In My Life

Chapter 12:

Five days later, Edward William Harris was laid to rest in the Allerton Cemetery next to his wife, Evelyn.

A luncheon was provided after the funeral and the burial at Mimi's house. There were a lot of people who had shown up for the luncheon that Olivia had never met or known that seemed to have been close friends with her parents.

But she didn't care about that; in fact, she hadn't shed a single tear or spoken a single word to anybody, including John. She sat on the red velvet chair in Mimi's living room, sipping a cup of tea and just stared out the window.

Her world had come crashing down without any expectation, and Olivia now had to think about what she was going to do. 'I don't have anybody left here so what's the bloody point of staying?' She thought to herself. There was a part of her that became completely angry at not only herself but as well as the way she felt things in her life were going.  Her mind raced to the meeting with her father's lawyer and replayed everything. Her father had left everything to her; the house, money, and the 1956 White Morris Minor he barely drove.  She also finally met her new agent, Larry Holmes, who was extremely eager to get her started with photoshoots with specific photographers and such as soon as possible after the funeral.  Everything was changing, and she wasn't ready for it; she didn't want to prepare for it.

She fought back the tears she was desperately trying to keep in, afraid of others would be watching. Olivia was too sad to cry or wail, she just sat there as still as a statue while the magnitude of her father's loss swept over her. Her eyes watched the other guests, people she knew and those she didn't, laugh and smile while they conversed with one another. How could they smile or be happy when she felt so distraught? Part of her wanted them to feel her pain too so that she wouldn't be so lonely with it, but another part was glad they couldn't.

John, Paul, Pete, and Colin walked into the living room to see Olivia still sitting in the chair she had been the past hour.

"Blimey, she hasn't said a word?" Colin tilted his head, nudging Pete.

John sighed as he hated seeing her look so down and depressed, "Nothin'. Not even to me."

Pete cracked his knuckles and smirked, "Oh well I'm here now. I'll get her talkin'."

John quickly grabbed his elbow, "If ya as much crack a joke 'bout her parents, I'll knock ya bloody wits off."

Pete yanked his elbow away from John, giving him a little glare as he made his way to her, "Come off it, I'm not that fuckin' daft."

He stood right next to Olivia and cleared his throat, "Ay there Liv. Just wanna say I'm sorry an' all 'bout ya dad," he stared at her, waiting for a response but she said nothing. He glanced back at the rest and shrugged, "This is the part where ya say somethin' back."

Olivia rolled her eyes, keeping her gaze out the window. 'Just what I need,' she thought, 'Pete trying to push me buttons.'

"It's 'bout time ya kept that mouth of yours shut," Pete said with a smile, waiting again for a reaction, but once again, nothing.

John quickly walked over to Pete and grabbed his arm, dragging him away from Olivia, "Ya fuckin' bastard, what'd I tell ya?"

"She just needs the space, is all," Paul stood there and watched her for a minute, reminiscing on his mothers' death that wasn't too long ago. He knew exactly how she was feeling, as those were his exact feelings when he lost his mother, "She'll come 'round. It's difficult to lose someone that close to ya at that age."

John raised his eyebrow and laughed, "And I suppose you'd be the expert?"

Paul shrugged his shoulder, returning a smirk, "I lost me mum last year, but I suppose that doesn't make me the expert."