P.S.

Since the fortuitous meeting with Harry at the tiny café miles from home, Olivia hadn’t been able to get him off her mind. The guilt consumed her. Thinking about Harry wasn’t something she should do, but she found herself incapable of controlling her mind. She tried to tell herself that thoughts were okay but actions were not, but her reminder remained futile.

It was the following day when he messaged her, surprising Olivia. Harry wasn’t a liar but Olivia had convinced herself he wouldn’t be contacting her. It was senseless on both of their parts to unearth old memories and emotions but it was clear she wasn’t the only one having difficulties forgetting about the summer love from years gone by.

The light in the bathroom was poor, but she didn’t expect the Plaza for the price she paid for the Airbnb studio. She scolded herself for worrying about her makeup when it wasn’t a date. It couldn’t be a date. Still, she blew out a frustrated breath. She wanted to look nice.

A loud knock on the door startled Olivia. However, it wasn’t unusual. The Canadian family had all found short-term rentals in Stephanie’s building. It was convenient, but as Olivia pulled open the door, she realised it would also make it difficult to be discreet.

“Hey! Do you want… Why are you all fancy faced?” Jessica asked, stopping mid-sentence to scrutinise Olivia.

“I…” Olivia began before being interrupted by her other sister.

“Fuck off!” Stephanie exclaimed. “You’re serious? You’re meeting him?”

Olivia pursed her lips together, shrugging. “I am…” she answered after a pause. “It’s only dinner.”

The two older sisters exchanged a glance which exasperated Olivia. “Why are you having dinner with him?” Jessica asked, her tone sounding more maternal than sisterly.

“Why?” Olivia repeated. “How can I not?” The prying, opinionated attitudes were infuriating her and her rising tone of voice showed it. “We’re a million miles from home…”

“Oh, please. Twenty-seven hundred,” Stephanie scoffed. “Don’t be dramatic.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she snapped. “We’re twenty-seven hundred miles from home. I haven’t seen him since…” She broke off. It still proved difficult to talk about that last day with Harry. “I mean…” She looked at Jessica, hoping her pragmatic middle-sister gene would understand Olivia’s dilemma.

“Don’t you think it… means something?” Olivia asked hopefully. The hopefulness in her voice surprised her. It wasn’t supposed to mean anything, and she wasn’t supposed to want it to.

“Means something!” Stephanie burst out. “You idiot, it means nothing! You’re willing to fuck a ton of shit up, just because you both had a coffee in one of the busiest cities in the world? God, and after what he did to you, you should be spitting in his face, not fucking going for dinner with him!”

“Steph…” Jessica told her older sister, trying to diffuse the situation. She shook her head before turning back to Olivia. “She is right, though…” Jessica reminded Olivia, her tone gentler than Stephanie’s had been.

“He didn’t…” Olivia began, defending Harry as she always did.

“He did!” Stephanie seethed, accusing Harry as she always did.

Olivia huffed out a loud sigh. “Whatever,” she retorted, the reply childish but fitting. “I’m going, so…” She glanced back and forth between her sisters, wanting approval but not expecting it.

Stephanie scoffed, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest. Jessica let out a quiet sigh as she danced on the side of diplomacy.

“I think you’re playing with fire,” she advised Olivia in a gentle voice.

Olivia let out a loud, humourless chuckle. “Oh, please,” she bit out. “Like I’m going to take relationship advice from you, Jess. Where even is Ray, hmm? Chatting with more nineteen-year-old whores on Facebook?”

She spoke the words and she couldn’t take them back, but when Olivia saw her sister’s face fall, she wished she could. Jessica’s husband had been chatting with several young women on social media over the past few months. It hadn’t amounted to more than flirty banter, but it devastated Jessica. Olivia had been with her when she found out and throwing that in Jessica’s face just because of Olivia’s guilt over her own fraternising disgusted her.

“Jess…” Olivia tried.

Stephanie held up an accusatory finger, stopping Olivia. “Don’t talk to her like that!” she exclaimed. “You’re such a brat! You’re just fucking guilty and taking it out on Jess,” she correctly stated.

“That’s not true,” Olivia argued. “But… whatever!” she exclaimed again. “Just go away, go talk about me and my shitty decisions and leave me alone, okay? Sorry, Jess,” she added, her snapping tone not making her sound apologetic.

“Whatever,” Jessica echoed quietly. They would be okay soon. They always were.

Stephanie was not as quiet as Jessica. “Enjoy your stupid walk down memory lane!” she snapped before grabbing Jessica by the arm and tugging her to the elevator.

Olivia sighed, leaning against the door frame as she watched her sisters disappear. Absolutely, they were right. Olivia knew that. But she also knew she would not listen to them, and she would see Harry.

~*~*~*~

Harry wrung his hands together, glancing back and forth between the apartment building entrance and his phone on his lap. It wasn’t like him to wait in the car for the girl to come to him, but this wasn’t a date. He had to keep reminding himself of that fact. It felt like a date, but it couldn’t be a date.

He sighed. He couldn’t understand why he was putting himself through the rollercoaster of emotions Olivia brought on. It had taken him ages to get over her – and if he was being honest with himself, he still wasn’t over her. But as the lobby door opened, and Olivia descended the stairs, the doubts and trepidation vanished, replaced with thoughts of how lovely she was.

He grinned, climbing out of the car to greet her. “Hello,” he offered, the word sounding too formal on his lips. Harry hesitated for a mere moment before taking a step closer and pulling Olivia into a hug at the bottom of the stairs. He’d hugged her at the café; he could hug her again.

