Olivia’s POV

    A few days progressed without any updates. Julian and Chase both seemed to avoid Olivia, and she had half a mind to show up at Amber’s clinic just to remind everyone she was still in town.

    She hated being ignored.

    But, instead, she decided she needed to take charge of this situation once again. If Chase was in the wind, then she needed to step forward herself, or nothing will ever get done.

    So, she did what she assumed any woman would do in her position. She drove to Alice’s school and parked in the parking lot amongst the teachers and other employees‘ cars. It was midday, so school was

    still in session.

    Olivia dressed professionally, with a tight gray pencil skirtb, /bck heels, and a white button–down shirt. She even wore sses with clear lenses toplete the look, making her look nothing but respectable

    and intellectual.

    Walking to the front door, she was surprised to find it locked. Odd. Was thismon at schools now? Looking over, she saw a speaker with a button, a call system, presumably to the front desk.

    Olivia pressed the button.

    A crackling voice came through the speakers. “Yes? Can I help you?”

    Olivia had prepared to talk to a person, not a machine, but she only allowed herself to be annoyed by this for a moment before speaking up.

    “Yes? I’m Alice’s step–mother. I’m here to take her out of school early for the day.”

    “One moment please.”

    The speaker cut off.

    Olivia leaned from one foot to the next, waiting not so patiently for a reply. There wasn’t much for her to look at, so she turned to nce out over the cars.

    The school must not pay its employees very well. All of the cars were underwhelming at best, pieces of junk at worst.

    As she was judging how sad these people’s lives must be, the door unlocked behind Olivia, and a woman in a sad green dress came outside. Her hair was in a messy bun. Compared to Olivia, she looked like a disheveled mess.

    “Oh, um, ma’am?b” /bthe woman said.

    Olivia lifted a brow, but introduced herself. “Yes, hello. I’m Olivia, Alice’s step–mother. Is there some sort

    of problem?b” /b

    “I’m afraid so, ma’am,” the woman said. “Alice’s mother Amber has already taken Alice out of the day.”

    “Oh?” Olivia said. What the hell would Amber have done that for? To get more information, she knew she

    had to y nice.

    Oliviaughed then, lightly. “Oh, how embarrassing! We must have just missed each other. A

    mimunication, certainly.” I pulled my phone out of my purse, like I was going to text Amber. “I could

    have sworn she asked me to pick up Alice.”

    The womanughed too, somewhat relieved. “Ah, you must be going on the trip with her.”

    Trip?!

    Olivia didn’t let her surprise on her face, instead keeping her expression kind and weing, hoping the

    woman would continue to view her with friendliness.

    “Yes, of course I am,” Olivia said. “How could I not? An opportunity like this!”

    The woman did rx, smiling wide. “For real! Traveling around to help provide healthcare to the poorer packs? Truly, Healer Amber is a gift from the Gods.”

    Olivia’s smile grew tight. “Yes. Well, thank you. I need to be getting on my way.”

    “Of course,i” /ithe woman said. “Have fun!”

    Annoyed, Olivia turned and stormed back to her car. As she reached the driver’s side door, she had the

    phone to her ear.

    Chase’s phone went to voicemail.

    “Chase, you son of a bitch. If you don’t fix things with Amber and Alice right now, so help me, I will ruin you. No more chances.”

    Amber’s POV

    I stood in the bedroom, packing thest of my clothes into a suitcase. We were leaving tomorrow for our trip to help people. Alice and I were both excited. While I was packing, she was running around my

    bedroom.

    “When’s Daddy going to get here?” Alice asked.

    “Any minute,” I told her. Though we weren’t leaving until the morning, Alice had asked to see Julian tonight, so we had invited him to have dinner with us. The fridge was mostly empty, so we were going to order a pizza.

    I hadn’t called yet, waiting for Julian to arrive first.

    Then, the doorbell rang.

    “Daddy!” Alice shouted and rushed out of my room and into the living room.

    “Wait for me!” I called. “Alice, don’t you open that door without me!”

    She was a good kid, so, even though she pouted at having to wait, she still waited patiently for me toe to the door.

    When I was there, I unlocked it. Alice immediately stuck her head around it, and then hurried outside to hug Julian waiting there. He scooped her up into his arms.

    “I missed you!” Alice said, even though we had just seen him the day before. We’d seen Julian every day since Alice had run away.

    I hadn’t been willing to chance what happened from happening again.

    Besides, we were going to be seeing a lot of Julian on our trip. It made sense to be ustomed to it

    now.

    I invited Julian in and together, the three of us headed to the kitchen.

    “What kind of pizza do we want?” I asked them. As they debated, I made a list. Then I picked up the phone to call. While I did, Julian asked Alice about how school was going, and what she was looking forward to

    most about our trip.

    The school answer was met with mixed messages. Alice liked her friends but didn’t like homework.

    The trip was a brighter topic for her. “I can’t wait for us all to be a family,” she said.

    Julian gave me a kind of look. As I was on the phone, I could easily avoid it.

    While I was still talking to the pizza person on the phone, the doorbell rang again.

    Thinking it was probably Anna or another friend who needed somethingst minute before our trip, I asked Julian, “Can you check who that is?”

    “Of course,” Julian said and stood. He asked Alice to stay in the kitchen with me and then walked out into the living room to get the door.

    Again, I focused on the phone call. “Sorry about that, someone was at my door. Can you repeat my order so far? I lost my ce…i” /i

    Julian’s POV

    I didn’t mind helping Amber out by getting the door. Maybe she invited Anna over for dinnerb, /bor someone from the clinic had run over some files or something. Since Amber hadn’t seemed too concerned about it,

    neither was I.

    I was in too good a mood to be worried. Not only were Amber and I about to go and help the less fortunate, but we were also going to get to go spend time together with Alice, a perfect family of three.

    During this time, undoubtedly, Amber woulde to see how good of a team she and I made, and would want to stay together for the long term, not just as partners in this project, but maybe…

    Gods, I wanted to be her husband again, in more than just legal terms.

    Opening the door, I had a smile on my face.

    That smile immediately fell when I saw who was behind it.

    Chase.