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“You’re not making any sense.” She grabbed onto his forearm and pulled him to a stop. “What happened with Annabel when I went to college?”
Elijah stared at her with hard and unyielding eyes. “Annabel went on a bender. The funny thing was that she was fine until you told her that you weren’t going to come home. That’s when things took a shift for the worst.”
“What happened?” Scarlett whispered. She could only imagine how Annabel had felt all those years ago. And Annabel wasn’t the kind of person to spill her guts to anyone. The closest she’d ever come to doing that with Scarlett was when she’d confessed how much she loved astronomy. She’d felt super embarrassed about it at the time, but like most Keagans did, she changed the subject.
“You’re going to have to askherthat.”
“I’m askingyou, Elijah. This all goes back to why you seem to think I’m the only one to blame when it comes to Annabel.”
“I didn’t say that, and you know it,” Elijah snapped. “I said you were both to blame.”
“Then tell me so I can make it right.”
He shook his head. “It’s not my secret to tell. If you want more information, you have to go straight to the source.” Elijah moved past her and down a different aisle. He placed a few more things in his handbasket, but it was clear he wasn’t about to continue their conversation. He was as tight-lipped as they came.
If she wanted to know what had happened with Annabel, she’d have to drag it from her friend in person. And somehow Scarlett didn’t see Annabel wanting to discuss anything about a history she wasn’t proud of. If she hadn’t brought it up in all the ten years they’d been apart, then what made Elijah think that she would be willing to discuss it now?
The ride back to her farm was quiet. More than quiet, the silence was deafening. It gave her a headache to sit beside Elijah knowing full well he could give her a clue or a heads-up on what she’d be walking into if she brought up the issue with her friend.
On top of the headache, she’d become dizzy from all the back and forth.
Elijah had started out as obnoxious, then found his way into her good graces, only to fall right back into the path of her fury.
How could a man be so attractive and so infuriating at the same time?
The only explanation was that she had to have lost it. Maybe she was still in shock from her mother’s death. She’d lost her ability to look at things logically.
Elijah might be a lot of things, but he wasn’t anyone she needed in her life.
9
Elijah
Elijah knew he was going to regret telling Scarlett about Annabel the moment the words slipped from his throat. As soon as they returned to the farm, he took the supplies he needed to repair the tractor and booked it. He couldn’t give Scarlett any opportunities to weasel the information from him.
For now, he needed to focus on how he would react to Annabel’s wrath when she inevitably brought it up. At least he hadn’t told Scarlett that she was in AA. That was a secret she had to spill on her own, and he’d kept his word about not spreading it.
The chances of Annabel seeing it that way were slim to none. She wouldn’t be interested in that part of the story. She’d tell him he practically told Scarlett by inferring that therewasa secret.
He threw his whole body into his work, but the extra physical energy he expelled wasn’t enough to help him figure anything out. There was something about Scarlett that had him saying things he really shouldn’t be.
Then there was the whole issue about the farm. Her father hadn’t told her the whole story, and he knew it. Scarlett was still planning on taking over the farm when they were back on their feet.
Elijah now had the hard decision of whether to tell her the whole truth or to confront the man who would be the only one to stand in his way of getting his hands on his own property.
Son of a gun!
The second Scarlett walked back into their lives, his had only gotten more complicated. He’d found himself between a rock and a hard place more than once.
Good thing he didn’t owe Scarlett anything. It was like her father had said. Scarlett would lose interest in this place and end up heading out like she always did. Elijah just had to remind himself of that fact, and everything would work out the way it should. He had nothing to feel guilty about. He heard her footsteps before her voice, but he wasn’t surprised at her reappearance. Scarlett didn’t just let anything go.
“My dad said you could stay for supper if you’d like.” The tone in her voice indicated just how much she disliked the idea. It was hard to not be a little pleased with himself.
Elijah pulled away from the tractor he was working on and wiped the grease from his hands. He peered at the sky and then down at her. As much as he didn’t want to be anywhere near her, he was still in the middle of fixing the dang thing, and if he went home, it’d be harder to get back into the swing of it. “Tell your father thanks for the invitation.”
She stared at him like she expected him to do something.
“Did you need anything else?” He fully anticipated she would tell him she wanted the rest of the story from earlier. Already, he braced himself with insisting she drop it.
