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“Yeah?”
“Do you…do you maybe want me to read the letters?”
He went still, then glanced over at the pile. "Do you want to read them?"
"Well, maybe someone should. Maybe there are things that you need to know buried in those pages."
"If you want to read them, then go ahead."
"I won't if you don't want me to," she told him. "I know this is private. But maybe if I vet them for you, I can tell you what you need to know and spare you from the rest of it."
Eli ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, if you want to, you can. Anyway, I'm going to take that nap now."
Holly glanced over at the stack of letters after he left the room, wondering what the contents held.
Maybe this wasn't a good idea, but she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that there was something in the letters that Eli needed to know.
Something beyond apologies from a man who had managed to screw everything up.
* * *
After feeding Miss and heading back out to the kitchen for her bag of junk food and chocolate, she settled on her bed and untied the ribbon around the stack of letters.
She took a deep breath, feeling like a voyeur as she opened the first one. Eli trusting her with this was a big deal. He'd never let anyone else open or read something so intensely private.
The trust he'd given her was huge, and she was suddenly hit with a strong wave of affection for him. This was an important moment in their relationship— whatever it might be.
Not just for what the letters might contain, but he was making himself vulnerable in a huge way. That couldn't be easy.
She went through each one carefully, reading the surprisingly thoughtful, well-written letters. Troy Cross was an intelligent man, even if he'd made some terrible choices.
When she got to the tenth letter, she gasped when she read the first paragraph, then dropped it on the bed.
"Holy fucking shit," she whispered, setting it down on the bed. "Oh, my God. This is major."
Miss lifted her head and yawned, then glanced in her direction.
"Sorry to disturb you, Moo," Holly murmured. "But this is huge. Majorly huge."
She picked up the letter again and read it in its entirety, then spent the next hour reading the rest of the stack. Troy always talked about his life, and he asked Eli what was going on with school or sports. Most of it was repetitive, yet sincere.
But nothing could have prepared her for what she'd read in that one letter. And if she'd been stunned by what she'd read, then Eli was going to be in shock. There was no way she was just up and telling him what it contained. She couldn't break that kind of news. No way. He had to read the letters himself.
Holly carefully folded the letters one by one, then placed them in her top dresser drawer.
She was thankful as hell that he hadn't read these today. Especially when he had to play the most crucial game of his career tomorrow. But now she knew for sure that he had to read them, and soon.
But when?
If the Kingsnakes made it past this round and moved on to compete for the Cup, this could affect Eli's focus.
Maybe the best thing to do was to wait until after the playoffs were over before trying to get him to read them again.
Then again, Tampa Bay had just advanced to the Cup finals, thanks to their win over Boston two nights ago. If the Kingsnakes moved on, it would put Eli smack dab in Tampa Bay for some of these games—which was where his father lived now.
And after what she'd read, Eli couldn't avoid having a conversation with Troy after he learned the information the one letter contained.
Holly groaned and covered her face with her hands. Maybe she should talk to Penn about all of this. She didn't need to get specific about details, but she could use another opinion, and she knew she could trust her best friend.
