Page 49 of Wife By Accident

His expression was serious. “I would never.”

“All right.” She opened the lid again and clicked on the first picture. Over the last few weeks, living with Leo in New York, she’d added to her portfolio. The first was an image of a little girl in Central Park, swinging on a swing set. Her face wasn’t visible, but from the way her head was thrown back and her bare feet were kicking in the air, it was clear that she was enjoying herself. The sky above her was very blue, the grass was very green, and the way the image was framed, it looked like the tree above her was looking down on her protectively.

“This is beautiful,” Leo said. Olivia glanced at him, to see if he was just being nice, but he still looked serious. “I thought you liked nature photos, though.”

“I do. People can be part of nature — that’s something I thought about a lot while I was taking these photos.” Olivia clicked to the next one, which showed a businessman walking along a New York City sidewalk. He was staring at his phone in his hand, while all around him, tiny yellow flowers were blooming through cracks in the sidewalk.

“That one feels personal,” Leo said.

“Oh?” Olivia glanced at him again.

“I think I could have been that guy. I’m always looking at my phone and not at what’s around me.”

Olivia smiled. “I can’t argue with that. Although, when we walk together, you seem pretty focused.”

“I try. But when I’m on my own, I don’t notice my surroundings as much as I should.”

The next photo showed a fluffy white dog standing nose to nose with a statue of a wolf.

“I remember you taking this one,” Leo said.

“I bet you do. We waited on that bench for almost an hour for a dog to come along and pose just right.”

“Was it an hour? It didn’t feel like it.” Leo shifted beside her, his shoulder brushing Olivia’s again. Warmth bloomed inside her once more, and she thought of Rachel’s words. Why was she fighting this? Why didn’t she just let herself fall into Leo again and forget the consequences, at least for a little while?

But Olivia didn’t. She wasn’t that kind of person, the kind that could throw tomorrow to the wind in favor of today. She’d done that more, recently, but she couldn’t do it now. Leo was too important to her, and she didn’t want to mess up a chance of a potential future relationship by making their divorce more difficult.

What a strange thought. What a strange situation she’d found herself in. But, even though part of her wanted to just stay married, Olivia knew she had to listen to reason and let the divorce go through. Cutting the strings that tied them together was the only way to know if Leo really cared for her.

For almost an hour, Olivia showed Leo every photo in her portfolio. He had questions about many of them — where she’d taken them, what she wanted the viewer to feel, how she’d decided on the framing, and so on. Olivia asked him several times if he wanted a break, but he always shook his head. When Olivia finally showed him the last photo, he looked at her, his expression serious.

“Olivia, you have a gift.”

“Thanks.” Olivia closed the laptop and set it aside.

“No, really. You should do this kind of photography.”

“If only it were that easy,” Olivia smiled wryly. “But I really appreciate you saying that. I do love taking pictures like this.”

“And it shows. I can see how much you cared about each one of these. So many of the things you photographed were ordinary, sights I see every day and don’t think twice about. But because you cared, because you saw those things when others wouldn’t have, they became special.”

Somehow, Olivia knew that Leo was talking about more than the pictures. She looked into his deep blue eyes and tucked her lip between her teeth.

“In this life, whatever we pay attention to becomes special,” she said. And in the same way, Leo had paid attention to her, seen what she liked and didn’t, what made her laugh, what made her sad. He cared, just as she did, and that had made her see herself in a new light. She had done the same for him, paying attention to everything about him that was special.

I love you.

The words hovered in the back of her mind, not quite reaching her lips. Olivia wasn’t sure where they’d come from, but the sheer rightness scared her. She quickly stood, brushing her hands against her shorts as if they were dirty.

“We should think about dinner. I didn’t start anything, so maybe we can go out?”

“Sounds great.” Leo stood, too. “I’ll change and meet you in five minutes.”

“Okay.”

He left the room, and Olivia stood there, her heart racing. She loved him? Where had that come from? Olivia knew one thing, though: she couldn’t tell him how she felt. Not yet. What if he thought she was trying to undermine their divorce?

What if she was?