by Hattie Lou
I look down and see the ice pack she has pressed against her hands. “How are your hands now? Do they hurt?” I ask, taking a look. They are a bit red.
She shakes her head. “They are fine, dear.”
“You sit here and watch television. I’m going to see if she needs any help in the kitchen.”
I walk into the kitchen where there’s broken glass everywhere.
“Watch where you walk,” Olivia warns.
I don’t care if I get cut. I just want to make sure she’s alright. When I reach her, I see her hand is wrapped in a paper towel. “Did you get cut?” I ask, reaching out to check her hand.
“I did. It’s nothing.” She shakes off.
I unwrap the towel to see the blood. “I’ll get the first aid kit while you take a seat.”
“I’m fine.”
“Sit. I will be right back.” I tell her, not taking no for an answer.
I go into the bathroom cabinet to get the first aid kit before heading back into the kitchen. Olivia’s sitting down at the table as she’s trying to act like she isn’t in pain, but I can see that she is.
“What happened to your lip?” I ask.
“She was scared. I got too close and she elbowed me. It was my fault. I should’ve calmed her down before getting that close to her.”
I go to the freezer and grab an ice pack and a paper towel to wipe the blood off her lip.
“Katherine wanted to make hash browns and got confused. She froze and dropped the casserole dish on the floor. I didn’t know that she forgot to put the gloves on.” She says with a sigh.
“Sounds like she’s having a bad day,” I say as I wipe her cut.
“It looks that way and it’s just morning. I should take her out somewhere to calm her down. I know she was pretty upset when she dropped it. She kept apologizing to me like she was afraid that I was going to yell at her.”
“Maybe we should just let her relax here. You should take the day off. Take a nap. I can watch her.” I say, running my thumb on her cheek.
She shakes her head. “I’m fine.”
I stare at her in amazement. She’s so good with my mom. I have never heard her raise her voice or get angry. Olivia is tough and compassionate.
“Okay. We’ll just sit down and watch television all day.” I say, pulling her up and leading her into the living room where she cuddles next to me as we watch a movie that Mom picked out.
Olivia
I fall asleep while sitting on the couch with Luke’s arm around me and my head resting on his chest. It’s nice to be able to go to sleep and not have to worry all the time about Katherine. With Luke being here, there’s always another person here to watch her. I have been relaxing a bit more.
A knock at the front door wakes me out of my sleep.
“It’s open!” Luke yells.
Ben and Steve come walking in along with Harry.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, still resting my head on Luke’s chest. It’s not Sunday. They aren’t supposed to be here.
“While you were sleeping Ben called you. I picked up your phone and told him what happened today. He suggested that Harry should come visit Mom. He thought it might help her.” Luke says.
I look at Ben who’s carefully watching me. He wants to know what’s going on between Luke and me. I haven’t talked to him lately. He doesn’t know that we slept together. As far as he knows, we are just friends. I know he is going to be asking me a lot of questions that I can’t answer. Luke doesn’t want me to tell anyone about the truth to his and Erika’s relationship. I have to respect that. I don’t want to be responsible for breaking up a fake Hollywood couple.
Katherine laughs at something that Harry says which makes me break eye contact with Ben.
“Harry here is such a gentleman. He bought me these roses.” She says, giggling.
“That is so sweet,” I say, getting up. “I’ll go get a vase to put them in.” I practically run out of the living room. Ben is not far behind me.
“When were you going to tell me about you and Luke?”
I open the cabinet and reach inside for the glass vase. I turn the water on and fill it up. “What about us?”
“Ol, don’t play games with me. We walked in and your head was resting on Luke Stewart’s chest!”
I can’t tell him the truth so I lie. “I haven’t been feeling good lately. I was tired and wanted to go to sleep. He saw me dozing off and pulled me into his chest. That’s all. Nothing happened. End of story.”
He snickers. “You expect me to believe that?” He shakes his head in disbelief. “Steve was right about you two being in the same house and desires building up. That explains why he went out of his way to throw you a birthday party. I know the VIP room had to cost him a fortune.”
I haven’t even thought about how much money he paid for that party. He got the owners to shut down the restaurant for the entire night. That had to cost a lot.
“There isn’t anything going on.” I lie, again.
He puts his hands on my shoulders. “You can deny it all you want. I’m your friend and I want you to remember that he’s an actor. A hot Hollywood actor. He has Erika Ash, but that doesn’t mean he’s faithful to her.
“And?” I ask, as I slowly feel the food coming back up.
“I’m just warning you to be careful. He isn’t going to stay here in this small town when he is so used to the attention in Hollywood. Luke will go back to LA and never come back. He stayed away for years from his own mom. I don’t want you to get hurt, Ol.” He says, before walking out of the room leaving me thinking about what he just said.
Luke knows where I stand. I told him that I had felt something between us. He thinks it’s nothing and I’m lonely. I don’t know if I believe him. These feelings seem to be growing stronger. Could it be love? I don’t know. I just know that I like having him around. Waking up in his arms and falling asleep on his chest at night feels so perfect. He makes me happy. Something that I haven’t felt since Ethan.
