Page 11 of Animal's Reformation
Chapter Three
Three months later
The heat blastedthrough the vents making the small room even stuffier. Olivia pulled her dark hair back and secured it with a tie she wore around her wrist, welcoming the weight off of her neck.
Mr. Rinker, the title officer, shuffled through the papers before inserting them into a large folder and handing it to her.
“Congratulations on the purchase of your new home.” He smiled and the lines around his eyes deepened.
Olivia ran her fingers over the smooth portfolio. “Thanks. I’ve never owned anything before, so this is really exciting.”More like terrifying.She pushed her chair back and its wooden legs caught briefly on the plush carpet.
The title officer stood up and shook her hand. “Is there anything I can get you before you leave?” he asked, handing her a pen with the name of the company emblazoned on it.
Olivia rose to her feet and slung her purse strap over her shoulder. “I’m good, thank you.”
“It was a pleasure doing business with you, young lady.” Mr. Rinker smiled again, then walked out of the room.
Olivia went over to the large window and stared at the craggy, snow-covered peaks in the distance. “It’s final now—I’m a homeowner,” she said under her breath. After scrimping and saving for over a year and working two jobs, she was finally able to lay down some permanent roots in this quaint mountain town she now called home. Buying a house was huge for her, and it didn’t matter that her new residence was only nine hundred square feet—it was all hers.
Olivia took out her cell phone and debated whether to call her mother and tell her the good news, but changed her mind and slipped the phone back into her coat pocket. Her mother wouldn’t give a shit and that thought pained her. For a split second, Olivia wondered if she should call her dad, but that idea left her head as quickly as it had entered it. To say that she and her dad had a strained relationship was an understatement, but sometimes when she was really happy or even sad, she wished that they had a normal one. Hell … Olivia wished she had a normal relationship with either of her parents, but she didn’t, and had accepted that it would never happen. That’s just the way it had been ever since she was in junior high—the year her dad walked out on them for one of the club girls he’d screwed around with for better than a year. As long as she could remember, her father always had a woman on the side, and her mother had accepted it as long as he came home—and then one day he didn’t.
“Is there anything else we can help you with?” a cheerful woman in her early twenties asked from the doorway of the conference room.
Startled, Olivia turned around and the thoughts from her past scurried to the corners of her mind. “Uh … no. I was just looking at the beautiful view.” She shuffled toward the door.
“Take your time—I’m not rushing you.”
“No … it’s okay—I really do need to go.” Olivia smiled at the woman, then walked by and headed out of the office.
Frosty air whipped around her and she rushed over to her car. As she slid into the driver’s seat, the familiar tune on her cellphone filled the empty space, and she fished it out from her purse.
“Hello?” she said, switching on the ignition.
“So … is it a done deal?” Kennedy asked.
“Yes! I’m a homeowner now. Damn, that sounds scary as hell.” Olivia giggled.
“We have to celebrate. Let’s go to Star Bar—they’ve got the best martinis ever and a pretty decent happy hour.”
A grin spread over Olivia’s face. Kennedy was always looking for an excuse to drink, eat cheaply, and scope out guys. She was the one friend Olivia could count on to be available to party any day of the week. “Why the hell not? I’ll call Harper and Alice and see if they can join us. When do you want to meet up?”
“I’m still stuck at school, filling out paperwork. I hate it! I stupidly thought teaching was aboutteaching, but it’s really about all the damn reports and forms. I want to go home and change, so let’s meet up in about an hour and a half. Happy hour goes until six thirty.”
“Sounds good. Do you want me to pick you up?” Olivia exited the parking garage.
“Thanks, but no. Who knows? I may meet a guy I want to get to know.”
Olivia shook her head; Kennedy was always on the prowl for men. “Then I’ll meet you there. Later.” She tossed the phone on the passenger seat then cranked up the heat; she still wasn’t used to the cold after being a Southern California girl her whole life.
Sometimes Olivia worried about Kennedy because her friend seemed too trusting with men, believing anything they told her. Some of the guys she homed in on made Olivia a bit nervous and she’d tell Kennedy about her concerns, but even though her friend listened to her worries, Kennedy did what she wanted anyway. Despite the fact that Olivia was only one year older than the twenty-four-year-old teacher, she was way more seasoned and experienced than her friend, but she figured it was because of the way she’d grown up with the motorcycle club always looming in the background.
Looking in the rearview mirror, her heart sank when she saw Nathan’s patrol car pull in behind her. “When the hell is this jerk going to stop this?” she said out loud while braking for the red light. Refusing to look at him, she focused on the people crossing the street. A tooting horn next to her made her jump in the seat, and she quickly turned to look over at the car—it was Nathan. Groaning, she rolled down the window, determined to tell him off—once and for all.
“Hi, beautiful,” he said, leaning toward the passenger side.
“If you don’t stop following me, I’m going to call your supervisor. You need to move on, Nathan. Just leave me alone.”
His brown eyes narrowed and Olivia could see his body grow rigid. “Don’t flatter yourself—I’m not following you, I’m working.” He pointed his finger at her. “And don’t ever threaten me. People who do that live to regret it.”
