The Twenty Year Triangle

Chapter Thirty-Eight

When Hunter and I get to the duplexes the next morning, Oliver is already parked in front of Hunter's old duplex and standing by his work van with his cell to his ear. A dumpster is on the other side of the driveway, so Hunter parks in Oliver's old driveway instead.

 Hunter is carrying a big bulky bag and has a tool belt slung around his waist, and his muscles are straining the tight tee shirt he has on. I walk alongside him as Oliver waves us over; he is standing near a van on his phone. 

Oliver is wearing a crisp white button-down shirt tucked into a pair of light-colored jeans, he is hanging up from a call as we reach him. 

"They're going into DGI as we speak," he informs me and then looks at Hunter. "Julian's company."

"Damn, that was fast," Hunter replies.

"Are they arresting him today?" I ask with wide eyes.

"All I know is they have a warrant maybe multiple warrants and are going in. I doubt the feds are going to tell me much from here."

"It's going to be okay, Darlin," Hunter assures me. "Oliver did the right thing for all those people Julian ripped off."

"I know," I agree and then look at Oliver. "I know you did, and I am glad."

I let out a small sigh. That's not entirely true, and I feel a little guilty about that. Julian was my husband, and I know he did something awful, but I care what happens to him. "Let's just get to tearing stuff up that'll take my mind off Julian."

"Let's go break shit!" Hunter agrees with a wolfish grin.

"I can't get started with you yet. I need to get back to the bookstore. I trust my dad, but that project... "Oliver pauses for effect, "It has to be perfect. I need to oversee the beginning. But I'll be back in a few hours."

I can't help but think back to Hunter saying the bookstore is like Oliver's ode to me. He was being sarcastic, I know, but maybe there is some truth to that. I mean, he's bringing our mutual childhood daydream to light. Yet, despite that, I still don't know where Oliver stands when it comes to me. He left, he reinvented himself without me.

When I was a teen, I was a dreamer when it came to love, I had this vision in my head of what happily ever after looked like, and it was like a storybook, all happy, no drama, all you need is love and all that crap. But then life came, tossed me around, and showed me what the word reality means in the hardest ways possible, and now...

Well, now I'm cynical and scared, and things like figuring out what's in my heart aren't as simple as my mama makes them seem.

"Where's your crew?" Oliver asks Hunter.

"My client wasn't happy about the delay, so I can't pull them from the farmhouse we're remodeling," Hunter explains. "I figure the three of us can handle the demo for now, and by the end of the week, they can come to help us wrap it up."

"I'm sure we can manage. We got a ton done yesterday," Oliver is nodding. "You talking about the Brown farm? I don't think that's ever been remodeled."

"It's somehow a bigger shitshow than the Johnson farm, and that was..." Hunter shudders.

"You did that remodel?" Olliver looks surprised but impressed. "It looks really good. I noticed that right away, driving into town."

"Yeah," Hunter says with pride in his eyes.

"Do you have something lined up after the farmhouse?" Oliver asks, stunning me and Hunter too, from the looks of the way his eyes widen slightly.