Page 16 of Kiss Kiss Bang
She tried to do a puzzle with Sophie, but her mind kept drifting, and she was so jittery she couldn’t concentrate. At one point, not knowing what to do or how to respond to the barrage of emails, texts, and calls she could hear coming from her phone in the next room, she did the most mature thing she could think of—she shut down her phone.
Denial was a beautiful thing, sometimes.
After lunch, Sophie fell asleep and Olivia had never been so glad for her daughter to take a nap. She needed to freak out and pace her house without anyone around. And by pacing she meant doing laundry because nothing kept your hands as busy as folding clothes. Unfortunately, that plan came to a halt when she heard someone open and close the front door. There were only two people who had keys to her house, Tom and Winnie, and Tom had the day off today.
“You slutty slut slut!”
It was Winnie.
Olivia groaned as she threw a towel she’d been folding over her face.
Winnie plucked the towel away and started to fold it. “I thought you had a speech or some shit. I didn’t realize you needed me to babysit so you could get off with some mystery guy in an elevator.”
“I did have a speech but there was an emergency and I got stuck on the elevator with Joey.”
“Joey? The guy that fixed your laptop? Why would the guy who fixed your laptop be at the function last night? And why would that same guy have his tongue down your throat?”
Olivia threw a sock at her friend. “Because he wasn’t just some guy who fixed my computer. He owns a security firm and was hired as security. I was surprised to find him there.”
“So surprised your tongue fell into his throat in an elevator?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “It just happened.”
“That shit does not just happen. There had to have been some flirting or wordplay or something.”
“Wordplay?”
“Like foreplay but for smart people. Foreplay without hands and tongues.”
She thought about it. “Well, we did have a spark.”
“Why didn’t you say something when you came home with your new shiny laptop, you little Slutty McSlut?”
“Because it was nothing and I didn’t think I’d see him again. And then last night was chaotic and you were asleep when I got home and you left early this morning. When would I have told you?” She was just making excuses. She could have told Winnie at any point if she hadn’t been so afraid to admit to herself that she liked Joey. “He thinks we have a date tonight.”
Winnie sat down on the coffee table, her legs crossed comfortably. She was eating a Twizzler. “Why would he think that?”
“Because I may have said yes when he asked.”
Winnie took a bite of the disgusting gummy stick. Once she finally swallowed she said, “Did he ask while his hands were in your dress?”
“Maybe . . .”
“You slutty slut slut.” Winnie laughed. “Were you going to go on this date with Sophie?”
Olivia looked at her in confusion. “No. I was going to call you this morning and beg you to babysit . . . again. But then I saw the photo and canceled on him.”
With her mouth open in shock and the Twizzler in her hand she asked, “Why? Why would you cancel?”
“I’m humiliated. I can’t see him.”
“Why the hell not? And why are you humiliated? He was there, wasn’t he? Did you fart in the middle of the kiss or something?”
“Oh my God, are you crazy?” Olivia laughed. “I’m humiliated because, I mean, I look . . . it looks like . . . I was clawing him, Winnie. Clawing him. I look desperate. The picture makes me look like some sort of desperate hussy.”
Winnie reached forward and put her hands on Olivia’s shoulders. “Honey, I love you, you know that, right? But you look desperate because you are desperate. It’s been five years since Neil died, and in all that time I have never seen you go on a single date. It’s time, Livie. You need to get back out there. You’re young and accomplished and it’s perfectly okay, healthy even, to want to have sex. And I’m sure if the camera angle would’ve been on him, he’d have had the same look on his face. Stop worrying.”
Was it okay? Neil wouldn’t have wanted her life to end with his. But how about Sophie? She was growing up without a father, and Olivia didn’t want her daughter to become attached to Joey. She also didn’t want rumors to start spreading about her sex life.
