Chapter 6
The days that followed the revelation in her office were a masterclass in duplicity. Olivia felt like she was living a double life. In front of Harrison, she played the part of the devoted fiancée, laughing at his jokes, discussing wedding venues, and letting him hold her hand. But her mind was a constant, torturous loop of memories and what-ifs, all centered on Ethan.
She became hyper-aware of his presence. She'd listen for the sound of his car, the soft closing of the guest house door. She found herself glancing towards the garden path every time she passed a window. It was an obsession, and she hated herself for it.
Ethan, for his part, became a ghost again, but a more tortured one. The brief, raw connection they'd shared had terrified him as much as it had her. He retreated completely, avoiding the main house, leaving for work before she woke up and returning long after she and Harrison had retired for the night.
But the tension was palpable, a low-frequency hum that vibrated just beneath the surface of their lives. Harrison, usually so perceptive in business, seemed blissfully unaware in his own home, attributing the odd silences to Ethan's naturally brooding artist personality and Olivia's pre-wedding jitters.
The cracks began to show in small ways.
One evening, Harrison was showing Olivia a collection of family photo albums. They were cozy on the couch, a bottle of wine open on the coffee table. He flipped through pages of Ethan as a baby, a toddler, a gap-toothed little boy. Each picture was a knife twist for Olivia. She saw the man she was falling for in the child's smile.
"And this," Harrison said, pointing to a photo of a lanky teenager with a rebellious glint in his eye, "is Ethan at sixteen, right before we moved. God, he was a handful. Always off sketching somewhere, lost in his own world."
Olivia's heart clenched. She knew that look. She'd been the recipient of it. She traced the outline of his teenage face with her fingertip.
"He was beautiful," she murmured, before she could stop herself.
Harrison chuckled, pulling her closer. "He was, wasn't he? Took after his mother. Still, I'm glad he's finally settling down. Maybe your presence here is good for him. A woman's touch." He kissed her temple. "Speaking of which, my mother is flying in next weekend. She'
wants to meet you. She's very excited."
Olivia's blood ran cold. Meeting Harrison's mother. The final step before the wedding. It should have felt like a milestone, a joyful event. Instead, it felt like another brick being laid in a wall that was closing in around her.
"That's... that's great," she managed, her voice a little too high.
Harrison didn't notice. He was already scrolling through his phone, showing her pictures of his mother's house in Connecticut. Olivia nodded along, but her mind was elsewhere. It was in the guest house, with the man who had just texted her for the first time since their almost-kiss.
Her phone buzzed silently in her pocket. She ignored it. It buzzed again. And again.
"Excuse me," she said, standing abruptly. "I just need to use the bathroom."
She walked calmly to the powder room off the hallway, closed the door, and leaned against it, her heart pounding. She pulled out her phone.
Ethan: I can't do this.
Ethan: The pretending. The avoidance. It's killing me.
Ethan: I need to see you. Alone. Just to talk. Please.
Olivia stared at the messages, her thumb hovering over the keyboard. Every rational cell in her brain screamed at her to delete them, to block his number, to run as far and as fast as she could. But her heart, that stupid, stubborn organ that had never stopped loving him, overruled them all.
Olivia: Where?
Ethan: The gazebo. By the old oak tree at the back of the property. Tomorrow morning. 6 am. Before he wakes up.
The old oak tree. It was a spot on the far edge of Harrison's sprawling property, a place she'd discovered on her walks. A small, rustic gazebo stood there, overlooking a dry creek bed. It was secluded, private. Dangerous.
Olivia: Okay.
She slipped the phone back into her pocket and washed her hands, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed. She looked like a woman on the edge of something monumental. She looked like a woman about to betray the man who loved her.
She walked back to the living room and snuggled back into Harrison's arms, accepting a kiss on the forehead, and feeling like the world's biggest fraud.
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