billiewtio
- Reads 416
- Votes 40
- Parts 23
Olive is a photographer who sees the world in light and shadows, always from behind the lens. When her best friend Harper asks her to come to California to help untangle old family wounds before the wedding, Olive agrees without hesitation. She tells herself she's doing it for Harper-but deep down, she knows she also needs the escape.
What she doesn't expect is Billie.
Billie enters her life quietly, almost accidentally-through a runaway pit bull on a grey, empty beach. She's guarded, sharp-witted, and strangely gentle. Someone who carries storms behind her eyes but speaks like she's afraid of waking something inside herself.
They become close fast.
Too fast.
Walks on the beach turn into long conversations.
Conversations turn into confessions.
Confessions turn into something neither of them wants to name.
Olive feels seen in a way she hasn't in years.
Billie feels something she promised herself she would never feel again.
Because Billie once loved someone so deeply it broke her. She swore she'd never let herself fall like that again-never open that door, never risk that kind of loss.
But Olive... Olive is different.
Olive is soft where the world has been cruel.
Patient where others rushed.
Warm in a way Billie forgot existed.
Just when Billie starts to let her guard down, Olive has to leave. Her life in New York calls her back-her work, her responsibilities, and her best friend who still needs her.
Olive thinks it's simple: she'll go back home, and this strange, beautiful connection will fade like a dream.
But Billie can't let her go.
Not yet.
Not when she finally found someone who makes her feel alive again.
Not when she's terrified of losing the first person who made her believe she could love again.
And for the first time in years...
Billie decides to fight for something.
For someone.
For Olive.