Page 108 of Holding Ground

“I know what I have to do. I have to expose my employer for what they’re doing before it’s too late. But what if Elliott feels differently about me after he finds out?”

“If he’s the kind of man you just described to me, that’s not going to happen.”

A big part of me thinks she’s right. But there’s always a chance that his demons get in the way too. The same way mine ran me out of town and back to Boston.

“It just feels like I have so much to lose, Mom. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Never felt like I fit the way that I do in Echo Lake with Elliott and Baylor.”

“Oh, honey…I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this before, but there was a time that I assumed the worst about your father too, as far as how he felt about me.”

“You did?” I roll over onto my side to face the phone and tuck my hands under my cheek.

“Yup. And I bolted too. Wanted to avoid the inevitable confrontation that I was sure was coming, where he’d tell me I wasn’t it for him.”

I find it so hard to picture. My parents have always been so in sync and happy together. My dad practically worships the ground my mom walks on.

“What happened?”

“Your dad made it clear that I was wrong. But what matters the most is what I realized after the whole situation had passed.”

“What’s that?”

“That what I was afraid of had more to do with how I felt about myself and my own fear of not being lovable than it ever did about your dad.”

I’ve only ever seen my mom cry a handful of times in my life, but I would bet that if I were on FaceTime with her right now that there would be tears in her eyes. I can hear it in her voice.

The truth of her words hits me square in the chest. “I think I’m afraid he’s going to realize that I don’t really fit. That this whole thing with the developer will make him figure it out.” I press my lips together and swallow past the rock currently lodged in my throat.

“I know it’s scary. But from everything you said, it sounds like Elliott deserves the benefit of the doubt. Give him the opportunity to prove to you that you fit, Em. If I were a betting woman, I’d put money on the fact that you’re the missing puzzle piece in his and Baylor’s lives.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and picture Elliott and Baylor, the three of us together. A family. “I want to, but I’m scared, Mom.”

“Then do it scared. Sometimes you just have to do it scared.”

I let the silence hang between us for a minute while I take in her words, let them permeate through my skin.

She’s right. She’s totally right.

It might be scary, and it might not end up how I want it to, but I have to give Elliott the chance to prove to me that he’s the man I think he is. And I need to prove to him that I’m the woman for him first. I need to prove to everyone in Echo Lake that is where I belong.

CHAPTER

FORTY-SIX

Emelia

I’m standing at the same podium I stood at more than two months ago. The podium may be the same, but nothing else in my life is. Two months ago, I stood here with a slide deck and a plan. Tonight, I’m standing here with a folder full of LLC filings, property transfer records, and a career I’ve set aflame.

Two months ago, I didn’t know any of the people sitting in the rows in front of me. Now I know each of them.

The Thermos Crew has traded their lawn chairs for folding chairs and sits in the third row, next to Roy.

Dottie sits on the other side of the room, as does Deacon. Manuel from the Crow & Clover is here with his husband. Even Ansel and Hollis decided to attend this one.

I have the entire town in attendance, including the man I love.

He sits alone in the fifth row.

Two months ago, Elliott was a man I thought was hot, yes, but also a complete jerk.