A/N: This might be the last update for a little bit. My apologies. The last leg of this degree comes first [insert crying emoji here].
Olivia sits at her desk, outside of her father's office, fingers hovered above her typewriter. She's back in PG and is mind-numbingly bored. There's a stack of affidavits she needs to type up and exhibits to compose for her father's next two cases, but she's finding it hard to focus. The early September air is stifling, ridiculously humid and uncomfortably hot. Her twenty-third birthday is in two weeks and she's afraid she'll be spending it with her father. On the couch. Watching Flip Wilson. Again. Ever since her aunt met Frank, Thea's been a regular show girl, out and about with the man ten years her junior. To tell the truth, Olivia's a little jealous. Not only is her escape route impeded, but her aunt has a boyfriend while she…while she has hollow letters and delayed responses.
Two months have come and gone and still she hasn't heard anything from Fitz. She's stopped writing. If he doesn't care for her, fine; she doesn't care either. Except that's a lie. Olivia cares. Too much.
She flexes her fingers, sighs, and pushes away from the desk. Her father's office door is closed. He's been interviewing a possible new associate all afternoon. On paper the man looks impressive. Edison Davis, 34. First in his class at Howard Law. Yale Undergraduate. Captain of the Yale Debate Team. Head of Howard's Mock Court. Clerk to Thurgood Marshall. He was also handsome. Olivia noticed as much as he waited for Eli. Mr. Davis was polite, too. When she'd brushed off small talk, he'd nodded his understanding and returned to his chair to wait. Olivia knows he'll be hired; he is everything and more in Eli Pope's book.
The door to her father's office cracks open. Olivia's fingers press down on the typewriter. She's been staring off into space for who knows how long now.
"Livvie, have you met Edison, yet?" Eli asks. He holds gestures a hand from Edison to her desk.
Olivia gives her father a tight smile. "Of course, I did, daddy. I let you know he was here."
"Right, right. Silly of me," Eli says. His words were followed by a hearty chuckle. "Edison, this is my daughter Olivia."
"We've met, sir." Edison smiles.
"She's also a Howard graduate. She's thinking of going back for law school matter of fact."
Olivia's cheeks grow hot. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what Eli's trying to do here. "Dad, I said I'd think about it. I still enjoy singing and—"
"Hey, why don't you two go grab some dinner tonight and you can talk about Howard over some food?"
Edison ducks his head and his cheeks swell. "I don't think Olivia would be interested in my company this evening and I respect that."
"Nonsense!" Eli chuckles again. "Olivia…"
Both men look at Olivia and she feels put on the spot. She inwardly cringes and forces a smile. "I'm sure Mr. Davis's girlfriend wouldn't approve of him taking me out to dinner."
"Actually, I'm not seeing anyone at the current moment," Edison says sheepishly.
"Then it's settled," Eli announces, "See you around 6:30 tonight then, son. Olivia will be ready to go."
"Olivia?" Edison says.
Olivia's mouth cracks open and she glances between her father and Edison. Her answer is no. But she pauses to reconsider. Fitz hasn't responded to her in ages – she's absolutely sick of being schlepped to and from her aunt's house to her father's as if she needed constant supervision.
"See you tonight," her tone is tight.
/
Six thirty rolls around entirely too fast. Olivia stands in her door length mirror pushing her heat styled curls into place. She wears a sleeveless yellow blouse tucked into a pair of wide-leg high-waist white pants. A knock draws her attention from the mirror. "Come in," she calls. Her door cracks open.
"Edison is here."
"Okay. Will you let him know that I'll be out in a minute, please."
"You look nice."
"Thanks dad."
"And Edison is a nice man – he's a good man," Eli continues, stepping further into the room. "And not like Russell."
Olivia's stomach sours slightly and she frowns before forcing a smile.
"I'd like for you to give him a chance tonight, Olivia. I think you two could really get along. He's intelligent, from a good family, respectable."
She nods, forcing her eyes not to roll.
"He's the type of man you should've always been with."
Olivia draws her bottom lip between her teeth and takes a deep breath. Her mind wanders to Fitz, to their ill-fated letters. Fitz is a good man – was. He's a sweetheart and soft and…and not interested. He'd probably only answered her first couple of letters out of boredom. She runs her index finger underneath her bottom lip, wiping away smudged lipstick.
"I don't want to re-hash Russell, dad. I do the therapy, I stay here. I'm working through it. Alright?" She smiles into the mirror to make sure there's no lipstick on her teeth.
"I know, I know. I'm proud of you, too. You do what you had to do," Eli speaks low, "never apologize for that. Go out there tonight and have fun."
Olivia's eyes pull away from her mirror and she turns to look at her father. Etched into the crevices around her eyes are lines of worry and age. It's obvious that he's terrified for her and just wants the best for her.
"You remind me more and more of your mother every day."
Her eyes slide away from his and back to the mirror. A lump formed in her throat, but she swallows it down.
"I love you, Livvie."
"I love you, too, Daddy."
/
Edison isn't nearly as boring as she thought he would be. He's a little stiff on the dance floor, but nonetheless, she's had a nice time tonight. Good food from Mama Deans, a nice dance break, and now a leisurely walk through the cooling September night.
"Tell me something about yourself I don't know, Liv," Edison asks. He offers his arm for her to take.
"There's a lot you don't know, Mr. Davis," she flits. "What would you like to know?"
"Well, I know that you're an only child, a Howard graduate, light on your feet, absolutely breath taking, and did I mention beautiful?"
Olivia ducks her chin, cheeks rounding out. "Thank you."
"Why did you agree to go out with me tonight? That's something you can answer. When I picked you up, you seemed like you wanted to be anywhere but here tonight."
