Mending His Past Page 4

  How wrong could a guy get?

  Olivia finally met his gaze. Heat rose up from his core, burning the tips of his ears as he searched her eyes. He could hardly believe what was happening. For a single fleeting moment, he was sure Olivia was reliving the same memory and thinking of making a few new ones.

  The spell ended when several dogs broke out in a fit of barking as a stranger jogged down the beach several yards away. The vocal alarm caught Sport’s attention. He sat up and sounded off with a string of soft barks from the back of his throat, muffled by his sagging jowls.

  Taking a deep breath to steady his racing pulse, Trent rested his hand on Sport’s side. “Lay down, boy. No need to get all worked up.” His shoulders sagged when he glanced back at Olivia and saw her searching for a napkin among the empty plastic bags. “Nothing’s going on here, boy.”

  The moment had passed. Whatever had stirred between them a few seconds before had evaporated into thin air. It was probably better that way. Nothing he could have said would have been right—assuming he’d have been able to say anything at all.

  He had to pull himself out of the past. He was drowning in a sea of memories. He cleared his throat and rubbed a calloused hand across his five o’clock shadow. “So, this is your first time working construction in a while then?”

  “Yeah. I guess the closest thing I’ve had to a career is waiting tables,” Olivia said. “I did it for eight years. But I don’t want to claim that as my profession.”

  Sadness tinged her soft chuckle and pricked Trent’s heart. This wasn’t how Olivia’s future was supposed to turn out. She was supposed to go on to bigger and better things. Her life was supposed to have been so much better without him in the picture. But everything about her demeanor told a very different story.

  “Eight years is a long time to wait tables. What about your design degree?”

  “I had to drop out of college after I married Eddie.”

  Married? Trent wiped his face with a napkin to hide his disappointment.

  Olivia stared at her dinner with a tired expression. “I always planned to go back to school once finances weren’t so tight, but I ended up trapped in jobs I hated instead.” She stuffed a piece of chicken in her mouth and shrugged.

  “I didn’t realize you were married.” He pointed toward her bare ring finger, but couldn’t quite bring himself to look her in the eye. “Congratulations.”

  Olivia poked at the container in front of her with a plastic fork. “I’m not married anymore. It officially ended a year and a half ago.”

  Trent’s eyes shot up to meet hers, a spark of excitement reigniting inside him. Guilt poked him in the ribs for his reaction to the news of a failed marriage. “That must have been tough on you and your daughter.”

  “It wasn’t the happily-ever-after I’d always dreamed of, that’s for sure.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Don’t feel bad for me,” she said, putting a brave face on. “Molly is happy and healthy. That’s all that really matters in the end. I quit waitressing last year, and started my own furniture design business. I haven’t looked back since.”

  “You’re living your dream—well, all but the big city part. That’s awesome.” Trent rubbed his stomach. There was a strange stirring deep inside that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Olivia had managed to do in a day what he hadn’t been able to do in years. She was breaking down his barriers and bringing him back to life. It felt so good to feel.

  “My big city dreams changed after I had Molly. We’re happy here. I hit a bump in the road with my business this month, but I’ll bounce back.”

  Trent’s brows furrowed. If there was a problem, he’d find a way to solve it. But first, he needed intel. “What’s the trouble?”

  “I’ve been renting a space for my pop-up shop in Phil’s storefront since last year. He doubled the rent this month without warning.”

  Trent narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He remembered Phil, the shady, money-grubbing store owner that used to charge kids three times what the candy in his shop was worth. “That’s not right. Would you like me to go have a talk with him?” he said, his voice dropping an octave.

  Olivia’s soft smile eased the tension in his muscles that Phil’s name had brought on. “Thanks, but you don’t have to do that. I already took everything out of the store this afternoon. Some of my best pieces are still sitting in the back of my pick-up.”

  “I guess this job at the rescue came along at just the right time for you.”

