Our Time (4 page)

Olivia giggled when Monty rolled
onto his back and pressed his paw on her belly. "Yeah, he's a good boy.
Loves her to death, I think. I don't know where I'd be without him."

 I didn't realize I had spoken out
loud, but Andrew just looked at me with a furrowed brow as if I had just told
him something crazy. I stepped over to a stack of boxes and cleared my throat.
"These need to go into the spare bedroom."

I'm sure he wanted me to
elaborate, but he shrugged it off and started hauling my stuff up. His muscles
flexed under his white t-shirt, that seemed a little too tight, showing off his
hard toned chest that I wanted to reach out and touch just to confirm how hard
it really was. I silently cursed myself for getting aroused by it. He was just
a guy. Lots of guys have muscles.

I sorted through some of the
things for the living room and tried to figure out where I wanted it all. The
couch and coffee table were smashed together against one wall and a rocking
chair was tipped over by the empty entertainment center. I had to sell my
television before I moved. Most of the furniture I actually had, I had because
no one bought it before I left. I had a good amount of money tucked away, but
until I was able to put in some hours for work, I had to be smart.

Andrew had taken a few trips up
and down the stairs before everything was out of the room. I showed him where I
wanted the furniture and he moved it with ease. He distracted Olivia for a
little bit while I went through some knick knacks that may or may not be used
to decorate. I finally decided to just keep it simple and leave all the little
stuff boxed up. I had no way of knowing if we were here to stay for a while or
not. I hoped we would be, but I had yet to find out where I stood.

I pulled out a few framed
pictures of Olivia and one of the both of us that an old friend had taken just
before we moved. I didn't know when I would be able to afford any after leaving
so I got as many done as I could. I heard her giggle as I studied one of her
pictures. She looked so much like me, it was a little scary. The only
difference was her eyes. They were gray with brown and blue designs throughout
and green flecks here and there. Beautiful. I couldn't see any of David in her
at all. I was thankful for that. I didn't want him to be a part of our lives
any more than he was. I wondered if there was a reason she had so much more of
me in her. It was almost as if it was planned that way.

I don't know how long I was
staring at the picture, but when I finally looked up, Andrew was studying me,
looking so carefully it was like he was searching my soul.

"You alright?" he
asked.

I looked over at Olivia before
answering. She was playing with some blocks and trying to stack them on top of
Monty. Every time they fell over, she laughed and said "uh oh".

"Yeah," I took a deep
breath. "I'm great."

He smiled and gestured to the
pictures in my hand. "You want me to hang those? I think they would look
great in here."

A couple hours later, everything
was where it needed to be. Andrew had helped me set up my computer and had put
together a few shelves that I had gotten. Everything that was still in boxes
could wait. He offered to help with my bedroom, but I again told him that was
mine and he just needed to back off. He chuckled and raised his hands in
surrender.

Olivia was sitting on the couch
with one of her books and having a hard time keeping her eyes open. It was
9:30PM already and I was amazed at how quickly the time had passed.

"Thank you for all your
help. It would have taken me weeks to do all of this on my own."

Andrew was standing at the door
with his hand on the doorknob and I was a few feet away from him with my arms
across my chest and feeling nervous about… everything. I was never this nervous
saying goodbye to anyone. He radiated calm and collected and that made me more
nervous. He was too attractive for his own good.

"No problem. I'm glad I was
able to help." He paused and looked at Olivia, then back at me. "I
had a really good time, actually. Thank you for dinner."

"Oh, it was the least I
could do," I said with a dismissive wave.

"Will you let me know if you
ever need anything? I'm just a few feet away, okay?"

"I will," I said,
surprised by how much I actually meant it. "Thanks again."

"Buh bye," Olivia said
in a tired voice. Andrew's eyes lit up when he looked at her and waved.

"Bye, Olivia. Thanks for
letting me eat and play with you." He turned back to me and grinned,
"Goodnight, Jocelyn."

I nodded and waved as he stepped
out the door.

"Well, that was fun, wasn't
it?" I looked over at Olivia and she was climbing off the couch.
"Okay, pretty girl. Time for a quick bath and then sleepy time."

"Bat," she smiled and
ran to the stairs with renewed energy as I chased her with Monty leading the way.
Her giggles echoed through the house. My head started to throb, but I ignored
it. I wouldn't let it take away any time from my little girl.

After her bath, she was exhausted
and didn't even drink any of the warm milk I had for her in her sippy cup. I rocked
her to sleep and sang to her. She was out within a couple of minutes and I was
feeling the exhaustion from the busy day.

I heard movement coming from the
other side of the wall. Andrew.
Wow, you sure can hear quite a bit through
these walls.
I made a mental note to remember that so we didn't annoy him
at all. He is a good guy, but reminded me of why we were in this situation in
the first place. I couldn't let myself get too close to anyone. Not yet. Not
until I knew what was coming. I would be friends with him, if anything. That's
what any good neighbor would do. Be friends.

I needed to talk to Benjamin. No
matter how much I wanted to avoid it, I had to find out what my next steps
were. If it didn't go well, I had Olivia's immediate future to worry about. 
She can't suffer because of me.

I set her in her crib and snuck
out of the room. Monty laid himself down in front of the door and closed his
eyes.

"Keep her safe for me
buddy." He opened his eyes and sighed.

I stepped into my bathroom and
turned on the shower. My headache had subsided while Andrew was here and now it
seemed to be getting worse. I stood still as the hot water ran down my body and
soaked my hair. The ache behind my eye was intense, but nothing like it had
been before. I felt tears burning in my eyes.
Please, just a little more
time. For Olivia.

