One Walk in Winter

by Georgia Beers

  “Walter’s awesome,” Hayley commented as she watched his antics, a grin on her pretty face.

  “Isn’t he? I love him more than life.” Olivia attempted to sit on the floor with her dog, but it was more of a drop. More comfortable than standing, that was for sure. Walter took the opportunity to kiss all over her face, which always made her laugh.

  “You have Advil? Motrin? Something?”

  Olivia tipped her head back. “You have amazing eyes.” Then she furrowed her brow, trying to decide if she’d thought that or actually said it.

  “Oh. Um. Thanks.” They held one another’s gaze for Olivia had no idea how long before Hayley spoke again. “Advil?”

  Olivia pointed. “Cupboard to the right of the sink.” She bent forward and placed loud kisses on Walter’s head. Her butt was starting to hurt sitting on the tile floor, and her feet hurt from dancing in heels. She toed them off, then shrugged out of her coat and pushed herself to her feet. Her home wasn’t large and it only took a handful of steps to get her to the living room and her couch, which looked more inviting than she could ever remember it looking. When Hayley, handful of Advil, a saucepan, and another water bottle in hand, found her, she was lying on her back on the overstuffed gray microfiber, Walter covering her like a blanket, his front paws on her chest.

  “That looks cozy.”

  Olivia wrapped her arms around Walter in a hug. “He’s warm.”

  Hayley opened her mouth, then closed it again, as if she couldn’t decide whether or not to say what was on her mind. After a beat, she said, “Do you need help getting upstairs to bed?”

  Olivia studied her. Squinted. Found everything about her face interesting. Magnetic. Sexy. She pulled her gaze away and said, “You know, I’m pretty comfortable. I might just stay here for a while.”

  With a nod and a slight grin, Hayley put the water on the table, and set the Advil next to it and the pan on the floor. “That sounds like a good plan.” She pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and unfolded it. Walter hopped down and Hayley draped the blanket over Olivia, then perched on the edge of the coffee table.

  Olivia snuggled in and was pretty sure she made some weird happy groaning sound that would make her want to hide the next day when she remembered.

  Hayley checked her phone. “Okay, my Uber is almost here.” Those green eyes met Olivia’s, and there was a moment of quiet when they just looked at each other. “You sure you’re okay right here?”

  Olivia smiled at the veiled worry in Hayley’s tone. “I’ve spent many a night on this couch. I’ll be fine.”

  Again, the silent eye contact. It did things to Olivia. Warmed her from somewhere inside and…yep, she was sure. It turned her on.

  Hayley placed her hands on her thighs and pushed herself to her feet. “Okay, then, as long as you’re sure.” Olivia nodded and Hayley buttoned her coat, saying, “You’re off tomorrow, so I’ll see you on Monday, yeah?”

  Olivia pointed at her, then wondered what the hell she was doing pointing. “You will see me on Monday. Yes.”

  Hayley indicated the water with her chin. “Make sure you drink as much as you can. I put a pot on the floor. Just in case.”

  “Seems like you have experience with being overserved.”

  “You have no idea.” Hayley’s half a smile was sad somehow, and she turned to go.

  “Hayley?”

  “Hmm?” Hayley turned to her.

  “Thank you.”

  This time, the smile was bigger, happier. “You’re welcome.”

  The door clicked quietly shut behind her. A moment later, Olivia heard a car drive off, and she lay there, hand on Walter’s head, staring at the ceiling and willing it to ease up just a touch on the twirling.

  What a weird, wonderful night.

  She had a good five or six seconds to bask in that thought before her stomach finally revolted and she clambered for the saucepan.

  Chapter Ten

  Hayley wouldn’t go so far as to say she was getting the hang of her job, but she did feel like she was learning—sort of like being tossed into the deep end of the pool to force you into swimming. Her father had definitely tossed her into the deep end, but she was determined not to drown. At least not today.

