Chapter Twenty-Four
WITH RUSSELL GONE, and Amarie safe, it was past time for Eli to make it clear to Cara that he would never be an option for her again. Heavens, if he’d met Amarie instead of the woman hanging around his office and currently looking through his files, he would probably be a father to one, maybe two, little Calvarys.
“What in the heck are you doing?” Eli barked. Beside him Hiccup released a woof, his teeth bared in defense of their territory.
Cara jumped, banging her knee on his desk. “Ow, you scared me.”
“Good. You hunting for the penny you left behind?” he prompted. The pout on her face would’ve had the old Eli running to soothe her pain. This time he stood, arms crossed over his chest, fury simmering close to the surface.
“Eli, you were never cruel,” she said, slinking closer. “Why are you treating me this way?”
Eli backed away, not wanting to inhabit the same space. “You showing up here has a direct correlation with my foul mood. So, again. What were you searching for?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Some clue as to what you’ve been doing since we’ve been apart.” She held a stack of his correspondence in one hand. Cara carried them unceremoniously back to his desk, where she straightened them into neat stacks. Watching her rearrange his papers, the way she’d done their futures, ignited the distrust he’d harbored for months, a cancer that could’ve ruined him for Amarie.
Eli rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Apart implies reconciliation is a possibility. We’re divorced.”
“I know that we legally divorced,” she said, slowly working her way around the sharp corners of the oak bookshelf against the shorter wall to stand in front of him. “But we don’t have to be.”
“I signed the same papers you did. We’re done, legal or otherwise. I had every intention of honoring my commitment to stay as far away from you as possible. You should do the same.”
“Why do you always follow the rules? I’m trying to restore something that was once beautiful.”
“You know what, Cara? You and me both. I’m trying to dig out of the pile of crap you and Sven buried me under before the two of you cat-cowed into Zentopia.”
“Oh Eli,” she rasped, distress in her tone. She froze him with those liquid pools gathering in her eyes, on the brim of spilling down her pale cheeks. “I made a mistake, leaving you.”
“I’m not falling for your games. You wanna play, try the lottery.” During his marriage to Cara, he’d been her sounding board, listening when she told him how she’d been misunderstood as a teenager. Attractive by most standards, people assumed she was all beauty minus the brains or a gold digger using her physical attributes as a meal ticket. After she abandoned him, Eli had understood the duality of her personality. A chameleon of sorts, Cara was capable of more but preferred to leech what she could from others to facilitate her desire to do less. Within months of their union, she’d convinced him why she needed to stay at home, preparing for the children she never intended to give him.
“I’m serious. I should’ve never chosen him over you. His name wasn’t even Sven,” she spat. “It’s Steven. He lied to me from the very beginning. It wasn’t until last month that I learned he preys on his female clientele. What is the world coming to? He lures women into intimate relationships, young and old, mind you. His goal is to get them to trust him before conning them out of all their money. I wasn’t his only victim, Eli. I-I read about situations like mine on the internet, but not the women like me. Just the old, lonely, and desperate.”
“Sounds awful,” he deadpanned, not caring one iota that Sven-Steven had stolen his ex-wife’s ill-gotten gain. If she wanted sympathy, he was fresh out.
“Thank you.” She wiped away a tear, flipping her straight mane off her shoulder. “I knew you would appreciate me trying to rebuild our lives after that horrible man ruined us.”
“You don’t have to try, Cara. I was being facetious. We are not connected in any way at all.”
“I understand that but what I’m saying is I came here because I care about you and I want to try again.”
“Try what?” he hissed. “To run off with all my money again? To leave me with a house that has been damn near impossible to sell?”
“That’s what I’m talking about. I love that house. You don’t have to sell it if we move back into it, Eli. Call the agent. Cancel the contract. Once that’s done, we start over in our home.”
And there it was. Her reason for coming to Service wasn’t reconciliation. She wanted him to cancel the contract on the property.
“The house is on the market. Call my agent. Make a backup offer.” He smirked.
“I’m not going to pay you for a house you built for me. You should give it to me.”
“Are you insane? Or do you think I’m still some dumb hick that you can sucker again?” He’d given his heart, his last name, but all she wanted was a house.
She placed a manicured hand over her heart. “Eli, I’ve changed.”
“Into what? ’Cause you were pretty vicious to begin with.”
“Oh, there you are, Mister Perfect Husband. So I made a few mistakes. That doesn’t mean I was all bad.”
“Woman, don’t try to tell me there’s chocolate chips in the cat litter when I’ve already stepped in the shit you made of things.”
“That hurt, Eli.”
“Get over it. The house is mine. What you do from here on out has nothing to do with me. There is no us.”
“You won’t even consider what I’m offering. See,” she railed, pointing at his head, “this is why I left.”
“I thought you left because you lied to me. You cheated with another man. And you stole from me to bankroll your new life.”
“Details. You always get so wrapped up in the little stuff. I’m offering you a future. You and me back in Virginia. Living in the house you built for me.”
“Listen. It’s pretty clear you want my house. Not me.”
She lifted her chin. “Why shouldn’t I have it? The house was my idea. I designed it for me.”
“Yeah, thanks for the reminder. It was my own arrogance that led me to propose in the first place. But I’ve learned from my mistakes. Thinking you would somehow complete me.”
“Exactly.”
“Wrong again. I’m happier without you, Cara. Thank you for leaving so I didn’t have to. At the time, I wouldn’t have handled that well. You running off with Sven-Steven was the best thing for both of us.”
“Eli, you promised to love me. We took vows and you’re a man of your word.”
“A husband made a promise to his wife. Neither of us are those two people anymore.”