“Is everything alright?” Luke asks. “I thought you got lost.”
I laugh. “Ben came in here and distracted me.” I reach for the vase filled with water and turn around to go back into the living room to join them.
Luke stops me before we get to the doorway. “I was wondering if maybe you would like to spend the night in my room?” He says, running his finger on my bottom lip.
“Sure.” I stand on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek.
I know Ben’s just looking out for me. I wasn’t expecting Luke to stay here forever with me. I have nothing to offer him unlike Erika who has everything. She has money and everyone’s attention. I’m a mom who’s raising her daughter on her own and a full-time caretaker. I have a good amount of money saved up, but I’m not rich. There’s nothing special about me.
I walk into the living room to find Luke doing push-ups on the floor. I take a seat in front of him and eat my ice cream while enjoying the view. I take a bite of my dessert.
“Are you trying to distract me here while I’m working out?” He asks, continuing to do more pushups.
“Not really.” I lie. I love watching him work out. He’s so focused and hot. I can watch him all day long. Luke makes working out look sexy. “Do you work out a lot?” I ask, curious. His body’s amazing. He said he has a cook who cooks only healthy food for him and a trainer that works out with him weekly. He has to work out a lot to get a body to look like his. There isn’t an ounce of fat on him.
“Five days a week, two hours a day.” He says, groaning. “Can I have a bite of that?” He asks.
I shake my head at him with amusement in my eyes. “You said you only eat healthy. I don’t want to upset your trainer by giving you a bite of this delicious ice cream.” I tease, taking a bite.
‘You’re going to sit there and torture me while I’m working out?”
“Maybe.”
He suddenly stops and sits up on his knees. “Two can play that game.” He says, playfully tackling me down to
the floor.
He takes the spoon and wipes the cold ice cream onto my neck.
What is with Luke putting cold things on my body? Not that I’m complaining. I love when he takes his time licking my body clean.
“This is some good ice cream.”
“Mmm.” I say, enjoying his tongue.
His phone rings making him stop. I silently curse under my breath at whoever’s calling. They are ruining our sexy moment. It’s not often that we can do things like this in the afternoon. Katherine usually is up and watching television. When we do get moments like this, I enjoy every second of it. I want to engrave it into my memory forever.
“Hello?” He answers, putting the person on speaker as he moves closer to kiss my neck.
“Pennsylvania.” The gentleman on the other line says.
Luke suddenly stops kissing my neck and looks at the phone like he can see the person through it. “What about Pennsylvania, Stu?” He asks the guy. I’m assuming they know each other.
“That is where you are.”
Luke’s facial expression suddenly changes to being worried. “How the fuck do you know that?”
“I saw the pictures. At least you are still in shape. I don’t have to worry about you needing time to lose the pounds.”
I look at Luke who is clearly upset by these pictures. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s here. He has been keeping a low key profile. When we are out in public, he usually wears a baseball cap and sunglasses.
“What pictures? Was I alone?” He asks.
It dawns on me that he’s asking because he wants to know if Katherine or I are in the photos. The last thing I need is to be involved in a Hollywood scandal. People will think that I stole Luke off of Erika while visiting his sick mother. Everyone will hate me for breaking them up. Even worse, Savannah will hear about it. Kids will tease her.
“The pictures are of you by yourself. You look like you are jogging. You said you wanted a vacation. Why are you there? What is in Pennsylvania?”
“I’m from Pennsylvania. I’m here visiting family and some friends.”
“I thought you said you were taking a vacation?”
“I am.” He says.
“I was expecting you to be somewhere that involved a beach, hot women, and a bar nearby.”
Luke turns his attention to me as I lean up on my elbows watching him. “I needed time away. I’m enjoying my time here. It’s exactly what I needed.” He says, giving me a smile.
“Anyway, I got two movies lined up for you. We need to discuss the plans for the auditions and see who they have for the role of the female lead. Do you think you will be back in LA within the next two weeks?”
The question makes me freeze with anxiety. He has been here for almost two months now. He should have left a while ago, but he hasn’t for some reason.
Luke hesitates, not sure how to answer his question. I don’t want him to. He’s going to say yes and I don't want to hear it.
“Stu, I’m in the middle of doing something. Can I call you back later to discuss the plans?’
“Sure. Call me when you are ready to get back to work.”
He hits end call and looks at me. We don’t speak, knowing the end is coming soon. He will be leaving and it’s something I have to learn to accept whether I like it or not.
Chapter Twenty-six
Olivia
Katherine insisted that we go to the nursing home today to check in on her friend, Helen. She was worried because she hasn’t been feeling well lately. We stop to buy her crossword puzzles and a teddy bear.
By the time we arrive, Helen’s already sitting outside in her wheelchair enjoying the fresh air. I stay close by but give them some privacy to talk.
“You are Katherine’s caretaker, right?” An older woman asks as she takes a seat next to me on the bench.
I’ve seen her talking to Katherine a few times. “Yeah, I’m Olivia,” I say, introducing myself.
“It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Sherry.” She looks around as there are people walking around enjoying the sun. “I have been here for a few months. It’s rare that we see nice days like this. I swear all it does is rain around here.”
