by Hunt, Diann
Now he knew he was in trouble. Roots. Commitment. Just hearing those words made him break out in a cold sweat. He knew she kind of liked him, but he hadn’t expected her to try and snare him so quickly. Cole glanced at his watch. “Oh, you know what? I have to get back. You ready to go?” He looked at her almost-empty plate.
“I’m ready,” she said, sweetly. She didn’t seem put out in the least that he’d had to cut the lunch short. No question about it, she had a plan. He had to think of something, and fast.
Chapter Thirteen
“So, how did it go?” Caed wanted to know when Cole walked in the door that evening.
Cole stopped and glared at him.
“Uh-oh. Should I leave now?”
Cole walked over and dropped onto the couch. He rubbed his temples. “What am I going to do?”
“What happened?”
Cole stopped rubbing his head and looked at him. “Nothing happened, okay?”
“You didn’t tell her?”
“No.”
Caed groaned. “I got you into this mess. I’ll get you out.”
Cole was already shaking his head. “No way. I’ll handle this myself. You’ve done enough already.”
“I don’t really understand what the problem is. So she thinks you sent her a couple of nice notes. What’s the big deal?”
If he could have exhaled fire, this would have been a good time. “The big deal is, she’s after me. And thanks to you, she thinks I’m after her.”
Clasping his hands behind his head, Caed leaned back in his chair. “And that’s a problem? I wish I had such problems.” He whistled.
“Come on, Caed. This is serious. When she learns the truth, she’ll be humiliated because not only will I know and she know, but you’ll know.”
Caed looked at him, puzzled.
“Don’t you get it? The whole thing is an ego bruiser. I don’t want to hurt her, but I’m sure not ready to walk down the aisle, either!” Cole raked his hand through his hair.
“I think if you leave it alone, it will die down. No more e-mails, she’ll get the hint.”
“I don’t know,” Cole said, feeling unconvinced.
“I’m telling you, she’ll get over it. Just keep busy, and don’t pay extra attention to her. She’ll get the hint.”
Cole was tired of thinking about it. “Maybe you’re right,” he finally said. One thought nagged at him; did he really want her to get the hint?
“Trust me, I’m right,” Caed said with authority, though Cole still didn’t trust him.
Cole decided to push the matter aside. He stood to his feet. “You know, I’m starved,” he said, already making his way to the kitchen.
“Hey, listen,” Caed said, “I need to go to the store and pick up a few things for my trip. You want anything?”
Cole rummaged through the fridge. “No, thanks.”
“Okay, I’ll be back in a little while.”
Rustling through the lettuce, cheese and lunch meat, Cole barely noticed when his brother went out the door.
Ellie had just put on her sweats to go for her evening walk when the doorbell rang. She’d already paid the paperboy, and her parents were out of town, so she couldn’t imagine who would be at the door.
“Cole, hello,” she said, wondering at the stern look on his face.
“Hi, Ellie. Okay if I come in?”
She nodded and stepped aside as he entered.
“I think we need to talk a minute, if you have the time.” He searched her face for the answer.
She couldn’t imagine what would be so urgent that he had to come by and talk to her instead of telling her at work. The look on his face suggested this wasn’t a nice social call. He looked different somehow. She studied him. Something didn’t seem quite right. Problems at a job site, no doubt. “Sure, Cole. Come in and sit down.”
“Thanks.” He settled onto the sofa. His face grew hard, expressionless.
“So, what’s up?” she asked in a cheerful voice, hoping to lighten the tension a little.
“Um, I think we need to get something straight between us.”
Ellie braced herself. She didn’t like the sound of his voice, nor did she like the vibes he was sending her. Every nerve in her body set on edge; something was definitely wrong.
“We work together. We are friends. I like you, you like me. But, well, that’s where it ends.”
A pain shot through her, causing nausea to kick in. She gulped slightly, trying desperately to hold back the tears that threatened. She looked down and studied her hands. “Why are you telling me this, Cole?”
He looked at the carpet. “Um, I just didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”
“You mean anyone like me?”
“Well, um, yeah.”
“You mean because of all the e-mails and stuff?”
“Yes. I don’t know what got into me. It was a phase or something. I don’t know. But consider it a passing thing. I won’t go there again.”
“Oh, no problem,” Ellie said, trying to blow it off. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t give it much thought at all.” Okay, so she fudged a bit. “I hope I didn’t give you the impression—”
“No, no, you didn’t. I just thought I should clear up any false ideas I might have given you.”
She waved a hand. “Oh, my, no. I know how you are, always teasing.”
He looked relieved.
She stood and walked him to the door. “Well, I appreciate you taking the time to clear the matter, though it really wasn’t a problem.” She smiled sweetly while wanting to rip off his toenails one by one.
Very slowly.
He looked surprised. “Well, I just wanted to make it clear where we stood so it wouldn’t interfere with our jobs.”
“Oh, goodness, no,” she said with a slight giggle. She opened the front door. “Thanks for stopping by.” She flashed a smile, though the room around her began to spin in slow motion.
