been talking about. But he won’t stop asking about the woman who’s been taking up my free time. His words.”
“Brady…” Meeting his family was a level up, especially after she suggested they end things between them. But she had been the one to say they didn’t have to end it right away.
“Make an old man’s day,” he said with a half-smile.
“That’s a cheap shot.” She sighed. She liked him way too much to say no. “I’ll think about it.”
“Thank you.” He sounded sincere. “You okay on your own? I can stay. Lila might try and crawl into bed with you, though.”
“You don’t have to stay. I’m going to drink my tea and crash when my head hits the pillow. I’ll be fine.”
“How you ever believed you lost your independence is beyond me.” He kissed her forehead. “I can sleep on the couch. Wake you in the morning in a creative way.”
“Stop being irresistible.”
He watched her, his smile soft. He looked tired. The dog was already asleep. Elliott was about to drop. But her defenses were low when he was near, and she desperately needed clarity. That would only come if she was alone.
“Goodnight. Drive safe.”
“Hear that, Lila? Classic blow off.” He grabbed the leash. The dog stood up and stretched, tail swishing back and forth.
Elliott walked them to the door and waved when Brady backed down the driveway. It hurt her heart to see him go, but she let him.
She’d made the right decision.
Chapter 18
Elliott spent the next morning hunched over her laptop, a cup of coffee next to her elbow. She’d sent her resume off to three more companies and had spent the last hour browsing apartments online. Since she didn’t know where she would work yet, the housing search was going absolutely nowhere.
True to her word, she’d fallen asleep almost immediately after Brady left. She’d woken up at 4 a.m., tossing and turning. She thought about what he’d said. What he hadn’t said. What he could’ve said.
She thought about how she could feel about him if she stayed in Evergreen Cove. The town bordered on utopia. She was half-surprised residents didn’t randomly burst into song.
Amused by the image, she smiled to herself and admitted that life wasn’t perfect in the Cove. There were plenty of examples of struggle. Brady’s family. Lila’s situation. Lou’s divorce. They just happened to live in a beautiful place.
Elliott had been picturing a life in Chicago for months. She couldn’t give it up to take a chance on a relationship that likely wouldn’t work out. Brady had bad timing, which wasn’t his fault.
Besides, her parents, therapist, and friends from college lived in Illinois. Visiting the Cove was one thing, but living here? She would have to start from scratch. She’d already culled her life down to the bare minimum once this year.
With a sigh, she carried her empty coffee mug to the sink. She loaded the dishwasher and changed her clothes, taking the time to straighten her hair and smooth it back into a ponytail. At the balcony off her bedroom, she watched out the window as a lone seagull flew by. She’d always pictured gulls as ocean birds, not lake birds. A seagull had no business living in Ohio.
“Neither do I,” she reminded herself.
Worse, she’d been considering honoring Brady’s request to visit his grandfather when she should be cutting ties, not making more. But Brady was her friend. She was curious about the man who’d raised him.
A text chimed on her phone, and she shut her eyes. She knew who it was without looking. When she reopened them, sure enough, the text was from Brady.
“Talk to me, Elli Bean.”
Damn him. She wished he would have made it easier for her to say no. But then, where Brady was concerned, her ability to push him away had the shortest shelf life ever.
She keyed in her response. “Alive and well. Ready when you are.”
His reply came quickly. “Glad to hear it. Pick you up at 1.”
An hour later she exited her front door and climbed into Brady’s truck to sit next to Lila. The dog licked Elli’s cheek, her tail thumping the seat when Elli used both hands to hold her scruffy face.
“She’s the cutest.”
“Careful. Making me jealous,” Brady warned with a smile.
“You’re cute, too.”
“What every guy dreams of, Elli Bean,” he said as he reversed out of her driveway. “Being cute.”
Well, he was.
A short while later, she had the same thought about his grandfather, though she kept that to herself.
“Emory Hutchins,” he introduced himself.