Let Me Love You (Australian Sports Star Series Book 2) by Iris Blobel Page A

for a while. Oliver left him to his thoughts.
    “It was hard to see her struggle when she came out of hospital,” he finally said, his voice nearly breaking. “She felt helpless and useless. But most of all she was petrified at the thought she wasn’t able to look after you.” He paused again. “You had just lost your girlfriend, and she was angry about the fuss everyone made about her, getting her home and adjusted to the new life. It hurt her so much that you got neglected.”
    Oliver’s eyes stung. He hadn’t known. He’d never seen it that way. “I thought she couldn’t forgive me for what happened.”
    “Son, she knew it wasn’t your fault.”
    Oliver’s gaze went back to the lake and the few ripples on the water as he thought about his father’s words. All this time he had believed his mother blamed him for not being able to walk anymore. He’d been afraid to bring up the subject. Afraid to say sorry. Too afraid to even look into her eyes. He’d come to understand Ben’s words that talking had brought them closer together and vowed he’d make a start as well.
    “I didn’t know.”
    “You didn’t want to know. You were scared. Like when you were a little boy and you avoided the garden shed with every excuse in the world. You should’ve told me the reason, but you’ve never been good with words.”
    Oliver laughed. “That bloody movie scared the hell out of me. Little creepy spiders in the garden shed that killed young boys.”
    Ben laughed as well. “Is that what it was?”
    Oliver nodded. Yes, it’d been as simple as that.
    A fish took the bait on Ben’s line, and a brief battle began. That small creature swam in all directions, and Oliver saw his dad’s effort to keep the line taut, but in the end, he lost the battle.
    “What a shame. For a minute, I hoped to have fish for dinner.”
    Oliver laughed. Ben hated fish.
     
    ***
     
    Tamara walked into the bathroom and threw some cold water in her face. Her eyes were red and swollen. She applied some cream on her face before heading back downstairs. When she saw the phone on the kitchen table, she felt the urge to call her parents again, but knew she wasn’t ready to talk about it, yet. She thought of her friends, who would listen to her, but with an aching heart, she accepted the fact that she’d stopped contacting them a long time ago and that now wouldn’t be a good time to rekindle that friendship.
    She could call Oliver.
    Shaking her head, she assumed he’d be busy with Cindy. She remembered Markus’ words. It’s not what it seems . It seemed quite obvious to her, though.
    Markus.
    With a sigh, she admitted to herself how much she liked him. She liked his smile. With another resigned sigh, she grabbed a piece of chocolate cake out of the fridge, as well as the phone, and went to her lounge room. There was nothing on TV so she muted it, but let the pictures flicker to distract her. Skimming through the contacts on her phone, she stopped at Oliver’s number. Should she?
    She did.
    “Oliver Dempsey’s residence. Hazel speaking.”
    She’d been so nervous about calling Oliver it took a moment to sink in that it wasn’t him on the phone.
    Tamara hesitated, her palms moist from the adrenaline rushing through her.
    “Hello?” Hazel asked.
    “Uh, sorry. This is Tamara. Can I speak to Oliver?”
    Hazel’s voice went up a notch. “Oh, hello dear. He’s out fishing with his dad. But Oliver’s not the biggest fan of fishing, so I assume they’ll be back soon.”
    Tamara had a hard time holding back the sob that was building in her chest. “Not to worry. I’ll call later.”
    “Darling, Oliver’s mum and Sarah are here. We’re having a nice lunch. Why don’t you join us? I’m a mum, grandma, and great-grandma. I know when a girl needs a shoulder to cry on.”
    Tamara didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This kind woman had just offered her a shoulder to cry on, and they didn’t even know each other.
    “You don’t know