Eli knew shit. If he thought it could help, it probably would. “Yes, I’ll take the number and call on Monday.” What could it hurt?
“Okay, I’ll text you the number, so you have it.” He walked me to the foot of his bed, and we both sat down with him holding my hand. “How are you feeling now?”
“Better.” I wiped the wetness from my cheeks and lashes. “It was so ugly, babe. I didn’t want to be there with him.” I breathed through the stitch in my chest. If I saw him again, what would it be like? Would he pretend it never happened? Probably.
“What do you need from me?” The corner of his lips tugged up. “Besides the phone number.”
I glanced at his bed. “Cuddle?” Having him close had always calmed me. How had I managed without it for so many years?
“Sure.” He pulled me backward onto the bed and then lay down with his arms wrapped around me and my cheek on his chest. “I won’t let you go through this alone, Wren. I’ll be right here whenever you need to talk.”
“I know.” I snuggled into his side, draping my legs over his. “You’re the best, Eli.” Maybe the therapist could help me trust him completely again.
A few weekshad passed since the dreadful lunch with Dad, and even though I hadn’t heard from him, my therapy sessions were proving helpful. I worked through my abandonment issues and realized that they might have affected much more in my life than just my relationship with my father. But I still had significant work to do.
I had trust issues, plain and simple. No wonder I’d broken up with Eli when he betrayed me in high school. Yes, what Eli did was awful, but there were other circumstances in his life, and I hadn’t been understanding of them.
We’d grown closer over those weeks, but the nagging in the back of my head never allowed me to tell him how I truly felt—I was utterly and completely in love with him.
Halloween came and went without fanfare as we’d had an away game in Houston. But I knew there’d be other Halloweens for us to enjoy. The holidays were coming quickly, and we’d made plans to go home to Medford together for Christmas.
A week before Thanksgiving, I sat on Eli’s couch on a Thursday night watching the football game, while he cooked a hearty chili for us. The other guys were out watching the game at the local sports bar again. I loved they gave us this alone time together. As my stomach grumbled, I said, “Babe, when will the chili be ready?”
He scooped a wooden spoon into the pot and lifted it to his mouth, tasting it. “It’s done.” Wagging his brows at me, he said, “I’m still waiting on the cornbread though.” He opened the oven door and peeked inside. “We’ve got a few minutes.”
I sighed. “Okay.” My phone buzzed on the coffee table, withDadat the top of the screen. “Oh, shit. Eli, it’s my dad.” We hadn’t spoken since we’d had lunch that day, but now I was armed with weeks of therapy.
“Are you going to answer it?” He wrinkled his forehead.
“I should, shouldn’t I?” I answered the call and held the phone to my ear. “Hi, Dad.”
“Wren, what did you tell your mother?” He scoffed.
“What? Nothing. She doesn’t even know we had lunch.” My gut twisted. I hadn’t wanted to disclose our discussion, potentially starting another feud. “Why?”
With a growl, he said, “Your Aunt Nadine blocked a real estate investment from me. I’m pretty sure you have something to do with it.” In a hiss, he said. “What did you tell your mother? I know she still speaks to my sister.”
“N-nothing, Dad, I swear it.” Fuck, he was probably trying to funnel money to Karen through another real estate deal. How substantial was the fucking money within the trust? As my pulse raced, I breathed through it the way my therapist had shown me. I had to stay calm and reasonable with him. “Dad, what goes on between you and your sister doesn’t concern me.”
“What? It does if your conniving mother is behind this.”
Eli pulled the cornbread from the stove and set it on the glass cooktop. “Wren?” He rushed to me, falling beside me on the couch and flinging an arm around my shoulders.
I had to remember this wasn’t about me, and it was my choice whether I engaged with him. “Dad, I think you should calm down and speak to me respectfully. Do you think you can do that?”
“Did your mother instruct you to speak to me that way?” He scoffed. “I have a right to be angry when you all are secretly scheming to get my money.”
My chest wrenched. What the fuck? Why would he remain blind to Karen’s attempt to get his money? “Dad, that’s not true, and if you keep speaking to me this way, I’ll have to hang up. You’re welcome to call me back if you can be civil.”
Snarling, he said, “You little?—”
I ended the call, my pulse thumping through my body. Holy hell, I’d never hung up on him before. I’d never hung up on anyone. As my throat tightened, I swallowed hard. It wasn’t about me. This was his doing, even if I’d alerted my mother about his deception.
“Wren? Are you okay?” Eli raked his gaze over me. “That sounded terrible.”
“Itwasterrible. He’s…” I inhaled a ragged breath. I wouldn’t let him get to me. “He’s got issues, Eli. Like deep-seated issues that won’t go away unless he gets help.”
“I thought he spent some time at a recovery center?” He studied me. “He should have had therapy there.”
