13. Eli
I n the distance, Eli heard rushed footsteps and voices, but the thump of his own heartbeat drowned it all out.
“Who’s here, Eli?”
“Everything okay, Uncle Eli?”
“Do we have another squatter?”
At the cascade of concern, Eli drew back from the embrace, but it wasn’t easy to let go. He’d hardly seen this boy for the last several years and all he wanted to do was hold him, gaze skyward, and thank God for this moment.
“It’s Jonah!” he called out with maybe a little too much enthusiasm, since his son flinched at the over-the-top announcement.
“ Jonah ?” Vivien came rushing to the entryway, her hair up, pajamas on already. “I don’t believe it!”
“Hey, Aunt Viv,” he said with that sheepish smile that gave the impression he knew he was kind of a big deal in the family. He always had a bit of celebrity status in the Lawson clan for no reason except he was tall, great-looking, funny, opinionated, and the kind of person who attracts attention without trying.
“I can’t believe you’re here!” She came closer and reached for a hug, which he gave like a dutiful nephew, then looked over her to see Lacey next in line.
“Hey, Spacey.”
She laughed at the childhood nickname he’d given to his little cousin years ago. “This is a surprise!” She took her hug next, flattening her hands on his face and staring at him. “Dude, I haven’t seen you since I graduated from college. Maybe it was high school.”
He nodded, silently acknowledging his absence from the family.
“I had no idea you were here,” he said. “I might have stayed away,” he added, giving her shoulder a playful poke. Then the smile faded, and he glanced past her. “I don’t think I can handle it if Miss Perfection is here, though.”
“Meredith’s in Atlanta,” Eli said quietly, then gestured to Tessa and Kate, tamping down a shot of regret that he had to end that oh-so-stimulating conversation in the kitchen. But everything—old crushes, new feelings, and life in general—took a back seat to Jonah’s unexpected arrival. “This is Kate and Tessa Wylie, old family friends.”
He shook their hands and greeted them with just enough interest and class that pride rose in Eli—he hadn’t raised a complete loser. Just a lost soul who’d come home.
“Come on in, come on in,” Eli said, bringing him into the main living area, then glancing through the front window to see a van bathed in a floodlight. The filthy vehicle looked like it had two hundred thousand miles and a few wrecks on it.
“Did you drive from San Diego?” Eli asked, incredulous.
“Of course. Have wheels, will travel. I slept a little on the way, but…” He looked around at the dimly lit house and let out a whistle. “This is a pretty sick set-up. You built this place, Dad?”
“I designed it, yes,” he said with another swell of pride. It was a small comment, but it might have been the most interest Jonah had ever shown in any of Eli’s projects in a dozen years.
They gathered in the kitchen, with Vivien explaining that the sofa in the living room was strictly for looks, which made Jonah laugh.
Eli poured him a soda, Kate made him a sandwich, and Vivien fussed over him like a good aunt. Somehow, he managed to get the explanation of what they were all doing at the house.
Through it all, Eli didn’t say much but just let his heart beat with an unexpected joy at the sight of his son.
Jonah didn’t offer a ton in the way of information—did he ever?— just said he got the location pin that Eli had sent and was ready for a break from Southern California, so here he was, following the jet stream and a whim.
“You just go where the wind sends you, huh?” Tessa asked, leaning on the counter, clearly amused by this new arrival. “I can certainly relate to that.”
He studied her, then looked at Kate. “Wylie?” he frowned, not answering Tessa’s original question. “Why is there something in my memory that says…that’s a name that isn’t spoken?”
They all shared a quick look, silent.
“Ancient history,” Eli said, his gut tightening a little because everyone knew the Wylies were “off limits”—yet there he’d been, a minute from confessing feelings for Kate. Could that history come back to haunt him?
He couldn’t think about it now. He had to concentrate on Jonah, who still looked confused.
“So, what’s the deal? Grudge match? Family feud? What are we playing here?” Jonah asked, lifting up the diner-quality roast beef sandwich Kate had made with a look of overwhelming gratitude. “Thanks, Kate Whose Last Name Shall Not Be Said.”
And even that joke gave Eli an uncomfortable feeling.
Kate laughed easily. “You’re welcome. And you missed the games tonight,” she said. “As far as we know, there are no grudges held on the Wylie side.”
