All in the Timing

by April Zyon

  “Thank you,” she said, and continued to stroke her fingers along Frank’s thumb. “Why don’t you come and stay with me? If I have to have someone watch over me, that is?” Oh God, she couldn’t believe she had said that! She felt her cheeks heat up and was embarrassed so she turned her head to the side slightly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask that.”

  She felt him squeeze again. “Don’t apologize for thinking this through and coming up with a possible solution. It’s actually a good plan, Eli. If you are okay with me being there, that is. I hate the idea of no one being inside with you, but I really hate the idea of one of them being in there.”

  “I would rather it be you than anyone that I don’t know,” she admitted. Yes, that was it! “And hopefully, one day you will tell me what it is that you do for a living.” She shook her head and touched her fingers to his lips. “Don’t deny, okay?” Placing her free hand back down, she continued to hold his. She liked it, touching him. “You know, this is the first time that you have ever touched me.”

  “Not true,” he said. “It’s the fourth if we’re talking hand contact. Sixth if you include the times you landed on top of me and then proceeded to try to unman me. Both of those times I walked away limping, and limped for a solid day.”

  “You remember all of those times?” She could understand him recalling the one where she had accidently kneed him when she fell off of the porch where she was having lemonade with his sister, but the other times? “I…” Her eyes were wide in shock. “Why do you remember all of that? I know why I do, but why do you?” She moved as close to him as she could. “Crap, this is so not the place for this question. I really do want to know the answer to it, though.” She had been in his life for a very long time. Had grown up with his sisters and his brothers along with the rest of the town. He had seen the best and the worst of her and still didn’t look at her as if she were a pariah.

  “I remember everything to do with you, Elizabeth,” he said. Then he leaned back, looked around, and sighed. “You need to get back to work, and I need to head back to the house to get some things. Will you be okay for the rest of the day with the agents? I have a few things I need to attend to. I’ll meet you at your house at the end of your day.”

  “I will.” She didn’t want to move, though. He was right, she had a lot she needed to get done, but in reality, she just wanted to continue to spend time there with him holding her hand. She understood why the mayor wanted her gone. She hadn’t held back her dislike of the man and voiced her opinions loud and often, but it really was nice that Frank was there and willing to watch out for her.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he said quietly. “You’re one of the few people in this town I count among my favorites. No way in hell I’m letting anything happen to you, not now, not ever.” Sliding out of the booth, he tugged on the hand he still held until she stood before him. “You call me, for any reason. I don’t give two shits if it’s stupid. If you don’t feel safe, you call me. Clear?”

  “Crystal,” Eli replied, and took a deep breath. “I get off here at four-thirty. The others close tonight. I will make us a nice dinner tonight, how does that sound?” She just wanted to spend some time with him. Period.

  “You don’t need to do that. You know that, right?” He didn’t appear about to argue, which was a good thing. The man had grown up with Theresa Carver for a mother, though. He likely knew the futility of arguing with a woman on a mission. Lifting her hand, he pressed a kiss to her fingers. “I’ll see you at your place at five or sooner. I’ll call you first so you know it’s me coming to the door.” He let her hand go after a moment longer, and then turned to walk over to the four men waiting near the counter.

  “Sounds good. I will see you then.” She watched them as they walked out and sighed. Oh shit, Frank Carver was coming to her home, for dinner! Turning, she looked at the clock and then at one of the waitresses. “Molly. Sorry, honey, but I’m leaving early.” She would leave at three instead of four-thirty. That way she could get home, get the place semi-cleaned up, and hopefully get a shower in before Frank showed up.

  At Molly’s rapid blinking, she grinned. “You will be fine. Amber is going to be in soon. You got this. Plus, you have Ollie in back and all the line cooks and waiters. You will be fine.” Eli clenched Molly’s hands tightly before giving her a squeeze. “You will be great. Just keep your head up.” Molly was a wonderful worker, talented, but she didn’t like to talk to people a great deal. She was remarkable at painting them, drawing them, but didn’t care for talking to them one on one.

