by T. L. Haddix
Sophie Turner was his late wife’s cousin. She’d gone to high school with Eli and Erica, and she was the polar opposite of Erica. Sophie was about the sweetest person he’d ever known, and she was at least as close to him as a cousin, more like a sister if the truth was told.
“Thanks. It is what it is.” He sat carefully in the recliner and propped his leg up on the footstool, making sure it was properly elevated. “Grab a chair.”
She did, settling in as she gave him a good once-over. “How badly are you hurt?”
“Mostly just the foot. Bumps, scrapes. Cracked collarbone, some broken ribs that are mostly healed by now. How’ve you been?”
“Getting ready to wrap up a project. Why didn’t you call me?” she chided. “I’d have been here in a heartbeat.”
Eli shrugged. “I didn’t want to bother you. I was going to call soon.”
She sent him a look that said she knew better. “You were afraid you’d worry me. Haven’t we talked about that?” She held her hand out.
“We have, and I’m sorry,” he told her as he took it, holding on tight. “I should have called. Forgive me?”
“Maybe. What happened?”
He told her about the test drive, the dog, and the stupid luck that had put him in the wrong situation at the wrong time. “I’m naming my prosthesis Fido in honor of the mutt.”
Sophie tsked him, but she smiled. “You’re morbid, Eli Campbell. I love it. How’s the family?”
“Good. I finally ran my parents out of here this morning, sent them home. They flew over to Germany, and then they’ve been in Maryland with me. And it was a madhouse as everyone took turns last week driving out there. I’m surprised one or more Campbells haven’t popped their heads in the door this afternoon, as a matter of fact. It’s been peaceful for a change.”
She laughed. “You’ve missed them. You know you have.”
“That’s the God’s honest truth. Noah and Molly were there, too, in Germany.”
He felt the reflexive spasm that she couldn’t hide as her fingers tightened briefly around his. “Oh? That’s progress, then. Isn’t it?”
“It is.”
Sophie was aware of his tumultuous relationship with Noah as she’d unfortunately been on the sidelines for most of the worst of it. As her own relationship with his brother had been destroyed by the firestorm Erica had lit that ripped things apart, the topic of Noah was one he usually tried to avoid discussing with her. She swore she’d moved on and forgotten about Noah, that her feelings hadn’t been more than a silly schoolgirl crush, but Eli knew better.
“So what’s the plan? Are you going back to active duty?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I’m waiting for my separation papers to come through. Once I leave here, I go home to Hazard.” He dropped his gaze to the raw edge of the sweat pants he wore that had been cut off below the knee, and he picked at the edge with his left hand. “Mom and Dad want me to move in with them.”
Sophie settled in more comfortably. “What do you want to do?”
His smile fell flat, he knew. “I want to go back in time and not get in that truck. I don’t want to have to move back in with my parents. I want to have a job I love, the job I had three weeks ago. Those aren’t options. But hell, Sophie, maybe they aren’t the options I need. Things between me and the folks, me and Noah… I want a chance to fix them. I almost lost that, you know. I got damned lucky.”
She nodded. “I know. How can I help?”
“Beats me. So much of this is new territory. I’ve been the king of avoidance for a while now.”
Sophie grinned. “No, not you.”
Eli reached over and gently tugged a loose strand of her hair. “So tell me what you’re into, other than flying halfway across the country to visit old curmudgeons like me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Shut up, already.” But her expression was full of true affection. “Right now I’m putting the final files together for the memoir my client has been working on. I’ll be starting the transcription of the manuscript next week probably, and finishing it a few weeks after that. Then I’ll start looking for the next project.”
He jiggled their clasped hands. “You should come to Hazard.”
She laughed so brightly he couldn’t help but laugh with her. “Oh, that’s rich. Me, go back to Hazard? And do what?”
“I don’t know. Put ghosts to rest?” he said quietly.
“More like demons,” she responded with a bluntness he’d come to rely on over the years. “There are several people there who wouldn’t exactly welcome me with open arms, you know.”
“I know there are a couple.”
Erica’s parents namely, mostly her mother, Renny. She blamed Sophie for Erica’s death. Harold, Erica’s father, was less inclined to hold Sophie responsible though he wouldn’t contradict his wife if it came down to it.
“There might be a project or two in that area you could find. I can ask around,” he said.
“I’ll consider it. That’s as far as I’m willing to go.”
“That’s good enough for now.”
They spent the next hour catching up on each other’s lives. Eli’d just told her a hilarious story about one of his friends from the unit and had her nearly in tears from laughing when a knock sounded. A moment later, the door opened, admitting Noah and Molly.
As soon as his brother saw Sophie, he scowled, coming to a complete stop even as Molly’s face lit up.
“What are you doing here?” Noah growled as Molly pushed him aside, crossing the room to exchange a hug with Sophie.
“I’m so glad you came,” Molly said before Sophie could answer. “Did you chew him out for not calling you?”
Sophie laughed, ignoring Noah completely. “I did. Can’t you tell he’s been flogged?”
Eli grinned when they turned to him.
