The room was empty, at least for now, and Olivia was grateful for the privacy. She blew out a breath, feeling the sudden need to talk to someone who loved her and understood. Meg had Dylan, and oddly, she didn’t begrudge her that. But she needed someone too.
Normally, she’d call Avery, but her sister was tied up with her own drama at the moment. Olivia loved her mother, but she’d never felt like she understood her choices. She didn’t want to bother Ian and Riley, so she dialed her brother Scott. As a cop, he worked odd and often late hours, so she could count on him to answer the phone.
“Hey, Liv,” he said, picking up almost immediately.
“Hi. Are you busy?” she asked.
“Just got off shift. What’s up? Everything okay?”
She blew out a long breath. “I guess I just needed to hear a familiar voice.”
“Uh oh. What’s going on?” he asked in that brotherly way he had, the one that told her, like Ian, if someone had deliberately hurt her, there’d be hell to pay.
“Well…” Scott wasn’t as up to date on her love life as Avery, or even Ian, so she summed up her night as best she could. He knew Dylan and had been at her birthday party, so their involvement wasn’t a shock. She gave her brother the bare basics about Dylan’s friendship with Meg and how they’d ended up here at the University of Miami hospital. “So I left them alone to talk, and I’m sitting here by myself. I—”
Scott cleared his throat. “Listen, Liv. That’s pretty damned close to home for you.”
“Yeah.” Her voice caught, and she realized she was shivering.
“The station’s not far from the hospital, and like I said, I just got off duty, so I can be there in ten minutes,” he said.
She shook her head. “No, you don’t need to come. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
“See you in a few, Livvy,” he said, using her childhood name. And he hung up before she could argue further.
She tapped her phone against her temple, cursing those domineering Dare genes that the men in her family seemed to have inherited.
True to his word, Scott arrived not long after. He had dark hair like Ian and indigo eyes like hers. He was older than her, younger than Ian, and a rock-solid man, someone she could always rely on.
He walked in, having changed out of his uniform into a pair of jeans and a black tee. He took one look at her and held out his arms.
She stepped into her brother’s embrace. “Thank you.”
“For not listening when you told me not to come? You’re welcome.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m sure this is rough for you. Kind of like reliving things?”
“Yes, except … I’m on the outside looking in, and suddenly I’m seeing things I never let myself before.”
“Such as?” He grasped her hand and led her to the chairs.
“I’ve been looking at my future, at my life, from the perspective of a nineteen-year-old. Dylan said as much, but I didn’t know what he meant. I couldn’t see.”
I even know you believe you don’t want children. But… that’s your past talking. That’s the little girl whose father was never, ever around, who doesn’t want to be hurt again. Left again… It’s also the young woman who lost both a baby and a man who should have been there for her talking. But it’s not who you are today.
“So what’s changed?” Scott asked.
“His friend Meg. She was pushed around by her ex-boyfriend; she’s pregnant and hoping she doesn’t lose her baby. Yet she realizes even if she loses this baby, she wants to be a mother one day.” Olivia wiped her damp palms on her jeans and rose.
Scott followed, but he let her pace, let her think.
“That’s such an adult thing to say,” Olivia murmured. “So wise.” She spun back around to face her brother. “And it’s not something I would ever let myself feel, because I was thinking with my nineteen-year-old brain and all those pent-up emotions and the hurt from back then. I wouldn’t let myself move on.”
“Liv, I hope you understand where you’re going with this, because I gotta admit, I’m sort of lost.”
She grinned. Such a typical man. “That’s okay because I’m not. I finally see and understand what I want.” Olivia laughed and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you for listening.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so glad you understand. And you’re happy. That’s all I want.”
Olivia blew out a breath. “That’s all I want too.”