Dreaming Eli

by JoMarie DeGioia

  He and Caro had discussed just what they were doing before they’d even gotten started. They’d agreed to date each other exclusively, which if he was being honest was the first time he’d ever wanted that kind of promise. And it was a promise. He knew how to keep promises.

  He might not have ever known where he would land when he was being moved from one home to another, but he always promised himself to fit in. To get along with the other kids and to keep the grownups happy. He’d kept those promises too, even if sometimes he was desperately unhappy in a situation.

  She was coming over tonight. He would just focus on that and forget about the other two things on his to-do list. He had trouble thinking about anything else but her when she was around anyway. Why would he think about Bill or Rick Chapman tonight?

  Her little green car was parked in front of his townhouse, and he saw her sitting on his stoop. He really should get a bench. He caught her attention and returned her wave, and then drove around to the back. He stopped a second to look at their texts from earlier on his phone. He couldn’t help but smile. She’d learned a few new moves in yoga? Maybe, maybe not. He could show her a few moves of his own. No hardship there.

  She was standing at the door when he opened it, looking fresh and hot at the same time. She’d apparently showered after yoga, and her hair was still a little damp. Wearing jeans and a soft-looking pink T-shirt, she was as tempting as anything in her bake cases.

  “Hey, Cupcake.” They shared a sweet kiss and he pulled back to see a pucker in her brow. “You okay?”

  She blinked and gave a tiny shake of her head. “Sorry. My head must still be back on the mat.”

  “I’ve never done yoga, so I have no clue there.” She came in and he shut the door. “How about pizza tonight?”

  “Sounds good.”

  She appeared a little timid, which was something he’d never seen with her.

  “Seriously, is something wrong?”

  “Hmm? No.”

  He texted the pizza order to the tavern and put his phone on the counter. “Did you hear about Claire Chapman?”

  She nodded. “Class was just starting when Cassie got the call. Apparently all of them were heading up to Orlando to the hospital.”

  He studied her face for any of the sadness he’d seen a week ago, but he couldn’t see it. They talked about nothing much until the pizza came, and he was three slices in when he noticed she’d grown quiet again. There was definitely something on her mind.

  “Caro, what’s up?”

  ***

  Caro looked over at Eli, reading the concern on his face. She’d caught glimpses of it since she’d walked in, but apparently she wasn’t as great at hiding her feelings as she’d hoped.

  “Nothing’s up, Eli.” She wiped her mouth and took a sip of the diet soda he’d bought to keep on hand for her. “I guess I’m tired.”

  “You do get up at oh dark thirty.”

  She smiled. “So other than the big Chapman baby news, is anything else up?”

  He tilted his head to the side. “You can ask me straight out, Caro. We don’t fool around.” He smiled a little. “You know what I mean.”

  She twisted her paper napkin, keeping her eyes down. “I wondered about any new developments.” She faced him again. “You know. At work.”

  “You want to know if I’m taking the job in Boston.” It wasn’t a question. He had her dead to rights.

  Her heart started to flutter and she held up a hand. “I’m not prying, I swear. It’s not really my business, we’re just dating, but I know you’ve been on the fence about it.”

  “We’re just dating. Okay.” He stared at her and she wriggled in her seat. “I’m thinking of jumping off the fence, yeah.”

  Her heart sank. That wasn’t good. He was going to take the job and go back to the life he had before Cypress. Before her. She put on her game face and nodded.

  “I think it’s a great opportunity for you, Eli.”

  “You do?”

  “Sure. What’s the position again?”

  “Director of Accounts.”

  “You would be one of Bill Chapman’s right hand guys, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  She’d seen the way his face got when he talked about Bill Chapman. He looked up to the guy. Maybe he even thought of him like a father. Probably more than his own kids did.

  “Haven’t you wanted that ever since you started there?”

  He studied her with those crystal-sugar eyes. “Yeah,” he said again.

  “Then it’s settled.”

  She brought her soda can to her lips just to do something with her hands, but only pretended to take a drink. She couldn’t swallow past the lump in her throat if she tried.

  “It’s settled?”

  “Well, sure! You had the right idea, renting everything here. You’ll be able to just pick up and go.”

  “I didn’t rent my bed.”

  Oh, the bed. “Maybe I’ll buy it from you. We made some great memories in that bed.”

  That got a smile to curve one corner of his mouth. “Tell you what. I’ll give it to you. It’s a king-size, though. Do you have room in that apartment for a king-size?”

  “I can make room, I guess.” She chewed a piece of pizza crust, buying herself a few seconds to reorder her thoughts. “You’ve never seen my apartment.”

  “No. Now it looks like I’ll never get the chance.”

  “Hey, I saved you from those family dinners,” she joked.

  He just nodded.

  “You said you don’t have a clue about how to do family,

  she went on. “Now you won’t have to.”

  He sat there for a long minute, his face impassive.

  “Are you done?” he finally asked her.

  Talking? Maybe. Eating? Sure. She looked down at her plate and then nodded. “I guess so.”

  He closed the pizza box and stuck it in the fridge. Her soda was still sloshing around her can as she tried to look completely unaffected by the ending of their…relationship wasn’t quite the word.

