Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
JACK
It’s a good thing we have Monday and Tuesday off.
Mom makes us clean the house like we did when we first moved in on Monday, sweeping and mopping and scrubbing till everything could be eaten off of.
We even give Widget a bath. Eli is a boy scout, cleaning with us the entire time and then helping me watch Hugh in the afternoon while Janet helps Mom in the kitchen (Mom didn’t trust me to clean the kitchen properly, I guess).
My uncle and his family are due midmorning on Tuesday, and Mom asks us to do another round of cleaning Tuesday morning.
There isn’t anything left to clean, but we pretend to be dusting whenever she bustles into the room, until even she realizes the house is spotless and suggests we relax with a movie.
She keeps looking at the door as we watch, waiting for her brother.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go home for a little while?” Eli asks once Mom gets a text that they’re almost here and we all jump up. “I don’t want to intrude when you haven’t seen them in a while.”
I point one finger at him, sharply. “We’ve been over this. You’re staying.”
“But it seems—”
I press my fingertip to his chest. “Don’t make me get mad at you.”
He chuckles. “You can do that on command?”
I step closer. “I believe I told you there’s always something I can be mad about, with you.”
“Mom and Jack will both pout if you leave,” Janet says, putting Widget’s leash on him.
I let my hand fall. “Thanks for that, sis.”
She pats his arm as she walks past, bringing Widget out the front door. Hugh rushes after her. I can hear Mom checking the ice in the freezer, and setting glasses on the countertop.
“It’ll be like when we’re at school,” Eli says in a low voice. “I won’t reach for you or anything, but I don’t know if I can stop myself from looking at you.”
“Why would you worry about any of that?”
School is one thing. It’s not that we’re hiding that we’re dating. Anyone could guess. We just aren’t kissing in the hallway when everyone’s around, because neither of us want to see anyone doing that in the hallway, so we won’t do it. Basically, we’re following school rules about PDA.
“I wasn’t sure how you wanted to introduce me,” Eli says, looking down. “I don’t want to put any pressure on you for attention when you’re with family you never get to see.”
I grab a fistful of his shirt and pull his face close, demanding his eyes.
“I’m introducing you as Elliot James, my infuriating dumbass of a boyfriend.
” I search his gaze. “Them being here doesn’t change anything about how we have to act around each other.
You always have my attention, and my affection.
I’m not throwing you aside because my family is visiting.
I’m not throwing you aside ever. I want you by my side, to meet them. Got that?”
He darts in and presses his lips to mine, and the prickle of anger that had run through me fizzles out beneath his touch.
“Yep, you got it,” I manage in an unsteady voice, when he draws back.
He pulls my hand from the front of his shirt and cradles it, massaging his thumb over the back of my palm. “Whenever I doubt myself, you make it better.”
I blink. “I called you a dumbass.”
He exhales a laugh. “It fit, in the moment. And you said I was yours.”
I hold his gaze again, gentler this time. “I’d scream it from the rooftops, Eli.”
His hand squeezes mine. “I love you.”
Mom hurries past, heading to the front door. I tug Eli in that direction. “Love you too. Now come meet my extended family.”
Their rented minivan turns into the driveway a few minutes later. Uncle Henry leans on the driver’s side door when he gets out, looking at the house and rubbing at his scruffy brown beard. “Well, this place looks perfect for you, Lilah!”
“Look at the house later,” Aunt May chides him, shutting the passenger side door. The cousins unload from the minivan, and it’s warm, buzzing chaos for a minute as initial hugs and greetings are given.
“Haven’t seen you before,” Uncle Henry says after he’s hugged all of us, standing in front of me and Eli. “I’m Henry, Lilah’s brother.”
“Elliot James, sir,” Eli says.
I grin. “This is my boyfriend. We call him Eli.”
“B-Boy . . . well okay then!” Uncle Henry says, reaching for Eli’s hand, the surprise on his face vanishing behind a genuine smile. “Nice to meet you.”
My nineteen-year-old cousin Grant stares at me, green eyes narrowed. “You have a boyfriend.”
Uncle Henry shoots Grant a look after shaking Eli’s hand. “Does it matter if he’s seeing a girl or a boy, or if he’s seeing anyone, if he’s happy?”
Grant is frowning. “I just didn’t know you liked boys.”
“One,” I tell him, and twine my fingers with Eli’s. Some of the tension I can feel coming off him eases at my touch. “This one.”
“I’m looking forward to learning more about you, Eli,” Uncle Henry says, and pushes Grant ahead of him to go say hi to Janet.
Eli leans close to my ear to whisper, “Is your cousin okay with . . .”
“I don’t know. He’ll have to be while he’s here.
Mom and Uncle Henry would never let him disrespect either of us in front of them.
” I look after Grant. “He’s always been a bully in general.
We’ve never talked about dating stuff.” I squeeze his hand.
“I never really thought about it until you, and what was there to think about other than that we fit together?”
Eli rests his head against mine for a fleeting instant, and I introduce him to the rest of my extended family that’s here: Aunt May (I whisper to him that at least once a visit we reference Spider-Man with her around), my seventeen-year-old cousin Zach, and my fourteen-year-old cousin Georgia.
“Hannah is at the hotel with Jared and Diana,” Aunt May says, giving everyone a second hug. “That’s from her, until they can come later.”
“My oldest cousin, her husband, and their baby,” I tell Eli.
“Let’s go inside,” Mom says, ushering everyone toward the door. “Let me show you around.”
Eli and I trail behind, and wait in the kitchen while Mom leads the parade through the living room, her master bedroom, my room and Janet’s room, and the bathroom in the hallway, and then everyone crowds into the kitchen with us.
Uncle Henry sits at the table next to me and props his chin on his fists.
