Page 10 of Make Me Love You

Eli paused. In love...that wasn’t the right phrase at all. He felt something for her, of course he did. How could he not? Even eight years later, it was still Emma. But he didn’t know her, not the way he did then. You had to know someone to be in love. A lot could change in eight years. What if she had developed an affinity for collecting dolls? Eli hated dolls. They were creepy as hell. He definitely couldn’t be in love with some psycho doll collector.

“I’m not in love with her. We have history. There’s a difference. Anyway, we have an arrangement. We’re going to use strictly virtual communication. Emails and texts, since she probably doesn’t even want to hear my voice. Nothing face-to-face.”

“Right,” Luke said dubiously.

“It’s going to work. Two months, that’s it. What could possibly go wrong?”

“I guess. I mean, she couldn’t possibly hate you any more than she does now, right?”

Eli choked on a French fry. “Right,” he gasped.

She couldn’t. Could she?

Chapter Three

“Emma Andrews, what in the world are you doing?” said a laughing voice from above her.

Emma was lying flat on her back on the living room floor. Beneath her was the braided rug her great-great-grandma had made from scraps of clothes and blankets when she had been no older than Emma was now. Above her the ceiling fan spun lazy circles. It was something she had done since she was a young child. She didn’t have a good reason for why. It soothed her, though.

Strategic regrouping, her father called it. Emma thought it was cute her father had that much faith in her. There was nothing strategic about it.

“Go away, Suzie,” Emma said. “I’m having a moment.”

“This moment is unbecoming of your new station in life,” came another voice, also laughing. At her expense, knowing her friends.

Emma lifted her head, craning her neck until she saw Kate Gonzales half hidden behind Suzie’s ever-expanding belly. “I take it you heard the news.”

“We ran into Cesar at the hardware store. He gave us the whole story.”

Emma groaned. When Eli had dropped her off, she had stormed into the Airstream full of righteous anger and looking like a hot mess. Cesar had taken one look at her and thrown her an apron to cover herself up. That was when she had realized Eli had seen everything. It put her dramatic exit in an embarrassing new light.

That part, Cesar probably hadn’t shared. At least, she hoped not.

But the part where she had informed him that she had been conscripted as mayor and he had promptly laughed himself sick, yes, that part was fair game. The only question was how he had stopped laughing long enough to get the story out.

“Then you understand why I’m on the floor,” Emma said. “It’s the only way I can be sure the ground doesn’t disappear beneath me.”

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