Olivia

I hugged Momma hard, whispering in her ear, “Be nice. He wanted to meet you, even after he knew you were mad, so be nice.”

Then I pulled back from her and gave her the stink eye. She pursed her lips, and then a smile slid across her face as she focused on Xavier.

“So you’re Xavier. I am Marguerite Mereoux, Olivia’s mother. This is Lloyd Basterson, my friend.”

Xavier shook both their hands.

“You get us on the list, Liv?” Lloyd asked.

I nodded. “It won’t be that long.”

“Have you been here before, Xavier?” Momma asked.

“No. I’ve never been anywhere in Nashville other than the airport. I have some friends who recommended this place, though. Although I think they went to a late night breakfast or something.”

“That’s on Saturday nights. It’s great,” I said.

“Yeah, they were raving about it. And they’re both foodies, so I figured that was a good thing.”

“It’s very good here. But let’s get the elephant out of the middle of the room, Xavier,” Momma said.

“What are you doing?” I whispered to her.

“Shush, Olivia. I’m your momma. And this young man knew what was coming. No sense in letting the elephant sit there. Don’t you agree, Xavier?”

To my surprise, Xavier was smiling. “I do, Ms. Marguerite. You leave them just sitting there, they shit in the middle of the room.”

A very heavy, very long moment of silence, and then Lloyd burst into laughter. Big, loud, belly laughs, to the point that he only laughed harder as Momma and I stared at him, and he put his hand on her shoulder, leaning over.

“Don’t go gettin’ your gussie up, Ri,” he got out. “Let the boy talk. You’re all ready for a fight, but that gun might be half-cocked.”

“Could you fit any more good ole boy in that?” I asked. He must have had a cocktail before they met up with us. Normally, he kept the southern side kind of quiet.

“Don’t you sass me, Lloyd!” Momma fumed at him.

“Momma, ease up,” I said. “Xavier agreed with you. I know it derailed you a little but don’t let it stop you.”

I’d been horrified when she’d started in on Xavier, but he handled himself perfectly. I wasn’t worried at all. It was also nice to see someone else get under Momma’s skin.

Lloyd was still chuckling, and I couldn’t stop my smile. Xavier, wisely, had kept an outright grin off his face, but I could tell it was an effort.

As awkward as this all was, it was lightening my heart.

“As I was saying, and you agreed, before we were so rudely interrupted by…this,” she gestured at Lloyd, “I like to get things out in the open. Especially when it concerns my daughter.”

“Did you stick up for her with Royce?” Xavier asked.

Oh, sweet baby Jesus on a pogo stick.

He did not. But as I looked at him, he didn’t look smug, or anything, just curious.

Momma also was staring at him, and she sighed. “I did as much as I could. I encouraged him to let us try our hand at our little idea, and when he said he was better suited for something else, I acted sad.”

“Momma! You never told me that!” I gasped.

“Well, you loved him,” she said with a shrug. “Sometimes a woman can’t be out in the open. You have to work with what you got. Anyway, and now that the bastard has hightailed it out to more…,” she glanced at Lloyd and grinned, earlier anger forgotten, “Drunken pastures, I am going to make sure that Livvie gets everything that is hers and that man can never bother her again.

“Drunken pastures?” Xavier asked.

“We’ll tell you that over dinner. Quit misdirecting, young man. You’re handsome enough, but I am too old to be bothered by that. Why was my daughter crying this weekend?”

Xavier looked at me, and put an arm around my waist, drawing me close and kissing the top of my head. He must have balls of steel, I thought. No fear or sense whatsoever, and he was in enemy territory.

“Because she’s having a tough time in general, and although she and I are something positive, there was a miscommunication between us. It’s been explained, and I even have evidence. Isn’t that what you lawyers love, evidence?”

No sense at all. None. You didn’t just tease my mother.

“When it’s on your side,” Lloyd said.

Xavier laughed. “You sound like my best friend.”

“What, he’s an attorney?” Momma asked.

“She is. She works in DC, does shipping related stuff. Tib’s widely feared for her negotiating. I make her do mine when I can get on her schedule. She scares the shit out of the person on the other side.”

“That’s a good talent to have, in a woman,” Momma said. “It’s always so unexpected. But you will not hurt my daughter again? Because as you said, she’s having a tough time in general.”

“I can’t promise that. People who are in a relationship do hurt each other sometimes. I can be a thoughtless jerk. I’m sure Olivia has faults, although I haven’t come across them yet. So I’ll promise you that I’ll do my best.”

I loved that he was so honest, but I didn’t really know how Momma would take it. Lloyd liked him. I could tell. If Momma decided she didn’t, she’d make my life hell.

Not that it was her business, but…this was the way it was.

I realized that Xavier had figured that out earlier. He knew he had to make things right with not only me but my family.

“Well, that’s honest, and that’s the best anyone can do. So you make sure you try, and enough with the rough language,” Momma added.

Holy shit. He’d actually scored points with Momma. I don’t think even Royce had ever gotten this far with her.

Probably because he was Royce, I thought with a snicker.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, his grin widening.

At that moment, with perfect timing, the hostess called my name. As we walked in, Xavier whispered in my ear, “No problem at all, darlin’,” he added, putting a terrible approximation of a drawl on the last word.

“You have no idea what you have avoided,” I whispered back.

“Oh, I do,” he said. “But I like her. She’s what a mom is supposed to be.”

I didn’t have an answer for that. I remembered what he’d told me about his mom, and all that I’d ever read.

So I squeezed his hand as we went into dinner.

Xavier

After dinner was over, I felt pretty good. Olivia hadn’t been kidding. Her mother was intimidating. But I remembered that Olivia appreciated honesty over everything else I’d done, or not done. She didn’t want bullshit.

