<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">The question of whether she’d consider selling her townhouse was ignored. Genevieve knew she was acting a textbook widow by not wanting to leave the place she’d shared with the man she loved, but there was a reason it was so textbook. Leaving that house, moving on with her life, was a clear admittance she no longer had Nathan in her life. She was surrounded by him when she was at home, even if he was gone. It was a comfort she wasn’t yet prepared to lose. She knew she would eventually, but would on her own. Her mother had already sat her down and tried to give her numbers to realtors while quite firmly stating she wanted the house up for sale by the end of the month, but Gen refused. She was stubborn; she’d do it her own way on her own time.<br/>
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Oliver’s offer to have her go stay with him was also ignored for the time being, even if he so nicely offered for Dunkin to join them. While it was tempting, simply because her bed was a huge mess and she really, really didn’t have the motivation to clean it off, she knew she wouldn’t inconvenience him with that. Not only that, Oliver was…well, he was Oliver. He was charming and handsome and hurting just as much as she. Get a few beers in them both and there was a monumental chance of them making choices they would immediately regret.<br/>
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Knowing the discharged bullet was a .45 was a nice little pat on the back for Gen, but it only showed on her face as a wry smile given the way Oliver continued on to say it was worrisome Nathan wanted a gun with stronger bullets. That stirred up more thoughts in her mind, more questions of just what her boyfriend was up to, but Oliver stated he’d look into the shop and she nodded, trusting him to do just that. It was one of the nicer things about having Oliver there; she knew she could trust him. Nathan had implicitly, with his life and his secrets, so Gen always had as well. Not that they were in the business of sharing their secrets with each other. Theirs had always been a more casual, if not a little cautious for unknown reasons to her, friendship.<br/>
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Her dark gaze was steady on his hazel one while his fingers grasped hers and squeezed. The gesture was sweet and her lips quirked upward while she waited to see if he would have an explanation to her nervous feeling about Nathan, about something being wrong. Oliver didn’t speak at first, instead surprising her by pulling her forward and into his arms. Genevieve didn’t resist, instead welcoming the invitation for support. Oliver was taller than she, broad and toned, and her brows made contact with his clavicle easily. She was not a petite woman, curvy and a little above average height, but to him, she was probably small. It was nice. She nestled into his chest, one of her hands sliding around to his back to hold him close. There it was all too easy to lean, to be tempted by his scent, to take a quiet moment to be assuaged by someone who understood.<br/>
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His words were soft, wafting into her ears in calm tenors that had Gen sighing and nodding as an answer. She lingered a few quiet beats longer, then realized her boyfriend’s best friend probably wasn’t a fan of having her snuggling on him. With a disappointed hint of a frown, Genevieve pulled back from Oliver’s hold and the silent moment of shared heat and curves molding against muscle ended. She stepped back from him, a hand reaching up to push stray curls from her face, “I appreciate you looking into it, Oliver. And for the offer for me to come stay with you.” She paused to study his face for another quiet moment before shaking her head, “I can’t inconvenience you like that, though. This place is perfectly acceptable. Besides, aren’t you still seeing…uh? Aubrey? Is that her name?” With a ghost of a teasing smirk, Gen headed toward the bedroom door so she could lead Oliver down back downstairs, “She might not like it if you come home with a dog and another woman.”</span>