  There were only a couple weeks left until Christmas, and they were less than 60 percent booked. Hayley had checked yesterday, Sunday, when she had the office to herself because it was Olivia’s day off. They were essentially a winter resort right now. If they couldn’t book up through the holidays, what was the point? Unless…

  She was doing her best to recall her conversation with the guy at the bar Saturday night, the things he said about his resort versus hers, when Olivia came into the outer office. Hayley saw a brief glimpse of her as she passed by the door, slipping out of her coat as she did.

  “Morning,” Hayley called out, and Olivia peeked her head in, apparently unable to hide the look of surprise on her face.

  “You’re here already.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, as if she was waiting for some sort of explanation as to why Hayley was in her office, sitting at her desk at seven a.m.

  “I am,” Hayley said, not at all offended. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” Olivia studied her feet for a beat, then said, “I was going to hit the Starbucks this morning. Can I bring you back something?”

  Hayley furrowed her brow, wondering if she had woken up in some parallel universe. “That would be fantastic.”

  With a nod, Olivia was gone and Hayley sat staring into space.

  She’d texted Olivia yesterday to see how she was feeling. She’d gotten no response for over an hour—which made her wonder if Olivia was sleeping—and when an answer finally came, it was a simple Much better. Thanks. While she’d hoped for a little more, Hayley knew she wasn’t entitled to more, so she’d left it alone and done her best to try to focus on her job. Or at least on the aspects of her job she understood.

  Olivia returned shortly, a large cup in each hand. She entered Hayley’s office, handed one to her, then sat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk.

  “Thank you so much,” Hayley said as she carefully removed the lid and took a cautious sip. The coffee was hot, sweet, and creamy. “God, is there anything quite like that first sip of coffee?”

  Olivia’s smile was small, hesitant.

  “Everything okay?” Hayley asked.

  Olivia took a deep breath, then blew it out. “Listen. I want to apologize for Saturday night.”

  “Why?”

  Olivia’s dark brows met at the top of her nose. “Why?”

  Hayley lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Yeah. Why? What do you need to apologize for? Having a good time? Blowing off some steam with your friends and indulging a bit too much?”

  Olivia blinked at her.

  “Seriously, Olivia, you have nothing to apologize for. I’ve been in your shoes a million times. I was happy to help you get home, and I’m so glad you’re feeling better today.” Hayley had rehearsed that speech about a dozen times yesterday because she somehow had a feeling Olivia would be in here doing exactly what she was doing: apologizing for letting her guard down and being a person. Judging from the startled expression on Olivia’s face that was slowly morphing into relief and maybe a little gratitude right in front of Hayley’s eyes, she’d rehearsed it well and it landed exactly where she’d wanted it to.

  A few seconds passed as they each sipped their coffee. Finally, Olivia said quietly, “Okay. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “That looks cool.” Olivia pointed at Hayley’s chest. Momentarily puzzled, Hayley looked down and realized what Olivia meant.

  “Oh. Yeah.” She fingered the gold and green oval that was magnetically attached to her blazer. “It came in Saturday’s mail. This magnet thing is kind of awesome.”

  “Right? The last name tags we had attached with large pins, and people complained about the holes left in their clothes. I thought we’d better do something ab
out it before management started getting people’s bills for new shirts.”

  They chuckled together, then took tandem sips from their coffee cups, then chuckled some more.

  “Well. See you at the staff meeting at ten?”

  Hayley nodded. “I mean, I’ll probably see you before that. Since you sit right outside my door and I can’t really leave without seeing you, so…”

  Olivia stood, still smiling. “You’re hilarious.”

  “Yeah? Well, I’m glad to hear that because I do put forth a valiant effort. Takes a lot out of me.”

  Olivia shook her head. Then she took her coffee and headed to her own space.

  Hayley took a moment. Maybe two. Just sat there, thinking and grinning. So, that had been a nice span of time, sitting there and having coffee. No tension—well, not as much as usual—no feeling inadequate. Yeah, that had been nice. Then she remembered Olivia’s words, and her grin dimmed several watts. Staff meeting. So much for not feeling inadequate. This would be her fourth, and she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to like it any better than the first three, and there wasn’t much that would help, except…

  “More coffee,” she said softly.

