Talk To Me

Chapter thirty-five

Present

"I'm home," Oliver announced as he came to the apartment. "That sounded way better in my head," he whispered.

He stepped through the corridor, noticing the hushed song coming from the kitchen. Oliver followed the tune and turned left towards the kitchen. He halted at the doorway and watched as Lily emptied the dishwasher while dancing to the music.

"Are you going to come or what?" she asked, holding her back on him.

"You seem chipper," he said, leaning his shoulder to the doorway.

Lily closed the cupboard door and turned around. "Am I?" She raised her eyebrow.

Oliver nodded and walked to the kitchen. "Do you like books?" he asked, noticing another book on the kitchen island.

"In general, yes. But these books are not good." She took a novel from the bar. "I mean, I'm sure Leah likes it since she has all the books by this author." She looked at the back of the novel. "But I have no idea why." She looked at Oliver.

His gray eyes held wide as she spoke. "So they are not interesting?" he asked.

"No, not to me at least."

"But they are very popular."

Lily lifted her eyebrow. "Have you read them?"

He shook his head. "No, but I bought them, for Leah, for her eighteenth birthday."

"Oh," Lily's eyes grew wider. "Well, maybe she liked them." She shrank her shoulders.

"Maybe," Oliver mumbled. "We should go," he said, moving toward the living room. "You don't want to be late for your first day, your boss might get mad." He grinned as he turned his back to Lily.

"Did you just make a joke?" Lily asked as she followed him to the living room. Oliver let out a hushed chuckle. "You can't laugh at your own jokes, Oly."

"I'm not," he said in a more serious tone.

It seemed strange for Oliver to not feel Leah around. He wondered where she could be as he and Lily silently drove to the restaurant. He parked his car at the curve of the sidewalk and glanced at Lily. She was looking through the passenger window and pulling her carding sleeves.

"Hey," he said, placing his palm on her forearm. "You don't have to work here if you don't want to."

"I'm fine." She looked at him. "You can't pay for everything and I need money for the trip to Boston."

"Yes," he said, retrieving his hand. "I was thinking, maybe we could drive there together. It's just an hour away."

"You know I'm not staying in Dover for long."

"Yes, but we could take your birth certificate, make you a new passport, and then you can decide what to do."

"We will see, Oly," she said, opening the door. "Coming?" she asked as she stepped from the car.

Oliver locked the car and followed Lily to the restaurant. The place seemed half-full, as there were three empty tables at the front. Oliver guessed the bigger part of the clientele held at the side of the restaurant. He walked further and glanced behind the half wall. There were more people since that seemed a more popular sitting place. He walked further and stopped at the bar on the right side of the place.

"Finally," Sara said, lifting her eyes from the bar. "Here." She tossed the green apron and Oliver caught the item mid-air. "We need more waitresses, boss. This situation has been going on for too long."

Oliver smiled and turned to Lily. "That is why we now have her." He gave Lily the apron. "This is Lilly, show her around."

Sara smiled. "Nice to meet you." She looked at Oliver. "Finally making some smart choices."