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“Is it a secret?”
He nodded, eyes wide as saucers.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”
“Will you tell Evan if I do?”
“Did Evan tell you not to tell me?”
He nodded again, mischief sparkling in his eyes.
“Maybe you should listen to Evan then, buddy.” Because I wasn’t sure I wanted to know if that were the case.
His eyes narrowed, and I could see him weighing his options. It fascinated me that, at the age of almost four, he already knew so much.
“I fink I want to tell you.” He shuffled next to me and sat on his knees. “But you promise not to tell Evan?”
I lifted my hand to my chest. “Cross my heart, hope to die.”
“Stick a needle in my eye.” He giggled and looked around conspiratorially. Satisfied we weren’t being spied on—or whatever else his little mind was imagining—he leaned up to my ear and whispered, “Evan said it was my job to win you back.”
My chest swelled with something I didn’t want to acknowledge, and I pulled back, raising my eyebrow at Eli. “He did, huh?”
He grinned. “Yep. He said that I had to make this morning the bestest so you would be happy and forgive him for being a douchehole.”
“He said all that? Wow.” I tried to keep a straight face.
“Yep.” Eli looked so proud of himself. “So now you can’t leave us again because you’re in our club.”
“Is that right?”
“Yep.” He continued to play with his figurines, obviously satisfied that it was settled. If only it were that simple.
It was cute—using Eli to try to break down my defenses, I’d give Evan that—but it would take more than a morning spent with one of the cutest kids ever to repair the damage.
My cell phone started vibrating, and I dug it out of my pocket. “Hello?”
“It’s me.” Evan’s voice was strained. “We’re back.”
“Everything okay?”
“It will be.” He let out a long sigh. “Can you put him on?”
“Sure. Eli, it’s Evan.”
Chubby hands snatched the phone from me, and he shrieked down the line, “She’s back in the club.”
Oh, Jesus.
Eli listened attentively to whatever his brother was telling him. When Eli said bye, he handed me back the phone and started packing his toys back into his bag.
“Becca?”
“It’s me. I’ll bring him back now.”
“Okay.” He paused. Silence filled the line, and I almost hit the end call button, but then Evan said, “I’ll never forget this.”
The line went dead, and I helped Eli gather the rest of his things. We walked hand in hand in comfortable silence, the fall wind lapping at our jackets. But my mind was anything but silent, and all I kept thinking was… damn these Porter brothers.
