Laurel Heights: Return To You Part 3

She returned to her plants with a harrumph. "d.a.m.n right, it wasn't. You were a little h.e.l.lion."

"Mom used to call me her angel."

"You mama had the kindest heart of anyone I've ever known," she said softly, all the teasing banished from her voice.

Olivia swallowed. She wondered if losing a daughter was worse than losing a mother.

Clearing her throat, Mae pulled out a weed and tossed it aside. "Your poor mother is probably turning over in her grave, what with the way your antics have aged me."

"Right. Have you ever considered that you've aged because you're ancient?"

"I'll have you know I'm not a day over seventy, you-"

Cheeky imp, Olivia mouthed.

"-cheeky imp. I'd like to see you look this good when you're pus.h.i.+ng your eighth decade."

Amused, she watched her grandmother mutter to herself as she finished the bed. Olivia breathed in the fresh scent of herbs and the knot inside her loosened a little bit. "Granny Mae, what would I do without you?"

"Goodness knows." She eyed Olivia's outfit. "Probably die of pneumonia. Don't you have a wit of sense, girl, parading around like that?"

"It is a little nippy out, isn't it?" She huddled in her coat.

Without looking up, Gran asked, "So you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

Olivia heaved a sigh. "Michael's back. He said he's shooting a movie here at Pembroke Farms."

Her grandmother nodded, seemingly engrossed by the weed she was trying to pull out.

"That's it? No explanation?"

"I was offered a tidy sum to have them use my farm for a couple weeks. I accepted. You're the one always telling me I should have more of a nest egg, for the future." Gran gave her a sly look. "It's been a long time. I thought you were over him."

Olivia frowned. "I am."

"Then it doesn't matter if they film here, does it?"

h.e.l.l yes it mattered. "No."

"So what's the problem?"

Just that she'd been sold out for a tidy sum. "I guess there is none."

"Unless you still have feelings for him." Gran shot her another look. "It'd be understandable. You two were inseparable for most of your lives."

"The only thing I feel is indifferent." She glanced at the sky to make sure she wasn't going to be struck down by lightning.

Her grandmother sat back and stared at her, her hands resting open-palmed in her lap. Olivia had no trouble interpreting the look in her eyes. Succinctly put, it said bulls.h.i.+t.

Olivia finally said, "Maybe I still have the teensiest of feelings for him."

Gran snorted.

"Okay, so I'm still a little p.i.s.sed. I thought I was over him," she said, dejected.

"It's natural to still feel something, epecially when you loved him so completely."

She crossed her arms tightly. "I don't want to feel anything for him."

"Best face it head on. It'll help you put it behind you once and for all." Gran gave her a sideways glance. "If that's what you want."

"Of course, that's what I want." When her grandmother said nothing, she gaped incredulously. "You aren't suggesting that I hook up with that b.a.s.t.a.r.d again, are you?"

"That's not for me to say." She put a hand out to Olivia for help up.

"What are you saying?" Olivia helped her stand and picked up the basket to carry inside. "He dumped me because I was in the way of his so called freedom. If we got together again, how would it be any different? He'd leave me just as quickly the next time an irresistible offer popped up. No, even faster this time."

"Hmm." Gran slid her arm through Olivia's and walked next to her.

"Because he loves himself to the exclusion of everything else. Or at least he didn't love me enough."

"He loved you. Probably still does."

"Right."

"That kind of love doesn't fade. Like the love of a parent for a child."

"Bad a.n.a.logy, Gran. My parent didn't love me enough to stay either."

"He loved you. His way of expressing it just wasn't ideal."

"Ha!"

Her grandmother gave her a chiding look. "He meant well."

"Give me a break, Gran. He dumped me here after mom died and didn't come back for ten years. When he did come back, all he did was criticize me."

"He just wanted what was best for you."

"How could he have known what that was when he didn't bother to get to know me?" Olivia guided her over a wobbly stone, knowing that Gran didn't see that well in the fading light.

"Everyone's fallible, love."

"I know that," she said defensively.

"Does that mean you're going to give him another chance?"

"Not in this lifetime."

Gran chuckled. "Love, as much as you'll hate me for saying this, you're just like your father."

She faked a shudder. "Kill me now."