“Hmmm, no. But that’s okay. We can tag-team him.” Molly stuck her tongue out at him.
“So? What are you doing here?” Noah asked, his tone surly as he crossed his arms and took a position beside the small closet. “Shouldn’t you be off schmoozing with jet-setters?”
“Noah…” Eli cautioned softly.
“He’s fine,” Sophie said, waving a hand in Noah’s direction. “I came to see Eli, obviously. And now that I have, I’m going to run.”
It was Eli’s turn to scowl. “You just got here.”
She bent down and kissed his cheek. “I know. But there’s a flight out in a couple of hours, and now that I know you’re okay, I’m planning to be on it. I’ll come back. I may even come to Hazard to see you.”
When Noah huffed at that, her eyes glinted with a steel Eli’d not seen in Sophie before. He didn’t bother hiding his amusement. “I look forward to that visit, which hopefully will be longer?”
“I might even spend the night,” she told him with a wink. “Hope you have a comfortable couch.”
Eli tugged her back down to him for a solid, tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. “You’ll always be welcome, wherever I am. You know that. It’s good to see you again. Will you call me when you get home?”
“Of course. And you promise to call if you need me?”
He met her eyes, seeing the concern there, and nodded. “I promise.”
“See you soon, then.” She straightened, touching his closely shaven head. “Maybe now that you’re going to be a civilian again, you can let those blond curls grow out.”
“What’s with women and curls? Mom and Aunt Emma have been saying the same thing,” he teased.
“They’re cute on boys and sexy on men. Though I’m sure Zanny and Emma will always see you as a little boy, no matter how old you get. That leaves the sexy to the rest of us.”
Eli didn’t dare look at Noah. He knew her answer had been as mu
ch for his benefit as to answer Eli’s question.
Molly smiled. “I’ll walk out with you if you want.”
“Sure.” As they passed Noah, whose glare could cut stone, Sophie gave him a small nod of acknowledgment.
Eli didn’t think it was possible for his brother’s countenance to become stonier, but it did. Once the door was closed behind them, Noah turned to him with a scowl.
“You’re still involved with her?”
Tired, Eli sank back in the chair. “If by ‘involved’ you mean she’s a part of my life as a much-beloved sister or cousin, then yes. Romantically? No, never have been.”
Making that admission was tough. His pride and stubbornness were warring inside, battling with his common sense, urging him to needle his brother about his attitude. That’s how they’d interacted for years now, and old habits died hard.
But given that they’d gotten to where they were thanks to game playing, and given that Eli wanted to try to have a less antagonistic relationship with Noah now, he figured he might should dial it back a notch or two.
“I don’t trust her,” Noah said bluntly. “And I don’t like her.”
“You don’t know her. You’re basing your assumptions on old information and prejudices that were flawed to begin with.” He meant Erica and the lies she’d told to direct all their lives to suit her own purposes.
Noah’s jaw tightened. “We don’t have to discuss this now, do we?”
“No. So what are you and Trouble doing here?”
“We thought you might be getting bored, not having anyone underfoot.”
Eli grinned. That was his family, strained relationships or not. It was definitely a place to start from, though.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
Noah brushed a lock of dark hair out of his eyes. “Me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“I’m fine. Why?”
“Because by the time you left Germany, you looked worse than I did.” That was true—he’d had deep circles under his eyes, and he was almost gaunt. Eli hadn’t been in a position where he was able to handle a discussion about Noah’s condition in Germany, but he’d been concerned. He still was, even though his brother seemed worlds better than he had.
Noah sighed, and after a minute, he took the seat Sophie had vacated. “Hospitals, especially ones like Landstuhl, they’re not good places for me. There are too many… distractions.”
Eli drew in a breath. “You mean ghosts,” he said quietly.
“Yeah.” Noah glanced at him through shuttered eyes. “I can handle it at home. I’m used to it there. But Europe especially… it’s an old, old place. That can be interesting from the spectral perspective, but if you’ve been away from it a while, it can be overwhelming.”
“I’m sorry,” Eli said. “I hate that you had to endure that because of me.”
Noah shook his head. “I’m not.” He moved his shoulders, the conversation falling awkward. “How often do you see her?”
“Sophie? Not that often, maybe once a year. She doesn’t have any family, and like I said, I think a lot of her.”
That earned him another scowl. “What about her mother? I thought she was living with her down in Miami or something?”
Eli felt a wave of sadness thinking about that whole mess. “Let’s say that didn’t work out and leave it there. It left some pretty deep scars on Sophie.”
He was saved from having to discuss exactly what had happened by the door opening, and he didn’t know when he’d been happier to see a white-coat-wearing doctor. He didn’t want to lie to Noah or shut him out, but there was no way he was going to reveal Sophie’s wounds to a man who still hated her. Not even if that man was his brother. He owed her too much to do that to her.
And he was a big enough man that he was willing to admit he held out hope, however slim, that someday Noah would ask her himself.
Chapter Seven
Maybe it was seeing Sophie in the same room as Noah again for the first time in years, or maybe it was simply that all the hours he was spending doing nothing but recovering left too much time for him to think. But that night, whatever the reasons, Eli couldn’t get to sleep.
