Free Temporary Father (Welcome To Honesty 1) by Anna Adams Page B

having fun? Eli would be fine if you’d let him have a little.”
    “Fun for me is seeing him clothed with a roof over his head. Fun is knowing he’s safe.”
    “Let’s not start this again. I think Eli’s okay. You think he’s a nut, fine. I won’t have anything to do with it.”
    “Campbell, if you say anything like that to him, I’ll… I don’t know what I’ll do, but you leave him alone.”
    She pushed the End button. Had she been blind at sixteen?
    She thought of Aidan, kissing her senseless, making her feel more than Campbell ever had. It meant nothing, compared to her feelings for Eli. She had her eyes wide open now.
     
    O N WEDNESDAY , Beth woke early and started breakfast. She called Eli only once before he clattered down the stairs, an anxious Lucy at his side.
    “You okay?” Beth asked as they sped past her to get outside.
    “Mom.”
    She took that as a yes, but she stayed at the door as he and Lucy ran toward the woods. She’d planned a full schedule for the lodge today.
    Work, to occupy his thoughts and his hands. That had been her grandmother’s philosophy. Beth had been seven when her grandma had taught her to embroider. She’d learned knitting at eight, and by then, she could clean a house to her grandmother’s exacting standards. Mope or misbehave at Grandma’s and you’d find yourself manning a mop.
    She’d died about a month before the car crashthat had taken Beth and Van’s parents. Back then, it had seemed like the worst thing Beth would ever have to endure.
    Lucy and Eli emerged from the woods and raced back to the house. Beth jumped out of Lucy’s way.
    “I think she’s hungry,” Eli said. “She only ate those biscuits yesterday.”
    The dog was already lapping water when Beth ladled beaten eggs for omelets into her favorite pan. “I have to clean up in here before Mrs. Carleton shows up.” She consulted the clock. “We don’t have much time.”
    “She’s scary.” Eli buzzed out of the room. “I’d better check the hall. Lucy ran through some mud.”
    Was he as happy as he sounded? Would she ever accept anything he did without a second thought again? “I thought we’d work at the lodge today,” she said.
    He didn’t answer until he came back to the kitchen, his face knotted. “Mom, it’s my spring break.” He went into the pantry and came out bearing the bag of Lucy’s expensive, but very good-for-her kibble. “I’ll go along, though.”
    He’d better believe he would. “For?” She added sautéed onions and mushrooms and a few green peppers for Eli.
    “What do you mean?”
    “You’ll go with me, but you don’t want to help me clean?”
    “That place stinks, and I’m supposed to be onvacation. Harrison Damon’s family went to Tuscany for spring break.”
    “Tuscany? Wow—you think the Damons would adopt us?” Eli wasn’t lazy. No saint—she didn’t fool herself—but he’d never ducked a messy job before.
    “Ben Leitner’s going to Disney World.”
    “Along with sports stars everywhere.”
    “Huh?”
    “Don’t they show those commercials anymore?”
    “You’re not listening.” Lucy, in front of him, whined and shuffled her feet, clattering her nails.
    Beth peeked at the bottom of the omelet. “What do you want to do?”
    “Find out if the other guys are skating. You’re the one who always says I don’t get to see the kids from my old school.”
    God knew cleaning knocked-down walls and waterlogged Sheetrock and their ruined belongings depressed her enough, and he’d already run away once. “I’ve had all the big stuff taken out. We can hand carry everything else that’s left.”
    “Are you afraid to leave me alone?”
    Lucy scratched his leg with a paw and he scooped a tin cup full of kibble into her bowl.
    “I could lie, but I am afraid. I don’t want to leave you alone until we understand what’s making you sad.”
    “I’m not going to hurt myself, Mom.”
    “Last night, I read some stuff online. You maynot want to