Mission: Soldier to Daddy

Jealously made Luke grimace, but he shrugged it away. Perhaps if he knew the man wasn’t actually interested in Olivia he’d feel differently.

“Hi, sweetheart!” Ollie enveloped Charlie in her arms and kissed his head. “What are you two doing here?”

She directed that question at Luke, and he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets, feeling uncomfortable. He didn’t like being in another man’s house, especially when he wasn’t exactly sure how to explain himself.

“We were at the park and Charlie decided he wanted to see you,” Luke told her. “I hope we haven’t interrupted.”

Charlie hung on to his mom’s leg, too preoccupied to chime in and tell her that they were here because Luke had told a strange woman at the park that’s where they were heading.

“Nice place your boss has,” he said.

Olivia smiled and turned back to the kitchen, Charlie trailing after her. “It’s not exactly a bad place to work,” she said over her shoulder. “Do you two want lunch?”

Charlie was already nodding, and Luke just smiled when she turned around to face them.

“How about you both sit down and I’ll whip something up,” she said.

Luke walked around the living room, his eyes picking up on all the things around him. Photos lining one side-piece, the odd painting, plus a few stacks of magazines and a couple of pricey-looking artifacts. Nothing over the top, but everything in the room looked expensive.

He stopped at the cluster of photographs and squinted, not liking what he saw. A handsome, dark-haired man was smiling back at him, his arm slung around a woman. He was in most of the shots, and it didn’t take a genius to work out that the man was the owner of the place.

“Is this your boss?” Luke asked.

Olivia hardly even looked up. “You mean the one with the pretty blonde? That’s Ricardo with his sister.”

Luke couldn’t help the tight clench of his jaw. She obviously knew the photos intimately and he hated it. He could only hope that she was so familiar with them because she dusted around them regularly, not because she liked looking at her boss.

Jealousy wasn’t an emotion Luke was familiar with, and he wasn’t liking it at all.

“Lunch is ready.”

He forced a smile and walked to the counter, trying to ignore the soft sway of his wife’s hips, the way she smiled as their son ate his crusts, and the shine in her eye when she laughed. Olivia might be Luke’s wife, but he had no right to be jealous of the people she knew, or who was in her life right now. But seeing her boss, acknowledging his jealousy toward him, was only making Luke want to fight all the more for what he’d lost.

Olivia was struggling not to smile as she finished her work. Charlie often came with her while she was here, but he usually played with his toys or pestered her about what he could do and when they’d be leaving. It was different having Luke here with him.

He’d taken Charlie out for a walk, then come back to wait for her. The two of them were hanging out on the sofa, Charlie tucked into the crook of Luke’s arm, yabbering away. And now that she’d finished dinner for tonight and tomorrow, she was ready to go.

“Mommy, can we take Dad to the ice cream shop?”

Olivia laughed. It seemed that Charlie thought his dad was a playmate rather than a grown-up.

“Sure,” she called out. “Just let me rinse this cloth out and we’re out of here.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

Olivia drew in a deep breath. Luke was watching her, his eyes trained on hers. Too close for her not to feel jittery. “Uh, no, I’m just about done.”

He nodded. “Okay, I’ll tidy up the cushions on the sofa and get Charlie’s sweater on.”

Now it was Olivia who was nodding. She didn’t trust her voice. When Luke was at a distance, with Charlie, anywhere so that she was the one observing him rather than being up close and personal, she was fine. Close range turned her into a ball of knots.

She took one last look around, flicked the light switch and walked toward her son. “Let’s go.”

They stepped into the elevator and Olivia found it hard to breathe. Being with Luke like this, as if nothing was wrong, as if they’d always been this way, was making her uncomfortable. Because it felt as if they were living a temporary lie. With lies always came hurt, and she knew she had more of that coming, by the bucket load.

As they walked out onto the sidewalk, side by side with Charlie in the middle, Olivia couldn’t help thinking how normal they must look to passersby. A mommy and daddy out for a nice afternoon with their child, without any hint of their dysfunctional reality.

“Swing me!” demanded Charlie.

That made Olivia smile. He always wanted to be swung, but she rarely had another adult with her to do it.

“Come on, then,” she agreed.

Charlie held up both hands. She grasped one, then looked over at Luke. He appeared confused.

“We have to each hold one hand, then swing him forward as we walk,” she explained.

Luke did as he was told, but Olivia could see from the look on his face that he had no idea what it was all about. She guessed he’d never had anyone swing him as a kid.