Summary: Olive has to deal with a whirlwind of emotion as she watches the man she loves and the girl named Chuck.
Jealousy whispered in her heart.
She watched as they baked together, the silence comfortable and warm between them, each stealing glances at the other, soft blushes when they caught each other's eyes. The girl was grating cheese on a freshly baked crust, while the pie maker was kneading honey into the dough of the new cup pies. They moved around the kitchen with the ease that only comes from familiarity, that well-rehearsed feel that develops when people are used to working together.
Boyfriend. The word echoed in her mind, reverberated in her heart. She thought she was getting better at handling her feelings toward the pie maker, but that one word shattered all of her resolve. She thought her budding friendship with the girl was stronger than her petty resentment, but that one word had brought back the competitive feelings with a vengeance. She was not a friend. She was the one who had stolen the heart of the pie maker from her.
Anger surged through her. Who did this girl think she was? She had just waltz in, turned everything upside down, and on top of that, had left her aunts broken hearted because they thought she had been murdered. Everything was going fine before that girl. The pie maker would have come around eventually; it was just a matter of time before he felt the same thing she felt toward him. But that girl had ruined it. She had destroyed any chance, any hope.
But as she watched him laugh at something the girl had said while packing the pie into a box, noticed the warm, genuine smile he directed at her, the anger began to fade away as quickly as it had come. She did love the pie maker, but he was happier now than he had ever been before. That haunted look in his eyes was gone. He laughed more. And she had never seen that smile on his face before the girl had come into his life. All she ever wanted was for him to be happy.
And if the girl made him happy, she should be happy with the girl.
"Olive?"
Olive jumped at her name, and Chuck smiled in apology. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Would you mind delivering this to my aunts?"
She studied the girl that caused such a whirlwind of emotions in her. But even though jealousy and resentment whispered to her, it was the caring that came with budding friendship that won in Olive's kind heart, silencing the other emotions. She smiled genuinely at the girl, her new found friend who made the man she loved so happy. "Of course."
"Don't forget to have them eat the pie and to try and convince them to swim again."
"I know, Chuck. Don't worry, I have a good feeling about today."
Chuck watched as Olive jumped off the stool and left with the box addressed to her aunts, the only family she had left. Chuck had taken care of them for so many years and missed them so much. She loved them dearly and wished more than almost anything she could talk to them again, to visit them, to bring them the pies she baked.
Jealousy whispered in her heart.