Chapter Twenty-Three
ELI
Jules disappeared into the darkness,her silhouette fading against the inky blackness. My gut twisted, the taste of our interrupted kiss still lingering on my lips. I wanted to run after her, to explain, to make things right. But Mom’s laser-focused glare pinned me in place.
“Elias James Coleridge,” Mom’s voice cut through the night air like a blade. “I can’t believe you lied right to my face!”
I plastered on my brightest smile, the one that usually got me out of trouble. “Come on, Mom. It’s not?—”
“Don’t you dare try to charm your way out of this,” she snapped. “Do I ask that much of you? I only ask one thing of everyone who works here. And not only did you break that trust, you went behind my back. That’s what really hurts.”
My smile faltered. “Mom, I?—”
“No excuses. I want an explanation. Now.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, buying time. How could I explain something I barely understood myself? “Look, it just happened, okay? We didn’t plan it.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed. “And that justifies it? Lying? Sneaking around like this? Eli, after everything we went through, don't you understand the kind of chaos this invites?”
“It’s not that serious,” I insisted, my voice rising. “We’re just having fun.”
The moment the words left my mouth, I knew I’d made a mistake. Mom’s expression hardened, her lips pressing into a thin line. “Then it should be easy to end it.” Her tone left no room for argument.
My stomach dropped. “What?”
“You heard me. End it.” Mom’s voice softened slightly, but her words still hit like a physical force. “Julianne is a vital part of our team. Do you realize you’ve put her job at risk?”
I felt like I was drowning, gasping for air. “Mom, please?—”
“No. My God, Eli. You two aren’t teenagers. So stop acting like it! There’s no more to discuss—this ends tonight.” And with that final proclamation, she whirled and went back toward the house.
It was on the tip of my tongue to yell at her to stop treating me like a kid, except for one thing. She was right. Jules and I had been acting like stupid teenyboppers. And I’d been avoiding telling her simply because I didn’t want to face a scene like we’d just had.
The finality in her voice shocked me to my core. I’d seen Mom angry before, but this was different. This was the voice of the woman who’d kept our family together through Dad’s betrayal, who’d fought tooth and nail to keep the resort afloat despite the betrayal of people shetrusted. And now, that same determination was aimed squarely at me.
I opened my mouth, searching for words, but found none. The weight of her disappointment crushed me, coming squarely from the woman who’d always been my biggest supporter.
For the first time in my life, I had no idea how to fix this.
Chase stepped into the glade, his hazel eyes filled with concern. “Hey. We all heard that. Everything okay?”
“No. Not even a little.” I hissed a breath out through my teeth. “She never shows at these things! Why tonight, of all nights?”
“Uh, well, she does live fifty feet away, you know. What are you going to do now?”
I paced the sand, my bare feet kicking up tiny arcs of moonlit granules. Mom’s words echoed in my head like a goddamn broken record. The resort was everything to her, her life’s work. One rule. Just one stupid rule about workplace relationships, and I’d blown it spectacularly with my inability to keep my hands off Jules.
“Mom’s pissed at me,” I muttered. My hands were shaking—actually trembling—which never happened. I wasn’t the guy who got nervous. I was the guy who could talk his way out of everything.
But not this time.
Jules was different. Smart. Complicated. The exact opposite of every woman I’d ever dated. And I needed to talk to her. Fix this.
“Yeah, Helen was pretty angry. That came through loud and clear.”
I shot a glare at Chase. “Workplace romances happen all the time! I’m not sure her stupid rule is even legal.”
“So what? What are you going to do? File an official grievance against your own mother?”