  She watched him as he stacked the plates in the sink. She wanted to beg him to stay in Cypress. To stay with her. He was halfway out the door, though. She’d seen it in his eyes. He couldn’t make connections that lasted, and she wasn’t worth the effort of trying.

  She hadn’t been lying about the memories they’d made in that bed, though. And she would be damned if they ended things without one last roll on that memory-foam comfort.

  “Eli?” She approached him and he faced her. “Take me upstairs?”

  Heat flared in his eyes. “Wanna take your new bed for a test drive?”

  She pressed herself against him. “Oh, yeah.”

  After he’d loved her with every single part of him, after she’d cried out with pleasure at everything he’d done, she settled against him. She would never forget him. His touch. His kisses. His scent. He was branded on her. She was his.

  The really sad thing was, he wasn’t hers. He never had been.

  Two days later she was in the bakery, about to close up shop. It was Friday, and she hadn’t heard from Eli since Wednesday night. Or, as it would always be remembered going forward, their last night together.

  Jessie had told her that Claire had an adorable little boy, name to be revealed as soon as new Mommy and Daddy could settle on one. He had his mom’s strawberry blond hair, and was a little doll from all accounts. That should come as no surprise to anyone. Jake and Claire would make adorable babies.

  She stopped herself when she started to imagine beautiful little blond children of her own. Eli was going back to Boston, or would be soon. It was settled. When Rick came in to buy some biscotti today, on his brother Jake’s orders, she’d wanted to ask him about Eli’s new job. It would have seemed strange, though. Wouldn’t it? She and Rick were friendly but she’d never asked him about Cypress business before.

  “I’m out,” Jane said. “Great day, boss.”

  “It was. Thanks, Jane.”<
br />
  Jane stood still for a second. “You know, you can talk to me.”

  Caro looked into Jane’s open, honest face and knew that she could. “It’s about Eli.”

  “I figured as much.”

  Caro took in a breath. “I got him because he seemed so one-dimensional. I thought I could keep my heart safe by keeping things light and easy, but he’s not light and easy. He’s deep, damn it. And sweet and I think he’s a great guy. I’ve been wrong before. What if I’m wrong now?”

  “What if you’re right?”

  Oh, what if she was?

  “It doesn’t matter,” Caro said. “He’s taking a job in Boston and leaving Cypress for good.”

  Jane studied her, apparently weighing the wisdom of pressing Caro for more. When she gave a curt nod, Caro knew she had dodged a bullet.

  “See you tomorrow,” Jane said.

  She heard the back door open and shut, and went back there to lock up. She saw that the kitchen was spotless. Bringing in Tom a couple of days a week had been a good decision. Cross-promotion between the bakery and the coffee shop was a win-win, but with him out front with her for the busiest hours Jane could concentrate in the kitchen. It was where she preferred to be anyway. The downside, though? There was a lot less prep work to keep Caro from going home to her lonely apartment.

  She kept her gaze forward as she drove past the turn to Eli’s townhouse. It was only five o’clock, but Rick usually let the staff go early on Fridays.

  Pulling up to her parents’ house she saw his SUV was parked at the curb. More than that, she saw him sitting on her ridiculously-small porch. Her breath caught. Why was he here? To put a period on the end of it for good? She parked and shut off the engine, meeting his gaze through the windshield.

  “No time like the present,” she murmured to herself.

  She got out of the car and he stood as she approached him. He rubbed his hands, he had such nice big hands, on his thighs and offered her a smile.

  “Hey, Eli.”

  He nodded to her. “We need to talk.”

  Ugh. Were there any uglier four words? “Okay.”

  She went to unlock the door but his hand stilled hers. “Out here.”

  “Jeez,” she muttered. “Go ahead.”

  He stared at her, and she figured he could hear her heart pounding in her chest. Her stomach joined the chorus, and she swallowed. “Eli, just say it.”

  “Just say what?”

  “What you came to say!” She took in a breath. “That you’re leaving. You’re going back to Boston. That you want to measure my apartment for your stupid bed!”

  “Easy there, Cupcake. I don’t want to say any of those things.”

  Her head was spinning and she clutched the door handle. “What?”

  “I’m not going back to Boston.” He smiled now. “And you sure as hell can’t take my bed. It belongs to me, and I’m keeping it in my house.”

  “So you’re staying,” she whispered. “That’s good.”

  “You don’t sound like you think it’s good. I’m staying.”

  Her heartrate slowed a little. “For now.”

  He shook his head. “No. Not for now.”

  She gaped at him, waiting for him to finish what he’d come here to say. “Not for now?”

  “Forever.”

  “You…” She swallowed. “You don’t do forever.”

  He shrugged. “I do now. I called Bill. Told him thanks but no thanks.”

  “You’re not going to Boston?”

  He wrapped his arms around her, settling them on her waist. “You’re not very sharp tonight, Cupcake.”

  She found a laugh. “Sorry. This is all a little bit overwhelming.”

  “Hold on to me for the next part, then.”

  She grabbed onto his biceps and he grinned. “Go on.”

  “I’m buying the townhouse. I want something permanent for once. I want that with you.”

