Page 91 of Shelter
Only her.
Between taking care of Ava, finishing school, and building the business, I hadn’t made time for relationships. I’d met women, of course. Women who understood that my emotions and my time weren’t up for grabs. I’d held them in my arms. I’d kissed them. I’d taken them to my bed.
But none of them had felt like Elise.
Would she still feel like that now?
The possibility that she could — thatwecould feel that way together — took form in my mind. It teased and toyed with me, licked me with tongues of flame.
My parents were gone. I could not relive that night and save my mother. I could not go back in time and stop my father.
But Elise was here. She was whole. I could see her. Talk to her. Apologize. Live up to what I’d once expected of myself. My relationship with her was one piece from the wreck of my past that could still be salvaged. I could redeem myself — in her eyes if nowhere else.
Suddenly, the potential of my life — the potential of the whole spinning planet — seemed infinitely brighter. Richer. More hopeful.
“Flora, could you give me her number?”
Chapter 21
ELISE
“Theyasked about me?” I sat across the bar from Mama, too dumbstruck to dig into the grilled cheese sandwich she’d made me for lunch.
I hadn’t told Mama about Saturday night. And she knew nothing of what I’d once shared with Cole. What he had meant to me. But in the last ten minutes, she’d filled me in on her early-morning visit with the Whitehursts. Cole and his engineering firm. Ava and rehab. Their house that was practically in my neighborhood.
This little tidbit had made my cheeks flush hot, and my heart thump hard in my chest. If I pictured Cole being just blocks away, I didn’t think I’d be able to go to sleep at night. I’d had a hard-enough time since Saturday, just knowing he was in town.
“Yep. They wanted to hearallabout you.”
My stomach tightened. What didthatmean?
“Oh?”
“Yeah. They asked if you were still making jewelry, and I told them all about your designs and you working at Buttross and how you and Alberta want to open your own place…”
My face flamed hotter. No way the Cole Whitehurst I saw Saturday night wanted to hear all that about me. “Oh, God, Mama,” I whimpered.
She batted a hand at me. “Oh, pish. Don’t be embarrassed. You should be so proud of yourself.”
I was proud of myself. But the thought of Cole sitting there, wearing that polite smile while he endured Mama’s gushing was enough to make me seasick.
“Besides, they were delighted for you. So proud! Ava wanted to know if you were still at the farmer’s market, and Cole asked if you were seeing anyone special, and they both—”
“What?!”
Mama shot me a scandalized look. “Elise, don’t shriek like that. The customers will complain.” The lunch crowd in the café wasn’t huge, but just then the door opened, and two cyclists came in. Mama moved to greet them as they approached the bar.
She had to have gotten it wrong.Ava must have been the one to ask if I was seeing someone. No other option made sense. And I was glad Ava was proud of me for how far I’d gotten. I had her to thank for helping me in school, that was for sure. Really, she should have been proud of herself.
I realized then that I probably needed to tell her so. In person.
It would be great to see her — if I could do it without crossing paths with Cole.
Mama walked back to me, her face warming with a wistful smile. “They were a sight for sore eyes. Let me tell you.”
Her own eyes gleamed. She looked so happy. Mama had often wondered aloud about how Ava and Cole were doing in New Orleans, and she worried about them every time a hurricane looked like it might hit the city again. But it wasn’t until I saw that light in her eyes that I understood just how much she missed them.
The realization snagged my heart because she wasn’t alone.