Olivia weighs the truth in her head. Would it be worth it to tell him about Fitz? How would she even tell him how she and Fitz became an almost thing. "Uhm, I don't really have an answer for you. At least one you'd like."
"Try me," Edison beckons.
"Well, I wanted to get out of my father's house and spend some time with someone closer to my age."
"None of your girlfriends were available?" he asks.
"I'm afraid most are married and either have children to tend to or aren't just people I want to see right now." Which was the partial truth. She did have female friends back in DC, but when Russell came home, they mostly stayed away. Which was also a running theme in her life since Russell's death. It's almost as if she became a pariah. Even her old dorm-mate Fatima hadn't returned her calls in forever.
"How unfortunate for them."
"Thanks."
"Back at your father's office, you mentioned something about singing. I wanted to ask you about it earlier, but quite honestly kept getting distracted by your smile."
"You don't have to lay it on so thick." Olivia smiles.
"Sorry." He smiles back.
"I sing. I've recorded a couple of demo records and in the past, I was aiming to be signed."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. My mom used to sing all the time. She taught me and I've loved it so much since. It's how I feel closer to her."
"Do you two sing together often?"
Olivia looks down at the ground, a frown falling over her face. "Uhm, my mom passed away."
"Oh, I'm…Olivia please forgive me. I didn't realize it. I should've though when she wasn't there when I picked you up earlier. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."
She reaches up to tuck a fly away curl behind her ear. "It's okay. To answer your question, though, we did sing together. Usually at church."
"So, you're good enough to sing at church?"
Olivia giggles. "I guess you could say I am."
"Well, if a Miss Rosa or Miss Hattie haven't run you off stage yet, then we know you're good." He smiles. "I do a little singing myself. I was in theatre growing up. Theatre comes in handy for trials, you know."
"Really?"
"I sing baritone."
A look of surprise ripples across Olivia's face. She nods. Impressed. "Wow. What's your favorite thing to sing?"
He grins. "You're probably going to think I'm old fashion."
"No, no. I promise. I won't. Try me!"
"Well, any of the numbers from Porgy and Bess."
She laughs, unable to keep her word.
"Okay, okay. I know, I know. Old fashioned. You don't have to laugh."
"I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just a little dated. That's it. But It is a class. I do have to commend your choice." Olivia concedes. They continue their walk. All around them, the city's still alive with the last remaining summer winds.
"Okay, what's your favorite thing to sing, then?" Edison asks.
"Uhm, depends on my mood. I've been playing Marvin Gaye's What's Going On a lot lately. It's a great album. A real turn in Motown's sound. Conscience music."
"It's a great album. I'd love to hear your take on it sometime soon."
"Soon? Why not now?"
Edison takes a look at his watch. "I'm a man of my word and I promised your dad we'd be back by 10:00 P.M."
"Wouldn't want to disappoint the old man, now would we." There's a bite of sarcasm to his voice. "You know, he was probably going to hire you whether or not you took me out tonight."
"Woah, Olivia. It isn't like that. At all. I didn't take you out tonight because I thought it'd get me a job that I was already given a week ago before he suggested we go out."
She frowned, "I'm sorry. I am. I've…things happened over the summer and my father's been smothering me ever since and I just didn't want to be a part of some pity case."
"No, no. I'm sorry. I would actually like to ask you out again. This time on our terms. Whenever you're ready."
He points to a streetlight, beneath the light sits his car.
Olivia considers his offer as they make their way back to his car. She's set to go to her aunt's tomorrow afternoon. There's a small part of her that hopes Fitz will eventually writes her, but another part that's encouraging her to move on. Next to her is an intelligent, good looking man. He's everything she should want. And maybe, just maybe she needs to give him a chance.
"I think I'd like that, Edison."
/
"So how was your date last night?" Althea asks from the glide swing on her porch.
Olivia picks at a loose thread on her jean shorts. She shrugs, a frown on her face. "It was nice."
"Nice? Baby that's not the face you make when you have a nice time."
"He's sweet, Aunt Thea. He's kind, smart, sings, and practices law. He's perfect on paper and we're going out again this Thursday. We're going for ice cream and then to see Al Green."
"Al Green? As in Mr. Tired of Being Alone, Al Green?" Althea asks excitedly.
Olivia smiles at her aunt's happiness. "Yeah, he got us tickets at the Howard Theatre."
"Crossing state lines with him now, huh?" Althea raises a brow and sips from her tea glass.
"It's not across state lines; it's across district lines. Or something like that." She furrows her brows in slight confusion but shakes it off. D.C is a confusing place to be. It's not Virginia and it's not Maryland. It's not even a state. Technically.
"You like him then?"
Olivia shrugs. "Fitz isn't interested in me anymore so I should move on, right? Lucky for me dad had that interview, huh?"
"Your daddy made that poor boy sit through an interview? Even when he'd already hired him?" Althea asks.
Olivia's head tilts. "Already hired him?" Funny, hadn't Edison said the same the night prior?
"Yeah, he told me about Edison a week or so ago, when he stopped by to grab the briefs you'd left over the weekend. I gave him your mail, too."
"My mail?" Her brows furrow. "I'm –"
"Yeah, Marcus sent a letter for you. I gave it to your father. He was supposed to get it to you."
"Did Marcus say anything in his letter to you about what he was writing to me about?"
Althea shakes her head. "No, just that I was supposed to make sure you got it."
"He didn't give me anything." Olivia's voice is flat, measured. The wheels in her head start moving. Would she put it past her father to open her mail? Would he do it?
"He must've forgot, just remind him when he comes to pick you up tomorrow."
Yeah, that was it.