Meant To Be (The Callahans #4) - Monica Murphy Page 0,56
a stern expression on his face. “Nice to see you again, Eli.”
“You too, sir.”
“You can call me Drew.”
Eli visibly relaxes while I snap my mouth shut. Did my dad say Eli can call him by his first name? I think he made Ash call him coach for years. But of course, Ash was conditioned to call him that considering my dad was actually his coach. “Thank you for inviting me to the game. It’s been a while since I’ve gone to one here.”
“Have you seen Ash play before?”
“On TV, yeah,” Eli answers. “And I played against him my sophomore year when he was a senior.”
“You were a QB on the varsity team when you were a sophomore?” Dad sounds impressed. More impressed than I was when Eli mentioned that little fact.
Of course, I was trying to grind on his thigh at that particular moment, so I had other things on my mind.
“Yes, I was. Our senior QB was benched for the rest of the season because of an injury,” Eli explains. “Coach Weston had faith in me that I could do it.”
“I vaguely remember that,” Dad says, his gaze sharp and only for Eli. Sizing him up. “I know you guys lost.”
Eli laughs. “We did. But it was an honor to have my ass handed to me by Ash Davis.”
Dad laughs along with him, plopping two giant pieces of chicken on Eli’s plate. “Well, wait until the game tonight. Ash is a pleasure to watch. I hope you pay attention. You might learn a thing or two. Ash is an excellent quarterback. I told Jake the same thing—that he needs to watch Ash carefully.”
Eli stands even straighter. “I won’t take my eyes off him.”
“Good.” Dad nods. I study them, relieved that they had a decent conversation, and my father didn’t give Eli too much grief. Actually, he gave him no grief, which surprises me. “You going to stand here all night or go eat?”
Eli laughs. “Sorry. Thank you again for dinner.”
We sit next to each other in fold out chairs my parents brought, as far away as we can get from where Jake and Hannah are sitting. Autumn is sitting with them. I’m sure she’s interrogating Hannah, and I’m grateful she’s not over here doing the same thing to my boyfriend. Beck is with my parents, and my dad is sitting on the side closest to Jake.
Meaning we’re sort of, but not really alone.
“Your dad was cool,” Eli says just before he shoves a forkful of chicken in his mouth. His eyes light up as he keeps chewing. “Damn, this butt chicken slaps.”
“Everyone in my family was nice to you.” I glance over my shoulder to glare briefly at my brother. “Except for Jake.”
“I’ll need to work on him, though it’s going to take a while.” Eli keeps shoveling food in his mouth. He always acts hungry. I don’t know where it all goes, since he doesn’t have an ounce of fat on him.
“Are you ever going to apologize to him?” I ask.
He makes a face like I asked him if he’d jump off a cliff for me. “Hell no. He’s talked shit on me too.”
“Not as publicly as you have,” I point out.
“Yeah, but that was part of my schtick.” He flashes me that arrogant smirk, and I didn’t realize until I saw it, just how much I missed seeing that cocky smile on his handsome face.
“I don’t think he appreciated your schtick,” I say dryly.
“He’ll eventually get over it. They beat our asses, after all. They do every year. They’ll probably go on and win league.” Eli makes another face and shakes his head. “We’ll make playoffs and maybe we’ll get a chance to play them again.”
“You better hope not,” I say with a sly smile. “Because we’ll beat you again too.”
“So disloyal.” Eli shakes his head, though I know he doesn’t mean it. “Your sister seems nice.”
“I thought you already knew Autumn,” I say.
“I knew of her. I don’t actually know her. Like, I’d never met her before.” He contemplates me for a moment, his gaze trailing all over my face. “You guys don’t look that much alike, you know.”
“We both have the same green eyes like our mom,” I point out.
“True.” A wicked smile curls his lips and he lowers his voice. “You’re prettier than your sister.”
“Stop it.” I’m smiling too, though. I don’t think anyone has ever told me I’m prettier than Autumn. She was always the most popular one. The prettier one. The more