AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Pursing her lips as she set her washer to run, Sarah debated whether or not to take that step herself. She held the phone in her hand, wondering what Eli was doing at that moment, wondering where she was, what she was thinking. She rubbed her fingers across her lips, remembering the last time Eli had kissed her. Everything felt uneven and distorted. The bubble they had created in those two short weeks had burst.
Anxious pain lanced in her belly, but Sarah ignored it. She opened her phone and sent a quick text to let Eli know she was home, that she had enjoyed her time there, and that she hoped and wanted to see her again. After she hit send, she threw her phone onto her couch and went to stare out the window of her apartment. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to need a break from her break.
When her phone rang, she jerked suddenly. She ran to it, picking it up, but it wasn’t Eli. It was her agent. Disappointment chilled her bones as she answered, ready to get down to the business of what still needed to be taken care of. Maybe the tour was exactly what she needed then, to distract herself from the whirlwind that was Elijah Wilson.
Chapter 17
It had beenthe longest two weeks of her life. Eli had avoided the house as much as she could, putting every ounce of extra energy she had into her cattle and her wheat and her house and building the stupid wedding arch she had thought would be a good idea but was starting to regret. She’d crawl into her bed at night, lonely and so exhausted that her body had no hope but to crash hard until she had to wake up and do it all over again.
One week had not been enough time for them to explore everything they could have been together, but then again, two weeks probably wouldn’t have been enough time for that either. And they both knew it was temporary. It had to be. Eli wasn’t built for traveling like Sarah was. She’d made that very clear from the outset, and she in no way expected Sarah to give up any of her life either.
They were two very different people who happened to share one very nice and very short week together. It was nothing more beyond that. They’d both known it going in, but Eli couldn’t for the life of her figure out why she still struggled with it.
She slammed the truck door shut and went out into the fields. Bill would already be there, she was sure. She needed an extra hand that day, and he was always willing to give her some help if she needed it. Sure enough, as Eli pulled out into the lower pasture, she saw his truck with him sitting inside of it.
Eli parked next to him and grabbed the stuff she needed. When she got out, so did Bill, and he met her at the back of her truck where she pulled over a bucket with tags, iodine, and the tagger she’d used for years. She cleaned it off good to make sure everything would work right and checked it out, not saying anything to Bill.
“Elijah...”
“What?” she muttered.
“I have let it slide until now, but you’re going to have to tell me what’s going on. You and Bridget have a fight again?”
She shot him a dirty look. “No, and really, doesn’t anyone in town mind their own business?”
His lips quirked to the side at the comment, and she knew he was thinking exactly what she was thinking. The answer was never. He pulled up to sit on the bed of the truck and stared at her as she continued to fiddle with the tagging equipment far more than she needed to.
“You know, when you were about eight years old—”
“Really, Bill? We’re going with this?” Eli grabbed the bucket and set her shoulders, ready to leave or do anything other than what she knew was coming.A lecture.From the only person she had gotten so many lectures from, it rivaled her own parents.
He gave her a firm look, and Eli dropped the bucket on the ground and glared at him. He started over again.
“When you were about eight years old, you asked me if it was okay to marry Ava.”
Eli paled. She didn’t remember that at all. Remembered nothing of that conversation. Bill rubbed his lips together as he stared at her.
“I wasn’t quite sure what to say to you because I didn’t know why you were asking, and after a few more follow up questions, I realized you weren’t asking if you could marry Ava, but if you could marry someone like Ava, a girl. So yes, Eli, I knew you were gay probably before you ever did.”
Clenching her jaw, Eli wrapped her arms over her chest wishing the conversation would be done and over with already.
“Now I realized you weren’t interested in Ava pretty early on, not to mention, she was not interested in you.”
“When hell freezes overis the phrase that comes to mind.”
“Yes.” He pointed his finger at her. “But nonetheless, I was not afraid to let you be friends with my daughter. I was not afraid of who you would become because I knew you would become someone great, that you were more than who you liked or didn’t like. Everyone is, really, but that’s neither here nor there.”
“What’s your point, Bill? You’re getting long-winded.”
One more pointed look shut her right up. “Bridget did not have the same freedom you did in that regard. You know as well as I do what it was like to grow up in her house and the shame she still has from that.”
“Bridget and I broke up two years ago. Get with the program. We did not have a fight because there are no more fights to have.”
“I know.” He raised his hands in the air. “Hear me out.”
“Can I hear you out while we walk down and catch cows?”
“No. This is important.”
