”Worst case scenario, I won’t be able to come back here until three weeks from now,” he finally said.
She drew in a sharp breath at that. It felt like an eternity to her.
”But I will try my hardest to make it back sooner, if at all possible.”
”Do you know how to Skype, Olivia?” he continued after a moment.
She shook her head.
”Isn’t that something you do on the computer?” she asked. ”I’m not good with computers, at all. I only use them to write and to check my email. I don’t even have Facebook. It makes me uncomfortable, the thought of giving up my privacy like that.”
”I don’t have Facebook either,” he smiled. ”I value my privacy very much also. If my friends want to share something with me they’ll have to pick up the phone and call me, like in the old days. But do you think your brothers know how to Skype?”
She thought about that.
”Probably. It’s just me who’s computer illiterate,” she grimaced, a little embarrassed to let him know.
”I’m very glad you are,” he murmured and kissed her forehead tenderly, ”there are so many nasty things floating around in cyberspace. I’m so glad you don’t look at any of that.”
He looked at her.
”Do you think you could ask Lukas or Markus to show you how to Skype, so I can get to see you when we talk?”
”Sure. They’ll help me,” she smiled up at him, a little comforted at the thought of seeing him again soon, if only on the computer. ”You’re not hoping I’ll strip for you?” she added teasingly.
”One can always hope,” he drawled.
”Ha!” she exclaimed. ”Dream on buddy, you couldn’t afford it.”
He laughed and scooped her up at that, supporting her buttocks in his hands. She locked her legs around his waist as he started kissing her again. She laughed with happiness and kissed him back.
Chapter 5
She didn’t sleep at all that night. She was still trying to fathom everything that had transpired in the last twenty-four hours. Her whole being was buzzing with the joy of his touch. Her lips felt ripe and swollen from his kisses. She wasn’t much of an expert, but she couldn’t imagine anyone being a better kisser than Nate. The whole previous day felt so much like a dream that she started worrying again that he somehow was just a figment of her imagination, a daydream gone too far. Even if he was real, why would he come back to her? It was obvious he could have any woman he wanted, so why would he come all the way back here for her? She wasn’t anybody special. In fact, she had always considered herself both boring and plain. As she started to sink into a bog of sadness, her phone suddenly went off. She’d gotten a text from Nate.
Boarding now. Leaving you was one of the most miserable experiences of my life. Call you as soon as I land. Stay safe for me until I’m back. N.
She clutched the phone to her and felt tears fill her eyes. She was such a crybaby! But he really did exist, and he maintained he was coming back. She didn’t dare trust that he would still feel that way in three weeks time. But at least for now she would let herself revel in the sensation of him seemingly as into her, as she was into him.
* * *
She felt restless, and went into work earlier than she had to that morning. Sasha was already there, putting the place in order and stocking the display case on the counter.
”Hey girl! What’s up? I’ve been thinking of you ever since you sent that text last night saying that sexy ass guy was taking you out to dinner.” Sasha was as chirpy as ever. She had only two modes it seemed; happy-go-lucky, squeezing every last bit of pleasure out of life, or full-on rage, if you were stupid enough to cross her. In all the years she’d known her, Olivia had only witnessed that rage a handful of times. Sasha’s anger was not easily provoked, but once it was, it wasn’t easily abated either. The girl could carry a grudge for ages, when she felt like it. Olivia liked to tease her that she was like an elephant - if you were good to her she would be your friend forever, but if you treated her badly, she would never forget. Nor would she let you forget.
Sasha was like a sister to her. They had known each other since pre-school. When Olivia’s mother died, Sasha was the one person who never wavered from her side. She moved in with her and held her during the long, bleak nights, when Olivia couldn’t stop crying. She knew she would never be able to repay Sasha even a fraction of all that she had done for her back then, but Sasha didn’t seem to think about it like that at all. She was the very best friend anyone could ever have. Fiercely loving and loyal, and always fun to be around.
