Page 18 of Stick Work

Grandma shoots up from her seat. “Oh, I have?—”

“Grandma,” Elias warns, his voice pleading.

“What?” Grandma throws her arms up in the air. “She said she likes granny clothes.”

“Granny clothes, sure,” I tease with a wink. “But Elias’s sister’s clothes will work too.”

Grandma returns that wink as Cheryl chimes in. “We keep brand new suits in the spare room next to Elias. Help yourself, Taylor. I’m sure you’ll find something that fits.”

With that, Elias and I excuse ourselves and make our way upstairs. “Grandma is a riot,” I say as he leads me to the spare bedroom.

“Real comedian,” he agrees, and even though he’s pretending not to be impressed with her antics, the love he feels for the woman is evident. “In there,” he says. “I’ll grab my suit.”

I hurry to the dresser, and once I find something I think will be suitable, I make my way back to ‘our’ room to find Elias rummaging through his dresser. He looks up when I enter, those warm eyes immediately softening.

“You find something?” I nod and hold up the one-piece suit. He gestures with a nod. “You take the bathroom. I’ll just change in here.”

He finally pulls out a suit, and when he turns back and finds me still standing there, he angles his head. “Elias…” My voice cracks unexpectedly.

His expression shifts instantly, worry flashing in his eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

I swallow hard, my breath shaky. “Your family…they’re so nice. I wasn’t expecting them to be like this, and they didn’t even seem to be bothered by our age gap. Honestly, from everything you said, I thought they’d be… harder on me.” I shake my head, my uncertainty growing. “Wait, did we want them to be mean? Did I mess up? I tried so hard to be Hollywood Taylor Turner. I didn’t realize things were going to get real.”

He exhales a tortured breath, his shoulders slumping. “Taylor…”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, my heart sinking. “I’ll do better.”

“It’s okay.” His voice is soft but firm. “They like you.”

I shake my head. “Do you think things got too real?”

“No, after my last…” He lets his words fall off and as I take in the pained expression on his face, I let it go. I’m aware that something happened in a previous relationship, but because he and my brother treat me like their kid sister, I’m not in the know.

Deciding to let it go, he obviously doesn’t want to talk about it, I begin, “I mean, I told them about my broken family, mental health issues. That’s not what they want for you, is it? What you do and who you’re with reflects on them, right? I want to do this right for you, Elias.”

Elias stops, his eyes softening as they lower. He scrubs his chin. “Right, and you know how much I appreciate that, Taylor.” Then, in a voice so quiet I almost miss it, he mumbles, “We lost Mom’s dad a long time ago. He had PTSD.” His eyes lift to mine. “It was tragic, and while he was getting help…in the end, he just couldn’t do life anymore. I think Mom always blamed herself for some reason. That’s probably why she said you were very intuitive. She liked that.”

“Oh God, Elias, I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have said anything. Here I was worried about bringing down the vibe during dinner, but it was way worse than I thought. I brought back bad memories for everyone. I just?—”

“You were real, and that’s actually what they liked.” He snorts. “Not too many real people in their world.” Under his breath, he adds, “Or mine.”

“But still, Elias, they want so much for you. The right pedigree. A Hollywood star.” I throw my hands up in a dramatic gesture. “You told me about the important women they’ve been trying to set you up with. Sure, I was real, but they still think I’m going to be someone important. Someone with the right image for the family.” As I consider that, I’m not sure I entirely agree with his take on all this. Maybe they were just setting him up with people they knew. People from their world. Maybe it doesn’t have to do with pedigree at all.

He shakes his head, and I know this is all messed up, but fortunately we’ll be ‘breaking up’ shortly, and none of this will matter.

If it doesn’t matter, Taylor, why do you have a knot in your stomach?

Oh, because I like these people.

I like Elias…

He stares off, his mind somewhere else when he murmurs, “I just needed this charade to buy me time until I find someone, but now they’ve gone and fallen for you and that complicates everything.”

I groan. “I wasn’t necessarily trying to make them love me. I just wanted to make them believe we were in love, or at least in a committed relationship.”

Back in the moment, he consoles me. “It’s okay, and hey, everyone wants to be liked, and you might not be in Hollywood, but you’re still a star.” He gives me a grin, letting me know it’s all okay, even though we both know it’s not.

“I’m just…I’m sorry. I don’t want to mess this up for you.”

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