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“Ignore my dramatic entrance. I can walk. But some days my fibromyalgia flares up, and it hurts. That’s when I’m happy to take advantage of having a giant of a son who can act as my personal porter.” Maggie’s voice is warm and her smile wide, despite the slight wince as she settles in the wooden chair.
While my friends are digesting that pipe bomb of information, Maggie turns to me, and I’m surprised when she hugs me again. This one is a lot less awkward than when Eli was holding her. But then I meet his eyes over her shoulder, and something in my chest cinches tight, tight, tight.
“Thank you for inviting me,” she says. “You didn’t need to, but I’m so very glad you did.”
“Would you like to order food?” Shannon asks. “We ate but could totally wait. Or eat more.”
“Speak for yourself,” I say. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be trying on a whole size larger now.”
“What were you saying when we walked up?” Eli asks, and I wish he’d forgotten. “Are you going to let mewhat?”
Shannon, Jenny, and I exchange glances. I know we were talking about trying on dresses, but at his question, my mind zipped right back to the conversation before that one. The one about the physical boundaries in our relationship.
“We were talking about whether Bailey was going to let you see her try on the dresses,” Shannon says.
“It’s bad luck,” Jenny says. “But it might be a dumb tradition y’all don’t care about.”
Eli looks my way, and the heat in his gaze sweeps over me like a solar flare. “Well, Leelee? Are you afraid of a little superstition? Or do you want to let me peek?”
Right now, I think I’d let him do just about anything he asked. Especially when he’s wearing that smile. I know everyone in the room can see it—and I think a woman a few tables over just took a picture—but this smile feels like it’s just forme.
“I, um … what doyouwant to do?”
I love the way Maggie waits for his answer, her eyes bright and expression proud, like no matter what the answer is, she is just so, so proud to call him her son. I swallow hard.
“While I love surprises, Mom will confirm I’m terrible at waiting for them.”
“True,” Maggie says cheerfully. “Peeked at every Christmas present every single year. I had to start keeping them at a friend’s house just so he couldn’t find them, and then wrapping random empty boxes from around the house to go under the tree.”
I can totally picture that—a miniature version of the smiling man in front of me, missing a front tooth, eyes narrowed in concentration, hair falling over his eyes as he tiptoes toward the Christmas tree in the dark. His fingers, probably at least one with a scrape, carefully peeling back tape and folding away the paper to reveal a forbidden glance at his present. Like Bluebeard’s wife, unable to resist the allure.
Only, with Christmas presents not dead wives.Obviously.
I find Eli staring, his blue eyes sparkling. I’ve heard the phrase smiling eyes, but never until Eli have I known what it means. My heart flutters a bit, nervous and a little excited too as I wait for his answer.
Am I a present he can’t wait to open early?
“I’ll defer to the bride,” Eli says, watching me carefully, his smile now a little less sure.
I can’t ignore the little squeeze of disappointment. While I appreciate the way Eli is concerned with making sure I’m okay, this response only makes me understand less whathereally wants.
I’m not confused.
Are his words the other night ever going to stop playing on a loop in my head?
Probably not until you talk to him and clarify things.
Great. Now Shannon’s voice is in my head too. Just what I need adding to the overthinking.
Eli is still patiently waiting for me, unaware that I’m in a tailspin. A total downward thought spiral. His soft smile and the kindness in his eyes takes a little bit of the edge off.
And it’s his smile which gives me the courage to shrug and say, “Guess it depends on whether you’ve been naughty or nice.”
Which makes Maggie cackle, Shannon stare at me in shock, and Eli—well, the expression on his face and the mischief in his eyes is definitely on the naughty side of the spectrum.
CHAPTER 16
Eli
