Page 31 of Animal's Reformation
Chapter Eight
Okay, so shewas a coward. Olivia would be the first one to admit it. Instead of delivering the spaghetti dinner in person, she’d bought—and spent way too much money on—an insulated food container that kept the spaghetti, garlic bread, and meatballs hot. She left a little bit early from school in order to put it on the front porch before Animal or Lucy came home. A ridiculous move for a professional twenty-five-year-old who owned her own home? Of course, and she cursed herself for doing it as she taped a note to the container then sneaked away.
Now Olivia hid in the shadows of her unlit house, peeking out the living room window, watching vehicles coming and going. Soon the encroaching nightfall swallowed up all the lingering shadows of the day, lending an eeriness to the bare trees and darkened houses.
Olivia saw several windows illuminate intermittently at Animal’s house and figured they were security lights. The porch light switched on, bathing the container she’d left earlier in a warm glow. Doubts began to creep through her until Olivia decided to walk over and grab the food then bring it back when Animal and Lucy came home. Just as she began to push away from the window, two headlights lit up the street like moonbeams. She grimaced when she recognized Animal’s dark blue SUV and slinked back a bit farther from the window. Olivia watched the vehicle pull into the garage and stayed rooted after the door had shut.
“This is so fucking juvenile,” she said aloud, yet Olivia couldn’t pull away from the window.
The front door opened and she saw Lucy push on the screen door. It looked like she said something because in less than a few seconds, Animal appeared on the porch and picked up the food container. Olivia watched as he read the note. Then, as if he could sense her watching him, he looked over, straight at her window. Blood rushed to her head and Olivia held her breath as she ducked out of the way. Her heart banged like crazy against her ribcage, and she sat on the floor plastered against the wall for what seemed like hours. Olivia slowly rose to her feet and shuffled to her kitchen for a much-needed glass of wine. She glanced at her phone and realized that forty-five minutes had passed since she’d first seen his car pull into the garage.
A low growl in her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten anything since that morning. Switching on the lights, she took out a bowl of extra spaghetti and meatballs from the fridge and put it in a pot on the stove. As Olivia waited for her dinner to heat up, she jumped when her cellphone vibrated across the countertop. She reached out and grabbed it as a web of apprehension wove through her. When Olivia saw Kennedy’s name on the screen, she let out a sigh of relief and put the phone to her ear.
“Hi, Kennedy.”
“Hey there, girl. What do you have going on tonight?”
Weariness wrapped around her like a heavy blanket, and the only way she wanted to spend her night was on the couch watching a mindless show.
“Just staying in. Why?”
“Youhaveto come out with me. There’s this mixer at Moonshine Flats. I heard there’s going to be a lot of attractive men.”
“I’ve sworn off men, remember?”
“Are you still serious about that?” An exasperated sigh came through the phone. “When are you lifting the fucking ban?”
“Not tonight. I’m beat. Sorry. Maybe Harper would like to go. She’s looking for a nice guy.”
“I already called her and she has a date with some guy her sister fixed her up with. I told her blind dates are the worst, but she sounded giddy to me.”
“Maybe it’ll work out. A friend of mine met her husband on a blind date.” Olivia walked over to the stove and stirred the spaghetti and meatballs.
“I don’t want a husband yet. We’re all too young to even think of settling down. You know thirty comes real fast, so we might as well live it up some before we have to give it up for the fucking ‘American dream.’”
“You don’t have to sell me. I don’t even want a date right now.” Olivia turned down the heat.
“I don’t know how you do it. I get all pissy if I haven’t had sex in a few days. Why are you doing this again?” Kennedy clucked her tongue.
“Because I confuse sex with love, and I fall too damn hard for a man. I’m sure it goes back to my childhood—I had a douche for a dad and a mother who stood by her man no matter what humiliating things he did to her. I’m definitely fucked up, but at least I know that. They say the first step is acknowledgement of a problem.”
“You’re too into your psychology classes. We all mistake sex for love—we’re women.”
“You don’t seem to.” Olivia took down a plate from the cupboard.
“I used to, but then I started thinking like a man, and life has been great. That’s what you need to do—date like a man.”
“Maybe. Anyway, there’s no one around I’m really interested in.” Animal flashed into her mind. “No one at all,” she said as if trying to convince herself.
“So I can’t talk you into joining me tonight?” Kennedy asked.
“No. I really just want to veg. Another time. Let me know how it goes though.”
“I will.”
“Oh, Kennedy? I need to pick your brain about that dating site you were telling me about—Discreet Passion. I’m writing a research paper for one of my psych classes, and it’s about online dating and interconnections.”
“Are you actually going to go out on adatewith one of the guys you connect with?” Kennedy asked.
