or you shouldn’t have led me on years later, only to leave me again when you moved to London without even telling me? Which one is it, Sophie?” Heat raged in Olivia’s body as her blood began to boil.

Sophie's body heaved with a quiet sob as more tears fell. Olivia felt no guilt for her tirade. Frankly, Sophie deserved every bit of Olivia’s ire and more for the way she had treated her. 

Sophie opened her mouth to reply to Olivia’s harsh words, but before she could get more than a syllable out, a small voice rang out behind Olivia. “Mommy, look! I got a donut that looks like Elmo!” the little boy said as he ran to the table, holding his bright red confection out to show Sophie.

No. She didn’t bring him here. Why would she do this to me?

Sophie quickly wiped away the tears from her cheeks as she picked the boy up, plopping him down on her lap. “Whoa, that’s so cool, honey. That looks just like him, doesn’t it?” she said, putting on her cheeriest mask. 

Sophie raised her eyes to meet Olivia’s over the top of the child’s sandy blond ringlets. Olivia just stared back in shock, the lump in her throat preventing her from speaking as tears of her own formed in her eyes. 

“Mommy, why are you crying?” the little boy asked as he wiped tear streaks from his mother’s face with his tiny hands.

Ignoring his question, Sophie said, “Henry, there’s someone I want you to meet. This is mommy’s old friend, Olivia. Can you say ‘hi?’” 

“Hi,” Henry said, shyly, turning his body to burrow deeper into his mother’s arms. 

“Hi, Henry,” Olivia said, barely above a whisper, her throat dry and her voice hoarse. This isn’t the first time we’ve met. But of course you don’t remember me.

She stared at the young boy, watching as he ate his treat, red frosting smearing across his lips and small fingers. His little legs kicked back and forth through the air as he chewed. Without her realizing, the tears Olivia had been holding in her eyes had now begun to fall in steady rivulets down her face. How could she do this to me?

“It was very nice to meet you Henry, but I have to go now,” Olivia managed to eke out between choked sobs.

“Olivia, wait! Please!” Sophie pleaded. 

“No. I can’t do this.” Olivia stood up and walked out the door of the cafe, wiping away the tears staining her cheeks. 

She hailed the first cab she saw and climbed in the back. She gave the driver her address and as he drove away, she looked out the window to see Sophie run out of the cafe after her, Henry in her arms, still finishing his donut. 

✴✴✴

“I can’t believe she brought him,” Olivia said as she curled up on her couch, hoodie over her head and a glass of red wine in her hand. 

“I’m so sorry, Liv,” Maya said as she rubbed Olivia’s knee comfortingly. 

“Of course she brought him with her. She’s a manipulative monster!” Whitney hissed from the chair next to Olivia.

Nearly two hours had passed since she returned home from Sophie’s ambush introduction. As soon as she walked through the door of her apartment, Olivia called her best friends, nearly in hysterics. The two women came to her side immediately, Whitney still hungover from the night before. 

“Whit,” Maya said calmly. “That’s not what we need to hear right now.”

“She is! I’m sorry, I’m not going to sugarcoat things. Sophie is a monster. She bleeds people dry until they aren’t useful to her anymore and then she throws them away like garbage.” Whitney’s fist clenched tight around the stem of her wine glass.

Whitney had always been the more vocal friend when it came to Sophie. They got along fine enough when she and Olivia had first started dating nearly ten years ago. But after Sophie left Olivia the first time, Whitney didn’t hold back her hatred of the woman that had broken her friend’s heart. And then, when it happened all over again, Sophie had shot straight to the top of Whitney’s hit list. 

“I’m betting she knows that she’s not getting anything in the divorce,” Whitney continued. “That’s why she’s trying to reel you back in. Because you have money now. And she knows you're too smart to fall for her bullshit again so she’s using her son to manipulate you into being with her! She is a fucking sociopath!”