”I’m great, you?” Olivia grinned.
”Hell, yeah, I can see that. What did you do, sweetie? You’re sparkling, it looks like someone lit you up from the inside.” Sasha stared at her, looking perplexed. Then she let out a whoop.
”You didn’t?! Did you spend the night with that gorgeous piece of ass? You did, didn’t you? You naughty girl!” Sasha started giggling.
Olivia blushed crimson.
”No, don’t be ridiculous, Sasha.” She shot her a disapproving look. ”I just met him yesterday morning! Of course I didn’t sleep with him.” She didn’t say what she was thinking, which was that, given half the chance, she probably would have last night. Even if he’d never said he’d come back again.
”Don’t be such a prude. People do it all the time, you know. It’s called a one night stand. You really should try it sometime,” Sasha said and cast a stern glance in Olivia’s direction. ”Don’t tell me you passed up the chance to get a piece of that glorious ass, Liv?”
”He’s not just a glorious ass, you know,” Olivia mumbled, piqued and a little defensive.
Sasha stared at her again.
”Oh, honey, no! Don’t tell me… No, you didn’t? Haven’t I taught you anything? Did you fall for him, Olivia?” Sasha came over and took hold of her arms, locking her eyes in a steel grip with her own. ”You fell for the guy, didn’t you? No, Liv, no!” she groaned. ”He’s a tourist! He’ll be gone in a few days, back to wherever he came from. You’ll never see him again.”
”You’re wrong.” Olivia wrenched herself free, and made herself busy setting the chairs in order. ”He is coming back. He is. He promised,” she added glumly. She felt the lump in her throat return. She knew that Sasha was probably right; it didn’t make sense that he would come back just for her. She was so ordinary - there was nothing special about her that could hold his interest for long. He would probably have forgotten all about her by the time he set foot on American soil again.
Sasha shook her head in disbelief.
”Sometimes you can be so naïve,” she sighed. ”Where is he from anyway?” She leaned against the table opposite Olivia.
Sasha’s words stung, but she couldn’t argue with her on that point - she was naïve in so many ways. But he would return, she refused to believe otherwise. She would take his word for it, no matter how illogical it seemed to her, until the three weeks were up. And if he hadn’t come back by that time, she would deal with the heartbreak then. Not now, not while there still was a chance that he really was coming back.
”He’s from the U.S. From Oklahoma. His family owns a cattle ranch there. That’s what he was here for, business.”
Sasha looked at her, perhaps trying to read between the lines.
”He will come back, Sasha. I know he will.”
”Okay. If you say so.” Sasha didn’t sound at all convinced, but seemed to decide to let it go for now.
”So, what’s his name? How old is he? Did you get any action at all last night? Please, tell me you at least kissed the guy? I want every single detail, right now,” Sasha demanded.
”Okay, okay,” Olivia couldn’t help but laugh. ”I will, if you just shut up long enough to hear me.”
Sasha pretended to zip her mouth shut.
”His name is Nate and I don’t know how old he is. I didn’t ask.”
”You didn’t ask?! You didn’t fuck him and you didn’t find out the most basic things about
him? Really Olivia, you can be so odd sometimes. What did the two of you do all night then?”
”Shut up, like you promised you would, and I’ll tell you.”
”Fine. ’I don’t know how old he is’,” Sasha mocked her.
Olivia stuck out her tongue at her.
”He took me to Roslunda’s castle. And you’ll never believe this, but he had rented the whole restaurant, just for the two of us. It was so beautiful, I can’t even describe it, and so romantic. There was even a man playing for us on the grand piano.”
”You’re bullshitting me now, aren’t you?” Sasha said, eyes like narrow slits.
”No, it’s true. I know it sounds really cheesy, doesn’t it? But it wasn’t, not to me at least. It felt sincere, I think he really wanted to make me happy.”
”And still you held out on the poor guy. How cruel of you, Liv, after all that effort.”
