It had surprised her—and, actually, it had touched her—how insecure he had seemed to be about the idea of giving a speech at all. She had come to think of Elijah as someone exasperatingly overconfident. It was nice to see that he had this softer side. She didn’t want him to doubt himself, but there was something nice about realizing that hecouldfeel doubt. That he was complicated enough to be uncertain about anything at all was a welcome surprise.
And it made her want to support him. More than any interaction the two of them had had so far, that one had made her want to stand by his side and to show him that there was someone who valued what he had to contribute.
The only trouble was, she couldn’t seem to spot him anywhere.
The room had thinned out a bit, but there were still plenty of people around. She turned in a slow circle, scanning, hoping to spot him.
And there he was. He stood with his back to her, and Stephanie was surprised to find that she was able to recognize him without even seeing his face. It was something about the way he carried himself, his shoulders rigid but his head held high. She started toward him—and then she saw who he was talking to.
His father.
She had never seen such a disapproving look on Oliver Norcross’s face. She didn’t know what she was looking at, exactly, but it definitely felt like she had stumbled on something she wasn’t supposed to see.But then, if that was true, they wouldn’t be talking right out in the open.She knew from experience that Oliver knew how to take someone aside when he had something private to say. No, whatever was going on here, it was no secret.
The conversation broke off as she walked up to them. “Elijah?” she said. “I finished talking to the people I wanted to talk to.” She refrained from greeting his father. Officially, the two of them didn’t even know one another yet, so she waited for Elijah to make the introductions.
He didn’t. “If you’re done,” he said, “I think it’s time we left.” His voice was tight. She almost had to wonder if he was angry with her—but there was no reason to think so, was there? “Come on,” he continued, taking her by the arm, and he began to lead her away.
Stephanie glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t you want to introduce me to your father?”
“No,” he said shortly.
“Elijah, I don’t understand. Have I done something wrong?”
They’d reached the door, and at last he let go of her. “I’m leaving,” he said. “You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to, but I’m going now.”
He strode out the door.
Stephanie hesitated for only a moment. Then she jogged after him. “Wait,” she insisted. “I’m coming with you.”
He didn’t stop, but he slowed his pace ever so slightly, allowing her to catch up.
She caught him as he opened the door that led out onto the street. “What’s going on?” she asked. “You haven’t even given your speech yet. I thought you had decided that was something you wanted to do. Did you change your mind?”
He laughed bitterly. “No, I didn’t change my mind,” he said as he led the way up the street to the car. “My father changed his mind.”
Stephanie felt chilled. “He did what? What do you mean?”
“I mean what it sounds like,” Elijah said. “He pulled me aside just now and told me that he didn’t want me to speak. He said I had done such a good job of notembarrassing himlately, and he didn’t want me to open my mouth.” He shook his head. “You know, I haven’t always been my father’s biggest supporter, I can admit that. But I wrote this whole speech honoring him. Commending him for the work he’s done, and for how this new app is going to revolutionize the banking industry. And he doesn’t want that, because he’s too worried I might embarrasshim. That’s what he thinks of me. That I’m not worth hearing from.”
“Oh, Elijah,” Stephanie breathed. She couldn’t believe it. “I’m so sorry he did that. You didn’t deserve it.”
He shook himself and laughed lightly. “It’s fine. I didn’t want to give a speech anyway. I’m just annoyed that I wasgoingto do it and then he changed his mind, that’s all. I spent time preparing for that, and I could have been doing something much more entertaining. So that’s him wasting my time again. But the good news is, now I don’t have to get up in front of a room full of people and act like I think my father is some great hero of the banking industry, when everyone knows that all he is is a guy who’s doing whatever he can to get ahead financially. And he’s good at it, but he doesn’t need me congratulating him for that.”
He turned to her and cracked a smile. “The good news is, it means we’re out of there earlier than we thought we were going to be,” he said. “What do you want to do with the rest of the night?”
And Stephanie thought,here’s the part where he asks me back to his house again.
It would be twice as hard to say no to him this time, knowing that his father had already hurt him today. She found herself wishing she could do something to make the night easier for him—but she wasn’t going to let their relationship cross that line, she knew that much for sure.
To her surprise, though, he didn’t suggest it. “We could go down to the pier,” he suggested. “How would that be?”
“The pier?” She blinked. “I’m surprised you’d suggest it.” The pier was kind of a cheap place. It was fun, and Stephanie liked the idea, but it didn’t strike her as Elijah’s scene.
“I’d like to go somewhere my father wouldn’t like,” Elijah explained. “I give up on trying to please that man, honestly. If I got my picture taken down at the pier, he’d probably have all kinds of things to say about it. But the truth is, there’s nothing scandalous about riding the Ferris wheel and playing some carnival games and walking along the beach, and he should learn to deal with that. What do you say?”
Stephanie hesitated.
The truth was, she did want to go to the pier. She always had fun there, and it sounded like a nice way to spend the rest of the evening.
