I choose me.

Part 31: All in

CHAPTER 31: ALL IN

"Is it in focus?" Crawford asked from his new front yard, standing next to the big for sale sign that now had a bold SOLD slapped over it.

"Yes, it's focused." Olivia was holding one of his fancy cameras, standing next to the car. "Okay." He smiled and held up his set of keys, she clicked the shutter ten times, figuring there had to be at least one decent one in there somewhere.

Her focus kept being drawn out to the ocean, what a whirlwind life had been since they got back on the seventh. All her new PureSide paperwork had been delivered that next day and she had put in her two weeks notice at Anytime, training with Susan full force again, deciding to do one more fight before retiring to just powerlifting. Selma Corelli had been one thing she hadn't resumed, avoiding it because she was skating on the okay line right now and didn't want to swerve off by rehashing old stuff, or talking about Benny's new baby, Ceara, they'd named her Ceara, she'd heard that on ESPN, a sweet Irish name. Ceara Hagen, she had his last name of course. Jay had tried to bribe her into staying, offering a pay raise, insurance, bonuses, free memberships for any of her friends.

"Jay, it's nothing you've done, you've been a good boss and I'll still be working out here."

He hung his head, defeated, "Yeah."

"You'll be my first sales pitch." She'd patted his hand.

Brucey had sent her half a dozen e-mails with car reviews, safety ratings, fuel economy and best insurance rates, that had touched her as she'd looked through, that he cared so much.

A car and truck rolled in behind her, jarring her from her thoughts, three middle aged women in pink scrubs hopped out of their pink van armed with mops, brooms and cleaners. "He's in the back." She said with a wave after they looked around for a minute. The man and his son leaned on their tailgate, "Bueno Dias." He nodded. She smiled started toward the back, "I'll go get him." She walked around the porch to the back, the women were heading inside, he'd insisted on hiring a cleaning crew to give the place a head to toe scrub before moving everything in.

"I'll do it!" Olivia had insisted, vigorous, emotion blocking cleaning was somewhat of her speciality now, but he'd totally refused the idea while booking the appointment online. Crawford was having the yard done and all the trees trimmed. "I'll do it myself once I get settled, I just want to move in with everything fresh."

They'd spent an entire evening making lists room by room of what he needed, he had nothing here. "What if you just bring stuff from New York?" She'd asked him while twirling the pen between her thumb and finger.

"I thought about that, but I need my stuff in New York when I'm working there." He was doing push-ups while they were brainstorming.

"This is going to be expensive." She knew how much money her move had cost, but furnishing a large house from top to bottom, plus photography equipment would be—the thought terrified her.

"It won't be too bad, a lot of stuff I can write off as business expenses."

They were going to go to Ikea after this, he had no problem with the piece together furniture, whereas she liked her mismatched memorabilia pieces cluttered into a space. Suddenly she could picture her couch and recliner nestled next to the useless pot bellied wood stove, and her seashell dresser against the wall in the bedroom, long luxurious baths in the clawfoot tub. Her breathing was rapid and her heart was racing, she looked over at him talking to the two landscapers, one hand in his jean pocket and one pointing toward a long row of fruit trees, which seemed to sparkle in the sun.

All in. Fuck your fear, you've been through the worst. Olivia stood there, barely able to contain herself until he finished his conversation with Fernando and Pedro, she'd later learned their names. "I'll do it!" She yelled and nervously clasped her hands together, he looked at her with an eyebrow raised, wondering what on earth she was talking about—and then—the context clicked and his mouth opened. "Yeah?"