Page 144 of Punishing His Runaway Bride
The kids had already run off. Juliet pulled Leo by the hand toward the far end of the lawn, pointing at a dandelion. Leo crouched down, carefully plucked it, held it to his lips, puffed out his cheeks, and blew hard. White fluff scattered, drifting into a small cloud in the sunlight.
"Wow!" Juliet tilted her head back, watching the fluff float higher. "So pretty!"
Leo grinned proudly, already hunting for the next dandelion.
I stood there watching them. From certain angles, Leo's running silhouette gave me a flash of something—blond hair lifting in the wind, legs pumping fast, like a little animal just learning to run.
I crushed that thought before it fully formed.
Too fast. So fast I wasn't even sure what the thought was.
Just something vague pressing on my chest, heavy, stuck, wouldn't disperse.
"You were sick?" I turned to Olivia.
Her expression shifted. "What?"
"You texted me. Said you were sick."
"I..." Her voice caught. "I'm better now."
"Good," I said. "Maybe we should go inside."
Olivia turned to look at me, that familiar wariness in her eyes.
"Do you need something?"
"No," I said. "But Juliet hasn't had lunch yet."
Another lie. Juliet ate two muffins at ten this morning, half a sandwich in the car at noon. She wasn't hungry at all. But standing here, watching Olivia's eyes trying to push me away, I suddenly wanted to stay.
Not for any particular reason. Just wanted to stay, sit in her space, watch how she poured water, how she talked, how she lived through an ordinary afternoon.
Five years. In my memory, she existed only in limited fragments—on the club stage, that hotel night, in my hallway, outside the hospital room. I'd been trying to piece those fragments together for so long. They never formed a complete picture of her.
"Juliet," I called.
Juliet popped her head out from the hedge.
"Daddy!"
"You hungry?"
She thought for a second. "Yes."
Then she turned those eyes on Olivia, lashes fluttering. "Vivi, can I eat at your house?"
I glanced at Olivia. Her expression tightened, lips pressed into a line.
"Juliet," she started.
"Vivi, please!" Juliet let go of my hand, ran over, and hugged her leg, looking up with eyes no one could refuse. "Just this once, okay? I want to eat with Leo."
Leo ran over too, stood in front of Olivia, looking up, green eyes full of hope.
"Mommy, can we?"
Olivia looked at Juliet, then at Leo, finally at me. Then let out a heavy breath.
