right for her. It’s one of the reasons I never gave her a raise. I was hoping it would motivate her enough to find something else.”
“That’s not fair. Olive would have made a great manager,” I say.
“I know that she would have. She just wouldn’t have been happy. She needs to find something that truly makes her happy on her own.”
“Olive never left before because she felt like she owed you. She was trying to be loyal to you.”
Jamie bites her lip as she thinks for a moment. “You might be right. But it all worked out in the end. I think the thought of having a baby finally pushed her to find something that truly makes her happy.”
I nod. I wasn’t sure that Olive would leave. I thought she might stay and ask to open an office to run somewhere else. But she’s gone. And I can’t decide if it makes my life easier or harder.
“You’re tickling me,” Jamie says, laughing, pulling her feet out of my lap.
“Sorry,” I say, looking at her again.
“Stop looking at me like that. You are freaking me out,” Jamie says.
“Have you ever thought about us getting together again?”
Jamie frowns and sits up on the couch with her feet on the floor. “Why would I think about that?”
“Olive told me about what happened when we broke up. That it was all just a big misunderstanding. I didn’t really cheat on you.”
Jamie bites her lip. “I knew you didn’t cheat on me.”
“You mean, Olive told you?”
“No, I mean, I knew when she showed me that message that it was from your mom.”
“I don’t understand. Then, why did you break up with me?”
“Because I wanted the white picket fence, the house, the baby. And you didn’t.”
I frown. “I did, too. I always told you that I wanted to settle down, start a family, and have a normal life.”
Jamie sighs. “Yes, you always told me that, but it isn’t what you wanted.”
I shake my head. “It is what I wanted. It’s still what I want.”
Jamie laughs. “I know you, Sean Burrows, better than you know yourself. You don’t want a suburban house, and you don’t want kids. I’m not even sure if you want a wife. You want adventure. You want someone who challenges you. You don’t want to settle down.”
“You’re wrong.”
Jamie sighs. “Then, tell me what you really want.” She folds her hands in her lap and gives me her full attention, like that is going to make me change my mind about how I feel.
I open my mouth, but then I close it because I don’t know.
“Tell me you want to fuck a hot blonde. Tell me you want a threesome. Tell me you want to travel the world and meet every woman you can in every city.”
“I can’t.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m right about this, Sean.”
Her phone buzzes, and she picks it up to read the text message she got.
“Is that from Olive?” I ask.
Jamie starts typing into her phone, responding to the message. “No.”
I frown and sink back into the couch, wanting to hear any news about what Olive is doing now. How is the baby doing? Did she take Owen back?
A slow smile creeps up on Jamie’s face. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”
“See what?” I ask.
“That something is going on between you and Olive.”
I stand up from the couch. “There was something going on.”
She stands up, studying me, and then she points a finger at me. “Oh my God! You love her.”
“Yes.”
“Then, what are you doing here? Go get her.”
I shake my head. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“How so?”
“For one, she’s pregnant with another man’s baby.”
“So?”
“Didn’t you just give me some speech about how you and I couldn’t be together because you wanted babies, and I didn’t?”
“Yes, but Olive is different.”
“How?”
“She wants the same things you do.”
I run my hand through my hair. “You are frustrating, Jamie.”
Jamie smiles. “I know. Now, get your ass out of my house, and go tell her that you love her.”
“Five seconds ago, you told me that I should go have a threesome and that I might not even want to get married. Why would you want me to go tell Olive that I love her?”
“Because you do love her.”
I feel the steam coming out of my nostrils as I listen to Jamie.
“Do you love Olive?”
“Yes.”
“Then, that is all that matters. If you love her, then nothing else matters.”
I pace back and forth in her room. Jamie is crazy.