  * * *

  Olivia spent the walk from her office to the kitchen bracing herself. Tessa was going to kill her. Or at least smack her around a little bit. Deservedly so.

  She’d barely made it through the kitchen door and Tessa was right there. She grabbed Olivia by the elbow, and Olivia had to almost jog to keep up. Tessa steered her through the kitchen, past the salad counter, past the stove where soup was simmering, and right into the walk-in freezer. It wasn’t until they were safely ensconced in the bitter cold that Tessa looked at her, deep brown eyes flashing.

  “So?” she said, arms folded across her chest.

  “So…?” Olivia raised her eyebrows expectantly, even though she knew exactly what Tessa was asking.

  “You’re alive, I see. You apparently made it home in one piece, not that I would know because you didn’t text me Saturday night.”

  “No, but I texted you yesterday.”

  “You did. With one-word answers that took twenty minutes to arrive.”

  Olivia grimaced because she realized Tessa wasn’t so much angry as hurt. “I know. I’m sorry. I felt terrible and, frankly, I was a little bit embarrassed.”

  Tessa stood and regarded her silently for a moment. Olivia had to fight not to squirm under that disapproving gaze. Finally, after what felt like a day and a half, Tessa sighed and uncrossed her arms.

  “Just…don’t fucking worry me like that. Okay? Please?”

  “I won’t. I’m sorry.”

  “So?” Tessa waited expectantly.

  “So…?” Olivia raised her eyebrows once again.

  Tessa slapped playfully at her. “Oh, for God’s sake, you’re a pain in my ass. You make me spell everything out. So, what happened? With Hayley there?”

  “Oh. Hayley. Yeah.”

  The freezer door opened and one of Tessa’s staff members stood there, obviously surprised to see them and at a loss over what to do next.

  “Five minutes,” Tessa said to him. He nodded and shut the door again. “And?”

  “I honestly don’t remember a lot.” Lies. She remembered every single moment of Hayley in her house. Taking care of Walter. Taking care of her. “Why did you let me drink so much?”

  “What am I? Your mother? You’re a grown-ass woman. One who apparently wanted to drink her face off.”

  With a shake of her head, Olivia said, “She got me home, set me up on the couch—where I spent the night—and took an Uber home.”

  Tessa blinked at her, then finally said, “Wow. Your life is just as boring as mine.”

  “Truth.”

  “Well, I can say that you two were doing a lot of looking at each other that night. It wasn’t just you. It was her, too.”

  That was news to Olivia. Whether she’d purposely not paid attention to that or she’d been too inebriated to notice, she hadn’t caught any looks from Hayley…wait.

  Dancing.

  The dancing.

  They’d danced. Right?

  “Did we dance together?” she asked Tessa, who snort-laughed.

  “Did you ever.”

  Snippets of their time on the dance floor came back in shards of memory, and Olivia covered her eyes with a hand. “Oh, my God.”

  Tessa’s warm hand on her upper arm made her feel the slightest bit better. “Sweetie, you were fine. I promise. Plus, you looked amazing.” At Olivia’s wide-eyed look, she added, “I’ve told you before what a good dancer you are when you’ve been drinking.” She punctuated that with a wink.

  Olivia groaned.

  “I mean it in a good way. It’s nice to see you loosen up a bit and have more fun, that’s all.”

  Olivia mock-gasped. “Are you calling me rigid?” At Tessa’s one arched brow, she gasped for real. “Oh, my God, you are.”

  “No.” Tessa held up a hand. “No. I would never call you that. I do think it’s good for you when you relax a little, that’s all I’m saying.”

  Olivia wanted to argue. Wanted to defend herself and state her case…except she didn’t really have one, and a shiver hit before she could come up with one. “Okay, I’m freezing.”

  “Me too.”

  They exited the freezer.