  ****

  Eli had raced home and gotten her small place nice and tidy. She had the food in the oven warming and took her shower. “Okay.” She set the table up and pulled the food out just a couple of minutes before it was time for Frank to be there. She knew he would be there on time. Frank was never late when he set a time to do something.

  The bell rang at five o’clock on the nose. She also received a text at the same moment from Frank letting her know it was him, but to check the peephole anyway. When she looked, he was standing back far enough she could see most of his upper chest and his face.

  Eli opened the door for Frank and grinned. She leaned against it and took a deep breath. “Hey you.” She stood back to let him in. “Please, come on in.” She let him in and closed the door behind him. “Food is on the table and ready. I hope you are hungry.”

  Snorting at that, he passed her a bottle. “I know you’re not a huge drinker, so I got some sparkling non-alcoholic cider. Figured you could save it for a day when you felt the need to down a bottle and not have to suffer the consequences the morning after.” He took a deep breath and a moment later, his gut rumbled. “As to being hungry, I do believe that answered that one rather well, if impolitely. You should know by now that the Carver boys are always starving. At least that’s what my mother says.”

  “You are truly a god among men.” She moved away and toward the dining room. “Well I’m glad that you are always hungry because I’m always cooking something or another. It’s a good thing. Right? It’s good that you are here so that you can eat all the food I’m always cooking up.”

  “Ah, I see the ploy now,” he said. Shrugging out of his leather jacket, he draped it over the back of a chair before holding one out for her. “You intend to get me fat. My mother tried that once. It didn’t really work out given my father was working my ass off on a daily basis on the ranch.”

  “I don’t think that you could ever get fat,” Eli said with a grin as she slipped into the chair that he held out for her. “Thank you. Now, sit so that we can eat before it gets too cold.” She couldn’t wait for him to try the food and tell her what he might think of it.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said. He took his seat and tucked himself in closer to the table. “Well, I have to say, if it tastes even half as good as it smells, I should be in a food coma by about seven.” He waved to her. “Ladies first.”

  She filled her plate up with the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and fresh shucked green sweet peas. She then leaned back and waited for him to fill his. “Well I hope that you like it. There is a great deal of food and I have apple pie for dessert, too. So don’t forget to leave room for it, okay?”

  “Like you even have to mention it,” he said. He filled his plate, a lot fuller than hers for sure. A flick of his wrist, and he settled his napkin over his lap. “It all looks fantastic, Eli. Thank you for doing this.”

  “You are welcome. Thank you for watching over me.” She took her first bite of the chicken and sighed. “Oh man, I did really good this time.” She grinned. “Just think, being in the house with me, you get meals like this often. You lucky devil.” She was trying to make sure that he would be happy being in her home. “Oh, and the guys that are watching the outside of the house, should I get food for them, too?”

  “If there’s anything left, we’ll offer them a plate,” he said. “I wouldn’t place bets on it, though.” He dug into the meal, saying noth
ing as he tasted everything slowly, carefully, and with apparently great attention to detail. “They are definitely getting none of this. I fully plan on eating as much as I can before the button on my jeans pops off.”

  Eli blushed at his compliment. “Well, I’m glad that you like it. Not to worry, I actually made enough for all of us. I cooked enough for the four men that were with you as well. You know me, I don’t let anyone go hungry.”

  “You, and every other woman in Massey,” he said. Which was the truth. It was a southern thing, but no woman in Massey could let anyone go hungry for very long. They all seemed to have the same ingrained tendency to feed anyone within about forty feet of them. “I’ll send them in to grab a bite when I go out to get my bag. I’ll keep watch until you’ve done your part to feed the obviously starving men.”

  “But you will be staying, right?” God… She blushed. She couldn’t believe she had just asked that. “I mean.” She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know what I mean. Will you tell me what’s happening now, please? I mean, I know about the mayor and what you told me, but how did you draw the short straw to watch over me?”

