by Meg Easton
Eli didn’t admit that he wasn’t doing it to be thoughtful— he was doing it so that his dad didn’t feel the need to hobble down to the shop in his bathrobe and scooter to see the numbers.
“You didn’t copy and paste straight from the accounting software, right? Because there’s account numbers in there, and email can be hacked.”
“No account numbers, Dad.”
Eli could tell by the muffled sounds coming from the other parts of the house that Whitney had been wandering as she spoke with her mom. He turned his head a bit as she wandered nearer so his ear was aimed her direction. Not that he was trying to hear what she was saying. His parents had noticed the shift, though, and their eyes went the direction Whitney was.
The expression on his dad’s face immediately softened. “It’s nice to see the two of you together again.”
“We’re not—”
“Together in the same place at the same time,” he clarified.
His mom opened her mouth to speak, but paused, like she hadn’t quite figured out what to say. Finally, she said, “Be careful.”
Eli’s forehead crinkled and he cocked his head to the side. Seeing his confusion at her words, his mom exhaled and said, “When you left before, it was every bit as hard on her as it was on us. You’ll be leaving again before too long, so just... be careful.”
His dad coughed several times, and his mom put her hand on his arm in comfort. She handed him his water, and after taking a sip and clearing his throat, he said, “You might be okay with breaking hearts all over Sacramento, but you be careful with our Whitney’s.”
“Okay. Okay. Goodbye Mom. I love you, too.” Whitney ended the call and slid the phone into her pocket as she walked into the room,
“How is your mom?” Eli’s mom asked. “Did you have a good call?”
“She’s doing well. The phone call was a bunch of ‘are you eating healthy, how’s the paper, why aren’t you dating, when are you going to move to South Carolina with me and your sister’— the weekly usual.”
“You’re moving to South Carolina?” Eli asked, alarmed.
She laughed a quick bark of a laugh. “No. But it doesn’t stop her from asking every phone call. I think she and my sister feel guilty for leaving me here. My roots here are too deep, though. I mean you could pull me up and transport me across the country, but I’m not sure these roots would survive outside of Nestled Hollow soil.”
Even just sitting here, talking about mundane things in a room with poor lighting and 1980’s decor, Whitney looked beautiful and radiant and had a happy calmness surrounding her. Eli knew that her heart wasn’t the only one he needed to be careful with.
Chapter Eleven
It was the time of the day when Whitney had finished being out in the town interviewing people or researching stories, and she was back at the office, about to write up her own articles. The time of the day when her college student and high school student staff (along with Lincoln, her once-a-week elementary school honorary staff member) were just getting out of school and would be in to work before too long. The time of the day when she was in the office alone, and if someone hadn’t already texted her, she would go through her long list of people in town and find someone somewhere doing something. This town was her family, and they invited her to join with their families as readily as they invited their official family members.
She kept looking down at the list of people in town. These were the people she loved hanging out with— if she had her way, she’d hang out with all of them every night. A nightly town party. She really wanted to get together with people and socialize tonight. Yet when she looked at the list, she didn’t feel compelled to call anyone. After a while of turning her phone over and over in her hand, she realized it was because she didn’t want to hang out with people; she wanted to hang out with a person. A very specific person.
But that was a bad idea. A very bad idea. She needed to protect herself. She was a pro at protecting herself— some might even say that she was at master level. But even with all her experience, Eli had almost found a way inside her defenses up in the mountains. And that scared her more than she was willing to admit.
Yet she was so drawn to him. Probably because they had once been such good friends. Just because they were grown-ups now didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends like before. She could hang out with him as a friend. That was doable, she was sure of it.
After almost touching his phone number in her contacts, then turning off her phone, then almost touching his phone number, then turning off her phone, Whitney opened a text to Eli.
Would you like to go hang out somewhere tonight?
No, that was way too bold, and made it sound like she was asking him on a date, which she very much was not doing.
Our Fall Market plans are missing something. Can you meet to discuss?
Perfect. No hidden messages there. She pushed send. It only took a few seconds before she saw the indicator that he was typing a response. She held her breath as the three dots kept moving back and forth.
She waited, staring at her screen. The screen darkened, so she touched it to bring it back to life, and still the dots moved. Maybe he was struggling with figuring out how to tell her that he wasn’t interested. Or that he already had plans. Or maybe he couldn’t figure out whether he wanted to see her or not. Maybe she should’ve suggested they join another group of people, instead of implying that they were going to do something alone. Right before it went dark the second time, the indicator disappeared, as if he wasn’t responding at all.
She turned off her phone and pushed it to the very edge of her desk. She wasn’t in high school anymore, and her life didn’t revolve around whether or not a boy could hang out with her tonight. She opened her word processor and typed Service Spotlight of the Week, pressed enter and typed by Whitney Brennan, then pressed enter again and stared at the flashing cursor.
And stared some more.
Then reminded herself that this was stupid, and to get to work. So she did. Two paragraphs into her article, her phone buzzed, and she nearly knocked over her water bottle trying to grab it.
