‘Yeah.’ All the unanswered texts from his brother ran through his mind. ‘He and my mom. They’ve been… well… they’ve been hounding me since the divorce. I don’t think they believe that I ever leave my room.’ He attempted a laugh, not wanting Daisy to know how close to the truth that had been for him in the beginning, how many days hehadn’tleft his room in those early weeks after the break-up.
He’d moved to prove to himself and his family that he didn’t need protecting, that he could do this on his own.
Daisy’s face lit up with an idea. ‘Let’s call him.’
‘What? Right now?’
‘Yeah! Let’s do a video chat. He can see that you’re out and about on this beautiful day with your cute new girlfriend,’ she said, fluttering her eyelashes. ‘Might as well take advantage of our arrangement.’
Arrangement, right.
‘Okay.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I guess we could do that.’
‘Great!’ Daisy clapped her hands. ‘Let me get into character. What kind of girlfriend do you want me to be?’
‘Just be you, Daisy.’
‘Just be me?’ She sounded like she wanted to tease him about that, like she couldn’t believe that he didn’t have any special requests for his fake girlfriend.
‘I wouldn’t change a thing.’
His gaze held hers. ‘Oh,’ she breathed, a small, pleased smile crossing her face. ‘Okay.’
Elliot broke eye contact to grab his phone and make the call. They arranged themselves on the bench with the view of the ocean in the background. Daisy tucked in close to his side, so they would both be on screen. Elliot held his breath while they waited for the call to go through. Maybe Caleb wouldn’t answer. Maybe he was out. Maybe…
‘Elliot, hey! Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get in touch.’
Damn it. He really needed to get better about answering those texts, or Caleb would be next to show up on his doorstep.
‘Hey. Sorry about that. Just been really busy lately.’
Caleb’s attention shifted to Daisy. ‘I guess so.’
‘This is Daisy, my new… girlfriend.’
His brother’s brows rose to his hairline. ‘Your new girlfriend? Wow. Hi, Daisy. So nice to meet you.’
‘Hi! It’s nice to finally meet you, too! I’ve heard so much about you.’
Elliot nearly laughed. Everything she’d heard about him had been in the last five minutes.
‘Wish I could say the same. My brother’s been MIA lately, so I haven’t heard much of anything.’
‘Just busy with work,’ Elliot repeated. He really didn’t need to be scolded by Caleb right now. Not in front of Daisy.
‘How is that job going?’
He was sure that to Daisy it seemed like a casual enough question, but to Elliot the subtext was loud and clear.How’s the job you decided to do without me going? How are you managing things alone?
‘Pretty well,’ Elliot ground out. ‘The owners keep changing their minds. You know how that goes.’
His brother laughed. ‘Oh, yeah. I know.’
‘Wait,’ Daisy cut in. ‘Are you an architect, too?’ she asked, giving away how little Elliot had actually told her about his brother.
‘Oh, no,’ Caleb chuckled. ‘I leave all that math stuff to El. I’m a contractor. I do the heavy lifting.’
‘Yes, you’re very big and strong,’ Elliot muttered, waiting to see if his brother was about to tell Daisy the whole story. The one where Elliot fell apart and then ran, ditching his brother. The story in which Elliot was actually the worst.
