Page 77 of Lovesick
Her forehead wrinkled. “Not sure. He hasn’t said much about them, which is weird because he seemed all excited for a while. Then he spoke to some recruiters, and now he’s quiet.”
“Think he’ll go into the military?”
She shook her head. “No way. He promised me State University so we can go together. I’m graduating early next year so I can get in sooner. He’s going to work, save up, and wait for me. There’s no way Mac and Millie can afford to send him anywhere else, anyway. He needs the money in the worst way.”
“Where is he now?”
Ellie glanced outside, as if her answers lay there. The grooves between her eyes deepened. “Dunno. We were going to do homework earlier and he had to leave all of a sudden.”
For any other pair of humans, that would seem totally normal. For Ellie and Devin? Strange. Something was brewing, but I could tell she didn’t want to talk about it.
Ellie eyed me. “You have something on your mind, don’t you?”
With a half laugh and a shrug, I said, “I think Mama’s haunting me.”
One fine black eyebrow quirked. I nodded. What other explanation could there be for the memories that were always surfacing? The whisper of Mama’s voice in my mind at the weirdest times? She seemed everywhere to me now.
“Do tell,” she murmured.
A thousand pictures played back through my head, racing on the heels of the others, Mama’s voice in the background.
“There’s always one man out there who will love you, understand you, and keep you safe. Make sure you settle with that one. You’ll know it if he brings the romance, Lizzy.”
“If the romance isn’t there, then neither is the ring. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Make him swoon you a bit, sweetheart.”
Her advice had been in direct opposition to the way she’d lived her life. Mama had met Dad, sensed that he wouldn’t let her go but also wouldn’t ask her to stay, and held on. Then she’d sought love elsewhere. She wouldn’t let Dad go, but she wouldn’t love him, either. Like she despised him for being the person she relied on the most.
Meanwhile, she wove magic around romance every time she gave me advice.
“You know who your father is, don’t you?” I asked instead of diving back into Mama. First, I needed answers.
Ellie froze, then reluctantly nodded.
“How did you find out?”
“Watched Mama. Followed her over to his house a few times in the middle of the night when I was six or seven.” She set her mug down. “Most of the time she stayed until just before Jim returned from ... wherever he went at night.”
“The bar, probably.”
Ellie nodded.
“How old were you when you found out he was your father?”
“Six.”
“How?” I asked with a shake of my head. “How did you know?”
“Mama caught me following her over there one day. I dug into a hay bale to stay warm and waited until she came back early in the morning. Mama told me everything then. Besides, she hated Jim and I looked nothing like him. Then I saw Trevor and it confirmed it for me. I have his eyes.” Her expression softened slightly.
Trevor. She’d never told me his name before, and Mama had never said it. Ellie knew our neighbors and land better than anyone else. She often slept outside in the summer to be closer to the cats and horses. Something about animals reassured her. She always had one in her arms, even now.
“Does Trevor know the truth about you?” I asked.
“Mama never told him.”
“Why?”