Her quick acceptance seemed to catch him off guard. He’d probably expected weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. What an egomaniac. She wanted to scream at him to get out. Instead, she trapped her tongue behind her teeth.
“Uh, okay. Thanks for understanding, Ellie.”
She shrugged. “What’s to understand? There was no misunderstanding in the first place, as far as I’m concerned.”
“So we don’t need to mention it again?”
“Exactly,” she said, still smiling.
“See you at work,” he said, then turned and walked outside.
“See ya.” She waved, barely closing the door before a torrent of tears burst through her defenses and sent her running to her bedroom.
Cole heard the front door shove to a close, then some rustling of sacks in the kitchen. “Need help?” he called out.
“No, I think I’ve got it,” Caed replied.
Cole listened a moment as his brother stuffed groceries in the fridge and cupboard. He was glad Caed had stayed with him, despite the mess of things he had made with Ellie.
“There, that ought to do it,” Caed said with a smile. He flopped into the brown recliner and rubbed an apple on his pant leg.
“You didn’t need to buy groceries, Caed.”
“Hey, I’ve been eating your grub awhile, it’s the least I could do.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” Caed studied Cole a minute.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing, it’s just that, well, I saw Ellie while I was out.”
“Yeah?” Cole wondered if he should start worrying.
Caed put on his best face. “Yeah. I don’t think you have anything to worry about. She thought I was you, and, well, she didn’t seem all that interested.”
Cole felt a slight ping, but ignored it. He lifted his chin a little. “How do you mean?”
“Oh, she was nice enough. She said hello, and we had some small talk, you know. But then she seemed in a hurry, and when I asked what she had to rush off to, she told me she had a date.” Caed bit
into his apple and chewed much longer than Cole wanted him to. “So, you see, I don’t think you have anything to worry about at all.”
Cole sat there a moment while Caed went after his apple with a vengeance. “Well, good,” Cole said, though he wondered why he didn’t feel so good.
Caed watched him.
“What?” Cole said, feeling agitated.
A smirk lifted on his face. “Oh, nothing,” Caed said, finishing off his apple with renewed zest.
“I hate it when you do that,” Cole snapped.
“Do what?”
“Say I told you so without saying it.”
“What are you talking about?” Caed acted oblivious, licking the last scrap of apple from his fingers.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
Caed’s eyebrows raised. “What?”
“You think I’m going to get jealous or something over Ellie dating. Well, I’m not in the least.” Cole fumed, but tried not to show it.
“That’s good,” Caed said with the hint of a smile.
“Aw, you’re pathetic,” Cole said, waving his brother off. By the time he reached his bedroom, he realized he’d just proved his brother right.
Cole was jealous.
Ellie fell to her knees by her bedside. As the tears spilled, Ellie realized much more bothered her than just Cole’s dismissal. She had a deeper problem. Way deeper. Cheryl was right. Ellie had a control issue. She wanted control of her life, wanted to run things her own way.
She pulled a tissue from the box on her nightstand. Slowly, the issues played in her mind. The unnecessary diets, the temper tantrums when things didn’t go her way, the changes that sent her into a tizzy, they all added up to a control issue.
Not only that, but she would do anything to gain approval. No one can please everyone. She needed to learn to accept herself and strive to please the One who mattered most. God.
“I hadn’t seen it before now, Lord,” she said through her tears. “I didn’t mean to take the control from You. I don’t know when it happened. I’ve never been good with change, but I didn’t realize I’d started planning my life and taken the control from You.”
More tears. Again, she wiped her face. “Help me to please You and not worry about what others think. You’ve created me the way I am, help me to accept myself. I need You, Lord. Forgive me for leaving You out of my life.” She sat there awhile, just listening, worshipping.
By the time she got up, she felt lighter than she had in years, and that was without dieting. She smiled to herself. “I’m such a blockhead— Uh-oh, I forgot. I need to accept myself.”
Thoughts of Cole coming to her house earlier surfaced, but she didn’t feel the humiliation this time. She decided that belonged to the Lord, too, and she would leave the outcome to Him. All she had to concentrate on was her walk with Him and living life in general. She could handle that.
Now.
Though sorry to see his brother go, Cole was glad life could get back to normal. He wondered what Ellie would be like when he got to work this morning. Cole carefully eased the SUV out of the garage. Caed had assured him there was no problem with Ellie, and she was dating someone. He also suggested Cole not mention it, said she seemed to want to keep her personal life private.
Well, that was just fine with Cole. It didn’t matter to him one way or the other what Ellie Williams did away from the office. He turned on his signal and pulled up to the traffic light. A thought hit him. “The flowers.” He smacked the steering wheel with the heel of his palm. He remembered back to the day he had teased her about the flowers. She had acted really weird about it. Now it made sense. They weren’t from his brother, after all. She must be seeing someone. It puzzled him as to why she didn’t want him to know. He felt a stab to his pride. It’s not like he cared if she dated someone.
Arriving at the office, he whipped into his parking place and shut off the engine. Maybe now that she was seeing someone, they could get down to business. The business of running Wiley’s Dream Homes.