I figured her mother would be the same way.

What I did, although I would never admit it to anyone else, was picture Tibby as an old lady, defending her daughter. Tibby had defended me, on more than one occasion. She was ferocious.

This was a lady who loved her kid so much that she went into business with her, and then went all out to protect her after her divorce.

Olivia said her mother was her best friend. So it wasn’t hard to figure out I’d be facing a hard ass.

She was quiet as we drove back to her place.

“Can I stay?” I asked. I didn’t want to assume, although it made sense to me.

Olivia glanced over at me, and said, “Yes, please.”

Nothing more.

Well, shit. That would suggest things weren’t settled in Ms. Olivia’s mind.

When we got into her house, her phone went off, and it was like a siren in the quiet of the place. She looked at it, made a noise that indicated great disgust, and ignored it.

When she made eye contact, I raised my eyebrows in question.

“The ass,” she said.

“Oh, well, fuck him,” I answered cheerfully. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“I can’t believe how you talked to my mother.” She smiled as she said that.

“Your mom is your BFF, and I got the impression she doesn’t put up with shit. So I thought it better to meet her on her terms. Plus, I like her. I like that she fights for you.” I wasn’t lying. I would have loved a mom who fought for me like Olivia’s did for her.

“She liked you, I could tell,” Olivia looked kind of shy.

“I’m glad. I want her to.” I went to her and wrapped my arms around her the way I wanted to wrap myself around her.

“Are we okay?” I asked.

I heard her sigh. When she didn’t answer right away, I wanted to sigh myself. I was right. All was not well. Better to get it out on the table now.

“I feel like an ass,” she confessed. “I assumed all sorts of terrible things, assumptions you didn’t deserve because you’re not…well, you’re you, and no one else.”

Damn it. I knew she was thinking about her ex. But I just nodded, and let her keep talking.

“I had all kinds of crazy talk in my head, and I figured you were lying to me because I wasn’t enough, didn’t belong to the world you live in…all that sort of thing.”

I let go of her, moving her away so that I could see her. “Olivia, if I didn’t want to be with you, I’d just tell you.”

She threw up her hands and walked to the other end of the kitchen. “I know! That’s what makes sense, and that’s what you’d think normal, rational adults do, but I’m in the middle of a divorce that’s about to get mean because he couldn’t just tell me and leave. It’s always easier to say these kinds of things!”

Olivia turned back toward me, and I could see the intensity in her over what she was saying. I held out my hands.

“Listen, I get it. If I were you, I’d be pretty low on trust. I’m not the most trusting person myself. But I don’t lie, and if I don’t want to be with you, I will tell you. You have to believe me on that. What can I do to prove this to you?”

Normally, I would say fuck it and move along. But this wasn’t normal, and Olivia was worth the effort.

“It’s why I called Jazmine and let you listen in. I wanted you to know there was nothing for you to worry about.”

“This is your life, Xavier! This kind of thing happens a lot, doesn’t it?”

I thought about it for a minute before I answered. Did it?

“Yeah, it does. I don’t even think about it anymore. It’s just…there.”

Olivia looked miserable. “I know that. I know it, and it still hurts me like hell. I don’t have any real claim on you—”

I strode to her and kissed her. “Oh, I think you do.”

Her cheeks pinked. “Well, okay, there’s a claim, but we’re still getting to know each other, and I have to understand this is part of your life, but I am really struggling with it.”

I gathered her close again. “None of that matters. You are the one I want to be with. It’s you I choose to be with. Yeah, there’s always some chick who has other ideas, but I don’t. You are the only one I want to be with. Can you believe that? Can you trust that if that changes, I will tell you? I’ll be upfront, and I won’t be a dick?”

She stared at me, and it felt like she was looking to stare down my soul. Honestly, it was unnerving. But I knew, I just knew, that if I didn’t give it my all with her, I would, as I told her before, be kicking my own ass.

“I can try,” she said. “I won’t lie to you either. I’m struggling.”

“I get it. I know that I’m not the easiest person to deal with. My life is a pain in the ass for just about anybody else. It’s a pain in the ass for me, and I love it. It’s okay for you to take some time to figure out how to manage the shit that comes along with me.” I felt bad. I did have a lot of shit.

She looked sad. “No, this isn’t your fault. You don’t deserve this from me. You haven’t done anything to have me get all bananas.”

“I didn’t call you when I said I would.”

“Well, that’s first date kind of stuff. Not the end of the world. And you made up for it pretty well,” she smiled.

Which made me happy. It was the first genuine smile I’d seen from her since we’d left Monell’s.

I smiled and kissed her.

“Okay, I know I’m totally a pig, but could you indulge me? Is it possible we could get naked together?”

Her laugh was the best thing I’d heard all weekend. “You are honest, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. I know you’re mad—well, you were mad as hell at me, and this is not really ideal, but I’ve been thinking about being with you all weekend, and it’s making me crazy. You smell good enough to eat,” I finished.

She ran her fingers through my hair. I felt a chill go through my whole body. She was that intoxicating. Even a little touch like this made me insane.

“Okay. I think it’s a good idea. Even though I’ve been mad as hell, I was thinking about you naked, too.”

“Well, hot damn tamale, Charlie.”

“I’m a tamale now?”

“Yeah. Habanero hot.”

We both laughed.

“Olivia, I know this isn’t easy. This isn’t your life. But I will make this as easy as I can, and you have to trust me, okay?”

When her eyes came up to mine, I could see the smile in them.

“Okay. But I reserve the right to get you a floozy swatter.”

We were both laughing again as I carried her into her bedroom.