"No peeking!"

"How on Earth could I be peaking, Guinevere, when your hand is covering my eyes?"

I continued ushering my mom through her front door and into her living room. This birthday in particular was a special one—and it took some clever planning to make sure her present was ready on time. There were so many moving pieces with everything, I was sure something was going to go wrong.

"I don't know," I responded as I got her into position. "You have ways, mom. Just no peeking. We're almost there."

"I should have known something was up when you offered to pick me up from the airport today. You hate driving to the airport."

I gave her an amused snort. "I hate driving in New York PERIOD. Worst. Traffic. Ever."

My mom had been away for a week visiting one of her oldest friends in California. She planned the trip to return today, the exact day of her birthday. That was one of the hassles I had to deal with when it came to her present. I had to make sure it was done within the time frame that she was gone. The main thing I worried about was it not being completed by the time she got here.

"Okay, mom. You ready?"

"Yes, yes! Show me! I'm going crazy over here, Guinevere."

Feeling anxious and excited, a wide smile stretched across my face as I removed my hand. "Open your eyes!"

Her audible gasp was confirmation that she did as I said and was now viewing her modified living room.

"Guinevere," she breathed, putting her hand to her mouth as she looked around. "This is...it's so beautiful. I can't believe you did this."

I stepped beside her and linked her arm with mine. "Well, technically I didn't. You know I don't have a creative bone in my body. I hired someone. Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding me? It looks just like Paris. And the Eiffel Tower...I can't believe you did this for me."

My mother has been obsessed with all things Paris for a long time. It was always her dream to travel there one day. We never had a chance because she was sick, but now that she was better I was really hoping that she and I could go there together soon. But in the meantime this was all I could do.

I hired an artist I found on Instagram to paint a French city scene on my mom's large living room wall. And right in the middle was her favorite thing in the whole entire world—the Eiffel Tower. When I hired the artist, the one thing I wanted a guarantee on was that it could be done in a week. And she did not disappoint.

My mom turned towards me and cupped my face in her hands with tears in her eyes. "This is the best present you could have given me, darling. I love it."

She pulled me into a tight hug and my heart squeezed in my chest. "I love you, mom. Happy birthday. I promise one day we'll go there together."

I cursed under my breath as the sound of laughter around me got even louder in the bar I escaped to. Even though I knew what today was, I went to bed just fine last night. Even this morning, when I was in bed with Ollie and he made love to me, I was okay. It was the after part that got to me. The part where Ollie had to work so I lied and said I was going up to my room for the day to clean and stuff. In my defense, it wasn't a lie at first. I really thought I was fine. But that all changed once I got up there and realized I was alone.

Even though Ollie was in the warehouse with me, I was alone. And when I was alone, I started to think. When I started to think...that's when I turned into Runaway Jamie. For a split second I debated grabbing my essentials and doing a complete disappearing act on Ollie. Just getting away. But for some reason, I couldn't do that. So, I just started walking until I found this place.

"Would you like another shot?" The bartender asked me. Surprisingly, he was American.

Without looking at him, I nodded and pushed my empty glass towards him. I was walking for probably about an hour before I found this American bar called Harry's New York Bar. I mean, the title itself had me shaking my head and thinking that no matter how far I ran, I would never escape my hometown.

Now I was six or seven shots deep—who was keeping count?—and absolutely hammered. Shit. Ollie was probably freaking out and wondering where I was. Of course, that was only if he even finished working and realized I wasn't even there.

The bartender returned with more tequila. "Here's your shot, miss."

"Thanks," I sighed before I picked it up and drank it. "Get me another one, please."

Suddenly a new voice was in the mix. A voice that I've gotten quite used to this past week. "You sure that's a good idea?"

I didn't look at him. But then again, I didn't need to. Ollie sat on the bar stool next to me and waited patiently for me to say something. Probably would have waited all night is that's what it took.

"How did you know?" I never told him when my mom's birthday was, so that left only one other possibility. "Who called you? Harper?"

Ollie chuckled before reaching for some peanuts. "All of them, actually. You know covering for you is becoming hazardous to my health. Do you know how many times I was threatened today?"

I knew he was teasing me. Trying to make a joke and make me feel better. It was kinda working, but not as much as I needed it to. "How did they figure out I was here? Did you tell them?"

