Instinctively, she wanted to apologize, to assure Olivia she was talking smack and didn’t mean anything by it.
That would be lying, though. On some level, she was kind of relieved her feelings were out in the open. Not that she’d really made a secret of them, but at least Olivia now knew where they stood.
“That’s how I feel,” she said defiantly. “Mimi says you can’t argue with someone else’s feelings. They are what they are.”
“True enough. But I’m sure Mimi has also told you that whatever your feelings about them, you should not go out of your way to hurt people deliberately.”
Oh, like writing down those horrible things about Caitlin and her mother hadn’t been hurtful?
“I didn’t know you were there,” she said stiffly.
“I came out to see if you were still here. I was going to see if you happen to know my mom’s computer password. I can always call her and ask her but didn’t want to bother her while she’s resting. Unfortunately, my weird dog and I are here to stay, at least for a few weeks, and I have work to do.”
The dog wasn’t weird. He was odd looking, yeah, but in an adorable way. She shouldn’t have said that part. Still, she bit her lip to keep from apologizing.
At her stubborn silence, Jake gave her an exasperated look. “I can tell you the password, unless Mrs. Harper changed it recently. I helped her update some software recently. The password is flowers. Lowercase.”
Olivia smiled at Jake and the traitor seemed to glow under her approval.
Seriously?
Sure, Olivia was pretty. She had that boho style thing down, with her wavy blond hair and hazel eyes and cool clothes. That didn’t mean Jake should just roll over like his dog Rosie, looking to have his belly scratched.
“Flowers. Got it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Glad to help.”
“And I don’t have to bother my mom,” she said. “The sooner she heals from this accident, the quicker she can return here to work and I can go back to Seattle, where I belong.”
She gave them both a cool smile and headed back inside the garden center.
Jake drained his soda and tossed the can into the recycling bin. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but you have to let go of your anger or you’ll be in for a miserable month while your aunt is here.”
A month. How would she endure it?
“Maybe I’ll just move to your house,” she said. “Or better yet, I’ll find my dad and go live with him while Olivia’s here.”
Jake rolled his eyes, but to her relief, he didn’t nag her as they grabbed their bikes and started up the hill.
10
JULIET
On her fifty-third birthday, Juliet woke up in a hospital bed, wondering how she had become so ancient.
Until four days earlier, she had felt young for her age, healthier and more active than she’d been in years.
She went to the gym three times a week; she walked; she had a physically demanding job that kept her moving all day long. When she looked at her smartwatch every night at the end of a long day, she was thrilled at the step count on her tracker.
She ate better than she had as a young mother; she cooked healthy meals; she meditated most mornings before she went to work.
She had lost forty pounds over the past four years and she did everything she could to stay healthy and fight back the inevitable progression of age and disease.
Now, because of one stupid decision, one ridiculous moment in time, she felt as if all her progress toward becoming a healthier version of herself was for nothing.
She had stopped wearing her watch because the step count for each of the past four days was laughably small. She had hardly gotten out of this hospital bed. When she did, each of those trips had been assisted by someone else.
She sighed, telling herself not to be too depressed. Today was her birthday, not her death day. She was still strong, still vibrant, still committed to being her healthiest self.
Yes, she was injured, but she wasn’t out of the game yet.
She was still trying to give herself a pep talk when her orthopedic surgeon came in for morning hospital rounds.
“Everything looks good,” Dr. Adeno said after going over her chart, then giving her a quick physical exam. “I think you should be able to go home today, as long as we have all the home care elements in place to make sure it’s a safe