The room was mostly dark, but there was still enough light coming in from the nightlight in the bathroom that he could make out Molly’s shape as she slept on the cot beside his bed. They’d refused, his siblings, to leave him alone even for one night.
“You just never know what’s going to happen in a hospital, Eli,” Molly had chided. “I know you don’t need me here so much, but you just never know.” And that was that. She was staying.
John and Zanny’s miracle baby, that was his baby sister. The child who’d almost been lost when Zanny’d had a terrible wreck when she was eight months pregnant. A wreck Eli remembered vividly to this day, as he’d been in the backseat when it happened.
It was entirely possible Molly was his parents’ favorite child, and he couldn’t blame them if she was. Compared to him and Noah, she’d been a breeze. She never got in trouble, at least nothing major like they had. And she was such a happy girl, always ready with a sunny smile. He worried what the weight of being a nurse practitioner in oncology would do to her, but inside all her sweetness, there was a core of steely determination that was as much a part of her as her dimples and her red hair.
Back when he’d been a stupid child, he’d had no thought for what his actions were doing to Molly or Noah or anyone else. From the time he was fifteen and had seen Erica for the first time, his path had been set. That stubbornness was a double-edged sword, one that he could use now for healing. But then? He’d wielded it with terrible, destructive results. Unable to stop his mind from going back to that time, he held on to the hard railing of the bed and let the memories come.
“I like you, Eli. We should go out,” Erica Miller said.
Eli almost slammed his hand in the locker door from surprise. The last thing he’d been expecting to hear from the gorgeous blonde was that she was interested in him. At fifteen, halfway through the second semester of his sophomore year, he was already the star of the baseball team and working his way into being the best running back the school had. So it wasn’t a complete shock to have a pretty girl come up to him and flirt.
But Erica? She’d been paying his brother Noah a lot of attention even though he was a senior and she was a sophomore like Eli, and it had been everything Eli could do over the last few weeks not to seethe with jealousy. Noah had it so easy. He was the oldest grandchild, and he was special. He had abilities. And Eli had thought Noah had Erica’s attention.
“I thought you liked Noah,” he said, challenging her.
She shrugged. “Not so much. I like you more.” She bit her full lower lip and gazed up at him through thick lashes. “What do you say? Take a girl out?”
Pretending a confidence he didn’t feel, Eli grinned. “Sure. Why not?”
Later that afternoon, they’d been making out behind the gym. By the end of the summer, he’d lost his virginity to her. It was a pure miracle he hadn’t gotten her pregnant, at least he’d thought so at the time.
Now, years after she was gone, he knew the truth—that Erica couldn’t have kids, and had in fact tried for years to get pregnant with every man she slept with. And there’d been quite a few men, both in high school and after they were married.
But all that ugliness was still to come. Back in the late winter of his sophomore year, the drama that Erica loved so much to instigate was unfolding, her carefully laid-out plans those of a master manipulator even at such a young age.
Things came to a head a week before prom. He and Noah, increasingly adversarial in the last couple of years, had formed a very uneasy truce. That had mainly come about when Noah started dating Sophie, Erica’s cousin who lived with Erica and her family. Sophie was in the sam
e class as Eli and Erica, and Eli really liked her. Not romantically, but she reminded him of his mother in a way. And she was a good friend.
But with prom rapidly approaching and Sophie’s excitement at having been asked by Noah growing with every passing day, Erica turned surly. She and Eli were too young to attend, and looking back now, he knew she’d been eaten alive with jealousy.
Since Erica was a narcissist who had to be the center of attention, she’d done what she had to do in order to make that happen. And unfortunately, that turned out to be telling a secret Eli had stupidly told her one day to make himself feel bigger.
Jeff Whitaker had been the first to approach him in the hall at lunchtime. “Is it true? Your brother thinks he can see dead people?”
Eli’s stomach clenched into knots though he smiled and tried to play dumb. “That’s crazy. Where’d you hear that?”
“Around.” Jeff, one of his baseball teammates, leaned against the lockers. “You’re always saying he’s weird. So is it true?”
“Sure it is.” He laughed it off, trying for a casualness he didn’t feel. His parents were going to kill him if word got back about this. “You know better, man. Who’d you hear this from?”
Jeff shrugged. “Everybody in chemistry was talking about it. I’d better run. Old Nelson’ll write me up if I’m late.” He slapped Eli on the shoulder and jogged off.
“Shit.” Everybody was talking about it? Maybe that was an exaggeration. Praying wasn’t something Eli did very often at all, but he sent a whisper out as he walked to the cafeteria.
Even then when that first frisson of terrible knowledge went down his spine, he’d been more concerned with how the revelation would affect him than Noah or the family. His brother was weird enough as it was. Eli didn’t want to be known as the guy whose brother could see the dead.
By the time he got out of algebra an hour later, titters and giggles were echoing up and down the hall. He’d just switched his textbooks out when utter silence descended. Turning, he saw Noah stalking toward him, sheer fury on his face.
