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Her stomach flip-flopped again, or maybe it was a cartwheel, or—
Beth’s hands flew over her mouth.
Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, NO.
This was not happening.
“Get my sister!” Beth cried through cupped hands.
“What’s wrong?” He grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to turn her around, but Beth refused to budge other than to violently wave him away with a hand she desperately needed to stay where it was.
“Go!” she pleaded. “Please, Eli. I’m begging you. I don’t want you to see me like—”
Both hands were on her mouth again. Her eyes darted left and right, then across the street where she found the beacon calling her home.
Beth tore away from his grip and sprinted across the street. She grabbed the black steel slats of the receptacle and leaned over the rim, and under the awning of Storyland, Trudy Davis’s thankfully closed bookstore, she emptied the contents of her stomach into the sidewalk trash bin.
She whimpered.
“It’s okay, Bethy,” Delaney’s voice crooned as a hand soothingly rubbed her back.
“Oh good…” Beth’s voice echoed into the mostly—thankfully—empty bin. “Eli didn’t see that.”
Delaney whisper-shouted something to someone, which meant Beth’s sister was not the only person at the upchuck receptacle with her.
“Oh god…” Beth amended, still bent over the dark, gaping hole. Somehow she knew that wasn’t her sister’s hand on her back. “He’s still here? Okay. Great. Fine. This is where I live now, I guess. You wanted me to stay in Meadow Valley, right? Well…welcome to my new home. Please forward all my mail.”
Chapter 19
“Are you sure you’re okay taking care of her?” Delaney asked as she stared at her dozing sister in the passenger seat of Eli’s truck. “She can stay with me and Sam, but her upcoming hangover will not appreciate Nolan’s six a.m. wake-up call.”
Eli nodded. “I took care of two hell-raising younger brothers when they hit their teens.” He glanced over his shoulder at Beth’s head propped against the window, then back at Delaney. “This is nothing compared to the shit they pulled.” He scrubbed a hand across his jaw. Ash—the youngest Murphy—was still pulling it. But he was beyond the reach of Eli and Boone’s help now. Beth, for the time being, was still here.
“I got her all cleaned up in the bathroom,” she assured him. “Even found one of those disposable minty toothbrush things in my bag along with some diaper wipes and a linty pacifier. Promise she only used one on her teeth.”
He laughed. “Thanks for the disturbing visual of the other two possibilities.”
She grabbed his hand and gave it a soft squeeze. “Thank you, Eli. Not just for tonight but for everything you’ve done this past month—helping me get her out of Vegas, giving her a place to stay, and apparently her very own horse to ride.” She smiled innocently. “And for taking a look at Gladys next week when you make your rounds at the rescue.”
His brow furrowed. “Who’s Gladys?”
Delaney let go of his hand and started backing away. “She’s an Alpine we took in the other day.” She took another step back. “She’s maybe, possibly, definitely pregnant and due any day now.”
Eli’s eyes widened, and Delaney grimaced.
“Thanks in advance! You’re the best!” Then she spun on her heel and ran.
Eli’s hands instinctively dropped to his groin as he swore under his breath.
Grumbling about a lack of incisors still being able to cause a pretty painful pinch, he made his way back to the driver’s side of the truck and climbed inside beside Beth.
She snored softly on her next exhale, and Eli forgot about his newfound fear of pregnant goats and was immediately transported back four weeks ago to the stranger in the car next to him, one moment chewing him out and the next letting him see her—voluntarily or not—at her most vulnerable.
You couldn’t hide behind bravado or false confidence in your sleep. Any walls built up during waking hours came crashing down. No matter how hard you tried, bits and pieces of truth were bound to slip. The effort was exhausting, and Eli was so damned tired.
He started up the truck and shifted into drive.
Beth stirred. “I’m sorry I ruined the night,” she murmured as he pulled onto the street. She hummed a sweet sigh, and her head rolled back against the window. She was out again.
