Down Too Deep (Dirty Deeds, #4)(102)

“Yeah, of course. Unless you want to wait and have it just be me and you…”

“Uh.” She thought on this, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she looked from me to Jenna, then back to me. “I don’t know. Can I do both?”

“I want to talk to Nate alone,” Oliver announced. “I have some things to say.” He lifted his chin at his sister.

“Duh, Ollie. So do I,” she returned. “I have things.”

I put my hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “Let me go talk to your brother, and then me and you can go talk. Okay?”

“Okay.” She smiled up at me.

Jenna pulled off her bag and carried it to the couch, dropping it over the side. “Come on, Olivia. You can help me with dinner.” She held out her hand.

Olivia rushed over, taking it, and the two of them walked together into the kitchen.

“You coming?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah.” I turned away from my girls, two out of the three, and shadowed Oliver down the hallway and into his bedroom.

He took a seat on the bed while I grabbed the desk chair, wheeling it into the center of the room. I leaned forward in it, bracing my elbows on my knees, and watched Oliver pick at his laces.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around the past few days,” I told him. He peered up at me. “I should’ve called. I had some stuff I was dealing with, but that’s no excuse. I should’ve talked to you and your sister and I didn’t, but it was nothing you guys did, okay?”

“Okay.” His voice was quiet.

“There’s nothing you could ever do to make me not want to be around you guys.”

Oliver looked down briefly to blink a couple times. He pushed up his glasses. “Did you and my mom break up?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I messed up. I didn’t talk to her when I should’ve, and it hurt her feelings.”

“So, you’re talking to her now, right? Are you getting back together?”

“I’d like to. It’s a little complicated, but I’m going to do everything I can to make it better. I just want your mom to be happy.”

“So do I.” He held my stare.

I smiled. God, I loved this kid.

“She’s happy when you talk to her, so…like, really happy. So just talk to her.” His shoulders jerked. “That should be all you gotta do.”

“I’m afraid there’s a little more to it than that, but whatever it takes, I’m going to do it, okay?”

“Yeah.” Oliver cleared his throat when his voice cracked and scooted to the edge of the bed, letting his feet dangle off. “Thanks.”

“You don’t need to thank me, O. I want us to be together. All of us.”

He stared at me.

I tipped my head at the camping gear stacked and packed in the corner of his room. “Friday, if you still want me to go with you, I’ll go. What do you want to do?”

Oliver sat up as tall as he could. “I want you to go.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded fast.

“Are you excited? It’s supposed to be nice weather.”

“I am. I’m really excited.” He cracked his knuckles. “Are you excited?”

“Absolutely.” I smiled at him, then looked over at the doorway when Olivia peeked her head around it. “Hey.”

“Are you guys done having your alone time yet?” she asked. “I want mine. Mom’s making me wash lettuce. That’s dumb.”

My chest rattled with a laugh. I looked at Oliver, and he gave me a thumbs-up.

“I’ll say goodbye before I leave, okay?” I stood from the chair and held out my fist.

“Yeah.” He bumped it. “I’ll probably be in here. No way am I washing lettuce.”

“Oliver!” Jenna hollered. Her voice carrying down the hallway.

“Oh man.” Oliver hung his head and crept out of the room. I followed Olivia across the hall.

“Come in. You can sit here.” She tugged on my hand, pulling me to the bed and patting the quilted bedspread. “Just don’t put your shoes on the bed. Mom will fah-reak.”

I chuckled, taking a seat beside her. “Got it.”

Olivia kicked off her sneakers. Then she crossed her legs like a pretzel and smiled at me.

“You know, I’m really, really sad that I made you sad,” I told her, and her smile fell away. “I don’t want you or your brother getting hurt. It bothers me, Liv.”

Her head was lowered now, so she had to peer at me above her glasses. “Because you love us, right?”

Damn. I knew I promised not to say this, but technically, I wouldn’t be saying it. I’d be agreeing…And there was no fucking way I could ever let this girl think I didn’t love her.

“Right,” I said.

Olivia looked up and blinked at me behind her frames. “We love you too, you know? That’s why we like you so much.”

I grinned. “You like me because you love me?”

“Yes.”

“I like your logic.”

“What’s logic?”

“Your reason for thinking something. Why it makes sense to you…”