Bree smiled. “That’s all I can ask for. You’re so stubborn. I know if you commit to me that you’ll fight for something, you’ll get it. All I needed was that commitment. So it does put my mind at ease.”
I smiled. “Okay, crazy lady. Whatever makes you happy.”
Bree squeezed my hand. “I’m going to lie down. I expect you to go on out to the living room and get your ass good and drunk while I take my nap. Maybe tell off my asinine stepbrother as a way to vent some of your anger. I think you deserve it.”
She really was amazing. I started to get up and then sat back down and pulled her close for a long, tight hug.
“I love you, Bree.”
“I love you, too, Elodie.”Chapter 34* * *ElodieI’d never been more drained than when I got home Sunday evening. The weekend at the lake house had sucked out all my energy, even though we did nothing but sit around for two days.
What I needed was a nice, long, hot soak. I filled the bathtub and tossed in my favorite Lush bath bomb, called Sex. It was supposed to have some sort of powerful ylang ylang aphrodisiac, but I just liked the jasmine smell and how the soymilk in it left my skin feeling soft.
I undressed and lifted one foot into the warm water, but as I attempted to shift my weight and fully get in, my doorbell rang.
Jesus. You’ve got to be kidding me.
I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I figured it was probably someone trying to sell me something I didn’t want, or worse, someone trying to preach to me about their damn religion. I hesitated with one foot in the water and considered ignoring it, but then I worried it might be Bree and grabbed my bathrobe off the hook on the back of the bathroom door.
I pushed up onto my tippy toes to peek through the peephole and was surprised to find Hollis standing on my welcome mat. I hadn’t heard from him all weekend, and it looked like he was alone, though he should’ve had Hailey with him.
I cinched the belt on my robe and opened the door. “Hollis? What are you doing here?”
His eyes raked down my body and took in my exposed legs. My robe was pretty short.
He cleared his throat. “Hey. Can I come in?”
I looked over his shoulder to check inside the car. “Is Hailey with you?”
He shook his head. “She called this morning and said the Bransons wanted to stay another night. So she won’t be home until tomorrow.”
“Oh.” I stepped aside. “Sure. Come in. I was just about to get in the bath. Let me turn the water off.”
Hollis nodded.
Inside the bathroom, I twisted the faucet off and lifted the lever on the drain release. I took a look at my reflection in the full-length mirror and deliberated changing from the skimpy silk robe I had on into something more appropriate.
But then I decided against it. Hollis might be here to let me down gently. The least I could do after being jerked around for so long was make him eat his heart out a little. I didn’t even bother to put on panties.
He was staring out the window when I returned to the living room. He seemed lost in thought.
“So, what’s going on? Did you come from the city? You must’ve hit a lot of traffic at this time?”
He turned to face me. “I drove out this morning, actually.”
My brows drew together. “Did you have a meeting or something?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down as he shook his head. “I wasn’t sure what time you’d be home. I drove out right after Hailey called this morning.”
“You were parked outside when I pulled up?”
“No. I went into town to grab something to eat. You must’ve come home while I was gone.”
“But it’s almost six o’clock. You sat outside all day?”
He nodded.
“Why didn’t you call?”
“I didn’t want to interrupt your time with your friend. I didn’t know when you’d be leaving.”
It was a little crazy to drive all this way to park in front of my house and wait, but his reason for not calling was also thoughtful and sweet. Hollis had so many rough edges, yet every once in a while he showed a soft side. And that soft—however rare—eclipsed all of the hard.
I sat down on the couch. “Thank you. But you could have called or texted.”
Hollis took a seat on the couch, a few feet away from me. “How was your weekend? How is your friend?”
I sighed. “She wanted to talk about her final wishes and arrangements and stuff.”
He nodded. “That must’ve been tough.”
“It was. And she did it for us. She wanted to make sure we knew what she wanted, not for her sake, but so it relieved us of any difficult decisions we might have to make. In fact, the entire weekend was really to make sure we were going to be okay after…” I trailed off, unable to bring myself to say the words.