”Shut up. It wasn’t like that at all. If he’d asked me to stay the night with him or whatever, I probably would have,” she confessed. ”I’ve never felt like this about anyone, ever, Sasha. I want him so much it hurts.”
”Huh.” Sasha seemed momentarily at a loss for words. From experience, Olivia knew it wouldn’t last long and quickly finished.
”Dinner was amazing and after that we went for a walk in the park.”
”In the dark?” Sasha asked, skepticism thick in her voice.
”Actually, no.” Olivia squirmed a little under Sasha’s scrutiny. ”He had arranged for lanterns to be hung from the trees.”
”Get out of here! This dude is either too good to be true, or else he’s a serial killer.”
”No!” Olivia protested. ”Don’t be gross. He’s not a psycho. He might be too good to be true, but he’s a good guy, I can feel it.”
”Aha?” Sasha cocked a doubtful eyebrow in her direction. ”So, dish, did you two kiss or what?”
Suddenly Olivia felt reluctant to tell her anything more. She realized she didn’t want to share the magical details of last night, with anyone. The memories were hers - they felt sacred somehow.
”We’re going to Skype each other while he’s gone,” she said instead.
”But you suck at everything computer related,” Sasha pointed out. ”Do you even know how to Skype?”
”No, I know that, but the twins will help me. I think they liked Nate.”
”Did they meet him?!” Sasha sounded more than a little envious. She was a curious person, and would no doubt have loved to check Nate out for herself.
”Yes, he came in a cab to pick me up for dinner. That’s when he met them. I wasn’t ready when he came - I was late as usual, you know.”
”So, what did they think of him?”
”I haven’t really had the chance to ask them, yet. But they seemed pleased this morning, when I told them he’s coming back in a few weeks. So I guess that must mean they liked him, right?”
”Guess so,” Sasha conceded, still a little stunned it seemed. ”This guy really is something else. He actually took a cab all the way out to your place to pick you up? I thought stuff like that only happened in the movies.” Her voice trailed off in wonder. ”What did you say his name was?”
”Nate.”
”Yeah, I know, but his last name?”
”Montgomery.”
”Nate Montgomery. You know, that sounds familiar somehow, but I can’t place it.”
”You’re probably thinking of my mom’s favorite actor, Montgomery Clift. You remember? She made us watch ’From here to eternity’ with her once.”
”Yeah, I remember. That’s the movie where they roll around on the beach kissing, right?”
”Yes, although that’s not Montgomery Clift, that’s Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr.”
”Okay, whatever. It’s in black and white so I don’t really care. I need color to get my juices flowing, you know.” Sasha winked at Olivia, who laughed. ”But I don’t think that’s why it sounds familiar to me. I just can’t think of where I’ve heard his name before.” She was interrupted by a knock on the still locked front door and went to open. It was a flower delivery guy with a huge bouquet of gorgeous red roses in a crystal vase.
”Is there an Olivia Berg here?”
”Yes, right over there,” Sasha answered with a flirtatious smile for the young delivery guy who looked momentarily flustered and then smiled back at her.
Olivia just stood there, trying to understand who would send her such an enormous arrangement on an ordinary Wednesday. The delivery guy put the vase down on the table beside her and said his goodbyes after unsuccessfully having tried to get Sasha’s phone number. She liked to flirt but seldom took it further than that.
”Let me see the card,” Sasha ordered and snatched it from the bouquet. Olivia was still too taken aback to stop her.
”I knew it!” Sasha exclaimed. ”It’s from the gorgeous piece of ass! Wow! He must really be into you, Liv.”
That made Olivia snap out of her stupor.
”Give it to me, you nosy witch!”
Sasha laughed and handed her the card.
Olivia’s hands trembled as she read the card.
Sweet Olivia,
Thank you for last night. Please don’t let some handsome Viking sweep you off your feet until I have the chance to return…
Nate
Her eyes clouded with tears as she looked up at Sasha.
