“Really?” Her eyes light up in disbelief.

I give her a shrug and a wink.

We both hang our hopes on Owen.

Shelly wants him to like her as much as she likes him and I do, too. I have a feeling that a girlfriend is exactly what would make Owen a little bit less intense with me.

It will divert his attention away from me, and maybe having someone he enjoys spending time with will make him drink a little less, too.

Owen comes out of his room, wearing only shorts. He gives Shelly a little peck on the cheek and then wraps his arm around her shoulder.

“Hey, girls,” he says. “Whatcha talking about?”

“Your ears burning?” I ask.

Shelly smiles and looks down at the floor.

He brushes hair out of her face and gives her another kiss, this time on the mouth.

A wave of relief washes over me.

He likes her. He really likes her!

“You two have any plans for today?” I nudge them.

“I don’t know, maybe we’ll grab some brunch. My day is pretty open,” Owen says, turning to Shelly.

“I don’t have to be at work until nine so we can do…whatever.” Her eyes twinkle at the thought of spending it with him.

“You want to come?” Owen offers.

“No, I’m good, you two have fun.”

When I head out on my walk, I can’t help but smile.

This is it.

He met a nice girl and she’s going to take him out of that dark place he has been in ever since we got here.

Closing the door behind me, I glance back.

Owen still has his arm around Shelly but his eyes glare at mine.

7

Olive

When I look through the file…

I spend the following morning lounging around in bed way past the time when I should get up.

It feels nice not to stick to the schedule that I had set out for myself and to just take a little break. After finishing another book, my thoughts wander back to the folder that Nicholas gave me.

He said he was waiting for the right time to give it to me but it never presented itself. Why the hell not?

I don’t know how long he has had the file but it must’ve been ages. There were so many times that I had cried on his shoulder trying to figure out what to do and where to go from here.

I have a lot of things to be angry with him for and this is the one that probably pisses me off the most.

Why did he wait?

Why didn’t he just tell me?

I open the folder and read through the contents for what feels like the millionth time.

I know her name.

I know some about her family history.

I know that she came from a wealthy family.