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Chapters (48)
  1. 1. One
  2. 2. Two
  3. 3. Three
  4. 4. Four
  5. 5. Five
  6. 6. Six
  7. 7. Seven
  8. 8. Eight
  9. 9. Nine
  10. 10. Ten
  11. 11. Eleven
  12. 12. Twelve
  13. 13. Thirteen
  14. 14. Fourteen
  15. 15. Fifteen
  16. 16. Sixteen
  17. 17. Seventeen
  18. 18. Eighteen
  19. 19. Nineteen
  20. 20. Twenty
  21. 21. Twenty-One
  22. 22. Twenty-Two
  23. 23. Twenty-Three
  24. 24. Twenty-Four
  25. 25. Twenty-Five
  26. 26. Twenty-Six
  27. 27. Twenty-Seven
  28. 28. Twenty-Eight
  29. 29. Twenty-Nine
  30. 30. Thirty
  31. 31. Thirty-One
  32. 32. Thirty-Two
  33. 33. Thirty-three
  34. 34. Thirty-Four
  35. 35. Thirty-Five
  36. 36. Thirty-Six
  37. 37. Thirty-Seven
  38. 38. Thirty-Eight
  39. 39. Thirty-Nine
  40. 40. Forty
  41. 41. Forty-One
  42. 42. Forty-Two
  43. 43. Forty-three
  44. 44. Epilogue
  45. Afterword
  46. Also by
  47. Acknowledgments
  48. About Author

“Um, actually I could only get two tickets since it was sort of last minute.” Shit. I’m actually terrified of her saying no. “Do you think they’ll be upset about that?”

“They’ll probably be jealous. Mom and Taylor won’t shut up about you, and Matt and Dad have been talking about taking you to hockey games with them next season.”

The thought made me smile. Tom and Matt seemed like cool guys to go to the games with. We could probably even get season tickets in a box if we split it three ways. Then maybe one of us could—

My thoughts come to a halt. Next season? Next season I probably wouldn’t even have any contact with them. For some reason that thought alone killed my good mood.

“That would be cool,” I said with a laugh to cover my disappointment that it would likely never happen.

“Well, I’ll let you finish up at work and I’ll go get ready for tonight.”

Something about the thought of picking her up in front of her whole family felt odd yet strangely domestic. Like I was a teenager about to go on my first date. I wondered if I should pull out my cheap old cologne like back in the day. Olive was a high-maintenance girl and could probably tell the difference between American Eagle cologne and Paco Rabanne. I had always been easy going, simple. But picking her up for a date—even if it wasn’t really a date—made me want to take that extra step. Like a schoolboy putting on his dad’s aftershave so he could impress his crush at recess.

“Sounds good, Little Grinch.”

I swore I could feel another one of her tiny grins through my speaker when she quietly said goodbye.

18. Eighteen

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“Do you think my butt looks big in this?” I turned in the mirror to look at my behind in my thick black leggings. I lost a majority of my figure when I left Aspen, but my curves never quit, which was why pants usually fit too tight around my behind and too loose around my waist. It was a problem the old Olive would’ve loved to have.

“I think you look hot,” Taylor said as she laid back on my bed, listening to the podcast I edited today. She was as addicted to them as I was and, although I wasn’t one hundred percent sure it was legal, every now and then I’d let her listen. I considered it feedback.