Make Time For Me

Ellie laughed.

“I do, don’t I? But he’s not my type. Got an eye on him, Olivia?”

“What? No! Of course not.”

“That’s a vehement denial! Never mind, I’m not going to pry. I’m going to go and draw you that bath, all right?”

Olivia nodded again.

She sat back, closed her eyes, and tried to tell herself that it had all been because of her overworked imagination. There had been nobody out there, of course. Nothing bad had been about to happen. It had probably been a… a raccoon or something. There were probably raccoons and other raccoon-like things in the wooded areas. Olivia was not an outdoorsy country girl at all. She couldn’t have told between a raccoon and a bobcat. She’d just hope to come across neither in a no-holds-barred encounter.

But she couldn’t shake it. When she closed her eyes, she could still feel it – that prickling on the back of her neck, her heart beating so hard, the tingling in her fingertips and her toes, getting ready to fight or run for her life. Everything about her had screamed that there was danger.

Instincts mattered. They picked up on things that your brain didn’t process and put into words for you, wasting valuable time. They picked up on things and translated them straight into feelings that you had to act on.

Something had been there, something that didn’t mean her well.

Olivia shuddered and opened her eyes. There was no point thinking of things like that. She was letting her adrenaline-charged brain make too much of it. In the morning, she would look back and feel silly about all of this.

“Olivia?”

“Coming!”

“I don’t know what scents you like and stuff, but I like loads of bubbles, so I’ve put a lot of it in there.”

Olivia grinned.

“I’m good with bubbles.”

“Great! I was thinking I’d get you some chocolate to go with it. You know, like with Dementors.”

Olivia laughed.

“Seriously? Harry Potter?”

“Big fan,” admitted Ellie.

“Me too! I babbled something about Olivander and his wand shop to Dr. Heart on my first day.”

Ellie giggled again, and Olivia had to admit, once she got in the bath, that she did feel better. She’d begun to get warm with the tea and the socks, but this was better. Tea tree oil, she realized as she took a deep breath. She liked that, too.

Ellie was a godsend, as much as Jason was.

Ellie knocked, thankfully interrupting her before her reveries could turn to Jason, and came in with chocolate.

“Got chocolate!”

“Thanks. You’re right, it will chase the shadows away.”

Ellie nodded.

“It will. I’ll be right outside. If you need me, even if it’s absolutely silly, call me. Promise?”

Alicia nodded.

“I will,” she told Ellie, and was surprised to realize that it was true. She would. She trusted Ellie.

Olivia didn’t trust people easily, not as a rule. Not after Aaron, when she hadn’t listened to Cara. She should have trusted Cara and not Aaron. In the end, Cara had been there for her. Ellie was about as different from Cara took look at as it was possible for a person to be, but she was as kind and as open.

But then Ellie was gone, and Olivia was left alone with her thoughts. She wouldn’t think about the scare she’d had. She refused to give in to that. She wouldn’t think of it.

But then what was left? Without that, she had no way to not think of what had happened between her and Jason.

It had been…

She closed her eyes again and this time, it wasn’t darkness that filled her mind but brightness. It was bright and colorful, and full of life. Alive – he had made her feel so alive. It was how she felt when she was in the middle of an emergency, as if she held life itself in her hands, and she would win no matter what. It had been a thrill, and it had been…

“Wrong,” she told herself, very sternly, but wrong or not, her lips still tingled from how he’d kissed her, and her fingertips now tingled from a very different sensation.

“Sh*t,” she muttered to herself.

“Olivia? Everything all right?”

“I’m fine,” she called out hurriedly. “Just talking to myself.”

“Sure, that’s not concerning at all, don’t you worry about it. You just keep on talking to yourself.”

Olivia had to laugh again.

Between Jason and Ellie, she definitely felt better. She couldn’t remember getting over one of those – all right, she could call it a panic attack, it wasn’t weakness, she was a doctor for heaven’s sake, she knew better than that – so quickly before.

The man was definitely going to get a cake, and so was Ellie, whether she liked it or not.

Olivia gave up and just scrubbed herself vigorously, and got out of the bath.

Obviously, alone time wasn’t going to work for her. She might as well get out and do some reading. It would be more useful than dreaming about Jason, or trying not to have waking nightmares about what her panic made her imagine might have happened in the woods.

The darkness, with light twinkling down – it was comforting, really. It had been a rookie mistake, letting that twig crack underfoot. Being careful about such things was not optional.

Still, it was a lovely night, and it had been a lovely evening. There had been music, and good food, and laughter, and new beginnings, and, oh yes, kisses. There had been kisses.

There was no way to forget about the kisses.

Wind whispering outside, birds calling to each other, the sea in the distance – yes, everything was lovely. The stage was wonderfully set for a grand romance. It was nice not to have to work so hard to get all the details right. They were all just there, this time.

It would be perfect – they would live happily ever after.