“Wow,” she said with a straight face. “You sound so enthusiastic about this man. I can hardly contain you and the excitement that you’re radiating.”
“Stop it.” I laughed. “I mean, he was okay.”
“Just okay? I really thought this guy could be it. He is smart, he’s the youngest bank manager in the company, he has a sweet heart, and a sweet tooth, so I assume he is easy to please. He has the cutest little freckles right across his nose.”
“Yup,” I said, smiling and trying not to crush her.
“I can see this just may be a lost cause,” Mom said with disappointment. “Well, at least you gave it a shot, which is what I wanted for you anyway. What about that nice boy, Ollie, that was here last weekend? Are you two going out at all?”
At the sound of Ollie’s name, pain shot through my chest. I wanted to tell my mom he broke my heart, but I didn’t have the courage to tell her the whole story, and I knew that she would want to hear everything. The truth was, I still hadn’t gotten Ollie off my mind, no matter how much I tried to force Jeff on myself. Ollie had broken me out of my shell, brought me back to life in a way, and that was more than any guy had ever done for me. When we were together, it just fit, and I couldn’t understand how he didn’t see that, too.
“Mom, it’s complicated,” I said. “No, actually it’s not complicated. Ollie is Lillie’s, or was Lillie’s fiancé, remember? He was like the love of her life, and she was to him as well. I was Lillie’s best friend, kind of like the sidekick in a movie. Lillie was the star of Ollie’s show. Things just don’t really work like that.”
“Right,” my mom said, nodding and remembering who Ollie was. “So, is he seeing anyone now?”
My mom was straying down a dangerous path, one that I was all too familiar with. In reality, I had no idea if Ollie was seeing anyone, but I was assuming not since he didn’t seem to be too interested in relationships. I mean, he pretty much had a one-night stand with me, only I wasn’t aware that that was what it was until the next day when I got that text from him. Until that came into my phone, I was still under the impression that he was struggling, but that he would call me soon and we would straighten it all out.
“Mom,” I groaned.
“What?” she asked, shrugging her shoulders. “He’s a handsome man. He is extremely successful in his work, and he clearly knows what a great girl you are since he knew you in college. I personally don’t see how anyone couldn’t fall in love with you. You are an amazing woman, and even though you have been through hell and back these last five years, you’re still the same old spunky girl that you were when he went to school with you.”
“Oh, Mom,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Hush.”
Even though it was my mom saying it, I knew that in some ways, she was right. I was an amazing woman, even when I let others take that feeling away from me. I tried to do the right thing on a regular basis, and there was nothing different about me now than there was when I had first met Ollie. I wished that I could have pointed a finger at the exact reason he didn’t want to be with me, but I couldn’t, leading me to believe I was just another notch in his belt.
“Look,” I said, leaning forward. “Ollie and I have known each other for a long time, and he isn’t interested in me like that, and never has been. I appreciate the pick-me-up talk, telling me how fantastic I am, but in reality, I just don’t think that it’s even worth talking about. There is nothing there, and I’m not even sure we still have a friendship like we used to. Things changed in both of our lives, and unfortunately, that isn’t something that either of us could have helped.”
“I hear what you’re saying, Elana,” she said, shaking her head. “But I still can’t get the picture of you two laughing and having an amazing time together out of my head. I mean, you guys were right on cue with your jokes, with your conversations, and everything else that happened that day. I honestly can’t remember the last time that I’d seen you have that much fun with someone. It sure hasn’t been in the last five years, which is a pretty long time not to laugh, if you ask me. I wouldn’t even be able to bear thinking about my future without knowing I would spend it laughing and joking with the people that I cared the most about.”
My mom’s words echoed through my head, and I couldn’t help but want to agree with everything that she was saying. Still, there was that little piece of the puzzle that my mom was missing, the fact that he had left me in the middle of the night after an amazing night out, and an even more amazing night in.
“Are you absolutely positive that he isn’t interested?” she asked.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure,” I said with a sigh.
Just as my mom was about to give me a counter argument, there was a loud knock on the front door. She looked up with surprise and put her coffee mug down on the table. I moved to get up, but she shook her head at me.
“I’ll get it,” she said. “It might be Nancy from the church, here to drop off some decorations for Thanksgiving.”
I smiled at my mom and followed her out into the living room where I leaned against the wall, ready to give Miss Nancy a proper greeting. My parents had raised me to always have manners, even when I didn’t know someone very well. It had come in handy many times in my life, and I wondered if Ollie had been raised that way as well. If so, he had one hell of a way of practicing his manners, running out on me at the last second. I stood there and watched as my mother twisted the door open and stood back, a big smile on her face. Standing in the doorway, holding a bakery box in his hands, was Ollie, his charming smile lighting up the entire room, even the dark places inside of me that had been aching since he sent me that text.
To say that I was surprised would have been an understatement. I was floored by the fact that it was him standing on the other side of that door. My mouth dropped open, and I stood there frozen in place, not even sure what I should do or say. Butterflies flittered through my chest and stomach just at the sight of Ollie standing there. My mom looked happy, and I knew exactly what was going through her head, especially since we were just talking about him thirty seconds before he arrived.
“Ollie,” my mom said, giving him a big hug. “Come in, come in.”
Ollie walked in the door and glanced over at me, quickly returning his gaze to my mom. She looked absolutely thrilled to see him, and though I couldn’t deny that I was happy to see him too, I had to keep a straight face, not knowing what in the world he was doing there in the house. My mom led him into the living room, and I stood back behind the couch, just watching and waiting for him to say something.
I mean, we weren’t supposed to be seeing each other, right? That was what his text had said, that he thought it was better that we didn’t see each other for a while. A while was a lot longer than a week in my book. I stood there and stared as he and my mother carried on a friendly conversation about how his week at work had gone. Everything inside of me wanted to go run and hug him, but then the text message flashed through my mind, and I found my feet cemented to the floor, my chest feeling like it was going to explode from the emotions that were running through me.
“I know that I am too late for dinner,” he said, smiling at me and then looking back to my mom and handing her the box in her hands. “But I thought maybe you guys would like some dessert.”
“Ollie, that is so sweet of you,” my mom said, looking over at me. “Wasn’t that sweet of Ollie, Elana?”
“Super sweet,” I said, crossing my arms.
Ollie looked over at me and smiled again, but I could tell he
could sense the mood that I was in. I had never wanted to shake someone and kiss them at the same time before, but that was about where I was, standing there in front of him.