Chapter 30
There was going through the motions, and then there was going through the motions. Eloise clung to the broom like it was a life raft. She’d swept the art room twice, poking the bristles into each corner and under all the furniture making sure there wasn’t even a speck of dirt or dust left on the polished concrete floor.
“You missed a spot,” Charlie called from the doorway.
“Where? And what are you doing here?”
“It was a joke. Looks like you’ve cleaned this room like it was a crime scene. I was hoping you might be free for a quick chat.”
So help her God, if Charlie asked her to do something else for the wedding, Eloise was going to scream. She was only just keeping it together as it was. “I don’t have much time. Mum and I are redoing the place cards tonight because Sybella changed her mind again, so I have to get home. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to see how you’re doing. Find out if I need to kick my best friend’s ass.”
“There’s nothing to find out,” Eloise said quietly. “There’s no drama, no animosity.”
Charlie pulled out one of the stools she’d tucked under the big table and sat. “Things seemed pretty serious.”
Eloise twisted away, pretending that stowing the broom in the cleaning cupboard was an incredibly time-critical task. She pressed a hand to her chest and took a steadying breath before softly shutting the door and turning to face her brother. “And how would you know that? You’ve been wrapped up in all this stupid wedding stuff.”
“Eloise—”
“No. Don’t ‘Eloise’ me. I’m so sick of being ‘Eloise-d’. All I ever do is try to keep everyone happy, and I’m over it, okay? Nate and I had a deal to keep things light and fun. I went into”—damn it, her eyes were already stinging—“this thing knowing that. And I compromised what I wanted because I thought that was the way it had to be. That’s on me. Nate doesn’t owe me anything.”
Never mind that it had felt different. Like maybe she was his and he was hers. Like the only path they’d been on was the road to forever. Eloise swallowed past the lump in her throat. Trying to get through Charlie’s wedding with a smile on her face and dry eyes was going to be a disaster. At least she could pass off some of her tears as joy for the happy couple and relief Joanie was still with them.
But once it was over? Then she could throw herself into training her replacement and getting ready to head overseas. The first words Joanie had said to her after she was discharged from hospital had been: “Don’t you dare think of cancelling your trip because of me”. Her grandmother had even suggested she leave early and do a bit of travelling before her exchange started. Lying on a beach in Thailand sounded … horrible. Eloise had never been any good at relaxing, and the last thing she needed right now was to be alone with her thoughts. Besides? Adding extra plane trips when she still wasn’t sure she was even going to be able to get on the first one? That was a complication she didn’t need right now. She tried counting to ten. Breathing in and out oh-so-slowly, but it didn’t help. The tears she’d been fighting all day spilled down her cheeks, heat rushing to her face, her neck. It shouldn’t have mattered. Charlie was her brother. He’d seen her cry plenty of times.
“Aw, shit. Don’t do that.” Charlie wrapped her in a hug so tight it almost hurt. “Something happened when he lived in the States. At the end of college. I can’t tell you any more than that because a) it’s his story and b) I don’t really know all the details.”
Cobie. Did Nate think Eloise had been trying to use him like his ex-girlfriend had? Staying in his house for free. Taking everything he offered her? Was that what had caused him to freak out and run away? Or was he just like most guys who loved the chase? As soon as he’d got what he wanted, he didn’t want her anymore? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that had happened to her.
Eloise didn’t want to talk about this anymore, so she nodded, made her excuses to leave and shut down the conversation just like she planned to shut down all her feelings.
Because while she’d been falling in love, Nate hadn’t.
And that was the end of their story.
She wiped her eyes and closed the door to her office. Looked around the room that she’d already started to pack up and realised it wasn’t the end of her story.
It was time for her to embrace being a main character in her own life.