“Sooo,” he says in a sing-song voice. “What’s new with you? ”
“So much,” I tell him, and launch into what’s happened since the last time I saw him.
Tuesday vanishes pretty quickly after that, everyone eager to catch everyone else up on their lives.
Hannah, Jared, and their one-year-old daughter, Diana, come over around dinner time, and watching Hugh interact with someone smaller than him is amusing and sometimes nerve-wracking (he’s always been big for his age, and he’s rough and clumsy—Diana is a peanut).
But he loves having a new person to play with, so half of the group sits in the living room with them, half in the kitchen.
Eli relaxes more when the group splits. Uncle Henry stays with us most of the time, asking us all about the soccer season, so I’m pretty sure Eli is comfortable with him.
“Will we see you again?” Uncle Henry asks Eli when he rounds his crew up to head to their hotel.
“He’s spending Christmas with us,” I tell him.
Uncle Henry smiles. “Well then, get ready for a feast tomorrow.”
“Mrs. Benson makes the best meals,” Eli says, like he’s agreeing.
“Just you wait,” Uncle Henry says, challenge gleaming in his eyes. “My sister is the best cook in the family, no question about it, but I handle Christmas Eve brunch.” He leans closer and mock whispers, “It’s so good Lilah feels she can’t compete in the same day, so we get takeout for dinner.”
“Is that so?” Mom asks, appearing behind Uncle Henry so fast he jumps. He isn’t the only one.
“Uh, Lilah, I didn’t mean—”
“Course you didn’t,” Mom says, shoving him. “Your wife and kids are already in the car.”
“Damn. See you tomorrow,” he calls, rushing out the door. Mom shakes her head after him.
“I like him,” Eli says.
Mom turns with a surprised look, then smiles.
“I’m glad.” She’s gotten pretty good at hearing the vinyl quality in Eli’s voice, so I know she can tell as much as I can that Eli really meant it, and wasn’t just saying it to be polite.
“See you in the morning, Eli,” she says, giving him a quick hug and walking to the kitchen.
“What time should I be over tomorrow?” Eli asks.
“Let’s do our route at the park. 9?”
“9 it is,” he agrees.
“Ooh, wear the sweater I got you!”
“No.”
“But Mom hasn’t seen it!”
“That’s a good thing. It’s hideous.”
I chuckle. It is pretty bad. I’m amazed I got him to wear it once. “I’ll wear my elf hat,” I offer, trying to compromise. Mom will get a kick out of seeing him in a light-up Christmas sweater.
Eli shakes his head. “Not a fair trade. The hat makes you look adorable.”
The teasing is gone from his voice. “Yeah?”
He crooks one finger under my chin and leans in close. “Yeah.”
His lips are soft and warm, and pull away far too soon. “Wait,” I complain.
“Tomorrow morning,” he says, a promising mischief in his eyes. “I need to go finish something.”
He slips on his boots and pulls on his coat. “You’re being secretive,” I say, studying him.
He has the nerve to smirk. “Yep. Night.”
The door closes behind him before I can do anything to convince him to tell me. For a heartbeat I debate running out after him, but he won’t tell me—and I have a feeling I’ll find out soon. It must be related to Christmas. I have a secret from him, too. Which reminds me . . .
“Mom?” I ask, heading to the kitchen. She’s on her way to her bedroom. “Did you make sure that our gift for Eli—”
“I made sure it wasn’t damaged, and it works,” she says. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”
“No, just wanted to make sure it’s ready. Pretty sure we wouldn’t have time to check it tomorrow.”
We get a fresh dusting of snow overnight, so the fountain is covered in a thin blanket of powder when I meet Eli.
His mouth opens in a surprised sort of smile when I approach with Widget.
Widget lets out a happy bark and wiggles, and charges to Eli when I let go of his leash.
Eli crouches and pets the furry menace, then grabs his leash before Widget can run away.
“Thought it’d be quiet enough to bring him,” I say. Widget gets seriously excited when he sees other people and dogs at the park—sometimes a bit too much. There isn’t another person in sight, so he’s only slightly more energized than usual.
Eli keeps the leash as we walk. “Did your parents say anything about when they wanted to talk to you today or tomorrow?” I ask.
“My mom texted last night to say they’ll call Christmas day. We’ll see. I know she’ll try, at least.”
She better call him, or I’ll give her an earful next time I get a chance. I don’t want to get frustrated thinking about his absent parents, though, and ask about the secret he’s keeping . . . and somehow I don’t get an answer and we end up talking about my extended family.
We stay in the park for a bit after our walk, lying back on the snow—stealing a few moments in the private, quiet space, just us aside from the handful of people we see walk by. Widget curls up on my stomach and snoozes.
“Eli?”
“Yeah?”
I brush the back of my hand against his. “Nothing. I just . . . hope you’re having a good Christmas Eve.”
“It’s not even 10 o’clock in the morning.” He curls his little finger against mine and locks those dark, serious eyes on me. “But I’m already having the best one I can remember.”
That promising mischief I saw in his eyes last night flares again, and his throat bobs as he swallows.
We turn toward each other, my hand already reaching to palm the back of his neck and pull him in for a kiss—but I forget about Widget, who stumbles to his feet on the snow between us and shakes, splattering us both with mostly melted snow.
“Well that ruined that moment,” I say, wiping my hand across my face.
Eli laughs, a deep chuckle that sends a wave of warmth through me, and jumps to his feet before helping me stand. “We’ll have another opportunity.” He takes Widget’s leash. “If we don’t leave now your family might beat us back. And I’m not wearing this sweater in front of all of them.”
I gasp. “You wore the ugly sweater?”
He walks forward. “Consider it part of your present. And I expect you to wear the elf hat at some point today.”
I laugh and catch up, matching my stride to his. “No problem.”