“I know.”
We sit in silence and watch people as they come and go. It seems like everyone here is coming with gifts in their hands. It makes me wonder if they are all visiting family or if they are just friends. Either way I can see that they are happy just to have a visitor.
“My husband passed away last summer from an illness. We had no children and somehow I ended up here. It’s tough without him being here. He was my daily dose of happiness.”
I nod in agreement. I know exactly what she’s talking about. “How long were you two married?” I ask.
“Forty-two years before he passed. We dated four years prior to that. He was good at driving me crazy, but at the end of the day, no one could love me the way he did.” She says with a smile, remembering her late husband. “What about you? Are you married with kids?”
“I have a daughter. Her name is Savannah. She’s almost six. My husband was in the military but was killed in the line of duty.”
“So, you understand what it’s like to lose a husband? The loneliness hurts.”
I do. When Ethan died, I felt like there was a big part of me that died along with him. If it wasn’t for Katherine and Savannah, I don’t think I would have survived. I was nothing without him until Katherine came along. “I understand. It’s hard when you lose your other half.” I say with a sad tone, thinking about Ethan.
“The days just don’t seem to matter anymore.” She says, staring down at the ground. “They just repeat themselves over and over.”
Luke
I stop by the nursing home to see if Mom and Olivia want to grab some lunch. Olivia told me that Mom wanted to visit her friend today.
I spot Olivia immediately. She is sitting on a bench talking to an older woman. She’s so busy talking to the older woman that she doesn’t see me. I don’t want to be rude so I wait. I’m within a distance that I can hear their conversation.
“My husband, Keith, used to love surprising me by taking me on random trips to different cities. He was always a romance at heart. One of the many reasons why I fell in love with him in the first place. What was the sweetest thing your husband did?” She asks, smiling.
I shouldn’t be listening to their conversation, especially since it’s private. Olivia doesn’t like to talk about Ethan, but curiosity is getting the best of me.
“Ethan was like Keith. He was a true romantic guy. Every morning since the day we first met, he would write me a sentence on a piece of paper. They were sweet, loving and poetic. Reading them always made my day. He knew how to make me smile even on the days when I didn’t feel like it.” She says in a sad tone. Olivia turns her head like she can feel me watching her. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see if you and Mom wanted to get something to eat. I can come back if you want to stay.”
She reaches for her purse. “No. I’m sure Katherine’s probably getting hungry anyways. I will get her.” She says, before leaving me alone with the stranger.
“Wait! Are you Katherine’s son, Luke Stewart?”
“Are you a fan?” I ask, not sure what to say to her.
“The movies of yours that I have seen are about romance. I’m a sucker for romance. Are you single? I have a friend whose daughter just turned nineteen last week. She’s single.” She says with a wink.
I laugh. “I’m seeing someone right now,” I say staring up at Olivia as she’s making her way to me with Mom.
“You again!” Mom says. “Are we going back to that fancy place we went to that one night? That was fun. It made me feel rich.” She giggles.
I laugh. “No, not that place. What do you think about going on a picnic?”
“A picnic?” Olivia asks.
“Yeah, a picnic.” I packed a few sandwiches and drinks for us. I don’t want to go back to the hou
se. I want to enjoy this day with both of them outside. The time is coming and I know I will be leaving to head back to LA. I need to get back on with my Hollywood life. Stu has been working hard on getting me roles and interviews. I can’t keep putting them off. This is my career I’m talking about.
After lying the blanket down, we take a seat as Mom tells Olivia about her friend, Helen. Mom’s happy that she’s doing better. Olivia told me how worried she was about her.
“There’s a bug on your leg.” I point out to Olivia, waiting for her to scream. Erika hates bugs and screams at the top of her lungs every time one gets near her. People stare at her like she’s crazy at times. It’s embarrassing in public. Olivia pushes it away with her hand like it doesn’t bother her as she goes back to listening to Mom talk about her friend.
Where did this woman come from? Maybe the problem is that the women I usually date are from Hollywood. They always try and act perfect, but not her. Olivia has flaws and doesn’t care that they show. She’s not perfect and doesn’t try to be. I find that to be appealing about her. She’s as real as it gets and that is sexy as hell.
My phone rings and it’s Erika calling me.
“Hello?”
“I thought you would like to know that the house is complete. The guys finished installing the new pool earlier this morning. When are you coming back?”
I watch Olivia as she and Mom are talking. She’s smiling as she is enjoying herself. “I will let you know once I get everything figured out.”
“Just don’t take too long. The press is hungry for new photos of us. I was thinking once you get back, we can go out in Beverly Hills. The paparazzi are always waiting for celebrities to show up. We can go out to one of the fancy restaurants there. I will check the reviews and see who has the most stars.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” I say, not paying any attention to her. I’m too focused on Olivia. She’s so beautiful with the sun shining down on her. “I have to go, but I will let you know once I get everything figured out, okay?”
“Okay. I will be waiting.”
I hang up the phone. Before putting the phone in my pocket, I hit camera and tell Mom and Olivia to turn to face me as I take their picture. They both smile with joy as I take several more.
