“About what?” There was a tiny bit of a high pitch to her voice and she knew she needed to cover it. “I told my mom you and I were involved in something dangerous, and she was happy about it. It really annoyed me.” She was glad she was facing the shower wall so Eli couldn’t see her face.
“She knows I’ll protect you.”
“From guns?”
He turned her around to lather the front of her. “What makes you think guns will be involved?”
“I don’t. It’s just a possibility. Did you meet Scully’s dad?”
“Yeah, and I found out that the two kids met through their parents. Scully’s father, Nolan, went to Frazier Motors to put in a new computer system. It’s not what I would have installed but—”
“They met then?” Chelsea took the soap from him and began to lather his body.
“They did. Scully said his dad hadn’t been interested in any woman since his wife died, but that he liked Abby’s mom very much.”
“Let me guess,” Chelsea said as she ran her hands over Eli’s bare, muscular chest. Then did it again. And again. “Grace broke it off. She said she had too much in her past to go forward.”
“That’s exactly right.” He put one of Chelsea’s legs on his hip and stroked it with soapy hands. “I remember how annoyed I was when you outgrew your bike. I thought the length of your legs was totally unnecessary.”
“What do you think now?”
“I need every inch of them.”
“I need lots of inches too,” she said, her mouth by his ear, her hand between his legs.
Smiling, Eli turned her back around. “Do you know that—”
“Grace blames herself for her husband’s death? Beats herself up for not knowing he was so miserable that he wanted out of life?”
“That’s what Nolan said.” Eli was looking at her in awe.
“How’d you get him to talk to you
so intimately?”
“My persuasive personality,” Eli said. When Chelsea looked over her shoulder at him, her face skeptical, he laughed. “I asked him.”
“Just flat out asked him?”
He ignored her meaning, turned her back around, then with as much full body touching as he could manage, he stepped out and grabbed a towel. “I asked if he’d be interested if I got him and Grace back together, and his story came out.”
“Since when are you a matchmaker?’
“I am whenever you are in my life. I’ve come to realize that people shouldn’t live their lives alone. Both Pilar and Jeff are going in different directions, and you’re going back to some dull-brained jock, and—”
Chelsea pulled the shower door closed and put her head under the water. She’d heard it—or a version of it—too many times before. The truth was that right now she wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but her meeting with Pilar was making her see possibilities for the future.
In the bedroom, Eli was smiling. He’d already told Jeff and Melissa that he couldn’t make dinner but would they please take Chelsea out. Eli wanted to make sure she was occupied for the evening while he was, well, busy. He’d traded favors with an FBI friend to get Peterson, Abby, and Grace out of the house for the evening so Eli could look around.
Now all he had to do was come up with an excuse to go out for the evening. He thought it would be better if he told Chelsea he was doing something Top Secret for the government. Maybe he’d name-drop. She’d seemed impressed by the president, so maybe he’d use him. If he was going to lie, he might as well make it a big one.
Chelsea was silently walking around inside Grace’s house. It was nearly dark outside but she didn’t dare turn on the lights for fear someone would see her. Earlier, when she’d told Pilar what she planned to do as soon as she got Eli out of the house, Pilar had lent her a tiny flashlight that had a pinpoint beam.
“People are less likely to see it than a regular flashlight.”
Chelsea was glad to find out that Pilar knew so many tricks.
“I listen,” Pilar said with a shrug. “It wasn’t as though anyone ever gave me any real responsibility.”