"You should give him another chance," Gran repeated firmly, shaking Olivia's arm for emphasis.

"I'm not going to LA and he's not coming here, so I don't think that's going to happen."

Her grandmother mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like don't be too sure as they reached the porch.

"What was that?"

Gran walked in and held the back door open for her. Olivia was about to ask her what she said again when she noticed the man at the sink.

Everett Parker.

She froze. Her grandmother, calmly took the basket from her, set it on the kitchen table, and left the room.

Olivia only had eyes for him. He watched her with his disconcertingly pale green eyes. Absurdly, she remembered asking him why his eyes had no color when she was three or four. He told her because he gave all the color he had to make her eyes so beautiful.

Frowning, she shut the memory out of her mind.

"h.e.l.lo, Olivia," her father said.

"I think I've been set up." She closed the door on the chill evening air.

She looked just like her mother.

If it weren't for the dark hair she'd gotten from him, he'd have thought Lily were standing in front of him again. The shape of her face, her wide brown eyes, her figure-all her mother's.

He felt a pang in his chest as he stared at her.

What Olivia inherited from him was less obvious, but he recognized it nevertheless. It was there in the set of her clamped jaw and the glint in her eyes. It was in the implacable way she folded her arms across her body, not defensively but ready for battle.

He was going to have his work cut out for him. Oddly, the thought exhilarated him like nothing had in years.

"You're behind the movie, aren't you?"

"You know about the movie?"

"Your henchman stopped by my store today."

"By henchman, I take it you mean Michael." Parker pulled out a seat and gestured to her.

She glared at him suspiciously before sitting. "He does your bidding, right?"

Habit told him to take the chair next to hers, but instinct told him to give her s.p.a.ce. So he sat across from her. "You know Michael better than that."

"I doubt you came here to talk about Michael."

Little did she know. "I came to see you."

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Going for the Oscar this year?"

"Why is it so hard to believe that I'd want to see my daughter?"

"Maybe because it never rated very high on your list of priorities." She gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles white. "Cut the bulls.h.i.+t. The sooner you tell me why you're here, the sooner you can leave."

"Your grandmother didn't tell you?" he asked, knowing the answer. He'd asked Mae not to say anything to Olivia.

"Didn't tell me what?"

"I'm going to be staying for the duration of the filming." He could have smiled at the sour look that wrinkled her face. She used to get that same look when Lily tried to feed her something she didn't like. "In fact, Mae kindly agreed to allow me to stay here at the farmhouse."

"What?" Olivia jumped out of her chair so quickly she knocked it over.

He ignored its clatter, focused on her unwavering gaze. "Become hard of hearing?"

"What part of 'I never want to see you again' didn't you understand?" She propped her fists on her hips. "Or have you forgotten? Because I'd be happy to refresh your memory."

"I remember every word you said to me, but isn't it time you grew up?"

"Open your eyes, Parker." She held her arms out. "You missed it. I grew up."

Yes, you did, he thought sadly. And he'd missed it. "Your behavior would suggest otherwise."

"I wondered when we were going to get to the part where you voice your disapproval of me." She looked down at her bare wrist. "You held out for a whole two minutes. Impressive."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you."

"How the h.e.l.l would you know what suits me?" she yelled. "You don't know me. You dumped me on Gran after mom died and didn't come back to see me until I was fifteen. Even then it wasn't me you were interested in."

"Remember who you're talking to, Olivia Parker."

"Who am I talking to? The guy who donated sperm to create me? Because you sure aren't my father."

He'd expected this. He'd been ready for it, but her words pierced just as sharply as they had eleven years ago.

She put her hands flat on the table and leaned down to get eye to eye with him. "Stay here if you want. Just stay the h.e.l.l away from me. And keep your monkey boy away from me too."

She strode out.

His gaze lingered on the archway.

"That was a gutsy thing you did." Mae walked in and headed for the sink. "Gutsy or stupid."

"It was neither. It was necessary." He needed to make sure all Olivia's anger was directed at him and not Mae for agreeing to let him stay at their house. He didn't want to interfere in their relations.h.i.+p. Olivia was bound to need her before this was all settled.

"It was heroic." Mae's eyes were shrewd. "Don't think I don't know what you did."