“And for us? Only by Grandma Maggie,” Eli added.
“ Only ?” Jonah scoffed. “Trust me, no one wants to get on her bad side. The woman scares the daylights out of me, personally.”
“You?” Lacey rolled her eyes. “You can do no wrong in Grandma Maggie’s eyes. You always get more money at Christmas than Meredith or me. You’re her favorite by a long shot. Well, besides Nolie, but she’s seven.”
“Probably not a favorite anymore,” he murmured, sending another brief silence over the group.
“We’ll have to figure out where you’re going to sleep,” Kate said, breaking it with something less personal. “You must be exhausted.”
“Fried. I sleep in my van.”
“No, no,” Eli said. “There are two empty bedrooms downstairs. You’ll be more comfortable inside.”
“Great, I have an air mattress,” he said, obviously not bothered by the idea of camping anywhere.
“Then let me help you get set up,” Eli offered. “We can scare up some sheets and towels.”
“I’m self-contained, Dad, but anything clean would be a luxury.” He looked around the room again. “Which seems to be the operative word in this crib.”
After a few more minutes, everyone said goodnight again and Eli followed Jonah out to his van in the driveway. Inside, he was surprised by how neat it was, and set up for actual living. A small slab for a bed, a simple stove, fridge, storage, and a portable toilet. No shower, but Jonah explained that he stayed in campgrounds and truck stops, and…managed.
It sure seemed like a tough way to live, from Eli’s perspective.
Inside, Jonah plugged in his air mattress and Eli went upstairs to get extra sheets and towels that Meredith had thoughtfully sent for backup when she learned they had more people at the house.
How, he wondered as he jogged back down the stairs, could two children turn out so differently?
He found Jonah sitting on the inflated mattress, dead center in the middle of the room, staring ahead. When Eli walked in, he looked up, a world of pain in his haunted hazel eyes. So much that Eli stopped dead in his tracks.
“Are you okay, son?”
He threaded his large fingers through his nearly shoulder-length hair, pulling it off his face.
“Aunt Vivien doesn’t want you to sell this place,” he said, the words making Eli shake his head a little—so unexpected and out of the blue.
“You think?” he asked.
“Oh, I can tell. She’s always been easy to read, and she just coos about it when she talks. Every time you mention selling, her whole face changes.”
Eli considered that, and the fact that his son was always more observant regarding people than anyone ever gave him credit for.
“You might be right,” he said. “But she’s here now and we’re having our last hurrah, so to speak.”
When Jonah didn’t answer, he came into the room with the pile of sheets and clean towels, a bar of soap he’d grabbed from his bathroom sitting on top. “Not sure what you need, but?—”
“Help,” Jonah interjected softly. “I need help, Dad.”
Eli practically folded on the floor, but managed to set the linens down and ease himself next to Jonah on the bouncy mattress, wanting to choose every word carefully.
“Are you in trouble, Jonah?”
He huffed out a breath. “I haven’t been living in the van,” he said. Again, the non sequitur threw Eli.
“Okay…”
“I’ve been living in an apartment in La Mesa, near San Diego State.”
Eli blinked at this news. “Are you…in school again?”
“No,” he said. “And that seems to be the problem.”
Frowning, Eli didn’t say anything, waiting with a breath caught in his chest.
“I can’t hold a job, Dad. I’ve been fired from my last two line cook positions and, well, that’s another problem.”
“Maybe you just haven’t found the right place,” Eli said, surprised by Jonah’s honesty, and wanting so badly not to blow this rare opportunity to connect. “What happened to cause…termination?”
“I can’t follow rules.” He scoffed. “Probably not news to you.”
“Did you clock in late? Or miss work?”
“No, I committed the cardinal sin of a chain restaurant line cook—I tinkered with the recipe, which is, apparently, created in something holy and absolute called a corporate test kitchen and is not to be messed with.”
“Did you ruin the food, or did someone get sick?” he asked, having a hard time understanding how this was a huge problem.
“No,” he said with an eyeroll. “I added spices and twisted ingredients and changed the cook time and made garbage taste like delicious food.”
Eli leaned back, laughing softly at how very Jonah that was. He did the same thing on the football field when he was young—changed the coach’s plays and they always worked better.
But then Melissa died, and Jonah—a gifted high school quarterback who could have gone far—never walked onto the gridiron again.