Ellie stood at the front desk talking with Alex when he entered. “Good morning,” he said with a smile. They both greeted him cordially. He started to round the corner then turned back. “Oh, Ellie, I have to make a quick call to a subcontractor, so could you meet me in my office in about five minutes to go over the day’s schedule?”
“Sure, Cole, no problem,” she said, a little too cheerfully.
“Thanks.” He turned and continued toward his office. He couldn’t imagine why it irritated him that she was happy, and he certainly didn’t want to investigate the matter. Better to push it aside and just forget it. Truth be told, he was afraid of what he might discover.
On the other hand, maybe he should try to get her to spill the truth about who she was dating and how things were going. After all, friends shared such things. And they were friends—at least he thought they were. It might make her feel more at ease, too, if the matter were aired. That’s what he’d do.
She brought her files, writing paper and coffee into his office with a smile. “Hi,” she said, her voice reminding him of a warm summer’s day.
While she got settled in her seat, he glanced at her. She looked good today. Really good. The left side of her blond, silky hair was tucked behind her ear, revealing a dainty earring, while the other side sloped toward her chin. She looked, well, attractive.
Oh, great, he couldn’t imagine what was coming over him. She always looked good, but today, there was something special about her.
“Okay, I’m finally ready,” she said, poising her pen over the paper, awaiting his instructions.
“Oh, in a minute,” he said, finding himself for once, surprisingly without a professional conversation-opener.
“Oh, do you want me to come back?” She started to rise.
“So, how are things?”
His question obviously puzzled her. “What do you mean?”
“Just in general,” he said with casual indifference, denying to himself that he was snooping.
“Fine.”
He waited, hoping for more, but she sat there, tight-lipped. This wouldn’t be easy. Caed was right, she wanted to keep her personal life private.
She looked around the room as if she was bored.
He cleared his throat. She wasn’t taking the bait. He’d have to try the blunt approach. “Um, so how was your date?”
She jerked her head to him. “My what?”
“Your date,” he repeated.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He plodded further. “When I saw you at the store on Friday night, you said you had a date.”
She looked at him as if he had a bug on his face. “Look, Cole, I don’t know who you saw at the store Friday night, but it wasn’t me.”
“You weren’t at the store?” He heard his voice shaking.
She shook her head. “After you left my house, I was home for the rest of the evening.”
“After I left your house?” Her words slammed into him like a runaway locomotive.
“Are you all right? You do remember coming to my house, right? The little talk that we had?”
Cole wondered if he had just cause to murder his brother. He mentally shook his head; it probably wouldn’t hold up in court. He couldn’t stand it any longer. Walking over to his door, he closed it, and sat back down in his chair.
“Cole, what’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea how to say this, but it’s only fair that you know the truth.”
She held up her hand. “We’ve been through this, Cole. I know we’re merely coworkers. There’s nothing between us. We established that Friday night, remember? I told you I didn’t think a thing about the e-mails.”
He looked at her incredulously. “Okay, this has gone far enough.”
She looked confused.
For the next few minutes, he told her the entire situation about Caed playing the part of Cole and how upset he had been by it, but didn’t know how to
fix it. He felt she had a right to know.
At first, she looked offended. Then she seemed to work through her pride, let the whole idea sink in, and finally, to Cole’s eternal surprise, she laughed.
He couldn’t believe it. His mouth practically gaped. “You’re not mad?”
“Well, nobody likes to be made sport of, but I have to admit it is kind of funny. Boy, he sure looks like you.”
Cole couldn’t believe his ears. Never in a million years would he have expected such a response from her. “You’re amazing.”
She smiled. “Why is that?’
“Most women would be livid, but you, you laugh.” He scratched his head.
She shrugged. “What can we do? It’s over and done. He meant no harm. He had a little fun—”
“At our expense,” he interjected.
“Okay, so at our expense. No one was hurt.”
“You know, there’s something different about you. You’ve changed somehow.”
“You know, I really have.” She told him the reason for her change, how she had finally given the control of her life to God, where it belonged.
Her words pricked his conscience. He knew he had some issues of his own, but he wasn’t ready to deal with all that just yet.
They went through the day’s agenda and got business out of the way. Ellie stood to leave.
“Ellie?”
“Yeah?”
“Change looks good on you.”
“Thanks,” she said with a smile that curled his toes.
Cole had the sneaking suspicion that his life was about to change.
But then, he could handle change, couldn’t he?
Chapter Fourteen
“How are you doing, Jax?” Ellie asked as she poured her morning coffee in the office kitchen. She put the pot down and really looked at him. Dark circles underlined his eyes, his hair looked a bit disheveled.
“Let’s just say I’ve been better.”
“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked.
Jax put his finger to his mouth. He grabbed his mug of coffee and motioned for her to follow him. Once inside his office, he closed the door behind them. Ellie was a little worried. Jax normally wasn’t so secretive. She waited while he settled into his chair and took a sip of coffee. He looked up. “I broke it off with Alex last night.”
