Forbidden

Chapter Thirty Two

Olivia pulled in the drive to find Nick already loading up his car. It was only seven o’clock and the drive itself would only a little under eight hours. She couldn’t wait to get in the car and spend a week with the man of her dreams. She could already envision laying on the beach with his arms wrapped tightly around her, falling asleep to the sounds of the waves crashing.

“Give me just a second! I’m gonna go change and we can go!”

“Hurry up, beautiful,” he shouted back.

            Olivia ran into her bedroom, which used to be where her parents slept, and opened the closet door. She pulled out a pair of comfortable black yoga pants with a pink Nike tank top and slid on her flip flops. She sprinted over to the nightstand and pulled it open to get the ring that her father had given her. It would finally feel so amazing to be able to wear it as a married woman. She shifted around some papers that were in the drawer but there was no box. She had checked this morning and it was there. She couldn’t remember if she had taken it out and put it on for a moment. Olivia walked into the bathroom and checked the sink and the shower and there was no sign of it anywhere. Panic grew inside of her.

“What the hell did I do with it?”

            She grabbed her purse and headed back outside.

“Babe, have you seen that box that I keep in my nightstand? I don’t know what I did with it.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find it as soon as we get back. You probably just laid it down somewhere. Hey, Kenley?” he called out.

“What’s up, Mr. Cere—Nick?”

“Can you keep an eye out for a jewelry box with a ring in it while we’re gone?”

“Sure will.”

“Babe, don’t worry. We will find it, I promise you, okay? Relax! This is going to be the best week of our lives!”

            Olivia nodded, trying to shake the panic out of her arms.

“You’re right. We’ll find it.”

            Olivia walked over and gave Kenley a tight hug and told her to call her if she found the ring.

“I’ll be back in a week. I love you.”

“I love you. Now get out of here. Go. There’s an Army Wives marathon on T.V. that I gotta watch.”

            Olivia laughed and climbed into the car, buckling her seat belt.

“Tom-Tom is on, I grabbed you a couple bottles of water and a bunch of snack food in that bag by your feet.”

“Thanks darlin’. Let’s go already!”

“Yes ma’am!” Nick responded playfully as he put the car into gear.

            Olivia slept for the duration of the trip and was awoken by the smell of salt in the air. She rubbed her eyes lightly and looked around at her surroundings.

“We almost there?” she said sleepily.

“We’ve got about half an hour left and we’ll be at the resort. You want some coffee?”

            Olivia looked at the clock. It was almost four o’clock and she figured she could go for some coffee. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep once they got into their room.

“Sure.”

            Nick pulled into a McDonald’s and ordered two medium black coffees, handing one to Olivia. She opened the lid to let it cool when she caught a scent of it. She opened the car door and threw up before even having a chance to take a sip.