Chapter 4

Julia brought two sets of agreements to the office that morning. Oliver noticed how carefully she had her hand wrapped and frowned. "What happened to your hand? Did you get hurt? Are you seriously going to hurt yourself just because I scolded you last night?" He didn't even realize her hand was injured because of him. Of course, with Emily around, he never paid attention to Julia. Julia didn't bother to explain. "No, I just cut it by accident." Oliver wasn't stupid. He knew there was no way such a deep wound was an accident. Before he could press further, Julia pulled out the agreements. "Mr. Miller, I have two contracts here. I need you to sign them." Oliver's frown deepened. Julia never addressed him that way when it was just the two of them. The change in tone irritated him. Just as he was about to read the agreements, Emily called. After just a few words with her, he grabbed his jacket and said, "I've got something to take care of. We'll talk about these contracts later." But Julia wasn't having it. She shoved the pen into his hand and insisted, "These contracts are urgent. I need your signature now." She flipped both to the last page and set them in front of him. Just then, Emily called again. Julia's fist clenched a little tighter. "Just sign them and you can go." Oliver felt that Emily was being a bit unreasonable, but he still scribbled his name on both pages. "There. Happy now?" he asked coldly. Julia took a deep breath as she looked at the signatures. "Alright," she replied. Oliver headed for the door but paused for a moment. "Emily's coming over for dinner tonight. She's picky, so make a few of her favorite dishes. She's already forgiven you, so don't dwell on it. You're her sister. Just make dinner as an apology." With that, he left without looking back. Julia glanced down at her heavily bandaged hand and let out a bitter laugh. Even when he saw her hurt like this, he would always expect her to give in for Emily's sake. ... That evening, Oliver brought Emily home with him. The moment they stepped inside, the smell of something burning hit Oliver. He rushed to the backyard and found Julia standing by a small fire. "What are you burning?" he asked. As he got closer, he saw it was a pile of gifts he had given her over the years. She used to treasure them. Once, a maid had ruined one of them in the wash, and Oliver remembered that Julia had thrown a fit over it. But now, she was burning all of them. Oliver lost his temper, kicked over the fire pit, and demanded, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Julia answered calmly, "There's no room left in the house, so I thought I'd burn some things. You told me earlier that Emily was moving in and needed a room, remember?" The explanation caught Oliver off guard and shut down whatever argument he'd planned to start. The excuse was perfectly reasonable, but it still left him unsettled. Emily clung to Oliver's arm and said, "Sorry, Oliver. I do have a lot of stuff. It's just some old clothes anyway, so burning them doesn't matter." Oliver's expression softened. "Forget it. What's done is done. None of it was important anyway." With that, he turned and walked away with Emily. Julia watched the ashes of her old memories and smiled wryly. He was right. None of it mattered anymore. ... Later in the dining room, Oliver frowned when he noticed Julia hadn't cooked dinner. "Didn't I tell you Emily was coming for dinner? Why didn't you make anything?" Julia looked at him, raised her bandaged hand, and said simply, "I can't." For a moment, Oliver felt a pang of guilt. He'd forgotten she was hurt. Seeing him hesitate, Emily quickly tugged his arm. "Oliver, since Julia didn't cook, why don't we just eat out tonight?" Julia didn't want to watch them together another second. She turned and headed upstairs. After her shower, Noah called to talk about wedding plans. He asked her what kind of venue she liked. Julia had never dared to dream of a wedding during her three years with Oliver. She always thought she just didn't deserve it. But Noah gave her a wedding before she even asked. He made her feel like she was truly cared for. Julia thought for a moment and said, "By the sea. I'd love a beach wedding." Just then, Oliver was passing by her door. He barged in. "What wedding are you talking about?"