“Hi,” Olivia responded, Harry’s sudden hug taking her by surprise. She reciprocated, wrapping her arms under Harry’s grasp. Olivia held him for a moment before patting him on the back as though he was a long-lost uncle, and not the once love of her life. She couldn’t allow herself to enjoy the hug, no matter how perfect she still fit under his chin.

“How are you?” Harry wondered, the politeness of the inquiry sounding odd to him. He rocked on his heels, a small smile playing on his lips as he looked at Olivia. He wished he knew what to say to her, how to make the evening less awkward. Never would he have imagined being so out of sorts with her. He wondered if she felt the same.

“I’m good,” Olivia replied. She matched Harry’s smile as she watched him rock on his heels. He seemed to be as awkward about the dinner date — meeting — as she was, but she ploughed through the discomfort. “It’s nice to see you,” she added with sincerity. She touched his arm for a moment to convey her genuineness but recoiled as the touch caused a spark to radiate through her body.

Harry felt it too and, despite Olivia’s withdrawal, his smile grew. “And you as well,” he answered. “Thank you for saying yes,” he added, a hint of cheekiness in his words. “Shall we?” He gestured to the car and, in a knee-jerk reaction, touched Olivia’s back to guide her towards the vehicle. The spark ignited again, and his stomach tumbled as he touched her. He then realised it would be very difficult to keep his hands to himself over the course of the evening.

Olivia nodded, climbing into the car. She reminded herself to not think about the heat radiating through her body at Harry’s touch. As he joined her in the backseat, a picture of snuggling with Harry entered her mind. She blew out a loud breath, willing the thought away.

Harry heard Olivia’s exhale, and he glanced at her, a curious look on his face. “You okay?” he asked. He suspected he was the reason for her sigh.

Olivia nodded. “Oh, I’m fine,” she assured Harry. He didn’t need to know about her internal battle. “Just, uhm…” She trailed off before dismissing the comment with a wave of her hand. “No worries. Where are we going?”

Harry smirked. Olivia had always been a terrible liar, but he wouldn’t pry. “I thought instead of a skanky little pub, we might try the Rose Club at the Plaza,” he told her, biting the insides of his cheeks to keep from laughing out loud at his joke.

Olivia’s mouth fell open, shocked that he make such a drastic change to their plans and didn’t tell her. “Harry!” she exclaimed, aghast. She gestured to her jeans. “I can’t go there like…” She trailed off, seeing Harry’s smirk widen. “Oh… you…” she sighed, shaking her head at Harry. “I forgot how terrible your jokes are,” she teased him, clasping her hands on her lap to avoid swatting his leg.

Harry guffawed. “I forgot how gullible you are,” he countered. He smirked again, pressing his fist against Olivia’s arm. The car hadn’t even pulled away from the curb, and he already knew he had to try to refrain from touching her. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t do that to you,” he promised Olivia. “But only because your wrath is rather scary!”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Oh, I’m not that bad,” she argued. Then she thought back to their time together, and the fights they’d had. She laughed to herself. “Well… okay, maybe a bit,” she corrected. “But you did once say you’re easy to yell at…” she reminded him before trailing off. The mention of their last fight, the ending argument, caused a tight knot to form in Olivia’s stomach. She didn’t like to think about the fight and the words they spoke to each other.

“I still am,” Harry told her with a laugh. Olivia was uncomfortable with the mention of that day; that much was clear. He didn’t want the entire evening to be the two of them awkwardly tripping over the landmines of the past. He chuckled again, hoping to change the subject.

“You’ll like this pub,” Harry told Olivia. “They’ve got these old, wobbly tables and you can carve shit into them. And the loos have pens, so you can draw all over the walls.”

Olivia turned to face Harry, a wide grin on her face. “Really?” she exclaimed. “That’s so fun! We will definitely carve something…” she told him, the pronoun ‘we’ hanging heavy in the air. She cleared her throat. “You do know me so well,” she added. The intention of the statement was lighthearted, but the words came out as a soft memory. She couldn’t let it show, but his remembrance warmed her heart.

Harry shrugged. “I mean… I said I wouldn’t forget, so…” he told Olivia, her remark bringing on a wave of shyness. He felt his face warm at his confession. It wouldn’t be appropriate to let Olivia know how much he hadn’t forgotten, but he hoped she knew.

It took everything she had to not reach out and take Harry’s hand. She hadn’t forgotten a thing either, but she’d expected Harry would. With models on his arms and trophies in his hands, she didn’t think he would have the time – or desire – to keep Olivia fresh in his mind.

“Well, uhm…” Olivia let out a quiet chuckle. “I’m glad you didn’t. I… I didn’t either,” she told him. The words shouldn’t have been said, but they seemed to have a mind of their own. Olivia blushed, looking down at her hands and forging past her comment before Harry could reply.

“So, anyway… How’s your mom?”

Harry couldn’t help but smile at Olivia’s words, but he accepted her diversion. It wasn’t fair for him – and possibly her, though her left hand embellishment was still elusive to Harry – to talk about how they hadn’t forgotten each other, and never would.

“She’s good,” Harry replied, launching into an enthusiastic tirade about his mother and his sister. He exaggerated the anecdotes with a dramatic flair, like the award winning actor he was, and ensured a certain name stayed off his lips.

Olivia was a perfect audience. She laughed in all the right places, asked engaging questions to keep the conversation flowing and bit her tongue from asking about the array of pretty blondes he’d had on his arm since the demise of their relationship. Considering her own arm candy, it didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. But it did.

Notes