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Eli sucked his tongue against his teeth. He’d take that RSVP up with Isa first thing Monday morning.
Then he’d fire her. Again.
“We should go out next time,” Merina said, breaking off her conversation with Rachel to focus on Eli intently.
“Be my guest,” Eli said. “I could use the break.”
Tag’s laughter shook the table.
“With you in tow,” Merina said.
“The two of you,” Rachel said, batting her lashes. She was braver when she sat next to Merina. “Wouldn’t you like to get out more?” She cocked her head in genuine curiosity.
“Look around, Rach. This place is big enough to hold a three-ring circus. Where do I need to go?”
“It’d be good practice for the event,” Tag said. “Like seeing how a formerly captive animal reacts to being in the wild.”
Eli sent him a death glare.
“You should bring your PA,” Merina sang, a smile on her face. “Your father always brings his PA.” She capped that statement with a grin and Reese leaned over and wiped it off her face with a kiss. Rachel, too far from Tag to do the same, winked at him and he grinned like a moron.
“That’s it. Everyone out.” Eli stood and grabbed his beer. “Your love connections are very inspiring but I’m not hooking up with my”—insanely gorgeous—“personal assistant. Take your matchmaking abilities over to the local college campus and do some canvasing there. Leave me out of it.”
He turned for the living room, but since it was attached to the dining room and there was no wall, it didn’t offer much privacy. And none of his helpful family members bothered standing and leaving. Instead, they fell silent for the count of five while Eli stared down his couch and weighed his exit, before he gave up and returned to the table.
Merina and Rachel went back to chatting, and Reese asked Tag if he’d heard back on the Texas Crane Hotel’s pool bar numbers yet.
Eli let the din fade to the background and tipped his beer to his lips.
For whatever reason, their being here didn’t bother him as much as it used to.
***
Monday morning, Isa swept in with her tote and double-shot cappuccino, phone to her ear as she slid the elevator door open.
“Yes, Chloe, that’s fine. Thanks.” At the dining room table, she found Eli’s laptop at her usual place. The screen was open to a document, one with a blinking cursor where he’d stopped typing. She poked her head down the hall. His office was dark. So was the kitchen.
“Eli?”
No answer.
She glanced back at the screen and saw the words my leg and was lured like Icarus to the sun. Prying could lead to her demise but she read the passage anyway.
I don’t miss my leg as much as I miss Christopher and Benji. Dumb sons of bitches. If I could go back three seconds, I would. I’d haul them both up by the fatigues and throw myself on that grenade instead. They could be here with their families nursing a lost leg or a scarred face. I don’t have a death wish, but dammit, I’d trade my life for both of theirs.
Benji’s wife won’t talk to me. I know Michelle misses him, but all I want for her is—
“Sable!”
Isa spun away from the computer to face the bedroom where Eli stood in the doorway. He wore jeans and a tee as per his usual, arms at his sides, hair damp like he’d just finished showering.
Shit.
“Help you find something?” He advanced with smooth strides, veins popping from his forearms and his forehead at the same time.
She had no idea what to say. Just no earthly idea. There was no spin to put on the fact he’d caught her snooping. She had no plausible excuse. Gee, I thought that was my computer wouldn’t work and neither would I was just stretching my back, not leaning over reading your private journal entry.
Given that she couldn’t lie, she’d have to say something else. So she went with the question rattling her brain since she’d read what she shouldn’t have.