“Well, it’s their loss, son, and you’ll find another place. You’ll find a job or a?—”
“I have found something,” he said, turning to look Eli in the eye. “I found a woman I love.”
“Oh.” He eased back, once again shocked by words he wasn’t expecting. “That’s awesome, Jonah.”
He nodded, the first smile since they’d walked in the room lifting his lips.
“Her name’s Carly,” he said. “Carly Danes. She’s twenty-nine and is the manager of a restaurant—not either of the two I got fired from,” he added. “She’s a graduate of San Diego State’s hospitality management program and really smart and so beautiful and fun and amazing and…pregnant.”
“What?” Eli gasped the word, not sure he’d heard right.
“Yep. Imma be a daddy.” He slid Eli a wry look. “File that under things you thought you’d never hear.”
“Jonah.” He covered his mouth with one hand, trying not to smile or let his jaw drop and hit the floor or anything. “That’s…awesome. And terrifying, I know, but really.” He couldn’t hide the smile any longer and put his hand on Jonah’s back, fighting the urge to hug the life out of him and cheer. “A baby! That’s…wow.”
Please, God, please say they’re getting married . Eli managed to hold that thought in, though.
Jonah sighed. “There’s only one problem. She kicked me out of our apartment in La Mesa. She says I’m too unstable to be in the baby’s life and she thinks it’s better to have a kid alone, at least until I get my act together.”
“Oh, man.” Eli dug his hand into his hair, vaguely aware that he was mirroring Jonah’s gesture—a move they both made in moments of great stress. And this surely was. “How far along?”
“Seven and a half months." Jonah grimaced. “But that little nug is real to me.”
Eli’s heart nearly crumpled at the words. “So, what do you think’s going to happen, son?”
“I don’t know. But I know this—she’s right. She’s right about everything, which is why I love her, but she’s dead-on about me. I’m in no position to be a father and I…I…I’m scared that I’ll never figure it out.” He groaned and turned back to Eli. “So when she booted me, I got in the van, drove east and came to the only person on the planet who can help me figure out what to do.”
Of all the astonishing statements his son had made tonight—including the news that Eli was going to be a grandfather—that last one? That took the cake, answered all prayers, and nearly brought Eli to his knees.
Jonah needed him? Respected him? Wanted help from him?
Then he would get it, and more.
“Is this something you want to keep between us?” he asked.
Jonah looked at him, thinking. “I don’t care if people know, Dad, but I don’t want to talk about it in great detail with strangers.” He gestured toward the upstairs, presumably meaning Kate and Tessa.
“What about Meredith?” Eli asked.
Jonah rolled his eyes. “Miss Perfection?”
“Your sister loves you,” Eli said. “She cares deeply about you. But I won’t say anything?—”
“It’s fine, Dad. I’m not ashamed of the baby. I don’t consider it a mistake. I love Carly and I want to raise this kid with her, but I have to…” He moaned like he was in physical pain. “I don’t even know what I have to do. Grow up really fast, I guess. Get my act together and do all kinds of things I’ve been avoiding.”
“Oh, Jonah.” Eli dropped his guard, no longer caring about saying or doing the right thing. In one move, he wrapped both arms around Jonah and gave him another bear hug.
“I’m scared, Dad,” he whispered.
“You came to the right place, son,” Jonah said through a thick throat. “I’ll help you. Whatever you need. If you want to figure out what’s next and how to do life, I am here for you.”
Jonah’s shoulders shook with a nearly imperceptible sob. “I don’t want to lose her or my kid, Dad. I want them both so bad. I can’t lose them. I’m scared. I’ve never been so scared—of losing them or, if I don’t, that I won’t be a good father.”
“Don’t be afraid,” he said, saying the words he personally knew appeared three hundred and sixty-five times in the Bible for a reason. “You’re going to be fine, I promise.”
He had no earthly idea how he’d keep that promise. But it wasn’t in his hands.
Closing his eyes, he did exactly what Jonah had done—cried out to his Father for help. It would come, Eli thought. His Father never let him down—and Eli wouldn’t let his own son down, either.
Finishing up an early morning meeting at the contractor’s office, Eli was still mulling over Jonah’s situation as walked to his truck. He moved quickly because it was past nine and he wanted to get home before Jonah got up and did something totally Jonah-ish and mysteriously disappeared. Just as he backed out, his cell rang with a call from Peter McCarthy.