  “Yes, I can still make pretty good money at the weekend flea markets, but that’s not a guaranteed paycheck. Turnouts fluctuate so much from week to week at those things. The hours I put in here will make sure that there’s always food on the table for Molly until I can find a new retail location in town.” Olivia took a bite of fried rice and chewed it with a sigh. “I’ll bounce back. I’ve had setbacks before.”

  The words she chose sounded hopeful, but the droop of her head and rounded shoulders looked nothing like the optimistic woman he’d once known.

  “What can I do to help?” Trent’s breath caught in his chest when she surrendered to a weary smile and gazed at him the same way she once had long ago. Not only was she still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, she hadn’t allowed the hardships of life to steal the sweetness of her spirit. Her gentle nature still shone in her eyes.

  “It’s sweet of you to ask, but there really isn’t much you can do. I’m just feeling a little deflated today. Tomorrow will be better. This setback isn’t so huge—it’s just all of the ones that came before. It begins to take its toll, you know?”

  He nodded. “Life has a way of piling on us at the worst possible times.”

  “That sounds like the voice of experience talking,” Olivia said.

  “You could say that.” His cheeks burned as she probed his eyes for hints of what he was trying so desperately to hide.

  “So what’s been going on with you?” she asked. “Your aunt told me your brother got engaged recently, but she only mentioned you a few times here and there since I moved back home. Even she admits that she doesn’t know a whole lot. How has it been trying to adjust to civilian life after so many years in the service?”

  Classic Olivia. Her concern for others always came first, no matter how many disappointments she had to deal with in her own life.

  He stuffed a giant piece of shrimp into his mouth. Talking about his trouble settling into a new life was the last thing he wanted to do tonight. “I don’t think you really want to open up that can of worms at this time of night,” he said after gulping down his bite.

  Olivia caught his eye and offered a wry smile. “It’s going that good, ehh?”

  The sarcasm in her voice brought a fresh smile to his lips. “How could you tell?”

  “I’ve got skills. What can I say?”

  Trent took a swig of his sports drink, his eyes never leaving Olivia’s face. She was never one to ask for help, even if she needed it. That was a problem he could solve. “Why don’t you let me follow you home when we’re done eating and I’ll help you unload your truck?”

  “No, you’ve already put in a full day’s work. I can handle—”

  Trent raised his hand to quiet Olivia’s protest. “It’s the least I can do. Please.”

  She bit her bottom lip, considering what he’d just said. “I must admit, a little help would be nice. There are a few pretty heavy pieces in there, and I already pulled a muscle when I was loading up this afternoon. I think I just might have to take you up on that offer. Thank you.”

  The same tickle of excitement from earlier was back. Only this time it was larger and danced around in his stomach with all the grace of a chimpanzee hopped up on caffeine. He shoved it down, refusing to give in to it. He had to be careful. It wouldn’t be hard to fall for Olivia again. But he couldn’t allow that to happen.

  His soul may have begun flickering back to life after years of lying dormant, but he didn�
�t hold out much hope of ever being completely whole again. Olivia deserved more than a man who was only half-alive.

  Chapter Six

  Olivia pulled up to a stop sign on the old country road leading to her home. The engine of her twenty-year-old pickup stuttered and rumbled in her ears. But it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the voice in the back of her mind telling her she’d been crazy to accept Trent’s help.

  She glanced in her rear view mirror and caught a glimpse of his large hand gripping the steering wheel of his own truck. It was a good thing the glare of the setting sun on his windshield obscured his face. She needed a break from his strong, clean-shaven jawline and those brown eyes rimmed with long, dark lashes. He had one of those faces—the kind that could distract a woman from even the most important of tasks, like keeping her eyes on the road.

  She chewed her bottom lip for a moment before crossing the four-way intersection. What have I gotten myself into? Trent followed her down the tree-lined road, every passing tree bringing them that much closer to her house.

  If only she didn’t live so close to the beach, she’d have more time to think things through before having to face Trent again. As it was, her house was only a mile from the rescue. That didn’t leave her very much time to figure out what had just happened during dinner and get herself together.

