Page 107 of You've Got Hate Mail
“Stranger things have happened.”
“Do you know why he doesn’t date?” I ask.
They share one more glance.
“Life’s put him through the wringer these past few years,” Olivia says.
“And he takes responsibility for everyone and everything around him,” Samantha adds.
“That’s why it was so good to see him having fun yesterday. Don’t think he lets off steam often enough.”
I shift my gaze between the two women. “Why do I suddenly feel like I’m a bad influence?”
Olivia snorts. “Did you force the alcohol down his throat?”
“No, but it was my idea.”
“And he’s a grown man who could’ve said no,” she replies. “Trust me. He was overdue.”
“He told me once he was a complete hellraiser in high school,” Samantha says.
“Life’s beat it out of him lately though,” Olivia says.
“It has. He definitely needed yesterday. Probably needed it for years.”
I wince. “He didn’t sound like it this morning,” I murmur.
They both grin at me. “So Pip’s story is true?”
And my face is getting hot again. “We were both dressed. Nothing happened. The end of the night is hazy, but I think he just didn’t want to climb the stairs. I remember some whining and groaning about his legs being heavy.”
Olivia barks out a laugh. “What I would’ve paid to see that.”
“Oh, don’t make fun.” I should stop talking about yesterday. The whole household knows we got drunk together, but they don’t need to know about how Heath burst into the building where I was hiding from him and howled like a wounded animal, or about everything he told me after we’d had a bottle or three. “Just let him have this.”
“We would never make fun,” Olivia says. “He’s a good one.”
“He is. Always so kind,” Samantha continues.
“Patient,” Olivia adds.
Samantha nods along. “Handy.”
“A good dad.”
“Smart about the world and smarter about the things in it than some people give him credit for.”
Olivia hums softly. “The way he took care of Ava when she was sick?—”
I shrink a little.
I don’t mean to, but it’s impossible not to.
I can’t hold a candle to Ava.
The mother of his daughter? An inspiration to millions of women? The woman he loved? Probably still loves?
Samantha clucks her tongue at me. “Oh, no. Don’t do that.”
