Chapter Twenty-Eight
ELI AND AMARIE walked into his momma’s kitchen on Saturday morning rumpled and exhausted. Not because they had reconciled; rather, he was terrified to let her out of his line of sight because she’d barely said four words to him last night before she drifted into sleep. The best and worst night of sleep in his thirty-three years had happened in the back seat of a BMW 328i. Considering his years spent on an Army field cot, his muscles screamed from the unnatural position he’d twisted his back into to fit into Prince’s rear seat. But she’d refused to come home with him or return to Leah’s last night. His only saving grace, Amarie had let him hold her, but Eli had yet to exit the doghouse. After the heartbreak he’d witnessed in her haunted eyes, no way would he leave her. One look at Amarie’s drawn features this morning, his mom was on her feet, pulling his woman into a tight bear hug.
“Oh, dear.” She breathed in Amarie’s visible heartache. “I missed you so much. He’s a bonehead, sweetheart. I know it hurts.”
Amarie choked out a sniffle. “I’m okay.”
Eli’s heart shattered all over again. Clearly Amarie’s poker face couldn’t hide how much she was torn up inside. His mom stood in the gap between him and Amarie, keeping him an arm’s length away from his woman, when all he wanted to do was beg her to forgive his stupidity. The day was humid, but Eli had goosebumps from Amarie’s verbal freeze out. Because he knew her, the rambling when she was anxious, her near obsession with her snack pack. Last night, she’d given him nothing. Asked for nothing. True to fashion, she hadn’t been unkind, worse—she’d guarded herself against his presence. It was like she’d pulled up the drawbridge to her castle and he was on the other side of an alligator-infested moat gazing longingly up at her tower.
Leah gestured to the kitchen table, taking her seat. “Eli, you and Amarie come have a seat. Family meeting time.”
“Momma, we’re fresh from a shower.” Albeit not together. Amarie had waited on him to finish his shave before she entered the bathroom. Then she’d closed the door and locked it. Seems the wall between them was both physical and emotional. They had dressed in silence. When he’d offered to carry her backpack, she’d pulled it closer to her chest, like a shield. “I need caffeine before we start figuring out what’s next.”
“Morning everybody.” Amarie waved to Tobias and Noah. Hiccup released a woof, keeping watch of Amarie and the basket of kittens on her arm. She held a sentry position by the backdoor they’d used to enter. They’d left her car at his place after she’d snatched the key with Prince’s likeness, the artist, not the car.
“Eli Calvary, if you tell your momma ‘no’ one more time, I’m going to give your backside a knot to match the one on your skull.”
Noah walked over to Amarie and gave her a big hug. “Morning, lil sis. I was worried about you.”
Tobias stood, pulling out a chair between him and Noah for Amarie to sit. It about broke Eli’s heart when she looked relieved. He did this with his irrational fear that every woman would sabotage him, pretend to love him, and then betray him with a more polished, more moneyed replacement.
“Tobias. Noah,” he groused. Neither of his brothers uttered a word.
“Bethany’s on her way down. I wanted to show you all something first.”
Amarie looked at him. “I want to say I’m sorry about the contract. I did print it.”
Leah gave her a barely there smile. Tears gathered in her eyes. “I want to show you something.”
“Momma?” Eli dropped to one knee beside her chair. “I’m so sorry for keeping the secret about the Pendletons. The college fund. All of it. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“Shh, your father made you swear not to tell me.” She ruffled his hair like she did when he was a kid. “Not even heaven could save him from the earful he got from me last night about trying to control everything. We raised this family together and if he had trusted me with what the Pendletons were trying to do, you would’ve never been torn in two trying to protect us both. Levi is gone. So, you live your life for you, not for Levi. That’s what your father would tell each of you if he were here. Whether we rise or fall, we do it together, not out of responsibility, out of love. That’s the real legacy, son. Not the land. It’s the love and trust of the family on this land that gives it value.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ve learned my lesson.” He looked at Amarie, but her eyes were focused out the window, like she didn’t want to intrude on a family moment. She was his family.
“Good. You better not give me any more trouble this lifetime, Eli Calvary. I swear you got the craziest parts of both me and your father, loyal to a fault. And stubborn as a pee stain.”
“Whoa,” he came to his feet. Chuckles sounded from around the table.
“You ever been compared to a piss stain, Tobias?” Noah teased.
“Can’t say that I have, brother.”
“Guess that makes us the good sons.” Noah chuckled.
“You can have it.” Eli mimicked tossing a ball in the trash can. “It’s impossible to hit the mark.”
Their momma said nothing, just pulled a crumpled piece of paper from the side of her cowgirl boot and placed in the center of the table.
“What’s this?” Eli frowned.
“It’s the Kitty Kibbles contract. Amarie did exactly what she said she did. It was that snake of an ex-wife who tried to sabotage you and this family again. I found it in Cara’s tote bag yesterday after you kicked your family out of the family business. Oh, and she is pregnant. Eight weeks.”
“I was never worried.” He had acted a plum fool with Amarie and his family, the kind of stupid that took years of practice.
“But you were rude, ungrateful, accusatory and—” That was Amarie, her voice ten octaves higher than usual.
“Yep,” everyone said in unison.
“Sorry,” Eli said, chagrined. He looked at Amarie. “I’d lost someone important.”
She quickly looked away. Darn it. Easygoing Amarie had been replaced with a hard nose, and she hadn’t budged on allowing him back into her good graces.
“I’m glad you found the contract. Should’ve suspected Cara from the start. But it was too late by then anyways,” Eli murmured.
Amarie’s eyes shot to his. “The auction money will come through. The site is back online.”
