Page 6 of The Recovery Coach
The way he said her name implied he’d more than heard of her.She furrowed her brow and shook his hand for a second time.
“You can call me Lover,” he said with a flirty smirk; the shy guy she’d spent the last ten minutes with fully melted away.
Olivia scrunched her nose, her immediate disgust at the nickname impossible to hide.For over half a decade she’d watched the media utilize that nickname like a weapon against the sweet man standing in front of her.“Yeah, no.”
Connor grinned, snooping in the McDonald’s bag on the counter.If it had been anyone else, she would have slapped their hands for assuming, but he knew she hated his beloved baked apple pies.
“You can call him Valentine,” he said, stuffing half the pie into his mouth and washing it down with more of Olivia’s soda.
“Valentine it is,” Olivia agreed, relieved to have that little matter settled.If she had to call them Connor 1 and Connor 2 forever, she’d never keep her conversations straight.
Connor handed the second half of his pie to Valentine, who didn’t hesitate to shove it into his mouth.
“I’m happy you’re here,” he said.“But why are you here?”
Olivia took a deep, bracing breath and reminded herself Connor loved her and wouldn’t send her out on her ass.
“I’m hoping you’ll let me stay here again.And maybe tomorrow,” she forced the words out.
“Be my guest.This big-ass house is usually empty anyway,” Connor said, no hesitation.
Relief made the tension fade from her shoulders.“Thank you!I swear I will stay out of your way and leave as soon as I can.I cannot go back to Lance’s.”
“Ew, I wouldn’t let you stay at that douchebag’s house if you tried.”Connor rounded the kitchen island and searched the space for something before raising an eyebrow at Olivia.“Where’s your stuff?”he asked.
“In my car.”
Connor moved toward the front door, leaving Olivia and Valentine to rush after him.When he opened the door, he stopped.
“Oh, God.Livy,” he said.“You’re still driving The Reaper?”
“Hey!”Olivia objected to his tone and pushed past him.“Don’t hate on The Reaper.He’s gotten me everywhere I need to go for a decade now.”
The Honda had been dusty and decrepit when she bought it at sixteen, earning its nickname on the first day with weird noises and a light show on the dash every time she flipped the ignition.They called it The Reaper because they were certain it would break down someday, leaving them all stranded and left for dead.
“I can’t believe this thing still runs,” Connor said, prying the passenger door open and grabbing Olivia’s meager belongings.
He led the way to a room Olivia remembered from the one tour she’d gotten of his house when she’d first moved to Seattle.Connor refused to pay for an interior designer, so his four guest bedrooms were sparsely furnished.One acted as a home gym, one had a video game setup she would bet he never used, and the remaining two held nothing but a queen-sized bed, a desk, and one bedside table each.They were identical.
Connor dropped Olivia’s bag on the bed in the room adjacent to his own bedroom.The room was a second master, with an ensuite bathroom.Hallelujah.She’d shared a bathroom with him a few times over the years, and while he kept things tidy for the most part, the intimacy of the shared space could be hard to shake off.
“Make yourself at home,” he said.“I need to shower before Lover and I go to a team dinner.”
Olivia watched him leave, and when he faded out of view, her shoulders slumped.
Lover followed Connor and Olivia around like a lost puppy, and he remained in the room.He peeked around the corner, his eyes following Connor.After a few seconds he turned his attention to Olivia and rocked on the balls of his feet, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets.
“Sooo.I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Olivia opened her bag and rifled through it, searching for nothing in particular.She hated small talk and didn’t know how to interact with Connor’s best friend, considering she’d already been accused of hitting on him once.
“Oh, yeah?”she asked.“Connor hasn’t told me much about you, but that’s my own fault.I’ve kinda been in my own little world for a while now.”
“I’m shocked we haven’t met sooner.He couldn’t shut up about you moving to Seattle, and then it’s like you fell off the face of the earth.Total silence.I figured you guys were fighting.”
“Connor and I don’t fight,” Olivia said, telling the truth.They never fought.Even when they should’ve.
The statement didn’t leave much room for a response, and Valentine looked around the room awkwardly before saying, “Hey, I’m sorry about before.I didn’t know who you were.”
