“We don’t like that Eli could get a chunk of it,” her dad added.
“Eli won’t want it.” Eli was a lot of things. A jerk, he was not.
“We believe that,” her dad said. “Had a nice talk with his friends after you left. You said he was a good man. We believe you.”
“We just forgot you’re not so little anymore.” Mom squeezed Marlee’s hand. “We thought being firm when you came back married was the thing to do. We didn’t realize it’d cost us…you.”
Marlee tightened her grip on Scotty’s key in the other hand. Her eyes had gotten hot.
“We’d hoped that you and Scotty would work things out.” Her dad’s voice was rough. Which made sense, he’d adored Scotty. “We hoped he’d see he made a mistake calling things off.”
“And we thought if you had no other choice, you’d come around to see that he made a mistake, too,” her mom added. “We shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
“It’s pretty clear if you’re waiting tables in defiance and Scotty is dating again, the two of you won’t be finding your way back to each other.” Her dad was apparently resigned to the idea that Scotty wouldn’t be the son he had always hoped he’d be.
Of all the things that made her sad about her breakup with Scotty, that was the thing she couldn’t forgive. That Scotty hadn’t just broken it off with her, he broke it off with her and then tried to hold on to her parents.
There was one thing that needed to be clarified. “I waited tables because Eli needed the help. His staff was all sick. I would’ve done that if I had Grandma’s money or not.”
Now that? That surprised them. Clearly.
“Then you must care very much for him,” her dad said.
She did. She really did. “I do.”
“Then I’m certain we’ll love him, too.” Her mom gave her hand a squeeze.
“Eli needs some time to get used to the idea that he’s going to be a dad.” Marlee glanced around at the apartment he still hadn’t returned to. “I’m not sure he’ll ever get there.”
There was a time in the very recent past when having her parents show up at her door ready to give her money back would have put Marlee over the moon. Tonight, she just wanted to know where Eli had disappeared to.
“Marlee, we saw the man when he came back without you.” Her dad tucked a chunk of her hair behind her ear. “He’ll come around.”
She hoped, really hoped, Eli would see that all he needed to do was stop going backward.
She’d just have to keep hoping…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Marlee had left.
“She said she’s going back to her old house.” Sadie held her phone up to Eli, showing the text.
Scotty had moved out. Marlee had her money. She had her house.
Marlee was set.
She may have been the one with chronic asthma, but Eli was the one who couldn’t catch his breath.
“You’re just going to let her move out?” Sadie asked, all sass.
The fundraiser was complete, but the committee chair had been frosty with him after everything—who knew if he’d ever get another job with them. Afterward, he’d driven Sadie back to his parents’ house. Then he stuck around, telling himself it was because he hadn’t talked to his mom and dad in a while.
If he were being more honest with himself, he stuck around because he didn’t know what to say to Marlee. This was confirmed when he realized his mom and dad were already asleep, but he still stuck around.
He was having a kid.
With Marlee.
