My eyes snag on the picture of grams and I tucked into the frame of the dresser mirror.
I’m caught off guard by my grief.
I’ve been so wrapped up in getting the bakery ready and then getting ready for my week as Eli’s girlfriend, that I’ve barely thought about anything else. She creeps in every now and then though.
When I was picking out paint colors, I could hear her voice in my head, cracking jokes about an orange color that I had briefly considered. She always hated the color orange and I knew that I never would have heard the end of it if I had painted any part of our bakery orange. I heard her in my head when I ordered the mixers and when I picked out the light fixtures.
I also heard her when I first ran into Eli. She would have said something inappropriate when we first met if she had been here. She would be encouraging me to go out with him, for real, to see if what we have is real. And if it wasn’t real, she would still be encouraging me to sleep with him.
I smile at that thought.
“You okay in there?” Eli asks and I clear my throat.
“Yeah, let’s go,” I say, forcing a smile onto my face and stepping back into the living room.
“Hey,” Eli says softly when I try to brush past him. “Are you alright?”
My throat burns as I blink rapidly, trying to keep the tears at bay.
“You don’t have to be nervous or scared. They’re harmless. Well, my mom is energetic, but she’s going to love you,” he says softly, like he’s afraid I’m about to burst into tears.
“It’s not that. I was just thinking about my grams. I don’t have any family left. Who am I going to bring you home to meet?”
I didn’t even know that I was thinking about that. About bringing someone home, or not being able to bring someone home rather.
“Oh, sweets,” Eli says a second before his arms wrap around me and I’m crushed against his chest.
He smells like pine needles and fire and I breathe him in as I try to get myself under control. Tears slip free, wetting my eyelashes before they make tracks down my cheeks. I’m probably leaving a wet spot on his shirt, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
“It’ll be okay. You’re never going to get rid of my mom now anyway. We can split her.”
I choke out a laugh, wrapping my arms tighter around Eli’s waist.
“Thanks,” I whisper but I know that he hears me.
We stand like that for a few minutes, until my tears have stopped and I’ve got myself under control. I clear my throat, stepping away from him and turning to grab my coat.
Silence hangs in the air between us and I wish that I could say something to break the tension, but my mind is blank. I grab my coat off the hook by the front door and slip it on.
“Want help with that?” Eli asks and I look up to see him grinning at me.
“Leave all that flirting for your parents.” I close my eyes in pain. “Oh my god, that came out wrong.”
Eli laughs, like a full-on belly laugh, and that sound has me mesmerized. I’ve seen him chuckle and even laugh, but never like this. It’s beautiful but a little shocking after seeing him so stoic for most of the past week.
“Let’s go, sweets,” Eli says, resting his hand on the small of my back as we walk down the stairs and over to his truck.
I gasp when his hands land on my hips and he boosts me up into the passenger seat. Before I can say anything though, Eli is closing the passenger door and rounding the hood.
We talk about his parents and go over our story one more time as Eli drives us back to his house. I’m not sure where I expected Eli to live, but the wood cabin fits him perfectly.
It’s a two-story and the dark wood of the cabin stands out against the white snow. All of the lights in the place seem to be on and with the smoke coming out of the chimney and the snow and trees as a backdrop, it actually looks really cozy. I try to take it all in as he pulls into the drive.
Eli parks out front and hurries over to open the door and help me out. Before my feet have even touched the ground, the front door is ripped open and a tall, slight, energetic woman steps out.
“Hartley! It’s so nice to finally meet you,” she says, hurrying down the front steps.
Eli sighs as he sets me on the ground and closes the truck door.