  “Yes, I’ll be staying, Eli.” He shot her a look, one she couldn’t read, and shook his head. “There was no short straw. I told Brant I’d be coming over to keep an eye on you. He was still attempting to pick his jaw off the floor when I left the house.”

  She felt hers drop as well and gasped. “Really? What? Why? I mean, I’m seriously happy that you are here in my life, in my home, but I’m surprised that you wanted to do this. I didn’t know that you were a part of your brother’s agency. I would have pegged you as more Secret Service or FBI.” She didn’t buy all the crap about him being on an oil rig, or driving a Semi truck. He just didn’t seem to be that kind of person. He was a protector, through and through.

  “I’m not, but Brant’s my kid brother. He really has no argument to keep me out of here. Besides, I did agree to let the fearsome foursome tag along to keep the DEA’s toes in the pool. So to speak,” he told her. He tore a piece off the chicken breast on his plate and chewed slowly while he watched her.

  “You are slick.” She would give him that. “You sidestep any discussion of what you do easily. You intrigue me a great deal.” He had always intrigued her, but that was neither here nor there. “But I won’t ask or put it out there again. I respect your need for secrecy.” She pulled the meat off of the leg that she was eating and added. “As long as you don’t have a secret family out there. You don’t, do you?”

  “No,” he said. “The urge to settle down wasn’t ever really there, most of the time. Course, the older I get, the more I do think about it. Not sure if I could with what I do—that I won’t be telling you or my family about. And no, none of them have a clue either. Not even Mama. Which is really a feat unto itself.”

  “Goodness, that’s very impressive.” She reached out, put her hand on his, and gave it a squeeze. “What you do is your business. I understand that you want to have that secrecy. I won’t ask again. I promise. As long as you are okay, as long as you are happy, that’s what’s important.”

  “Yeah,” he said in a noncommittal manner. Turning his hand over, he gave hers a squeeze. For a moment, she was positive a flicker of something, maybe regret, possibly sadness, moved over his face. But in an instant, it was gone, hidden behind the mask once more. “So, what have you been up to since last I was through these parts?”

  “Not a lot of anything,” she admitted. “I’ve been busy keeping the diner up and moving, I’ve expanded it, as you saw.” She shrugged. “I’m the person that I will always be. An outsider looking in.” Crap, she hadn’t meant to say that! “People still look at me a little strangely. They all wonder why it is that I’m back here instead of in New York where I had gone and opened a restaurant.” She toyed with his fingers and smiled. “They also keep trying to shove their eligible bachelors my way, which drives me nuts.”

  “The joys of a small town,” he said. “They’ve all given up on me. Course, since most of them have no clue where I disappear to between my trips home, they really don’t want their delicate Texas blossoms hooking up with a man like me. The fact they are all slightly delusional doesn’t help their causes either. It’s a rare woman raised in Texas who doesn’t have a spine of titanium carefully hidden away for when it’s needed.”

  “I’m sure that there is a woman out there that would take you, that wants you.” She did. God help Eli, but she wanted him desperately. She wanted him to be in her life, she wanted to have him, but was too afraid to tell him. “One day, she’s going to walk into your life and you will put the job behind you and stay around. I just know it.”

  His gaze clashed with hers, and held. For long moments, it felt like he was peeling away the layers, seeing farther than anyone ever should. “Oh, of that I’m quite sure,” he said. “But she’ll have to wait a little longer. I have one, maybe two more very important things I need to attend to before she’ll have my full attention. If she’s even ready for it, of course.”

  Eli felt her heart fall, but she nodded, plastered on a fake smile, and pulled her hand back from him. So he already knew who it was that he wanted. Of course he did. He was an amazing man and would of course already know who he wanted to be with. “I’m sure that she would be ready. She will wait for you. You are worth it, Frank.” She would wait forever for him, and that was just plain sad. Right, so since he knew who he wanted, that meant she really did need to get on with her life. “Finish eating,” she said simply, and picked up her chicken leg.

