Finding Our Forever(67)
“Really.” He eyed her speculatively. “Do you want to go?”
“I’d like to—if you wouldn’t mind me skipping out on whatever we might’ve done today.” They didn’t have any specific plans, but they’d started to spend all their weekends together, so she knew the expectation would be there.
“Of course I wouldn’t mind, not if you think it’d be fun.” He downed his water. “So it’s a girls’ day, huh?”
“That’s how she presented it.”
“With as much as you admire my mother, I bet you’ll enjoy that. I don’t get any attention when we go over there on Sundays,” he joked.
“You get plenty of attention—always.” He was almost all she could think about. If only he knew how drastically he’d impacted her in every way. “But you’re right, I’m excited to spend some time with her.”
He walked over, took her hands and straightened the rings she wore on three different fingers so that the jeweled parts no longer slanted to the left or right. “What is it about her?”
“Nothing,” she lied. “I just...like her.”
“I’m glad, because she likes you, too. Anyway, I’ll take some of the boys riding. I promised those who scored the highest on Mr. Travers’s chemistry test that I’d take them out one day.”
Cora flinched beneath the guilt she felt for continuing to keep such a secret. “Perfect time to fulfill that promise.”
Being careful not to get her sweaty, he leaned in for a kiss. “I’ll miss you.”
“I have a few minutes,” she said with a promising grin and pulled him into the bathroom so they could shower together. She needed something powerful to help her forget the confrontation she knew was coming—eventually.
* * *
The day seemed so boring without Cora. That he missed her even more than he thought he would told Eli how much he was coming to rely on her company, which made him a little nervous. Would that turn out to be a bad thing?
If she insisted on leaving Silver Springs at the end of the school year it would...
He held off contacting her until it was almost dinnertime, hoping she’d get back. But then he texted her.
How much longer are you going to be? You guys are taking forever.
We’re on our way home.
Have you eaten? Should I turn on the barbecue and grill a couple of burgers? He’d been waiting to eat with her.
No. I’m bringing you sushi. We had Thai for lunch but ended up staying so long we went to sushi for dinner. It was a great place. You’re going to love it.
Did you get all of your shopping done?
Most of it.
What’d you get me? he teased.
Nothing. I already had your present, she wrote back with a winking emoji.
Where is it? I’ll go take a look.
You’d better not snoop around! You’ll see it at Christmas.
He imagined how surprised she was going to be. I’ve got yours, too. Picked it up today.
I have no clue what it could be.
And she’d never guess. What he didn’t know was whether she’d like it.
* * *
Christmas morning dawned to dark skies and rain. Cora listened to the soft patter hitting Eli’s house as she watched him sleep. She cared so much about him, had never been so in love—and that meant she had to tell him the truth. Every minute they grew closer under false pretenses was a minute she feared he might one day hold against her. Aiyana, too. She’d been sleeping with him for four months. That was such a long time to perpetuate a lie, so long she’d definitely struggle to explain why she didn’t speak up sooner.
But when she looked back, she couldn’t isolate a point in time when she could definitively say, That’s when I should’ve said something. As soon as she picked a point like that, she’d realize what the truth could’ve cost her—Sunday dinners at Aiyana’s, the nights she’d spent in Eli’s arms and the days she’d spent looking forward to them, the shopping excursion she’d enjoyed with her biological mother last week, being invited to Aiyana’s for Christmas Eve. If she’d told the truth from the beginning, most of that, maybe none of it, wouldn’t have happened.
Choosing the path she did had enabled her to create some beautiful memories. But if she lost Eli and Aiyana, mere memories would never be enough...
Eli opened his eyes and smiled the second he realized that she was awake. “Morning.”
She returned his smile. “Morning.”
“Merry Christmas.”
“Same to you.” She tucked her hands up under her pillow as she studied him. “Would you like to open your present?”
He covered a yawn. “We’re not going to wait until we have dinner at your parents’?” They’d spent Christmas Eve with Aiyana and all his brothers last night so that they could join her family today.