Chapter 8 Eli #2
I take a chance and reach my hand out. I get it close enough to hers that I can brush my knuckles along her fingers, and she gasps. Looks down.
I don’t push her any further. I wait for her to do something. To say something. To do anything that shows me I’m not pushing a boundary she doesn’t like.
She sighs heavily as she continues looking down at my hand.
“I’m never going to be able to keep up the production I need in the kitchen the apartment complex has given me.
I dropped a whole pan of cinnamon rolls this afternoon.
That alone sets me back in my schedule, and I can’t afford to be set back. ”
The pitter-patter of footsteps rushing back toward us pulls me out of our little bubble. I look and see Amber rushing this way, with Bea nowhere in sight.
Guess she must’ve ducked back into her office.
Amber slips her hand into mine. “Daddy, I’m hungry. Can we go home and eat now?”
I smile down at her. “Of course, princess.”
“Do you wanna come over for lunch, Lia? My daddy’s a really good cook. He makes the best lasagna and garlic bread.”
Lia hesitates, peeking over at me, like she doesn’t know which answer is the right one.
“You’re welcome anytime,” I say.
Her smile is small, but it hits me hard. It’s the kind that sneaks up on you, then settles deep into her chest before you realize what’s happening. I haven’t felt this particular ache in years.
“Sure, I’d like that,” Lia finally says.
“Yessss,” Amber hisses as she releases my hand and grabs Lia’s. “Come on, we can get your shoes turned in over here.”
I watch as the two of them walk away from me, hand in hand, and for a split second a different version of my life flashes through my mind.
One where Amber isn’t growing up in a house that’s too quiet.
One where warmth fills the gaps I’ve learned to live around.
One where my daughter has another Omega to share her thoughts and feelings with; who can help her navigate the terrain of her designation that I find myself failing at time and time again.
I don’t chase the thought as I pick up my own shoes and follow behind them.
But I don’t push it away either.
“You know,” I say, turning in my shoes and slipping into my regular ones, “I’m sure Walker wouldn’t mind you using one of his kitchens at the vineyard.”
“He mentioned that. He really owns a vineyard?” she asks.
I chuckle as the three of us slip out of the bowling alley. I hold the door open for my girls. Well, not mine, but—
“Honeysuckle Vineyard is his,” I follow them out into the bright spring sun and have to squint my eyes for a moment. “It was one of the first businesses established when Honeysuckle Grove was founded. His family’s always owned it.”
“Wow.”
“I bet he wouldn’t mind you using one of his kitchens. He’s got, like, two or three different ones over there.”
“Why so many?”
Amber and I walk Lia to her car. “Well, he’s got a restaurant on the grounds, and he also does these wine tours and tastings that come with snacks when the seasons are nice enough.
I can give him a call for you, if you’d like.
I’m sure he wouldn’t mind giving up one of his kitchens for a few hours every day, if you need a larger space to bake. ”
“I don’t know…”
She unlocks her car door and I reach down, opening the door for her. “Do you trust me?”
Those brilliant green eyes meet mine and she searches my face for a while. “I don’t trust anyone.”
That’s fair. “Will you give me a chance to build that trust, then?”
She nibbles on her lower lip while she thinks. “You sure he won’t be upset or anything?”
Not with you. “Never.”
She finally dips down into her car. “Lunch first. Let me think about it.”
“Can I ride with Lia?” my daughter asks. “Pleeeease?”
I open my mouth to tell her not today, but Lia beats me to the punch. “If it’s all right with your father, it’s all right with me.”
“Pleeeease, Daddy?” Amber asks as she holds her hands together beneath her chin. “Please, please, please, please, please?”
I chuckle as I ruffle my daughter’s hair. “Buckle up, princess, okay?”
“Yayyy!”
I open the passenger door for my daughter, and I make sure she gets buckled in.
Then I make my way to my vehicle while Lia waits for me to get into position.
As I slip behind the wheel of my van, I fish my cell phone out of my pocket.
When we all gave our numbers to Lia a few days back, me and the guys also exchanged numbers ourselves, just in case.
And I’m glad we did.
“This is Boone,” Walker says when he picks up my call.
“Walker, hey, it’s Eli,” I say as I back out of the parking space. “You were right. That kitchen is much too small for Lia. She’s already struggling with her baking. You got a kitchen space she can use?”
“You know I do. What’s going on?”
I pull my vehicle around to Lia’s car and motion for her to follow me.
“Long story, but Lia’s headed to my place to eat lunch with me and Amber.
If she’s up for it, I figured we’d come by the vineyard afterward so she could see the kitchen space.
She’s a bit nervous, but I think I can convince her to get out there just to take a look at it. Would that work for you?”
I hear him bark some muffled commands out before his voice returns. “See you in an hour.”
“See you then,” I say as I hang up the phone.
Now, to feed my two hungry Omegas.