Page 66 of Holding Ground

Who is this man, and what has he done to the grumpy one?

“You deserve to be happy, Elliott.”

“Well, I am very happy. And very, very satisfied.” He grins.

I playfully shove at his chest. “Good to know.”

“And you really are okay keeping this under wraps in front of Baylor?”

My head tilts. “Of course. Though that’ll be harder now that I know how you are in bed.”

He laughs and pulls away. “I better get out of here before I can’t pull myself away.”

“Wait. First, let me…” I run my fingers through Elliott’s hair. “You have thoroughly messed-up hair going on. As soon as you step up to the school, every mom there would know what you were just doing.” Considering how his hair usually falls perfectly back into place the moment he runs a hand through it, I wouldn’t have thought the mess was possible. “Where’d your hat go?”

“Not sure. I think I lost it outside somewhere when we were kissing.”

I grin at him as I do my best with both hands to make his hair look okay. “There, that’ll have to do.”

“Thank you.” He places a quick kiss on my lips.

“You’re welcome.” I bend to grab my phone off the floor, where it must’ve come out of the back pocket of my jeans when my pants were discarded.

Out of habit, I look at the screen and still. There’s a text message from a number I don’t recognize, but what I do recognize is the name in the message—Tanya Eaton.

My heart beats erratically.

“Emelia, what is it?”

“What? Nothing.” I turn off the screen and glance up at him.

“Don’t give me that.” He tugs me forward by a belt loop on my jeans. “You went from relaxed to tense in a second flat.”

I place my forehead on his chest, then pull back to look at him. “I think that woman just texted me about my mom.”

Understanding crosses his face, and he tugs me into an embrace. “How do you feel about that?”

“Conflicted.” To put it lightly. “Now it’s real. I have to talk to my parents before I respond to her. I can’t move forward without talking to them first.”

Just the idea of calling them with this news makes my mouth go dry.

Elliott pulls me back and cups my cheeks. “Then that’s what you’ll do. And it will be fine because your parents love you.”

On some level, I know he’s right. It’s not like my parents are going to disown me and never speak to me again. I just can’t stand the thought of them thinking that I don’t feel as though they were enough.

I’ve been putting this off for long enough, though. Tonight is the night I have to call them.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SIX

Emelia

Ihead out to the bunkie after dinner to Zoom with my parents.

The beam has been fixed, so the rest of the repairs are ready to be started. It’s still missing part of the roof in the walk-in closet, so I can’t sleep here yet, but it’s enough to give me privacy for the call to my parents.

I texted my mom earlier to see if they’d both be available, and I already sent them the Zoom link. All I have to do is log on.