  What had just happened?

  She replayed a highlight reel of the last forty-five minutes in her head. She’d started out strong. No more men! That had been her mantra for a while now, and it suited this situation perfectly. But somewhere along the way, her resolve had faded.

  Determined to keep her distance, she’d grabbed her dinner and planned to make a beeline for the door. But when Trent had been all kinds of adorable, she’d decided to stay for old-times’ sake. Big mistake. By the time dinner was over, she’d found herself wondering what it would be like to kiss him again—just one more time.

  “If you play on a slippery slope, you’re bound to fall in.” Her mother’s voice whispered in her head. Olivia had lost her mother at such an early age, she had precious few memories of her, but that was one saying that had stuck with her throughout all the years.

  She pulled into the driveway of her small one-bedroom bungalow. The surreal moment when Trent pulled up beside her set a hundred butterflies loose in her stomach. She shut off the engine and twirled the end of her ponytail around her finger as the truck continued to sputter and quake a few moments longer.

  This day had taken her by surprise, but she wasn’t about to let it get the better of her. She would listen to her rational side and make the best decision for herself and Molly, no matter what her flip-flopping emotions wanted in the heat of the moment.

  She had been friends with Trent for a long time before they’d taken their relationship to the next level. Getting over him hadn’t been easy, but she’d managed it. He was just an old friend now, and nothing about an old friend helping unload a pickup should send goosebumps racing up and down her arms. Locking away the memories of their semester-long romantic interlude was her best—and only—option.

  She was going to get through the next half hour without losing her resolve. Anything else was out of the question. She hopped out of the cab. “Come on in. I’m sure Molly’s still awake.” She climbed the stairs to the raised front porch, resisting the urge to glance over her shoulder at Trent as he followed close behind.

  The old hinges of her wood-framed screen door squeaked when she opened it for her guest. He paused for a moment before entering. “Nice place,” he said, stepping over the threshold. The woody scent of Trent’s cologne hung in the air as she followed him inside. He smelled way too good to have been working all day. It had been a long time since the scent of male cologne had wafted through her home.

  Molly ran across the small living room as soon as Olivia closed the door. She wore a fresh tutu-t-shirt combination and ballet slippers. Every weight Olivia carried fell from her shoulders the moment she saw her daughter’s beaming face.

  “Did you have fun?” Olivia asked, picking Molly up and brushing a blond wisp of hair out of her eyes.

  “Yes. We read forty-eight stories.” Molly held up all ten of her short fingers.

  “We read a good-sized stack,” Kat said, adjusting her reading glasses and reclining on the couch. “But I don’t think we quite made it to forty-eight.”

  Olivia smiled at her daughter and nuzzled her cheek with the tip of her nose. “Everything is forty-eight with this little one lately. She just latched onto that number for some reason.” She tickled Molly’s belly, relishing the musical laughter pouring out of her tiny mouth. “It’s a really good number, isn’t it, silly girl?” She set her daughter down, still giggling and squirming. “Go pick which of your babies you want to sleep with tonight.”

  “Okay.” Molly took off toward the bedroom.

  Olivia turned to Trent in time to see his strained smile beneath Kat’s approving gaze.

  “Hey, Aunt Kat,” he said, tension lacing his voice.

  “Fancy meeting you here, Nephew.” Kat’s central Texas drawl always intensified by a few degrees whenever she was in a teasing mood.

  “Make yourself at home,” Olivia said to Trent. “I have to move a few things in the garage before we can start unloading.”

  “I can help with that, too,” he said.

  Olivia couldn’t tell if he was actually eager to help, or if he was just looking for a way to escape Kat’s prying eyes and suppressed grins.

  “No need to bother. Just have a seat on the couch for a minute. It’s nothing Kat and I can’t handle.”

  “What?” Kat asked, peering at Olivia over the top rim of her glasses.

