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She smiled. “I know. I just don’t want to discourage you when you’ve found your way.”
Isa pursed her lips before saying, “A good manager is able to point out flaws pragmatically and succinctly. A good manager tells the truth. And so do good friends.”
“Okay.” Chloe looked Isa squarely in the eyes. “You have the right to tell the man you’re sharing dinners and evenings and overnights with how you feel, and he has the right to react to it. Don’t keep your heart quiet for too long or you’ll end up in love alone.”
“Wow.” Wise words.
“But.” Chloe walked over to Isa and gripped her forearms, smiling kindly. “For now, enjoy yourself. Enjoy what the two of you have. You don’t have to tell him this second. Pick your timing.”
“After sex seems like a good strategy. He’d probably agree to anything,” Isa joked.
Chloe chuckled. “You’ve got this.”
She did have this. Maybe she was rushing to make this work out when, like Eli said, all they needed was a little time.
“Lunch at Romano’s?” Isa offered, moving to fetch her purse. Amazing how one conversation had left her feeling better.
“Definitely.” Chloe struck out for the door and snagged her own purse on the way. “I’ll drive.”
Isa didn’t have everything figured out, but Chloe was right. When the time was right, Isa would tell him how she felt. Until then, she’d have fun with him. She deserved nothing less.
***
The soldier’s home Zach had been working on was outside of Chicago in a manicured neighborhood. The unique positioning of a double lot gave the crew plenty of room to expand, which was why the addition had gone smoothly.
Eli had made the drive out this morning to meet Brent and his family. Brent was a double amputee having lost both legs to a roadside bomb. He had four smiling kids—three girls and a boy—and a wife who couldn’t keep the tears from falling when she thanked both Eli and Zach for acceptance into the program.
Brent and families like his were the reason Eli was doing this—not for the kudos or the way his chest felt so full it might burst, but because without Refurbs, Brent never would have had such a speedy response to his physical needs.
As Eli drove away from the family’s newly improved home, a heavy dose of satisfaction swept through him. Many more soldiers like Brent were going to get the help they deserved. He’d done the right thing starting the charity.
There were more projects on the way, and with the details of those projects being handled by his new manager, Allen, Eli was free to pursue the next phase of his life.
Crane Hotels. Back to where he started.
One summer before he’d joined the military, he’d spent fifty hours a week following his father, better known as “Big Crane” by his employees, around at the office.
Crane Hotels, with locations dotted across the nation, was a successful chain that rivaled others like it. Their father had taken it from a few buildings in Chicago to nationwide, and after the Crane name was an established profit machine, Reese had sailed in and run it with ease. Tag had also carved out his place.
It was Eli’s turn to step up. He was ready.
He navigated out of the Brent’s neighborhood and onto the main road, wondering how he’d arrived at a crossroads with Crane Hotels. Eli had never been a man who ran from hard situations. He ran into them. He’d fought for his country. He’d earned medals for bravery. How could suiting up and going to work scare him down to his bones when he’d once heard a bullet whiz by his ear and had still managed to pull a search and rescue?
But this wasn’t war. This was life.
Wars ended. Life just kept on going.
The same way he’d kept going. When he came home to his old/new life, he didn’t want to go back to Crane Hotels. Upper management had always been a forgone conclusion for his brothers but not for Eli. He’d seen a different path for himself—a soldier’s path. Now he was buttoning up his past and stepping fully into his present. Crystal had moved on, and as he’d recently learned, had moved on before she’d rejected him. Refurbs was under new management, and other than visiting families or checking in on operations, Eli wasn’t pouring hours into the charity the way he used to. And there was Isa…
Ah, Isa.
Talk about being scared down to my bones.
God help him, what he felt for her scared him senseless. He didn’t dare label what they had. He didn’t dare make a single plan involving promises he wasn’t equipped to keep. He didn’t dare risk losing her before he’d practiced being there for her—all of him. Not just part of him.
He missed her no longer working with him. Hell, who was he kidding? He missed her and he’d seen her, what? Two days ago?
“Good God,” he muttered to himself to stop his back-and-forth thoughts.