“That’s great. Makes my news even better.” His mom vibrated with happiness.
Eli reached for the open envelope in his mother’s hand. He read the address. “Kitty Kibbles Corporation?” he questioned, reading the accepted agreement inside twice. Amarie burst up from her seat, rounding the table at Leah’s other side.
“What—how?”
Leah did a little two-step in her fall festival outfit. “I signed the contract and sent it back in the computer.”
“But I thought we missed the deadline?” Eli insisted.
“Nope. The parent company is in the central time zone, one hour behind us.”
“Alright!” Noah and Tobias erupted from their chairs next. “We got ourselves a home and a business,” they cheered, squeezing into the family circle.
“The twenty-five-thousand-dollar check can be deposited. The final documents will arrive via express delivery within three business days,” Leah announced.
They’d done it. He and Amarie working together.
“I would’ve told you boys sooner, but Amarie had to be found and Eli got me so fighting mad acting like he didn’t have the sense God gave a sheep.”
“I’m sorry, Leah,” said Amarie.
“I’m sorry, Momma.”
Their apologies overlapped. Maybe Eli read too much hope into them being in sync. He’d never have saved his family without Amarie. His mother was right, they were partners. And the partnership needed mending thanks to his shortcomings, not hers. Amarie was generous, loving, one of a kind. He’d damaged them with his pride, his anger, his self-doubt.
“I’m not the only one you owe an apology to.” His mother angled her head in his brothers’ direction.
“Sorry. I was wrong.”
Noah grinned. “You sure are. You gotta stop letting the ladies push your buttons, big brother.”
“Tobias,” Eli prompted when he stayed quiet.
“I’ll get over the secret,” he offered. “Dad was wrong.”
“I know that.” Eli nodded. “We both were. He should’ve told Mom about the Pendletons and the finances. And I should’ve fessed up about using my college fund to pay off the loan.”
“Ever since Dad took out the loan against the property, I wondered why he would do it. Now I understand he was paying you back,” Tobias whispered.
“He didn’t have to.” In fact, Eli wished to heaven he hadn’t. Thankfully, the house would be someone else’s responsibility in a matter of days.
“That was his way,” Noah said of their father. “I can’t fault him now.”
“But?” Eli prompted, because Tobias leveled him with a guilty glare.
“Cara was never good for you, Eli. A blind bat could see that woman was trouble. Amarie is the best thing that ever happened to you, and you messed it up. I’ll forgive you when she does.”
“Tobias, you have my word. As soon as I get this woman alone, I’ll eat crow, grovel, and beg her to keep me.”
“Make sure you do, Eli. ’Cause if Amarie is not smiling by the time I finish the breakfast dishes, you’ll be the one in the doghouse.”
“Whew,” Noah said through his teeth. “And trust me, big brother, his bark is a lot bigger than yours.”
“Amarie.” Eli said her name as if the very syllables would break if he spoke them too loud.
“Here,” she said, reaching into her backpack to hand him a purple three-ring binder.
Eli accepted it. “What’s this?”
“It’s a standard operations procedure manual, an SOP, like they have in the military.” Her mouth lifted at one corner.
“For what, sweetheart.”
“I, ah—I never intended to take over your business. Inside is all the login information for every account, social and otherwise, related to Calvary Veterinary Clinic. Though it goes against my nature, I’ve included the passwords and it’s handwritten the way you like.”
When had she done this for his business? Could Eli sink lower than a belly-slithering worm? Of course she would list everything he and her replacement would need to manage the clinic. He reached for her, pulling their bodies closer until they touched. She released a little grunt, as if in pain. Her body stiffened against his. No longer did she melt in his arms. The rejection, the loss of connection, felt like the breath had been severed from his body. He was empty without her. “Can we talk about us? How I’ll do anything to fix us?”
She hesitated. But then whispered, “Anything means nothing without trust, Eli.”
He bit back a curse, his body aching in response to the biting words.
“Good morning, everyone.” Bethany flowed down the steps in a white button-down, a pair of fitted jeans, and cowgirl boots.
“Mom.” Amarie rushed over. “What are you wearing and why?”
“I picked up some new duds at the Trading Post yesterday. Thought I might enjoy looking the part at today’s festival. Oh, your father will probably call you. Tell him my answer is still no.”
“Mom, we really need to talk. Like now. Excuse us, Calvary family.”
Bethany, though cute, had the worst timing. Amarie obviously wanted to put more distance between them. And Mrs. Walker hadn’t helped his cause. Eli walked up behind Amarie, crowding her space, missing the warmth they’d shared seconds before her mother had broken the spell. She broke from him without a glance, and he was more than a little nervous.
“Amarie, sweetheart. Can we talk?”
Amarie pulled away from him, her once-warm eyes icing over. “Nope. I asked you to stop talking yesterday. Did you listen? Cat got your lips?”
“The expression is cat got your tongue.”
“Either way, you and your cat messed up.”
One look at her fierce expression and Eli was no longer nervous, he was terrified.
“Listen, Amarie,” he sighed, tracking his fingers through his hair. “I have to kick off the festivities. Looks like the bachelor auction is back online, and the town wants to know the winners. Remember, you’re my date no matter who wins.”
She nodded but didn’t say a word in agreement. Eli leaned in, placing a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll make this right between us, Amarie.”
He’d fix this at the festival, give them a second chance at love. Eli wanted to tell her, but the timing was off. He wanted her alone and in his arms, not with an audience of his family and her mom. The music, the revelry, the friendship, maybe the jovial mood would grease the skillet, so Eli could slide back home, to Amarie’s arms. The business and family would be fine, but he was back in a tail of a mess.