  He didn’t look away, though, his gaze steady on her long enough to start to unnerve her. Then, shockingly, his lips curled into the smallest of grins. “She doesn’t even have the faintest clue, but she will,” he said. “Eventually, she’ll clue into the fact that I know exactly how she feels and will get with the program, I’m sure.” He finally looked away from her, and returned his attention to his plate.

  Whoever it was, well, she was a very lucky woman indeed. She turned her focus back to her food and took her time eating. She had to admit, the food really was very good. It was better than she had anticipated, so that was good at least.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” he said a time later. His plate was cleaned of everything but the chicken bones. “Something on your mind, Eli?” Frank was leaning back in his seat, his legs stretched out under the table, his entire posture extremely relaxed.

  “Just trying to think of who this woman is that you have a thing for,” she blurted out, blushing as she realized that she really had said that aloud. “So, apple pie. You want some and ice cream? I have plain vanilla to go with the pie. Works better that way, I think.”

  One of his eyebrows went up, and if she wasn’t completely mistaken, he appeared to be fighting a grin. “Never liked ice cream on my pie, dilutes the flavors, to my way of thinking. So I’ll just have a piece straight up, if you don’t mind. Any thoughts on who this mystery woman might be?”

  “Not the first clue,” she admitted, and stood. “Will you clear the plates? I will get the pie if you will do that, please.” She would box up the leftovers and ensure that Frank was able to take that out to the guys. “So just plain apple pie, I can do that.”

  His heat was the first thing she felt along her spine. He put his hands on the counter on either side of her, effectively trapping her. “Think on it for a while, Eli. I’m sure you can figure it out. You’re a wonderfully brilliant woman, after all. I’ll even give you a clue if you think it will help.”

  “I think I might need it.” She turned so she could look up at him. She had no idea who it was that he might have a thing for. Her hand braced on Frank’s chest and she bit her lower lip. “Tell me?” She wanted to know who it was that he was talking about. She wanted to be able to hate that woman.

  “All right,” he said. Tipping his head slightly, he appeared to think for a moment. “She’s amazing, fierce in her own way, and pretty much thinks she’s the last person on the planet who wo
uld garner attention from me. And as a bonus clue…” He looked her dead in the eye again. “She’s the only person who I’d climb over my family to get to.” Tapping the end of her nose, he turned and went to the table to begin gathering up the dishes and food.

  She just looked at him. She couldn’t stop staring. She was missing something and felt incredibly stupid at that moment. “Me?” She gasped finally, realizing exactly who he was talking about. “Frank.” She moved and reached out to grab his arm. “Are you talking about me?”

  “See, told you that you were brilliant. You got it in one guess.” He finished stacking everything and looked to her with a frown. “Why the hell are you so stunned, Eli? Is it really that big of a surprise for you?”

  “Yes.” She squeaked that word. “Holy heck, seriously?” She couldn’t get that to work right in her mind. She couldn’t think past the thought that Frank Carver had a thing for her just as she did him. “I honestly didn’t think that you wanted me in that way.”

  “I’m going to regret asking this, I know I am,” he muttered under his breath. “What way exactly would you be referring to, Elizabeth Davidson?” Setting the dishes down, he turned fully to her, his hands landing on her hips to tug her in closer to his body.

  “Me, as in someone you could be with.” She automatically wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. “I’ve wanted you for years. Even when I left here, I left because I had thought that you and Carla Brown had become a thing. I left because I didn’t want you to see me with my heart broken.”

  “For your information, Carla and I were never a ‘thing.’ Not in any sense of the word. She had a rough time after a bad breakup, and I took her out to help her realize life wasn’t about beating yourself up over the mistakes of the past. She eventually got her act together with a little tough love from a few of the townsfolk, and she’s happily in a relationship with a guy who treats her right. You and I, though, we will definitely be a ‘thing.’ If you’re interested, of course.”