Page 51 of Elevating Eve

“It doesn’t sound whiny at all,” she assured him, smiling at his sardonic tone. “No one would want to go back to regularly scheduled programming after the week you’ve had. If you did, I’d be kind of worried, actually.”

He grunted noncommittally.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Eve tried to figure out how to help. “I know for a fact no one at the Manor expects you to take any clients for a while.”

“How do you know that?” A new sharpness entered his tone.

“No one was gossiping behind your back,” she said, knowing exactly where his mind went. “At the luncheon, when you went for that walk, Zach said he didn’t think he’d be able to do the kind of work you all do right after losing a parent, and the rest of them agreed. I promise that was it.”

He relaxed slightly beneath her. “I suppose it’s for the best. God only knows what I’d do to them in this state of mind.”

Squirming over his hard thighs, Eve quipped, “God and me, you mean.”

That finally brought a small chuckle out of him, and the tensionleft his muscles completely. “I suppose the rest of it won’t be so bad.” He didn’t sound like he believed it.

“I’ll take as much off your plate for the expansion as I can,” she promised, wanting to remove as much of his stress as possible. “I suspect your partners will, too. Just keep reminding yourself—you’re not alone. Not by a long shot.”

“I’ll try.” He didn’t sound particularly confident, but she believed he would do his best not to forget.

It would have to do for now.

Not long after that, Jonathan drifted off to sleep, his arms dropping to his sides. For a second, she considered the best way to extricate herself from his lap without waking him. But in the end, she decided it would be better to stay put. The man had hardly slept since that first night in California, so she knew how desperately he needed this rest.

With her ear against his chest, she listened to the slow, rhythmic beating of his heart, closing her eyes, letting it surround her. The longer she listened, the more it soothed her worries and fears away. Though the effect was only temporary, she made up her mind to enjoy it as long as she could.

Jonathan didn’t wake until they started their descent into Burlington. By then, her back and hips ached from staying in that position for so long, but she didn’t mind. The plane landed smoothly, and only a few minutes passed before they arrived at their gate.

They had a lot more luggage now than they did on the flight out of Vermont. For one thing, Jonathan had a garment bag stuffed full of the suits Zach mailed. She also had a bag now—a small rolling suitcase she bought on clearance, filled with the clothes she had no choice but to buy in California. While Jonathan kept a good part of his wardrobe at the Manor for when he spent the night with a guest, Zach had no way of getting into her hotel room to access her clothes.

Oh, well. At least most of it had been on sale. And really, she needed to expand her new wardrobe far more than her initial foray into shopping after she dumped Frank. That had only been enough to get her by while she figured out her new life. Since a permanent position at Cox Construction was all but assured at this point, she figured what the hell.

Angelica, the auburn-haired driver, waited for them directly acrossfrom the doors when they stepped outside. As far as Eve could tell, she had on the exact same suit as the first time they met. “Welcome back, Mr. Hale, Ms. Hutchinson,” she said in an over-the-top cheerful voice. She rushed over to relieve them of the luggage. “I hope you enjoyed your trip?”

Clearly, she didn’t know why they’d extended it by almost a week. Jonathan had gone very still beside her, so she hurried to answer, “Thank you. We’re glad to be home.”

If her non-answer seemed off, Angelica did nothing to show it. “Tank is full, and keys are in the ignition,” she said as she stowed the luggage in the trunk.

Wordlessly, Jonathan handed her a bunch of bills and climbed behind the wheel, shutting the door a little too hard.

The driver frowned—at least until she glanced down and saw how much easy cash she’d just made. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked, that almost too-wide smile of hers firmly back in place.

“No. Thank you for everything.” Eve gave the woman a smile she hoped didn’t look too strained and got into the car.

Jonathan sighed as soon as she shut her door. “That was rude. She has no idea about my dad. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

“Well, you must have paid her extra well,” she said, nudging him with her shoulder. “As soon as she looked at what you gave her, she very much didn’t care.”

He grunted in response—only the second time he’d done that to her since they met. Frowning, she decided not to say anything about it. At least not yet. He deserved a hell of a lot of leeway as he discovered his path through the murky landscape of grief.

Eve would help him as much as she could, but she knew no two paths were quite the same. For so much of it, he’d have to figure things out on his own.

It fucking sucked.

Most of the drive passed in silence, Jonathan staring intently at the road, hands far too tight on the steering wheel. Eve wracked her brain for something to say to pull him out of his gloom, or to at least distract him for a while. But every single idea she came up with sounded idiotic.

The sun was creeping toward the horizon when at last she started torecognize where they were. They’d arrive back at the Manor in about twenty minutes or so.

Relief coursed through her. As much as she wanted to be there for Jonathan, the uneasy silence had her on edge. Not to mention the pain still lingering in her lower back from staying in that weird position for so long on the plane. A tension headache had only just begun pulsing across her forehead and at the base of her skull.

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