“Vows are forever. How can you be so callous when it’s obvious I’m upset?”
“I don’t care if you are upside-down. What you have to do is get back on the high horse you rode in here on and get out of Service. You never liked it here. Go on back to the city. Live your life.”
“I could like it,” she blurted. “You used to want to make me happy. If I stayed in town for a few days, gave you time to think about us. What we had…” she trailed off and moved closer. When she lifted her hand as if to touch him, Eli narrowed his eyes.
“Don’t,” he warned. “I don’t belong to you anymore.”
“We were married for almost a year, Eli. You actually think after only five months divorced that you’re serious about this Amarie character?” she huffed, her tone loaded with envy and doubt.
“Don’t forget about the cheating part.”
“How can I? You won’t allow it. Everything has to be your way, the Calvary legacy,” she mocked. “How about you grow up? People cheat all the time, Eli. Move on.”
“How ’bout you take your own advice?” he bellowed.
“You loved being married to me, Eli Calvary. I know it. You know it. So if you think some country wallflower is going to keep you satisfied a year from now, you’ve forgotten how good I am at satisfying you. How right I am for you,” she crooned.
“Cara, enough. Whatever you planned, it won’t work. Trust me, darling, your kitty isn’t the only one that purrs. I’m going home now.”
“Fine.” She grabbed her designer tote bag and miniature toy poodle from the faded couch behind his desk. He didn’t know if the dog had made a sound the whole time she’d been here.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“With you, duh. This town still doesn’t have a hotel or a decent restaurant.”
Amarie sashayed in, looking from him to Cara. “Oh, she’s still here. Why?”
“I’m not the one going somewhere—well, that’s not actually true. Eli and I are going home. You can lock up after we leave,” Cara challenged, lifting her left hand where the one-carat diamond solitaire he’d given her gleamed even in this light. “He was my husband. I’m the first and only woman he’s ever given a ring to.”
“Aw.” Amarie grinned. “I speak mean girl, too. Trust me, you don’t want to battle to the death. I will annihilate you.”
Eli grinned, shaking his head. Amarie had more surprises in store for him. She never backed down, just charged ahead without any backup. Not that he would’ve stood by if his old flame had tried anything.
Cara, who was not used to being confronted, took a step back. The depth of his feelings for his woman exploded.
“Sugar dumpling,” Amarie cooed.
“Yea, babe?” Eli grinned.
“The Kitty Kibbles contracts, I printed them for you to review, please. Grab them before you leave. You should understand what you’re turning down. And just in case you change your mind, tomorrow is the last day to sign.”
“I’m on it.”
Just then, Leah came strolling in with a blanket and a pillow.
“Amarie, your mom needs help settling in upstairs. She’s asking for you.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Before she could turn to walk away, Eli pulled her back, placing a long, deep kiss on her lips.
“Hmm, that’s nice,” she said, pulling away. “Dumpling, be sure to empty the trash. It smells like rotten fish in here.” She looked directly at Cara.
Cara gasped. “Is she talking about me?”
“Girl, you are as smart as you look,” Amarie chirped.
“I’ll meet you at home, sweetheart,” Eli called after her.
Leah walked in, lips thinned, eyes determined. “Eli, don’t keep Amarie waiting. Get the animals packed for home. I’ll take care of Cara.”
He bent and placed a kiss on his momma’s cheek. “Don’t leave any bruises,” he whispered.
She patted his hand. “Go on now.” She chuckled. “See to Amarie. Your brothers are helping the other doctor back to his Range Rover.”
Eli noticed the slight raise in Cara’s brows at the mention of Range Rover. Gosh, he’d really married a gold digger. His family had his back, clearing the way for him to make sure Amarie knew her place in his life was secure. How had Dr. Russell Feldman tricked a woman as vibrant as his Amarie into hiding her light so he could shine?
To his ex, Leah Calvary, the authoritarian matriarch of his childhood, pointed. “Cara, there’s a pull-out couch right behind you. You can rest up for your drive first thing in the morning.”
“You want me… to sleep on a couch in a vet clinic?”
Now the real showdown between his mother and Cara was about to begin. He needed to clear out before the first bomb blast. Eli kept moving, thinking about what else the kittens needed before he headed home. Then he remembered the Kitty Kibbles forms on the printer in his office. The contract could wait. He needed to get home to Amarie.
“Where did you think you were going to sleep? Certainly not in my lowly house and I know Amarie wouldn’t appreciate you trying to worm your way back into his. So, which is it? Couch? Your car? Or your place of residence, wherever that may be? Because we both know you have a backup plan.”
Cara stiffened, her chin raised. “Funny, when Eli and I were married, you all drowned me with how important family is. Yet you, Leah, condone my soulmate leaving me here, so he can be with another woman. I was family once.”
“No, you weren’t. And stop calling me your husband, your soulmate. I’m not either,” Eli rasped, cat carrier on his shoulder. Hiccup growled, his ears lowered and pinned back. Cara stumbled on her heels, adding more distance. “Shh, boy. We’re going home.”
“You should know, Dr. Sexy Kitty Vet, that I’m bidding in the bachelor auction. The number one contributor to date, so don’t think you can write me off.”
Eli stopped and faced the woman who no longer held any power over him. “So Sven-Steven didn’t take your money?” He shook his head. “Unbelievable, Cara. Tomorrow, you leave here. Don’t come back.” With that, he walked away. “Thanks again, Momma.”
“You’re welcome, son. Got everything you need?”
“I do.” He had the woman he wanted. Eli thanked the stars above that Cara had left him. If she hadn’t, he wouldn’t have Amarie in his life.