I focused on one thing at a time
until I was finished, then wrapped myself in a robe and padded into the bedroom
while towel drying my hair. I looked down at my phone for a long time. Benjamin
wanted to give me some names of specialists in the area. I didn't want them at
the time, but thinking twice now, I knew I should get in soon.

I dialed his number and left a
voicemail. I never called his cell phone, only his office. I knew that he was a
busy person and when he got my message, he would be pretty upset that I didn't
call his personal number. "Hey, it's Jocelyn. I need those names you
mentioned giving me, just in case. Give me a call when you can."

I heard muffled talking through
my bedroom wall and imagined Andrew lying in bed watching TV. I snuggled into
my bed and wrapped my arms around my pillow. I thought of his bright blue eyes
and his heart breaking smile and shivered.

I need a friend. It's the only
way to keep moving forward,
I thought to myself.
Olivia needs a friend too.

My eyes became heavy and the last
thing I remember was seeing a pair of ocean blue eyes lying next to me, telling
me that everything would be okay.

Andrew

After hearing Jocelyn's shower
running, I needed a distraction and fast. I called Madison and prayed that it
wasn't too late. TV wasn't going to work for me anymore.

"Hello?"

"Hey sis, sorry to call so
late."

"That's fine, Drew. What's
up?"

She was the only person on earth
to ever call me Drew, and she was the only person on earth I would ever
let
call me Drew. Being a couple of years younger than me, we were close growing
up. After Mom and Dad died, all we had was each other.

"Not much. I, um, I just
wanted to say hi and see how you and Ty were doing."

"We are just fine. He is
just as wonderful as ever. I still can't believe it has been a year since we
got married. It feels like time has just flown."

"I bet. You knocked up
yet?" I asked with a smile.

"Drew!" she warned.
"I don't want you asking me that. It's bad enough you know we have
sex."

"Whoa! Hey, I never said
anything about sex. You didn't have to bring that up."

She laughed hard into the phone,
"You are impossible." I heard her take a deep breath and sigh.
"So, are you going to tell me the real reason you called at 10 o'clock at
night?"

"Am I really that
predictable?" I asked in shock.

"Drew, you never call after
eight because you are afraid that you might
interrupt
something. And you
said 'um' earlier in our conversation. You never say 'um' unless you are
nervous or anxious about something. Now spit it out or I'll start talking about
my honeymoon again."

My mouth was hanging open and I
almost had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Where did she get this from?
"Well, I guess you know me better than I know myself. I didn't realize all
that stuff about me."

I heard her giggle and then move
the phone away and speak to someone. "Okay, well now Ty is here, so go
ahead. He can give you some manly advice if you need it."

I figured I should just say it.
She would figure it out anyway. "Okay, so I, um, kind of met
someone."

"Seriously?!" she
shrieked.

"Maddy, calm down. It's not
what you think."

"Well, then don't start off
by saying you met someone. There is a societal agreement that saying
that
really means you met someone and really like them and could possibly see a
future happening."

I guess it is what she thinks
then. Man, where have I been? And why was I suddenly thinking about the future
when I just met her today?

"You getting married was a
mistake. You are way smarter than you were before."

"Hey! Don't sass me. Now,
continue. You met someone…"

I groaned in exasperation,
"Okay, yes. I met someone. She is my new neighbor and, well, I don't know,
she's really great. Now before you say anything, let me tell you the
situation."

She huffed into the phone, but
stayed silent. I could tell that she wanted to ask about a billion questions
and I didn't feel at all guilty about the pleasure that gave me. She tortured
me with too many things to keep count.

"Her name is Jocelyn and she
just moved here a couple days ago. I don't know too much about her because she
doesn't really like to talk about herself. She is…" God, what is the right
word? "Gorgeous and incredibly smart and independent and I really want to
get to know her better."

"Okaaay, so what is the
problem?" she asked.

"Well… she has a kid."

She was silent for just a beat
before she spoke. "Hmmm, I don't see what the problem is with that. So
what? She is a mom. Apparently, a single mom. That only makes her that much
more interesting." She paused for a moment and then added, "Is she a
good
mom?"

I smiled at the question because
there was only one answer. "The best."

I heard her speaking to Ty in the
background and then the phone clicked. "I'm putting you on speaker, Drew.
Ty wants in on this."

"Hey, man. Good to hear from
you," he said.

"How's it going, Ty?"

Tyler had been my buddy for a
long time and knew the reservations I had about women and dating in general,
but after marrying Maddy? Well, let's just say he kind of turned into a woman
himself.

"Great. And it sounds like
it's going great for you, too."

I could hear the smile in his
voice and thought about how whipped that man really was. He would have never
said anything like that before Maddy. It would have been more like
"Andrew, you dumbass, what took you so freaking long to call me?"
Yeah, Maddy had him whipped.

"Okay, Drew. You obviously
really like this woman. Her having a kid doesn't change anything except that
she has different priorities than other women you have gone out with. I
actually think that is a good thing. You don't need a psycho slut hanging all
over you and staying up all night waiting for you to call her," she said.

At that moment, I decided that I
had shared way too much with Maddy in the past. She knew almost every detail of
my carefree dating life. I didn't like to get too serious for fear of getting
ripped to shreds. I was careful to keep women at a distance and never really
had a serious girlfriend. She was right, though. I had dated a lot of bimbos.
Well, I had
gone out
with a lot of bimbos.