  Olivia held Kat’s gaze and nodded toward the kitchen. “Follow me.” She marched through a wide arched doorway, determined to address the fifty-thousand-pound elephant in the room once she had Kat alone.

  She opened the door leading to an attached one-car garage. It was stuffy and hot inside. No matter how much she tried to air the place out, she could never seem to cut the scent of motor oil and wet dog that permeated the tight space. Without missing a beat, she got to work moving saw horses, scrap wood, and plastic egg crates filled with the odds and ends she used to decorate her unique line of furniture.

  Kat stood in the doorway with her arms folded across her chest. “It looks like you’ve got everything under control. I don’t think I’m needed here.”

  Olivia looked her in the eye and raised a single brow. “It would appear that way, wouldn’t it?”

  Kat stepped down into the garage and closed the door behind her. “I’m not sure, but I think there’s a whole lot to unpack in what you just said.” She offered a kind smile. “Lay it on me, girlfriend.”

  Olivia sighed, completely disarmed by the friendly face in front of her. “A little warning would have been nice.”

  “Warning?”

  “I know you know what you did, and Trent knows, too,” Olivia said.

  “My head is still spinning from that last sentence. Are you sure you know what I know? ’Cause half the time I don’t even know what I know,” Kat said.

  The two women shared a laugh that calmed some of Olivia’s nerves. Kat walked up to her and rested her hands on her shoulders. “Be honest. Would you have come to work at the rescue if I’d have told you Trent was heading up the job?”

  Olivia shook her head. “Probably not.”

  “Well, there you have it then.” Kat patted Olivia on the cheek as if she were six years old again. “You can thank me later. I don’t mind waiting.”

  “I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, Kat. I really do. But it’s not going to work with me and Trent. We had our chance and it didn’t pan out. I don’t want a relationship right now anyway. I’m happier alone.”

  “But are you really?”

  Kat’s penetrating gaze made Olivia squirm.

  “I seem to remember a certain beautiful young woman crying on my shoulder after her divorce was finalized.
All she wanted was for her baby girl to grow up knowing the love of a mama and a daddy.”

  Olivia dropped her gaze to the sawdust at her feet. The last thing she wanted to do tonight was reminisce about dead dreams, and desires that would never be fulfilled. “That was more than a year ago. People change.”

  “Not every man is like Eddie,” Kat said.

  “Yeah, but they all end up leaving though, don’t they?” Olivia’s cheeks burned.

  Trent popped his head in the door. “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to help?” His eyes bounced between Olivia and Kat as if he could sense the heaviness in the room. “Am I interrupting something?”

  “Not a thing, Nephew. Just a little girl talk. Get on in here and pitch in,” Kat said, waving him into the garage.

  Before Trent could step onto the cement slab, a tiny hand grabbed him by the pant leg.

  “You fix this?” Molly held up a wild-haired doll wearing nothing but a diaper.

  The clueless look on Trent’s face as he slowly reached for the toy forced the hint of a smile onto Olivia’s lips in spite of the deep emotions churning in her heart.

  “What’s wrong with it?” he asked.

  “She needs a sleep dress.” Molly offered a tiny pink flannel night gown.

  He took it and looked at the items in his hands as if they were from a different planet. This was just the entertainment Olivia needed to distract her from the conversation she’d just had with Kat. When his eyes found hers and pleaded for help, all she could do was throw a hand over her mouth to hide her amusement.

  “Any help here?” Trent said to both women, holding the doll’s nightgown between his thumb and index finger as if it might burst into flames at any moment.

  Kat walked up to Trent and patted him on the arm. “It’s come to my attention that I may have overstepped some boundaries recently. You’ll be happy to hear that I’ve turned over a new leaf. I’m going to do my very best not to interfere anymore.” Kat put her hands in the air in mock-surrender and stepped past a bewildered Trent to go back into the house. “I’m going to be hands-off from now on. I’ll leave you to handle this emergency, soldier.” She winked, pointing at the undressed baby doll in Trent’s hand, and disappeared into the house.