  “But what about the fence?”

  “The what?”

  “You told me you made your decision.”

  “I did.”

  “You changed your mind?”

  “Nope. You assumed I was leaving, and you looked so damn happy about it.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “I wasn’t! Who am I to tell you what to do? Where to go?”

  “You’re my forever.”

  A sob caught in her throat. “Oh, Eli.”

  “Marry me, Cupcake. I promise you won’t have to make the cake.”

  She gave him a wobbly smile. “I love you, you know.”

  “I know. I love you, too.”

  She could see it in his face, the truth of his words spreading through her. Letting out a happy cry, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

  “Well, it’s a good thing I bought the big pot roast,” her mother said.

  Caro sniffled and held herself back from Eli to look at her mother. “What?”

  “Eli called and said he’d be joining us for dinner.” She quirked a brow. “He didn’t tell you?”

  “I didn’t get the chance, Mrs. Richmond.”

  “Now don’t stand around outside hanging all over each other.” She winked. “You know how the people in Cypress love to talk.”

  She went in through the front door and Caro turned back to Eli. He stroked her cheek, his thumb brushing over her lower lip. “I love this lip.” He nipped at her. “You didn’t give me an answer.”

  “What? Oh! Yes, I’ll marry you!”

  “And have my babies, Caro?”

  She held her breath for a second. “Family, Eli? Are you sure?”

  “I think I’m ready. Don’t you?”

  She just hugged him again.

  Epilogue

  Eli clicked through his presentation as the people around the table focused on everything he said. Forbes had called another of his famous meetings, and Eli was the point man for the new Active Adults community. Rick had heard from his father what a fantastic job Eli had done at Chapman, and offered him the prime sales position. He would have an office next to Tammy’s, now that she was back a few days a week.

  Part of his job was to bring everyone on the sales staff up on the latest developments of what would undoubtedly prove to be the fastest growing village in Cypress Corners. He would be a liaison of sorts between the Sales Center and investors, including Bill Chapman himself.

  The meeting was soon adjourned and Mr. Forbes smiled in his direction.

  “Excellent job, Eli. I look forward to more from you in the coming months.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Forbes.”

  Forbes left the room and Jessie winked at him as she passed by. Bree waved and Oliver gave him a fist-bump of all things.

  “Will we see you and Caro on Thursday?” Rick asked.

  “Yes. It’ll have to be after dinner, though. Apparently Caro’s family goes all out for Thanksgiving.”

  “There will be wedding talk, Eli,” Ben put in. “I caught Tammy and Claire with their heads together just this morning.”

  “Never mind.” Tammy shoved a hand against her husband’s shoulder. “We were just discussing cakes.”

  Claire was still out on maternity leave, but she came in during the week to touch base and to update her files. Apparently there was no keeping her at home, and Mr. Forbes didn’t even bother hiring someone to do her job while she was out. He joked that she was earning the bonus he’d planned on giving her at the end of the year.

  Eli closed his laptop and put his things away as the others left the room. Over the past few weeks he’d come to love his job. He worked with people he genuinely liked, and it seemed he was picking up friends as he went along. Bill Chapman was still cordial when they spoke, and had even told Eli how proud he was of him. That had been surprising, but very welcome.

  He went straight home to the townhouse and found Caro waiting for him. She lived with him now, against which her parents only put up a token protest. At his urging she’d finally told her mother about her miscarri
age, and all of the Richmonds had given her all the support she could ever need.

  “Hey, Cupcake.”

  She came into his arms. “Hey, Graham Cracker. How did the meeting go?”

  “I nailed it.”

  “I never had any doubt.”

  He kissed her just because he could, and leaned back. “I told Rick we’ll be at their place after dinner on Thursday.”

  “Good. My mother has already started the prep.”

  “And what are you bringing to the table, Caro?”

  She got a secret smile on her face. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

  He took her hand and they settled on the couch. He’d purchased everything outright over the past few weeks, and realized he liked having tangible property. “I texted in an order of burgers and fries, if that’s okay.”

  “That’s perfect.” She settled next to him, folding her legs beneath her. “I’m starving.”

  “Good. You looked a little peaked this morning.”

  Her eyes widened and she bit her lower lip. She was worried about something.

  He cupped her cheek and rubbed a thumb over her lip. “I love this lip.” He kissed her. “Now tell me what’s bothering you.”

  “Not bothering me, exactly.”

  “Spill it, Cupcake.”

  “We might have to move the wedding date up.”

  “I thought you wanted to get married on Valentine’s Day. You went on and on about different kinds of pink frosting.”

  “And you responded by saying just where you wanted to put that frosting before licking it off, if I recall.”

  He grinned. “Hey, the offer still stands.”

  “Nevertheless, I think earlier might be better.”

  “You’ll get no argument here. I told you I was all in with this family stuff. Bring it on.”

  Her eyes brightened and she kissed him hard. Then she stared at him for a beat. “I’m pregnant.”

  His mouth dropped open, and then a crazy kind of warmth filled him from his belly outward. “Pregnant?”

  “We’re having a baby, Eli.” She bit that lip again. “At least, I hope we’re having a baby.”