Well, it was about time, Eli thought as he reached for the dashboard speaker. He and Pete had seen each other a few times since he’d been working on this project, but, per Maggie’s parameters, Eli had been vague about what had brought him to Destin.
The facts were “public”—at least within the family—now. And Pete, as a part of all the seven summers they’d spent in the cottage, qualified as family, in Eli’s mind.
It had been at least two months since they last hung out, and Pete hadn’t even answered Eli’s text telling him that he and Vivien had come down and that Tessa and Kate showed up.
“Hey, man,” Eli said with a warm laugh in his voice. “Been a while.”
“I haven’t been ignoring your messages,” Pete assured him. “I’ve been head down on an investigation.”
“Did you get the bad guy?” he asked, always fascinated by Pete’s job as a detective for the Pensacola Police Department. It was way cooler than being an architect, and a little more dangerous, too.
“I always get the bad guy, although in this case, it was the bad wife.”
“Eesh.” Eli grimaced. “That sounds…not good.”
“Good now that she’s in custody,” he said with a cool laugh. “But I finally have a little time. So what’s this in your text about Vivien and the Wylie girls? They’re all in Destin?”
“Not just in Destin, but on the very same beach,” Eli said. “What I didn’t tell you for arcane legal and family reasons is that the project I’ve been working on is a complete rebuild of the old house where we spent all those summers.”
“No way! Are you kidding me?”
“Long story, but the gang’s all there,” he said, pulling into traffic. “Also some kids, since my son showed up unexpectedly last night and Vivien’s daughter’s here. How about you come over one of these days? I know they’d all like to see you.”
“The same place? On the beach? I can be there tomorrow night.”
“That’s awesome, man. It’s not exactly the same, though. We have room if you want to stay a few days and soak up the beach. Might have to sleep on the floor, though.”
He chuckled. “Not the bunk beds in the Florida room?” he joked.
“The Florida room is long gone.” But they had great memories of being the only two summer residents who hadn’t had a bedroom. They’d had some great memories in that room along the back that wasn’t much more than an enclosed screened-in porch.
“Well, I don’t do floors at fifty-three,” Peter said. “And I’ll have to get back for work. But I can be there around four tomorrow. Will that work?”
“Perfectly.”
They finalized the plans, and Eli was smiling when he pulled into the driveway at nine-thirty. Certain Jonah was still asleep, he jogged up to the front door and pushed it open, not surprised to smell something amazing wafting from the kitchen.
Kate was up to her culinary tricks.
But he was surprised by the loud burst of laughter—male laughter that was definitely Jonah. He was up ?
“Gruyere!” Jonah exclaimed. “Gruyere makes the world go round.”
Eli took a few steps into the entryway, coming around the privacy wall to take in the scene, unnoticed by the others. Tessa and Lacey were sitting closely at the dining room table, hunched over a laptop, deep in discussion. Vivien was on the living room floor, surrounded by what looked like fifty patches of fabric.
And Kate and Jonah were both in aprons—where did those come from?—in the kitchen, cooking. Jonah was at the stove, sliding something around in a pan with the finesse of an Iron Chef, while Kate stood next to him waving a bottle in the air.
“Found the truffle oil!” she sang.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about, Katherine the Great!”
Katherine? He already knew her real name?
“I don’t care if we’re camping in an unfurnished house,” Jonah said, taking the bottle.
“Almost furnished!” Vivien called out.
“Truffle oil is the essence of surprise that every dish needs.” Jonah drizzled some oil over the pan. “ Voilà !”
“Just put it in now while the oven’s hot,” Kate said, whipping off her glasses and tossing them on the counter, where she’d surely forget she’d left them.
Opening the oven door, she took a deep whiff of whatever he was sliding onto the rack.
“Jonah! You’re a genius! That looks perfect. And the chives? Brilliant.” She added a chef’s kiss.
He bowed—seriously—and made a formal flip of thanks with his hand. “A team effort, my lady.” When he straightened, he grinned at her. “And to think I was fired from my last job for climbing out of the culinary box. I should—” He whipped around, just then noticing Eli. “Oh, hey, Dad. Just in time for a gruyere frittata in truffle oil dusted with sea salt and served with…”
“Arugula salad with segmented oranges and a drizzle of honey lemon vinaigrette,” Kate said.