Sorry. Customer came in while I was typing. Was going to try out some new waterproof lights on a canoe at sunset. Want to join me? I hear brainstorming is more effective when you’re on a lake. I’m pretty sure there’s scientific proof.
Whitney smiled as she typed in her response.
Then we should definitely test that theory. I’ll meet you at the lake at 6.
Whitney drove through the tree-lined streets where the gold and red leaves were just beginning to fall. Before long, there would be enough on the ground up in the mountains that they could collect them for the Fall Market.
When she pulled into the parking area next to the lake, Eli was already at the shore, crouched down next to a canoe, working on something with his hands. She got out of the car, opened the back door, grabbed her jacket, and put it on. The sun wouldn’t set for at least another twenty minutes, and it wouldn’t be all the way dark for a good thirty minutes after that. But right now, the sun shone a golden light down on Eli, and if he needed any images for advertising or promotion— or even to hang up in his store, this was it.
She grabbed her bags, slung them over her neck, pulled her camera out, and headed down the incline. Eli was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t see her coming. She stopped and got a few candid shots, then moved closer and to the side a bit and got a few more with the light at a different angle. She clicked through the shots, seeing if the settings needed to be adjusted. The pictures were amazing. Maybe she’d have to write a story for the paper about the lake or Treanor’s Outdoor Recreation just to use them.
It wasn’t until she got closer and stepped onto the gravelly area that Eli heard the crunch of her steps and turned to see her, his face lighting up in the evening sun. She put the camera to her eye and got a shot before his expression changed.
“I didn’t realize this was going to be a photo shoot,” Eli said.
Whitney lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Impromptu. I couldn’t resist this lighting.”
Eli raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, okay, the subject matter was looking pretty great, too.” She motioned at the set of lights he was attaching to the canoe. “So are you planning to start doing nighttime rentals?”
He shook his head. “My dad rarely rents at night, and if he does, it’s only to people who really know what they’re doing, and who are willing to sign that they won’t even think about drinking, using drugs, or taking prescription medications that warn you against operating heavy machinery, and that they won’t get within five feet of the water without a life jacket.”
“A little riskier then, huh?”
“Only if you don’t know what you’re doing, make stupid choices, or go alone.” He grinned up at her. “Thanks for coming.”
“What are friends for, if not to keep you from making stupid choices?”
Eli laughed. “Yep— that’s exactly why I asked you to come with me.” He’d said it sarcastically, which made Whitney smile.
Once Eli was finished preparing the canoe, he tossed Whitney a life jacket, and put one on himself. She zipped her camera into its waterproof bag and secured it under one of the seats. Then she climbed in the front seat while Eli pushed the boat into the water and hopped in himself. The canoe rocked back and forth a bit before steadying itself. Eli pulled the oars from the bottom of the canoe, and handed one to Whitney.
When they reached the middle of the lake, Whitney turned around in her seat so she was facing Eli, and slid the oar back into the bottom of the canoe. The sun was just beginning to set, and was throwing brilliant oranges and pinks across the sky, the pine trees and homes silhouetted against its brilliance. She bit her lip, wishing she dared to pull her camera out and chance it getting wet.
Eli must’ve been studying her expression pretty intently, because he said, “Go ahead. I’ll make sure to keep the boat steady.”
Whitney nodded, then pulled her camera out of its protective bag, and lined up the perfect shot. From out here, she even got the reflection of the sunset on the lake. She got a few shots, and then shifted the camera to the right a bit, catching a silhouette of Eli. She thought she was being sneaky, until he clapped his hands together above his head, framing his face, and she burst out laughing.
“How long has it been since you’ve been out here?” Eli asked as she put her camera away.
“Canoeing?” Whitney looked up. “Two weekends ago for the Relay for Restoration project.” She turned her head and flashed him a grin. “My team won. How about you? How long has it been?”
“Much too long. I’d forgotten how incredible it feels to be out here. There’s not a whole lot I wouldn’t do to have a small lake like this at TeamUp. We could do so many activities on this lake.” He gestured at the flat open space on the beach where the town gathered for celebrations and games. “We’ve got an area similar to that, only much bigger. All we need is a lake.”
“TeamUp is your company?”
He nodded, and a smile filled his entire face, his body shifting in excitement. “I run it with a guy named Ben, who’s my business partner and longtime friend. Businesses send us their employees for team building exercises. Sometimes it’s as few as five people; sometimes it’s as many as five hundred. There’s nothing quite like starting out with a group of people who can’t even stand to look at each other, and have them laughing and getting along by the end.”
Whitney smiled. “It sounds like maybe you two should be marriage counselors.”
Eli chuckled. “We’ve done a few groups where everyone brought their spouses, and we’ve done partner building activities.”
“Like what? Let’s do one.”
