Page 16 of An Endless Memory

“And you’re getting married?”

I nodded and forced myself to hold her gaze. I just needed the weekend. I could secure the animals, get myself and the kids settled in a motel, and put money down for a rental deposit. After I borrowed it from my parents.

Her eyes narrowed. The stench of my lie was rising up. Either that or my deodorant couldn’t stand up to new-mom stress. “What’s his name?”

All she needed was a name. What should I say?

The only name that popped into my head spilled out of my mouth. “Eliot.”

“Eliot who?”

“Eliot…Knight.” Shit. I should’ve made up a last name.

“At your service,” Eliot said from the doorway.

I gasped and spun around. Kellan was throwing his head around on Eliot’s shoulder. He let out a cry. Three seconds ago, he’d been as silent as the man holding him.

“Eliot.” All my dismay poured into that one word. My heart clawed into my throat. I could vomit everything I’d eaten for the last month. If I thought I was humiliated before, this was nothing.

“Oh.” Linda’s voice perked up. “This is him?”

Why didn’t I make up a name? Why did I name him? It was not wishful thinking. It wasn’t. I just didn’t know any other single men.

“Eliot Knight?” Linda prompted again.

“Yes,” I squeaked.

Linda’s brows lifted. Kellan slammed his mouth against Eliot’s stubbled cheek. “Slow down, champ. I don’t have what you want.”

“When’s the wedding?” Linda asked.

Eliot glanced at me like he was waiting for me to answer too, like this was polite conversation that didn’t involve him. It shouldn’t have involved him.

Linda lifted her brows, giving him a pointed look. “Do you have a date? I assume it must be soon.”

Incredulity filled Eliot’s gaze. A chuckle came out nervously. “Did I miss something?”

Was I really going through with this? If I didn’t, I’d be quitting for sure and moving. I’d never see Eliot again, and my humiliation would be just for me, for during the middle of the night when I was alone in bed and reliving all my mistakes.

“The wedding,” I said woodenly. I couldn’t meet his gaze. I kept mine on the teardrop bottom of my baby, whom he was holding. “Remember how I told you”—I squeezed my eyes shut—“shortly after we started dating that I would lose the house if I wasn’t married for a year? And how Aunt Linda was being lenient and letting me stay in it until then?” I peeled my eyes open. If my heart rate climbed higher, I’d pass out.

His disbelieving gaze was on mine. Kellan was getting noisier, but he had nowhere to go in Eliot’s strong hold.

My hope wavered, rose a little, but it was still at the bottom of the world. Eliot wasn’t calling me a liar in front of my aunt, so I forged ahead. “Well, I didn’t want to rush you, but she gave me until today to move. I thought we could have some more time, you know…since our love is so new?”

His eyes narrowed but in that This can’t be real way. “Today?”

“Yep.” I popped the P. Shame was branding itself into my skin. “I had to be moved out by today.”

“Unless you’re married.”

“Mm-hmm.” My cheeks were on fire. I could melt into a puddle and sink into the foundation.

“How long have you been dating?” Linda asked as she scrutinized Eliot.

Might as well dig the hole deeper. “Since I first moved, actually. I met him right after I started here. Eliot is Sutton’s brother-in-law.”

“That’s not long at all,” Aunt Linda said. She exhaled, the sound somehow full of skepticism.

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