“I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”
“She’s using you, Brett. She’s using you for something, I know she is. And you can say you know her secret all you want, but I guarantee you that you don’t. Whatever she’s hiding, it’s big.”
“Well, when you figure out what it is that’s bigger than what I already know, then you can call and we can have this discussion. I’m sorry we can’t do lunch today. But, if you want, we could do lunch tomorrow?” I asked.
“Not free tomorrow. Got classes all day. But I’ll leave you with this: I saw you hurt the first time with her. I saw how much she destroyed you. I was young, sure. But I remember it. You’re my big brother, and you’re the strongest person I know. But you’re weak when it comes to Olivia. I don’t know why, and I don’t care. What I do care about is the fact that she’s not good enough for you and you don’t see it. She’s using you, and you act like you don’t care. So, if you get hurt this time by her, it’s shame on you,” she said.
“Then it’s shame I’ll suck up. Goodbye, Brittany.”
She hung up the phone on me, and I sighed. I shook my head and slipped my phone back into my pocket, then headed back for the table. Our food had been delivered, and I saw Olivia picking at it, pushing her sliced steak around and dipping it into the Cajun sauce over the pasta.
“Sorry about that,” I said as I said down. “Apparently, she wanted to get lunch with me today.”
“She’s never liked me, you know,” Olivia said.
I picked up my fork and poised it over my salmon. I looked up into Olivia’s face and saw the hurt in her eyes, the pain. It killed me to see her like that. I didn’t want the mother of my child and the woman I loved to feel anything remotely close to something like that.
“That’s not true, Olivia. I think she’s jealous of you. But I don’t think she doesn’t like you,” I said.
“Jealous? Why would she be jealous of me?” she asked.
“I think back in college she was jealous of the fact that you saw me more than she did. I stopped coming home as much when we started dating because I spent my weekends with you rather than with them. I think she sees us together again now and those unresolved feelings of jealousy are bubbling back to the surface. She likes you, but she’s jealous. And that’s something she has to work through in her own time.”
“Well, Daniel said that Brittany could potentially be the reason why we split up back in college.”
I furrowed my brow. “You’re talking with your father about this stuff?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I mean, he’s been a good listener about it all. And it’s nice to talk with someone who wasn’t there through all the drama. Like Mom was.”
“You shouldn’t be talking with that man about us. About anyone in my family, but especially us. Your father doesn’t want us to be together. The only thing you’re giving him is more ammunition to throw at us.”
“Don’t worry, Brett. I talked with him about the encounter in your office. I talked with him about how I didn’t need a champion. I told him that I didn’t need someone sweeping into my life and defending me at every turn,” she said.
“I don’t care, Olivia. I don’t want you talking about my family with your father. He barged into my office and disrupted my schedule just to tell me to stay away from you. That type of man is volatile, at best,” I said.
She took a bite of her food, peeking up at me. “He told you to stay away from me? Those exact words?”
“Yeah. What did you think he told you?” I asked.
“Nothing. Just making sure what he told me was the truth. And anyway, why don’t you want me talking to him about what’s going on? I’m trying to give this man a decent chance. Like both my mother and you told me to do. Why does he rub you the wrong way so badly?”
“Minus the fact that he confronted me in my office and told me that you deserved better than what I had to offer? I actually think he’s the one behind the emails being sent.”
Olivia dropped her fork to her plate and swallowed her food quickly. She looked surprised by my words, and I wasn’t sure why.
“You think Daniel is sending the emails we’re getting,” she said.
“Yes. I do. I think he has the most to lose, or at least he feels he does. He knows I don’t like him, so me being a force in your life means he potentially can’t sink his claws into you with whatever it is he’s planning.”