Page 83 of We Own Tonight
“Guys are stupid and only care about onething. . .”
Claudia scoffs. “Not my boys. They were raisedright.”
Savannah side eyes me and grins. “Yes, Randall and Ellington would never care aboutthat.”
If she only knew that’s what Eli and I did after knowing each other twentyminutes.
Speak of the Devils, and they shall appear. Eli and Randy walk over with a plate of burgers andhotdogs.
“Don’t scare her off with your evil ways.” Eli points at his sister-in-law. “I’m watchingyou.”
I inch closer to Savannah. “Don’t be mean to my newfriend.”
“Great,” Eli groans. “Now I’m reallyscrewed.”
Laughter fills the air and then we dig in. The family dynamic is fun and loving. They all make fun of themselves along with each other, and the conversation flows effortlessly. Randy dotes on his wife, showering her with little tokens of love. It’s clear where his brother learned how to treat awoman.
It’s like watching Eli with me. He hands her a drink before she asks, or takes her hand for no reason. Once again, the Walsh brothers surprise me. People paint Randy as anything but a family man, but that’s exactly what heis.
After the sun goes down, Savannah and I head inside to start cleaningup.
“You know that when your relationship goes public, things won’t be easy,” Savannah says as we washdishes.
“I’m not sure what youmean.”
She rests her hip on the counter, giving me her full attention. “It means that women are crazy, and Eli has been this attainable guy in some of their minds. You’re not an actress or movie star, you’re relatable to them, and you need to have some thick skin if you’re going to get serious with him.” She sighs. “I don’t want to scare you, but I do want you to be prepared. Eli truly cares for you, believe me, I’ve never seen him like this. He may not understand this side of dating a famous person, but I do. I’ve been called horrible names, had photos photoshopped to make me look fat, and seen stories upon stories of Randycheating.”
“You don’t think I can handle it?” I’ve wondered the same. I think back to the jogger and how uncomfortable I felt with her touching him. That isn’t even what Savannah is talkingabout.
“I don’t doubt you can if you want to. I’m sure there are awful things said about you being a female cop,right?”
I laugh. “You have noidea.”
“Well, amplify that by a thousand. In the beginning, it’ll be bad, but then it’ll calm down. Just be ready, be on guard, and seriously don’t listen to anything they say. It’s truly disgusting the way the media portrays us, how people get a sick joy in watching famous people flounder. They will actually root for you and Eli to fail. Drama sells, and everything is about money in thisworld.”
I hear the pain and disgust in her voice. She’s been living this for a long time and must’ve experienced a lot of hurt at people’s hands. “How do you deal withit?”
She looks out the window at her husband and smiles. “I love him. For better or worse, that man is my entire world. I deal with it because music is who he is.” Her eyes turn back to me. “It’s who Eli is, too. So, keep your head down and be open with each other. If you love him, he’s worthit.”
Without a shadow of a doubt, I know I love him. The mere thought of walking away from Eli is enough to make me want to cry. It could’ve been easier to fall in love with anyone else, but nothing in my life has been easy. I’ve had to bury my parents, my sister, endure a divorce, and been so broke I wasn’t sure I could afford to eat, so dealing with people hating me is a cake walk. Nothing will ever compare to the pain of losing my sister. If they want to hate me because I love him, then so beit.
He’s worth the risk, he’s worth itall.
Hours pass, and his mother takes the kids upstairs for baths. Eli, Savannah, Randy, and I have been playing rummy for the last hour. I’m kickingass.
“Well,” Randy tosses his cards down as I win another round, “on that note. Heather is clearly ahustler.”
“Never!” I pretend to beoffended.
“Liar.” He laughs and then turns to his brother. “Eli, you should search her for hiddencards.”
“Are you cheating,baby?”
My jaw drops. “I would never. I’m an officer of the law.” Savannah and I have been passing each other cards under thetable.
His eyes narrow, but he doesn’t refute me. I watch him look over at Savannah, and he yells. “I knew it! You littlecheats!”
Savannah bursts out laughing, and I follow. “You guys are soblind.”
