Page 40 of An Endless Memory

“Hey, boss lady.”

Cali leaned forward, straining against her seat belt. “Kellan might be teething.”

“No kidding? No wonder the champ was keeping us up all night.”

She giggled and poked my mom to look at Kellan’s swollen gums.

I gauged Mom’s reaction. Some of the concern had drained away and not just because she was squashed between her grandkids. The easy interaction between Eliot and Cali was hopefully a good sign in her book. In fact, she might put it in her book. I wouldn’t be surprised if she wrote a character named Champ.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Duke,” Eliot said next. “Nice to meet you. Sorry it wasn’t in person, but ranch life called me back.”

“When can we meet you?” Mom asked, leaning forward until the shoulder belt caught her.

My cheeks blazed. Thankfully, Eliot wasn’t here to witness my parents acting like I was sixteen and he’d asked me to prom.

“When are you coming home next?” Dad asked.

I tensed. He was home. So was I.

The wind was the only response for a moment. “There’s a dance recital at the end of the month that I have some nieces and nephews in.”

“The end of the month?” Dismay poured from Mom’s voice. My stomach sank.

“I apologize,” Eliot said easily. “I’ve got some interviews scheduled for a new guy, and then I’d like to be around to train him. I know it’s not the ideal answer for a newlywed man. It’s a good thing Lily understands my work almost as well as me.”

I smiled at the way he both answered and ignored all their questions. Even Dad couldn’t argue his response.

A faint shout came through the line. “I hate to go, but we’ve spotted the runaway.”

“Don’t worry, Eliot. Thank you.” I let my appreciation flow through my simple thanks, but mostly, I was trying to suppress the thrill I got knowing I’d get to see him at the end of the month.

“Love you, Lily pad.”

I drew in a sharp breath. His words wrapped around me like a warm blanket. It’s for show. But they didn’t sound like they were fake.

This was the most dangerous part of our ruse. I could forget the situation and let my hopes take the wheel. I couldn’t allow it. “Love you too, Romeo.”

Eliot

I’d been married for two weeks, and I hadn’t seen my wife since I said my vows. Other than a few check-in texts to make sure she was doing okay after her parents’ visit, we didn’t talk. I just returned from running to Miles City. I made an unplanned stop. I was supposed to pick up some horse supplement, and I needed a new pair of pants since I’d torn a pair in the stables when I caught myself on a bent clasp. One of the horses had slammed against her stall so hard she’d twisted the metal. Alexander had about pissed himself laughing when he’d seen me with a gaping hole in the butt of my jeans.

I entered the house. The smell of the pie Chambers’s wife had sent with him filled the air. Cherry? My stomach growled. I went straight to the kitchen. The pie already had a slice missing. There was nothing my bookkeeper liked more than fresh pie.

I set my small plastic bag on the island and circled around to get a plate and fork. I was digging a slice out when Chambers sauntered out of the old office I’d renovated to be his. The sweet smell of the dessert wafted up to me. Yep. Cherry.

I’d had too many sweet cravings in the last two weeks after remembering how Lily licked caramel off her lips.

“Hey, there’s the mister.” Chambers had taken to calling me that since I’d returned from Crocus Valley married. He knew the same story my family did.

“Anything happen while I was gone?”

“Something always happens while you’re gone.” He pulled up a stool at the island and flipped my bag over. “What’s this?”

His next favorite thing was being nosy, and he’d answered my question in an ominous way.

I dug into the slice of pie. “Chambers.”

He sighed. “Red Wildfire ripped her cheek open on a fence post.”

---