“I think you’re right, Whit,” Olivia offered despondently. “I don’t think she still loves me or actually wants to be with me. But, I think she is trying to provide for Henry, though.” Olivia closed her eyes as she pictured the chubby cheeks and fluffy curls of the sweet little boy she saw that morning. “The last time she left John, he barely even looked for either of them. It was like he didn’t care at all. I can’t imagine he’s going to provide much for his son if they actually split up this time.”

“That’s awful, Liv,” Maya offered sympathetically. “But it’s not your responsibility to take care of them.” 

“But it was supposed to be,” Olivia said quietly, another hot tear burning her cheek.

The three women sat in silence for a while, none of them knowing what to say to make Olivia feel better. 

Whitney rose from her chair, making her way into the kitchen. As she rinsed her wine glass in the sink, she looked over her shoulder, giving Olivia a quizzical look. “Liv, did you actually cook something this morning?” she asked with scoff.

“Yeah, I made breakfast. What about it? You think I don’t know how to scramble an egg?” Olivia asked incredulously as she wiped her tear-stained face with her sleeve.

Whitney turned away from the sink slowly, a wicked smile playing on her face. “Care to tell me why there are two plates, two forks, and two glasses sitting in your sink right now?” 

Fuck! Whitney really is too observant for her own good sometimes.

“What the hell are you talk…” Maya began to ask Whitney, before realization dawned on her. She turned her head toward Olivia, a knowing look on her face. “Oh my God! Olivia Nicole Andersen!” she said as she smacked her friend on the shoulder excitedly. 

“Ow!” Olivia exclaimed, rubbing the spot Maya had just made contact with. 

Whitney ran back into the living room, throwing herself into her chair as she shouted, “Why didn’t you tell us you slept with Nora?! You mean we could have been talking about her this whole time instead of that shitstain, Sophie?”

Olivia rolled her eyes as she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt down over her face, burrowing into the corner of the couch. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she shouted, muffled by the heavy fabric covering her mouth.

“You have to tell us!” Maya encouraged. “You wouldn't have even gone to talk to her if it weren’t for us. You owe us!”

“Yeah, you owe us!” Whitney piled on. 

Maya grabbed Olivia’s hand, yanking her upright and pulling the hood off her head. “Spill!”

“Ugh! Fine,” Olivia conceded, running a hand through her now mussed hair. “We hung out at the bar for a while and things happened. And then we came back here and more things happened…” But even as Olivia tried to remain nonchalant, she couldn’t hide the smile widening across her face, her mood quickly shifting as she thought about the night she spent with Nora. 

“Oh my God, look at her!” Maya squealed in Whitney’s direction. “Look at that smile! Our little girl’s in love!”

“Yeah, and our little girl needs to give us some actual fucking details!” Whitney exclaimed. “How was it? Are you going to see her again? Tell us everything!”

Olivia let out a sigh, reluctant to tell her friends all of the dirty details. She normally didn't have a problem telling them all about her sex life, but usually, at least for the past few years, she was telling them about one-night stands or temporary flings. 

Nora was different. 

Olivia hadn’t felt such a strong connection with anyone this quickly. Ever. Not even with Sophie. There was something about Nora that Olivia just couldn't get out of her mind. Even though her meeting with Sophie this morning left her feeling like her heart had been ripped out of her chest, she couldn’t help but smile when she thought about Nora. She was the only thing keeping Olivia from drowning in her own tears at the moment.

“It was really good,” Olivia said, no longer bothering to try and hide her smile. Her face flushed bright pink as she continued, “We haven’t made actual plans yet, but, yes, I want to see her again… I really want to see her again,” she added.

Olivia went into the full story from the time she left her friends the night before, to the moment Nora left this morning. Well, maybe not the full story. There were a handful of details that she wanted to keep for herself. But she gave them the highlights. 

Olivia still couldn’t fully shake the tension she felt in her gut from what happened with Sophie earlier that day. But as she blushed, smiled, and laughed her way through the retelling of the previous night’s events with Nora, she felt that tension ease ever so slightly. She felt genuine excitement at the thought of seeing Nora again. She felt hope for what they could turn into.