"No. I kept my promise. I wouldn't do that to you. I guess one of your friends tracked your email or something. They realized you were in Paris and it wasn't hard to make the connection between you and me.

Connection. There was a connection between me and Ollie. A strong one that was becoming harder and harder to deny no matter how hard I tried. Especially during times like this, when I was hammered and had zero inhibitions.

"Are they coming to get me or something?" God, I hoped that wasn't the case. I wasn't ready to go back to reality yet. I needed more time.

"No," he said softly. "I promised them I would find you and make sure you were all right. I told them you weren't ready to leave." He chuckled then. "I could tell in the background that Lanie was not on board with that, but I think Harper was able to reign her in."

I finally turned and met his stare. His expression was soft and caring. Those blue eyes of his filled with nothing but concern for me. "Goddammit, Ollie. You're really going for sainthood, aren't you?"

He recoiled a little. "Excuse me?"

My resolve was starting to break, and my voice cracked when I said, "You're always there for me. Even when we were strangers in a coffee shop and I was being a psycho, you were there for me." When he didn't say anything, I tacked on, "Ollie, I need you to be there for me again."

"You know I'll do anything for you."

That was an understatement. "I want to talk about that night. The night it happened." My voice was barely audible over the chatter in the bar, but Ollie heard me just fine.

"Are you sure, Jamie? You don't have to if you don't want to. I don't want you to push yourself and get more upset."

Fucking sainthood. This man was going for the gold medal. Meeting his gaze I rasped, "Take me home, Ollie."

No other words were spoken. I was numb when we both got up from the bar to leave. I didn't remember if he paid for my drinks or if I did, I just knew money was exchanged in some way with the bartender. Then Ollie took my hand and walked me to his car which was parked right outside.

Good. I didn't feel like walking an hour back to the warehouse. I wanted to get there as fast as possible so I could get the breakdown that was coming over with. Maybe he was right, maybe it wasn't a good idea to open the Vault of Secrets and let everything come pouring out.

Well, were were going to see, weren't we? We got back to the warehouse quickly and Ollie helped me inside. I knew that his concern for me wasn't the main reason he was making sure I didn't trip and stumble. I was wasted. And that didn't stop me from asking him to grab a bottle of wine when we finally made it to the living room.

"Red or white?"

Frowning, I looked up at him. I was almost certain he was going to argue with me about drinking anymore. "You're not going to bitch at me about drinking too much?"

"No, I'm not," he said with a sigh. "Today is not a day for a lecture, Jamie. If you want a bottle of wine, I'm going to go get it for you. We're home and you aren't alone. You're not driving. I'm here and you're safe. The only thing I ask is for you to drink a bottle of water first."

I had a hard time following everything he said, especially with the room starting to spin, but I must have understood enough because I found myself nodding in agreement. A couple minutes later there was a bottle of water pressed into one hand and an open bottle of my favorite wine in the other.

Ollie was standing across from me, leaning against the wall of the living room. I knew he was worried about crowding me while I tried to tell him everything. But space wasn't what I wanted tonight.

"Can you, uh, come sit with me?"

There was a brief flicker of surprise on his face, but it was gone just as quick. Once he was beside me, I guzzled the bottled water and handed it to him.

"For you," I teased, trying to lighten the mood as much as I could.

He smiled and took it from me. "Thank you, beautiful."

I started taking a few...well, gulps of the wine before I started at the beginning. "When we first met, did you know Danielle was pregnant?"

"Yeah, I think you told me she was expecting. With her husband Ryan, right?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Well, they had a little girl and she's beautiful." Another gulp of wine. "Not long after she was born, we noticed she was looking jaundiced and some other things. So Danielle and Ryan took her to the hospital to get checked out. Long story short, she needed a liver transplant."

Time for a little more wine. I knew Ollie probably had a thousand questions, but he waited patiently until I was finished.

"We all got tested, of course. All of us willing to save that little girls life. No matter the risks." My strength to get the words out was starting to wain. "But we didn't—we didn't—" I tried taking a deep breath. "None of us had any idea that my mom got tested." My tears betrayed me, spilling out as I met Ollie's gaze. "She was the only one, Ollie. A zero mismatch. It was her."

***

I've been dying for this part 🖤 for our Jamie to confide in Ollie. Part two will be up Wednesday!