“He should know, Lizzy. You heard him, heard what he wants. This is something that will eventually come up.”
“And you’re pushing the subject!”
“To show you that you need to tell him!” She comes over and grabs my shoulders. “What you did, Lizzy—”
“He won’t understand it,” I interrupt. “There’s a reason you and Scott don’t hate me for what I did, but my parents hate me and Roger would be disappointed in me and Marc isn’t going to understand. He’s going to look at me differently and I don’t know if I can handle that. There’s a reason it’s supposed to be a secret.”
“But things are serious with you two whether you want to admit it or not. It’s just something he should know if he’s going to be in your life long-term.” She pulls me in for a hug. “Roger would not be disappointed; he would understand.”
“I want to believe that because it feels like things happened like they should have, but it kills me that he’s not here to see it.”
“I know. We both know what you mean,” she whispers.
“Elizabeth?”
I pull away from Sylvia, wiping tears with my thumbs. Marc looks concerned.
“She’s okay,” Sylvia tells him, but he ignores her, rocking on his heels as if he wants to come over to me, but is holding himself back.
“I’m okay,” I confirm. “We’re coming back.” I walk over to him and hug him because a hug from him is what I actually need. He holds me tight until I start to let go. “Let’s eat. We don’t want our food to get cold.”
“Aunt Lizzy, when can we have a sleepover?” Stephanie asks.
“I wanna bake cookies,” Stella adds.
“Maybe you can come this Sunday if it’s okay with your parents. I can take you to school Monday morning, too.” Then, Scott and Sylvia can have a night without the girls.
“Can we please?” they both ask at the same time, looking to Scott with wide eyes. Scott glances at his wife. Sylvia is already nodding because she knows her husband doesn’t have a game that evening.
“Okay, you can have a sleepover.”
“Can I come over?” Marc asks me. “I want to bake cookies, too.”
Stella is concentrating on her plate, but I know she’s listening because she’s scrunching her nose. Marc is on her bad side after the cookie mistake.
“What do you think, Stella? If we make peanut butter cookies, can Marc help us?”
She sighs. “I guess.”
Marc grins. There’s his in with Stella. All he has to do is work his magic over peanut butter cookies and he should be able to win her over. He will win her over. Stella is exactly like me. It won’t take long now that Marc knows how to get her to like him for her defenses to fall and she’ll fall in love with him just like I have and she won’t want to admit it either.
“ARE YOU GOING to the game?” I ask.
There’s silence on the other end of the phone line. After dinner at Scott and Sylvia’s, Elizabeth has been acting a little strange. She’s starting to get lost in her head again, but she’s not wanting to talk about it, which makes me think it’s about me and not Roger.
“Not this time.”
“Not even if I said please?” I don’t know why I’m pushing her when I know it can be difficult for her, but if she comes then I can see her for a quick minute before we catch a flight out of town for a game in Indiana tomorrow to play the Mustangs, which is the team we’re playing tonight as well.
“What if I come to see you beforehand? I’ll bring you a slice of red velvet cake, and in case you didn’t know, I put coconut and pecans in the frosting.”
I frown because I’ve never heard of that. “Well, get your ass over here. No, wait. I’ll come see you; I have a present for you.”
“What kind of present?”
“Hopefully, the kind you’ll like. I’ll see you as soon as I can get there.”
“Can’t wait!” She actually sounds excited, so I feel better, even though she’s not coming to the game.