Eli glanced around, his hands out, like he was reaching for something that wasn’t there. “I’m not sure there’s a whole lot we can do in a canoe. I can’t exactly have one of us lead the other on a blind walk, or go blindfolded through an obstacle course. Or lean into each other while walking. Or tie one of our hands behind our backs and try making a paper airplane together using just one arm from each of us. I don’t even think I’d dare have us sit back to back in here and try to stand up. We’d probably find ourselves swimming in the lake. Oh! I’ve got it.”
He tugged out a bag he’d pushed under his seat, unzipped it, and pulled out an electric lantern. After carefully placing it on the floor of the canoe between them, he turned it on, bathing them in light.
“Okay, in this activity, we have to look in each other’s eyes for ninety seconds without talking.”
Whitney looked to the left and then the right, waiting for him to give more information, but he didn’t. “Okay,” she dragged the word out, “and do what?”
“Nothing. Just look.”
“Without blinking?”
He shook his head. “You can blink.”
“Do you have to keep a straight face? If you make the other person crack a smile, do you win?”
“You can smile. This isn’t a contest, Whitney— this is to get both people on the same team.”
“How is that a partner building activity?”
“When was the last time you met someone’s eyes for a full ninety seconds?”
Whitney shrugged. “Probably all the time.”
An amused smile played on Eli’s face. Whitney decided it was one of her favorite looks on him. “It’s different than you think. A full ninety seconds, and you can’t look away.”
She could see the challenge in his expression, like maybe it was going to be more difficult than she thought. She was ready to take on that challenge. There was a reason her team always won everything. “Bring it on.”
Eli pulled his phone out of his pocket, held down the button, and said, “Set timer for ninety seconds.”
Whitney smiled and raised an eyebrow, the only way she could think of to smack talk without actually talking. Eli smiled back. Goodness, he had a beautiful smile. She wondered if he realized how beautiful it was. Probably. She made a few faces at him, and was rewarded with a soft chuckle.
She tried to keep her face impassive, but she was suddenly self-conscious with all of his attention so hyper-focused on her. She nearly looked down and couldn’t believe that she was so close to almost losing! Focus, she told herself.
He was looking at her so intently, though, that she stopped making silly faces and just looked at him as fiercely as he was looking at her. His eyes were even more incredible than she had remembered. Dark lashes framed the most brilliant blue eyes. She’d always thought of them as being ice blue, but now that she was really looking, she noticed that they were light blue and like the most exquisite gems close to his pupils, but were also ringed with a blue so deep, like the night sky moments before the first hints of dawn peeked in. The light from the lantern reflected off his eyes, making it look like stars in that night sky. She could get lost in those eyes.
Those eyes that seemed to be able to see into her soul. Could he tell what she was thinking? It looked like he could. Actually, it looked like he could see past what she was thinking, right down to what she was feeling. Like maybe he could see even further— to the parts of her that she hadn’t even figured out about herself.
How long was ninety seconds, anyway? Shouldn’t his alarm have gone off by now?
She wondered if she could see the same in him if she just looked hard enough. As the waves lapped against the sides of the canoe, rocking them gently, she focused on those eyes, on everything those eyes were expressing. A longing. A sadness. A calm contentedness. Joy. Could they be showing joy and sadness at the same time? Maybe so. At least that’s what she guessed his eyes were showing. She wasn’t very good at this— clearly not as good at it as he was, or she’d have a look of confidence on her face like he did.
Maybe he just knew what he wanted out of life. He’d obviously found a job that made him deliriously happy with a business partner he couldn’t talk about without a note of respect in his voi
ce. And now he had to be away from that to be somewhere he didn’t choose to be. She wondered if his being back in Nestled Hollow was as confusing to him as it was to her. Because before he’d shown up out of the blue, if anyone would’ve asked her if she’d have had any interest in spending time with Eli again, she would’ve given an emphatic no. But now, with him back, she was every bit as drawn to him as she’d been back in high school.
And now he was even more Eli than he’d been back then. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t finding ways to spend time with him because he was a good friend. She was finding ways to spend time with him because she was possibly even more in love with him now than she’d been back in high school. She gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. She was still in love with him? How had she not seen that coming?
Eli’s phone let out a buzzing tune, and he touched the stop button.
“Whoa,” Whitney said. “That was.... Whoa.”
Chapter Twelve
Whitney’s reaction to the partner building activity made him smile. He hadn’t ever done the activity himself, and was just as blown away as she was. Had he really been comparing every woman he’d ever dated to Whitney? And in those early years, when he’d first started dating again, had he really been purposely choosing only toxic, damaging relationships that were doomed from the start, just to stay available for her?
The exercise left him more confused than ever. How could he be so very interested in someone in Nestled Hollow when he loved the life he had in Sacramento? The two couldn’t co-exist. TeamUp was the thing that helped him to figure out who he was and what he wanted in life. But being with Whitney here made him realize what it was that he’d been missing in Sacramento. Whitney’s roots were deep here, though. He couldn’t have both.
“I’ve got the next partner activity,” Whitney said, startling him out of his thoughts.