”Oh, sweetie, you have it bad, don’t you?” Sasha pulled Olivia into her arms. ”At least the poor guy seems to be as pathetically taken with you as you are with him.”
”Pathetic, huh?” Olivia giggled through her tears.
”Yep. Pathetic is what it is. Come on, let’s open shop!”
* * *
When Olivia came home from work that day, she felt dead on her feet. She put the roses on the desk in her room, smiling to herself as she did so and then she collapsed on the couch next to Lukas. He was channel surfing mindlessly. Markus was at a friend’s house and wouldn’t be home for dinner.
”Tired, Sis?” Lukas asked with a grin.
”Not you too, Lukas!” she groaned. ”I know I was out all night, but I did not sleep with him! God, I’m surrounded by people with dirty minds.”
”Whoa, too much information, Sis!” Lukas pretended to cover his ears in disgust. ”I do not want to know what you’re doing, or, for that matter, when you’re doing it, thank you very much. But did you have a good time?”
She looked over at him and smiled.
”It was… amazing. He’s amazing, Lukas, he really is.”
”Yeah, he seemed all right. A bit too American for my tastes, perhaps, but what can you do?”
She play-slapped him over the head.
”Don’t you go hating on them Americans. They’re not all bad. Some of them are apparently quite nice, or so I’ve heard.”
”Sure, sure,” he grinned. ”Especially those that are tall and handsome, and go by the name of Nate, right?”
She threw a pillow at him. He ducked.
”But seriously though, he’s American. How is that going to work out? There’s an entire ocean between the two of you.”
”I know, Lukas, I know.” She sighed. ”I don’t see how this could work out, not the way I would like it to, at least. He can’t move here, he has his business over there. And I can’t move there.”
”Why not?”
She looked at him, as if the answer were obvious.
”You and Markus are here. I will never leave you.”
”Oh, come on, Liv, we’ll turn eighteen in February. We might leave you then! You can’t stick around here forever just for us. That’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to us either. Surely you can see that?”
”I’m not leaving you until you’re really ready to be on your own,” she insisted. He opened his mouth as if to protest but she cut him off. ”Besides, it’s not just because of you I live here. I have my whole life here, too. My job, my friends…” she trailed off.
”Your
job? You can get that kind of work anywhere. You’re a good waitress - you could get a job in any restaurant you want, if that is how you want to spend your life.”
”You know what I want to do with my life, Lukas. But it’s not really up to me, is it? I may never be good enough at it to succeed,” she said quietly.
”You will be a writer one day, I know it,” he said with conviction. ”Any day now they’ll call and tell you they want to publish your novel. I know they will, Liv. It’s just a matter of time.”
”Thanks, sweetie.” She kissed the top of his head and couldn’t resist ruffling his gleaming dark locks.
”But writing is something you could do anywhere in the world. If this guy turns out to be the one for you, then you should go for it, Sis. You really should. Or else you might regret it for the rest of your life, you know.”
”Sure, sure.” She borrowed his favorite expression.
”I’m serious, Liv.” He gave her a stern look. ”You and I and Markus have been through enough to know that true love and happiness is hard to find, and if you’re lucky enough to find that, you don’t let go. You fight for it.”
”Don’t you think you’re getting a little ahead of things now?” she asked. ”I only just met the guy yesterday, you know. I’ve been to dinner with him once. It’s not love.” Not yet anyway, she amended to herself.
”Sure, sure,” Lukas condescended, ”whatever you say, Sis. But I saw the way that dude looked at you. He’s a goner. For sure.”
She blushed at that, secretly thrilled to hear it, but she tried to dampen her own expectations. If he felt anything at all for her, it was too good to be true. Demigods like Nate simply did not fall for regular girls like her. It just didn’t happen.
Suddenly her phone buzzed. She had gotten a text message. She took out her phone with trembling fingers, trying to tell herself it was probably just Sasha. But it wasn’t. It was from Nate.
Destined for the Star (Starstruck) Page 6