New Winslow S6E58
Andrew was still rattled by his fight with Olivia, but he’d told Noah he was going to talk to her about the flat and had not managed to yet. Which meant he had to do it tonight, even if it felt like the worst possible timing. So even though they’d had their round of apologies last night as he came down from a (frankly embarrassing, somewhat stoned) panic attack, he still approached her after she got home from the Limerick.
“Can we talk?”
Olivia looked wary, and he wondered for a second if maybe something else had happened too. But then her shoulders fell. “Yeah,” she said. “What’s up?”
“I just need to talk to you about something.” Andrew said. “Can we, um, sit down? Or something? I have tea on.”
She still looked uneasy, and he hated seeing it. But she nodded and followed him into the kitchen, where he hurried through the motions of setting them up with tea. Once they were seated at the table with their mugs, that was when he finally faltered.
“What’s going on?” Liv asked, concern apparent on her face.
Andrew sighed. “Before anything,” he started, unsure exactly where he was going with it. “I’ve really appreciated living here. You’ve let me stay for over a year now and I would have been completely fucked without you. So thank you. I truly mean it.”
This didn’t calm her concerns. If anything, she seemed more stressed now. “I was thinking,” Andrew continued. “You don’t need an eternal houseguest. And I was thinking maybe I’d move into the flat above the shop. You know, give you your house back.”
She went to say something, and he cut her off. “I know Mia’s getting old enough to go back to her own room. And you deserve privacy and options, you know?”
“Will you be safe there?”
Of all the things Liv could have said to him, this wasn’t the one he had been expecting. “What do you mean?” Andrew asked.
She fiddled with the tea bag, which was lingering in her mug for far too long. “We know the house is safe,” she continued, not looking at him. “I understand what you’re saying and I do appreciate it. But is it safe?”
This wasn’t the direction he’d expected it to go. “Yes,” he said, hoping privately that this wasn’t a lie. “The charms and wards on the building extend up to the flat, it’s all covered.”
She nodded and his heart sank as he saw tears in her eyes again. “Liv,” he started, but she held up a hand.
“I’m not trying to tell you what to do,” she said. “And if this is about what happened the other night, I’m sorry. I just… I want you to be safe.”
The lighthearted “I’m already under a curse” was ready to go. As was the fact that Charles Baxter’s threats had much more to do with a tire iron than magic. But the genuine fear on her face made him reconsider all of those statements.
“It’s safe,” Andrew said. “We’ve had the locksmith in. I’ve done more charms than I’ve ever done in my life, which isn’t saying much considering I thought it was rubbish two years ago. And I can ask Celine to do something a little stronger. But it’s safe, Liv. It’s as safe as this house.”
“I’m sorry, I know I’m-”
“No, don’t apologize,” Andrew said. “I was planning to talk to you about it before we… before then. But I think it’s time, you know? Your girl deserves her space back. And so do you.”
“I’ve loved having you here.”
“And I’ve loved being behind here,” he replied. “I’ll be just up the road, yeah? And I’ll be here plenty anyway. You’re going to wake up to me on your couch until you really are sick of me.”
She laughed, finally pulling the tea bag out of her mug and setting it on the small mismatched saucer beside it.
“Where’s your stuff?” she asked, and Andrew felt months of tension in his body finally relax.
“In a storage unit in Boston,” he replied. “I’ll find a way to get it here.”
“Let me know how I can help.”
“Thank you.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes after that, sipping their tea.
————-
————-
