“Elijah? As in Elijah Frazer?”
Her eyebrows almost hit her hairline.
“One and the same. Do I know any other Elijahs?” I say, trying to make light of his visit.
She huffs, making me smile. “Since when have you and Elijah become such bosom buddies?”
I shrug. She has a point. As I pointed out to him at the wedding, it has been seven years since we sat down and actually talked.
She turns her gaze on me, her hands going to her hips.
“I don’t want to interfere, but is that wise? You’re about to marry another man. Elijah Frazer is newly single. What if the press catches wind of it? Does Kris know?”
I hold up my hands, slowing her tirade of questions.
“Firstly, Elijah needs my help with something. Secondly, there’s no reason for the press to suspect anything. As far as they’re concerned, I’m in the US.”
My mind wanders back to Elijah and our public lunch after I visited his office.
I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
“Kris knows why I’m back. I don’t have any secrets from him.”
Although he thinks I’ve come back to help Gabriel, not Elijah. Not that I lied. It was Gabriel asking for my help.
“Just be careful. You don’t need a scandal following you down the aisle. I know Elijah was your close friend at uni, but that was over fifteen years ago. You don’t owe him anything. Not if it could jeopardise your future happiness and not for some sense of misplaced loyalty. I know you’re close friends with his siblings…”
“As I said, Kris knows I’m here. Elijah and I will be working from the house, so there will be no scandal.”
There’s a deafening silence.
“Except the man in question is now single.”
I stare at Mum, realising for the first time she knew my feelings for Elijah were more than I ever admitted. It’s easier to keep unrequited love to yourself than face the embarrassment of others knowing, including those closest to you. Especially when the man in question marries and has a child with someone else.
I think back to that time. I was a wreck when Elijah married Darra and I had no right to be. We were close friends, but we never dated. We were partners, an unstoppable team. Everyone said so. He was the good-looking, popular guy friend on who I,the misfit, developed a crush. I even managed to convince myself his feelings mirrored my own.
Ha, how wrong could a person be?
I fell in love with catastrophic consequences. Within a couple of months, he married someone else after swearing he was all about work and making something of himself. His marriage and impending fatherhood triggered a series of unfortunate events in my life that threatened to destroy my future until his father, Robert, came to my rescue.
But Mum knows none of this.
There’s a deafening silence.
“It’s none of my business,” she says after a while, but I can tell from her expression she wants to say more.
I open my mouth.
“None of my business,” she says again, holding up her hands.
I want to growl at her. I recognise her disapproving tone. I grew up with it.
“I’m helping him with something work-related,” I continue.
She shrugs, grabbing a cloth and wiping the already clean kitchen side, her eyes not meeting mine.
“Stop—I know you don’t approve, but?—”