  Any more conversation was interrupted by two of Tessa’s chefs with questions, so Olivia told her she’d see her at the staff meeting and escaped. With an hour to kill, she couldn’t bring herself to go back to her office and face Hayley. Not that there was anything to face. Olivia didn’t remember every detail from that night, it was true, but she did remember how Hayley looked. How Hayley looked at her. How Hayley smelled when she was close and how surprisingly strong her small hands were when they’d kept Olivia from falling on her ass. Yeah, she remembered a lot more than she’d let on with Tessa. And once a memory cleared in her head, it stayed.

  She gave herself a mental shake and took the back way around to the elevators so she didn’t pass the front desk. Putting on her happy work face, she smiled at several guests, stopped at the gift shop to chat with one who’d checked in yesterday, visited with Julie behind the cash register. She did all of this while still thinking about Saturday night. Still thinking about the dance, which, once she’d recalled it fully, had been playing on a loop in her head.

  She needed to get a handle on this. Seriously. It had been a long time since she’d found herself so instantly attracted to somebody, and she hated that it was suddenly, obviously Hayley. Hayley really was off-limits. She needed to be. Olivia had to make sure she kept herself in check.

  Heels clicking rhythmically as she walked down the hall, she glanced up at the large Evergreen logo displayed on the wall and gave it a glare.

  “Why do you hate me?”

  * * *

  If only there was a way to will yourself not to sweat. Hayley needed that right now. She stood at one end of the room and faced the people seated in chairs that were placed in no particular order or arrangement. There was the hum of conversation as people visited with their coworkers. The clock on the wall behind everyone said it was 10:05. She should probably get started, but Olivia wasn’t there yet and, that made Hayley even more nervous.

  She knew she needed to get things started.

  She was also pretty sure she’d sweat right through her shirt and was well on her way to soaking her blazer as well.

  “Okay, um.” She cleared her throat as nobody stopped talking. “We should get started.” Still nothing. The buzz continued. Hayley wet her lips. “Um…”

  “Guys. Come on.” Olivia was suddenly there, thank fucking God, and she didn’t really have to raise her voice at all. She had a large box in her hands and she slid it to the center of the conference table. “Here, stuff these in your faces so you stop talking and listen to Hayley, all right?”

  Chuckles went around the room as the Evergreen employees descended on the box of don
uts like vultures on roadkill. The muttered thank yous quieted and, suddenly, all eyes were on Hayley. Which made her sweat more.

  “Okay, um.” She glanced down at her notes. Why was she freaking out? Actually, she knew why. Because this felt so much like public speaking, and public speaking was one of her worst fears. Everything’s written down. Just follow your notes. She tried to talk herself through.

  “Listen, I don’t mean to be a pain in your ass…”

  Hayley looked up and met the eyes of the head of maintenance…what the hell was his name again? She’d brought a cheat sheet with her and flipped to it. Scanned. Lenny! She looked back up at him, eyebrows raised.

  “I still need to hire a couple of new people. My guys are working too many hours right now.”

  Crap. Hayley’d forgotten about that…because she hadn’t looked at her notes from last week since she’d ordered the new vacuum cleaners without thinking. “Right,” she said, nodding enthusiastically as if she’d been working on Lenny’s request feverishly. “Right.” She jotted down notes.

  When she looked up, the head of the valet service, who was technically part of the front desk staff, had his hand raised. Hayley pointed to him.

  “I thought you were going to fire Ronnie?”

  Hayley blinked at him, lost.

  Olivia leaning close enough for Hayley to smell her didn’t help. But her words did. “Valet stealing change out of cars,” she whispered quickly.

  “Right!” Hayley said with relief. “Right. Yes. When is he in next?”

  “This afternoon. His shift starts at two.”

  Hayley nodded. “Send him to the front desk when he gets here.”

  The man nodded once and was quiet.

  Hayley’s armpits were soaked and she could feel sweat trickle down her cleavage as four more hands raised. She swallowed hard, glanced down at her notes, at the visible tremor of the pad of paper, and closed her eyes. When she felt a gentle tug on the pad, she opened them and looked up into Olivia’s deep brown ones.