Chapter 639 Outing

Olivia’s POV

I could have easily said yes, but then Levi offered Aurora juice, his voice dripping with a gentleness he hadn’t shown me in weeks.

It was a small thing. A petty thing. But it felt like a hot iron pressed against an open wound.

Fine, I thought bitterly. If you have enough care to dote on her, you don’t need me there to facilitate your afternoon.

It wasn’t just about the juice. It was the way his body angled toward her. It was the way Louis hadn’t even looked at me when he made the offer to go to the lake, as if he were asking a stranger out of obligation rather than a mate out of desire.

Fine, I thought, a cold, hard knot forming in my chest. If I’m just a ghost in this house, I’ll act like one.

“I have a lot of work to catch up on, Louis,” I said, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears. “But you guys should go. It could be a sons-and-fathers bond.”

I saw Louis flinch out of the corner of my eye. The rejection was sharp, and for a second, I felt a twinge of guilt—until I remembered the way they had all formed that perfect, closed circle around Aurora yesterday.

“The boys aren’t asking for a ’fathers and sons’ day, Olivia,” Lennox’s voice broke through the tension. I didn’t look at him, but I could feel his gaze heavy on the side of my face. “They’re asking for their mother. They’ve missed you. They’ll be devastated if you stay behind to look at spreadsheets while we’re all at the water.”

I gritted my teeth. He was doing it. He was using the one weapon I couldn’t defend against: my love for my children. He was guilt-tripping me in front of everyone, and the worst part was that it was working.

“The lake is their favorite place,” Lennox continued, his tone smooth but relentless. “It would mean the world to them to see us all together. Just for a few hours.”

I finally looked up, meeting his steady gaze. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was forcing the effort, forcing the integration. I glanced at Louis, who was staring at his plate, his face a mask of hurt and resentment. Then I looked back at Lennox.

“Fine,” I snapped, the word coming out sharper than I intended. “I’ll go. I’ll be ready in twenty minutes.”

The shift in the room was instantaneous. Louis’s head snapped up, but he didn’t look happy. He looked worse. The air turned sour as he realized that I had given Lennox a yes barely a minute after giving him a no.

Louis shoved his chair back, the legs screeching against the hardwood floor. “I’m going to go check on the boys and prepare them,” he muttered, his voice thick with an emotion he couldn’t hide. He didn’t look at me. He didn’t look at Lennox. He just walked out, his shoulders hunched.

I felt like a monster, but I was also furious. Why was it Lennox who could always get through to me? And why did Louis and Levi make it so easy for me to say no to them?

“I’ll go help him,” Levi said quietly, his eyes lingering on me for a second—filled with a disappointment that made me want to scream—before he followed Louis out.

Now it was just me, Lennox, and a very quiet Aurora.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I whispered to Lennox, my hands trembling under the table.

“I did,” he said simply, taking a calm sip of his coffee. “Because you were about to let your pride keep you away from your kids.”

I frowned at his words but didn’t give a response.

The drive to the lake was loud.

Too loud.

The boys filled the car with nonstop laughter, arguing about who would get to swim first, who would find the biggest fish, who would win the next game. Their joy bounced off the windows, bright and uncontrollable.

I sat by the window, my forehead resting lightly against the glass, watching trees blur past in streaks of green. Lennox’s presence beside me felt heavy—solid, unavoidable. Not comforting. Not suffocating. Just… there.

Louis drove, his knuckles tight around the steering wheel, jaw clenched like he was holding too much inside. Levi sat in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead, silent in a way that told me his mind was working overtime.

No one mentioned what happened earlier.

But it was there.

Hanging between us.

When we arrived, the boys burst out of the car the moment the doors opened, racing each other toward the water. Their laughter echoed through the trees, wild and free.

Normally, the smell of pine and fresh water calmed me instantly. The lake had always been my place. My reset.

But today, my nerves felt raw.

We spread out the large picnic blankets, set up the umbrellas, and unloaded the baskets. Everyone moved around each other carefully, like one wrong step might crack something fragile.

I focused on unpacking the food, lining up sandwiches, arranging fruit, giving myself something to do with my hands.

That was when Liam suddenly clapped his hands, his eyes lighting up with mischief.

“I have an idea!” he shouted, jumping to his feet. “Let’s play a game!”

Leon gasped dramatically. “What game?”

Liam grinned wider. “Since everyone is here, let’s see who knows Mom best!”

My heart did a slow, painful roll in my chest. I looked up, the plastic container of strawberries trembling in my hand. “Liam, baby, I don’t think—”

“Sure,” Lennox interrupted, his voice smooth as silk. He adjusted his sunglasses and leaned back on his elbows, looking entirely too comfortable. “I’m in.”

I swallowed hard. I hated the idea of this game. It felt like walking into a minefield. I looked at Louis and Levi. Louis looked like he wanted to disappear into the lake, but he gave a stiff, tight nod. Levi just sighed, his expression unreadable.

“Okay,” I said softly, forcing a small smile for Liam’s sake. “Sure. Let’s play.”