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Oh, this hopeless dummy. I rolled my eyes. “You want to get some breakfast?”
Chapter 17 - Eli
I was just glad she showed up, and I could deal with her hilarious choice of outfit if she was going to talk to me normally on top of it. Did she think I wouldn’t be attracted to her by dressing like an eighteenth century schoolmarm who lived in Alaska? The joke was on her, because my attraction ran far deeper than her looks. And nothing could hide her beauty, anyway.
When she offered to get breakfast with me, I figured it would be in the building cafeteria, but I was still glad she was willing to engage with me at all. Maybe there was hope.
Even more hope when she hit the ground floor button on the elevator. “I think you need something a little more hearty than the cafeteria bagels or those awful things they call scrambled eggs.”
Outside, the sun nearly blinded me and I recoiled like a vampire. “Holy crap,” I said, fishing for my sunglasses as we waited for the car to come around.
She smirked at me. “I think you need to get out in the daytime more often.”
“You’re absolutely right,” I agreed as the car pulled up. “Let’s walk.” I told the driver to just follow us and she rolled her eyes but agreed.
We strolled along the busy sidewalk, idly chatting about inconsequential work things. Neither one of us brought up what I’m sure we were both obsessing about, but no one could have paid me enough money to be the one to do it. I was leaving that up to her and if she never mentioned it for the rest of our days, I’d count myself lucky that she was still my assistant at least. I found her utterly charming, bobbing around other pedestrians and leaning down to pet every other dog that we passed. I asked her about her childhood pets and listened to a story about her dog named Barnaby with rapt interest. I suddenly realized I might want a dog myself, if they made her that happy. I was eager to know everything about her.
“We’ve passed two diners and a bakery,” she said after we walked about ten blocks. “Are we going to eat in Brooklyn?”
“I’m just enjoying this odd thing,” I said, waving up to the sun, which glinted off parking meters and glass store fronts. “I don’t remember the last time I took a walk with no destination in mind, but how about we go to the park and eat there?”
Her smile told me she liked that idea, but she stopped walking. “Okay, but we’ll need to get food from somewhere first.”
“Just tell me what you want,” I said, backtracking to my driver, who crept along through the city traffic to keep pace with us.
I knocked on his window and asked him to get us some breakfast and deliver it to us by the duck pond. I turned to ask her what she wanted and her mouth dropped open.
“Uh, anything, whatever’s convenient.”
“Get scrambled eggs, bacon, bagels, fresh fruit. Good scrambled eggs,” I clarified, remembering her dissing the cafeteria. “Oh, and coffee. Milk and sugar for Ms. Shandy, black for me.” I clapped him on the shoulder and started walking again.
I heard her thank the driver and hurry to catch up with me, her eyes wide and her mouth still slightly hanging open.
“What’s that look for?” I asked as we turned into the park.
“It’s just that most people can’t send their driver to fetch food.”
Just my luck, spending half my life running from women who were only interested in my money, then falling for one who was repulsed by it.
“Well, I can,” I sighed, wishing we could get on the same page. I led her to a bench and we sat down. “My father worked hard to build our company to what it is today and I work hard to keep it, even though—” My voice broke, and I had to stare hard at the shimmering water of the duck pond to keep from losing it completely.
Her hand rested gently on my arm. “Eli, what’s wrong?” I shook my head, but she persisted. “Please tell me.”
A dam broke. As much as I wanted to know everything about her, I wanted her to know everything about me. “You know my father passed away about a year and a half ago,” I said. “He was my hero. I lived to make him proud. My sister-in-law died in the same plane crash. My brother, Ben, turned into a ghost of himself. My niece and nephew are like feral animals because my brother Will can’t say no to them since she’s been gone. I can barely look at him because he just radiates pain.” I took a deep breath, thinking about Callie and what a light she was. Violet linked her hand with mine and squeezed. “Callie used to give me pep talks, and we were the only ones in the family who watched horror movies. She was like a big sister to me. I haven’t missed a day of work since their funerals and my magazines are more profitable than ever. But I’m a mess and worse, I’m not fooling anyone anymore. Ben and Will are constantly worried. I feel like shit for not being able to get better.”
I angrily shook tears away, hating how weak I felt. Violet ran her fingers through my hair and sighed.
“I’m so sorry that I can’t really understand what you’ve gone through.”
I gripped her hand. “Jesus, I wouldn’t want you to.”
“It must be awful to lose half your family like that, out of the blue. Who told you that you couldn’t miss a day of work? I’m sure your dad wouldn’t have wanted you to drive yourself into the ground. Can I say something really honest?”
“Anything,” I said, craving for this closeness between us to grow and never wanting it to end.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. Grief doesn’t have a timeline. But you shouldn’t try to drown your sorrows in alcohol.” She grimaced and looked apologetic.
I blew out a breath, feeling like a heavy weight lifted off my chest. “I know you’re right. And I appreciate you leaving out the ‘and women’ from that.”
