“Eli?” Marlee asked. “What are you doing?”
“He’s not allowed to talk.” Sadie was back to attorney mode. “Whenhetalks, things go wrong. So he’s going to not talk for the duration.”
* * *
I’ll just messit up. Eli did his best to telepathically reassure Marlee that he wasn’t there to screw her over. He was there to win her back.That’s what Sadie keeps saying anyway.
“Is there a place we can go sit?” Sadie asked, gesturing to the tables and chairs outside of Starbucks.
“Sure.” Marlee led the way, Lothario whining in Eli’s general direction.
He’d missed the little dude, too. Marlee looked good. Not that she ever didn’t look good, but she didn’t look like the miserable pile that he felt like. She looked like she was going to be just fine.
That’s what worried him. She’d be just fine without him, and he was convinced that was not the case for himself.
Marlee sat on one of the black metal chairs, her posture precise.
Sadie spread out the documents she’d had Eli sign earlier across the table.
“Now, my client wanted to let you know, in person, that he’s contesting the divorce.” Man, Sadie as an attorney on the other side was scary—she held her posture firm, her eyes sharp, and her words hard as granite.
Marlee sucked in a breath.
Eli wanted to reach out and hold her. Reassure her that this was a good thing. He didn’t. Sadie told him to zip it, so he would.
“Eli?” Marlee asked, her voice cracking.
He just shook his head. The lump in his throat practically clogged his esophagus with the pain reflected in her eyes.
“He doesn’t feel that the current structure is fair to both parties.” Sadie slid one of the documents to Marlee. “He wants you to have half of his estate, the catering company, and his future restaurant. Half of the profits from both will belong to you.”
“It’s not a lot, Mar. Not what you’re used to. But it’s yours.” Eli’s voice was smoother than he felt. “Yours and the baby’s.”
“Thumper,” she said.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m calling him Thumper.” She pushed one of the documents away with her fingertip.
His heart beat hard in his chest.
“You think it’s a boy?” he asked. He’d thought he wanted a little girl with her, but a boy…a boy would be just fine. He would love a little boy.
Her breath shook on the way out. “Yeah.”
Sadie gave him her best shut-up look. The one he’d known since they were kids. He took the hint and zipped it.
“I don’t understand.” Marlee skimmed the first page of the packet.
“He’s also signed a post-nuptial agreement forfeiting any claim on your trust, income, and any future inheritance that may be left to you.” Sadie handed over that document next.
He was giving Marlee everything. He just hoped that in the end, she’d give him her heart. To keep this time.
“What do you want then?” Marlee asked cautiously. “From me.”
He couldn’t blame her for proceeding with caution. He hadn’t done much in the recent past to warrant her trust. But he’d been working double time to make things better—get things set up for them.
“I want you, Mar.” Eli shifted, the seat suddenly uncomfortable. He just had to get it out there. “If you still want me, I want you. And if you don’t want me? I’ll wait and pray that someday you do. And I want to know our kid. I want to help raise him. I want to be the one he comes to when he needs things.”
