The women were outside long enough that Luke was up in his room when Olivia came back in. He heard the door sliding open and then closed—and if that hadn’t been enough of a clue, a minute later Molly came barreling into his bedroom looking for him. She made a soft woofing noise as he petted her, sniffing him and checking him over as if to make sure he was okay, and then she was back out the door.

Luke raised his eyebrows. Molly had barely left Maria’s side all night, which was pretty unusual. She was a social creature who normally wanted to keep everyone company and didn’t just latch on to one person. In fact, the last time he’d seen her like this had been when Nick and his fiancé had broken up and Nick had ended up on Luke’s couch for two weeks, a complete emotional wreck. During that time, Molly had been his constant companion.

Luke had known his brother was getting better when Molly stopped spending all her time with him.

“Everything okay?” he asked as Olivia practically sped towards him from across the room. His hands came up immediately to catch her as she pressed herself against him. Although there was no proof of it in her expression, he could tell she was upset about something.

“No,” she said. “But I can’t talk about it right now. Someone else’s secret.”

“That’s okay,” he said, just enjoying hold her. Whatever it was, it had to do with Maria and Rick. From the way they’d been draped around each other all night he doubted the problem was their relationship, but he’d find out sooner or later. Or not. Olivia was kind of like a vault. “Is there anything I can do?”

“This is good,” she said, sighing and resting her head against his chest. “Although I’m getting really tired too. Oh my god…” Luke started pushing his fingers into the muscles of her back, walking them up either side of her spine and he felt her practically melt against him. “You can stop doing that never, thanks.”

Chuckling, he rested his cheek against the top of her head as he walked his fingers back down, digging in a little more on the muscles which felt particularly tight. She hummed with pleasure, her arms looped around his waist as she leaned on him to stay upright.

After a few more minutes of that he smoothed his hands down her back and she sighed, pulling away reluctantly.

“Do you have anything I can wear for bed?” she asked, brushing her hair back from her face with one hand. Luke wrinkled his nose, making her laugh, a sound he was very glad to hear. Some of the unhappiness eased from her eyes. “A t-shirt and boxers maybe? I don’t sleep naked.”