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Chapter Ten
Josh probably thought she’d cower or feel bad about snooping. Nope. Elisa plowed right ahead. “You lied.”
He stood there, hovering over them dressed in jeans and a baseball-style shirt. “About what?”
So comfortable. So sure of himself even when caught. Deflection. He was a master at it. Elisa wanted to scream. “You two have been together for a year.”
“Okay, wait.” Rachel shifted as she winced. “Maybe this isn’t the right time for this conversation.”
Elisa didn’t even spare Rachel a glance. All of her focus stayed on Josh. “We’re ignoring enough difficult topics right now, let’s go ahead and tackle this one.”
Josh continued to stand there, all relaxed as he passed the football back and forth between his hands. “Why are we talking about this?”
He acted as if the courtship, the engagement, the buildup to the wedding with Abby never happened. He’d flipped this mental off switch and moved on.
Elisa stood up, still holding her mug. “You said you metRachel after Abby left. Months after. That you’ve only been dating Rachel for three months.”
The only show that he understood the seriousness of the topic was his slight frown. “You’re confusing the concepts of dating and meeting.”
Always her. Never him. Elisa was done with his deflection. “Am I? Please enlighten me.”
The last of his practiced indifference slid away. “Why should I? This is none of your fucking business.”
If he was done tiptoeing through family time, so was she. “Abby, my friend who is missing, is none of my business?”
Rachel stood up between them. “Maybe we should—”
Josh pushed Rachel to the side and stepped in until he trapped Elisa between his body and the bench behind her. “I don’t know what’s going on with you lately, but I’m sick of being your target. You need to fix whatever bullshit is happening in your head.”
She refused to be afraid of him. He was the one who’d pushed this showdown with his half answers and lame excuses. “Excuse me?”
Rachel tugged on his sleeve. “Josh...”
“No more pretending you’re fine, Elisa. You’re not.” Color flooded his face as he crowded in closer. “All of a sudden you’re digging around in my personal life. Judging, making snide comments, doubting me. Stop.”
The edge of the bench pressed into the back of Elisa’s calf. She tightened her double-fisted grip on the mug. “I’m asking a simple question about dating timing. You’re the one who’s getting defensive.”
“You don’t see me crawling all over your life.” The anger left his face. An I’m-about-to-be-an-asshole expression took its place. “I mean, you’re not exactly stable right now, Elisa. You know that, right? Please tell me you get that.”
This time Rachel shoved and pushed at his arm. “Josh, stop.”
The wall of fury inside Elisa started to crumble. She’d never been great with confrontation. She faked her way through it because that was the only way to survive and being a mom didn’t give her much of a choice, but having to hold that pretense in her own house quickly drained her energy. “You’re trying to change the subject.”
“This conversation is over.” He turned to leave.
Elisa caught him by the arm. “Not this time.”
“Hey!” Harris’s voice rang out as he jogged toward them with Nathan close behind. “What’s going on?”
Josh shook his head. “Your wife—”
“Stop.” Elisa issued the warning then fought to drain the anger from her voice to talk to Nathan. “We’ll be right over, honey. Go back and play.”
Being seven, Nathan had his own ideas. He ran up to the group.
Josh stopped him before he could get to Elisa. Wrapped an arm around him. “Hey, buddy.”
The sight of Nathan leaning against Josh tore something loose in Elisa. “Nathan, come here.”