“That.” Jonah grinned. “Want some?”
“More than my next breath,” Eli said, dropping his keys on the counter and dividing his gaze between Kate, who looked bright and beautiful that morning, and Jonah, who looked…blissful.
Had he ever seen his son so…playful? Probably not in fifteen years, he thought with a silent gasp.
“This lady is a beast!” Jonah said, placing a casual arm around Kate. “Dr. Chef, Katherine the Great, the mad scientist of the Summer House.”
He even had the house name correct.
Eli just laughed, not even having words to respond to this. Clearly, they’d been getting to know each other.
“Hey, Eli, give me your male opinion on this color palette for the upstairs suites,” Vivien said, waving a fabric swatch. “Men do sometimes buy houses.”
He turned to her, but his gaze was snagged by Lacey and Tessa, both whispering madly, punctuated by laughter.
“You, kid, have got it going on!” Tessa gave a high-five to Lacey. “Why are you not my daughter?”
“Because she’s mine,” Vivien called out in warning, looking up with a scowl. “You can’t have her, Tessa Wylie.”
Tessa threw her arm around Lacey. “She’s mine now, he he heeeh,” she teased, giving a bad impression of a villainous laugh.
For a moment, Eli stood stone still, dead center in the middle of it all, soaking up the sensation of…family. Of love and support and good times and relaxation.
It felt exactly like the old house in Destin, when the Lawsons and the Wylies would make a meal or play a board game or just co-exist in utter peace as the summer months and the Gulf waves rolled by.
The realization hit him in the gut, in the old memory bank, in the heart. He’d been so right about getting Jonah here for the magic of Destin. There was something about this place that changed people—whether the physical structure was a tumble-down beach house or a mansion.
It was sacred ground with an aura of goodness in every corner—and that was something no architect could build or design.
“Hey.” Vivien snapped her fingers. “Earth to Eli. I need an opinion.”
“Oh, sure.” He walked to where she sat on the living room floor. “You know I’m no expert in color.”
She widened her eyes as if to say this was not about colors. Flicking her fingers to beckon him closer, she whispered, “Jonah seems really good, Eli. Did he tell you what’s going on?”
“Yeah.” He inched back. “Did he tell you?”
She shook her head. “Nothing specific. But he’s not…a mess. Is he?”
“Just a little,” Eli said, knowing his whole family was stymied by the enigma that was Jonah. “I’ll fill you in later.”
“Okay. How was your morning?”
“Excellent. And guess who’s coming for dinner tomorrow night.”
“I have no idea.”
He gave her a playful look. “Peter McCarthy.”
“Really?” He could have sworn her color deepened ever so slightly. “Wow, I haven’t seen him in thirty years.”
“He’s single, you know.”
She whipped a small fabric swatch at his ankles. “Shut up.”
“Still a good-lookin’ guy.”
“Stop it.” More ankle whipping.
“And I will say that I haven’t heard from him in weeks, but five minutes after he finds out you’re in town? Bam. He’s making dinner plans.”
She narrowed her eyes. “If you say one embarrassing word you will regret it, Eli Lawson.” The glint in her eyes said she was teasing. Then she slid her gaze to Tessa at the table. Maybe she was teasing. But she could blackmail him with those stupid diaries of hers.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Your childhood crush secret’s safe with me.”
“It better be.”
“Frittata is up!” Jonah called. “Come and get it.”
Eli turned to the kitchen to see Kate taking a chef’s taste on the edge of a spoon, her eyes flashing. “Oh, my… Jonah! You are the best!”
His son beamed at the compliment and suddenly Eli was rocked by a moment of déjà vu, seeing a ten-year-old Jonah running off the pee wee football field after throwing the game-winning touchdown.
Melissa was screaming, arms in the air, cheering for her boy.
Jonah! You are the best!
And Jonah, young and innocent and unaware that he’d lose his mother just five years later, tossed his helmet in the air and threw both arms around her and hooted with joy.
“Dad?” Jonah asked.
“Eli?” Kate looked just as uncertain. “Are you okay?”
He looked from Kate to Jonah and nearly swayed on his feet at the impact of that unwelcome but beloved memory.
“Yeah, yeah. Just hungry. I’ll take that frittata, chefs.”