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“Me too,” Eli said. “You can ask her out if you want. I think you want to but are afraid because she never spends time with anyone other than me. I think she is afraid I’ll be upset, but I won’t be.”
Oh wow. This kid was great. “Maybe she doesn’t want to go out with me,” he said. “It’s important what she wants too.”
“I know,” Eli said. “But I don’t like her being alone when I’m gone.” Eli lowered his head and his voice. “My father has Jenna and before Jenna there was Melissa. He’s never alone. He’s got friends and family and does things. My Mom needs to do that too.”
He wished Roni could hear this. “I think your mother has a very fulfilling life.”’
“She does,” Eli said. “But I want her to have a nice guy too. If you like her and you think she’s pretty, then you can ask her. I hear her say your name so I think she likes you too.”
He grinned over that. “Really?” he asked. “When do you hear that?”
“When she thinks I’m not around or not listening. She’ll be on the phone with my grandmother or Uncle Jax and I’ll hear your name. I think she likes you and is afraid to ask you out. So I did it for her. Maybe you two will like each other.”
“You’re a really good son, Eli.”
“Thank you,” Eli said. “I want my mom happy. I think you can do that.”
He laughed and was damned if he didn’t almost feel a tear in his eye.
Roni came back. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking at him. He couldn’t betray the words Eli had just told him. At least not here.
“Man talk,” he said. “Right, Eli?”
“That’s right,” Eli said. “Man talk. Remember what I said, Trent. Man to man.”
He started to laugh. He couldn’t wait to tell Roni about this later tonight.
“What?” Roni almost shrieked hours later. He’d told her to call him when Eli was in bed for the night.
“You heard me,” he said. “Eli told me to ask you out. That he thinks you like me. Guess you don’t realize you say my name a lot in the house.”
“Urgh. Now I know what they say about kids having big ears, but I thought I was so careful. I should know better, especially after what he’d told me earlier.”
“Yes,” he said. “Fill me in on the whole Jeff thing. What is going on there?”
He listened while Roni told him about Eli getting in trouble for asking things in front of other people.
“Do you think that Jenna doesn’t like Jeff doing things with friends and wouldn’t want Eli to ask that to set her off?”
“I don’t know what to think,” she said. “It could be that. Or part of it. You know Jenna made comments about Jeff saying I start things when it’s the other way around.”
“Sounds pretty messed up to me,” he said. He could see now where a lot of men would stay away from someone in Roni’s situation. The drama could be overwhelming.
Guess he knew why Roni was the way she was though. She was the better person.
“It normally ends up that way. I don’t like that Jeff is making Eli feel like he can’t talk to him. It’s not the first time this has come up. It’s not like I can do anything.”
“You could talk to Jeff,” he said.
“I could, but it’s not going to make much of a difference and it could make things worse for Eli.”
“Legally there isn’t much you can do,” he said.
“I know that,” she said. “I’m not asking for your help. I’m just telling you what is going on. I didn’t think Eli would ask you to ask me out either.”
He didn’t want to get annoyed over her comment that she wasn’t asking for his help. “I want to help you,” he said. “I can do that by asking you on a date.”
“Yes,” she said. “You can. But I’m not sure how to go about this. I’ll talk to Eli tomorrow about it if I can. I’m sure he’s going to bring your name up to Jeff.”
