“Do you think Eli has a calling?” I asked, changing the subject.
My father sat back and sighed. “I hope so, honey.”
31
Nick
As it turned out, after one drink, I felt the need to get out of dodge. Even in my own home, Mia haunted me. Seeing her unconscious completely undid me and I couldn’t get it out of my head. The best thing I could do for her was to leave. If I did, she wouldn’t be in danger. She wouldn’t have to risk her job. She wouldn’t be stuck between me and Eli.
I decided to head to my parents in San Diego. It wasn’t a long-term plan, but it would get me away long enough to think straight and make a new plan. Plus, it was close to Mexico if that was where I ended up. I couldn’t imagine any U.S. hospital hiring me while I was being sued for malpractice, but maybe there was a clinic in Mexico that needed doctors enough to look the other way on that.
I headed to my bedroom and started to pack a bag, all the while grappling with whether or not I should call Mia and let her know. I saw on my caller ID that she’d called me. I even listened to the message. But I didn’t call back. There was a part of me that felt like I needed to make a clean break. Like a Band-Aid, I needed to simply rip away from her and start new.
And then there was Jim. I should probably call him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that either. I was sure he’d try to talk me into staying. Or maybe I was too much of a coward to say goodbye. Either way, it just felt easier, even if it was crueler to leave.
I was checking all the windows and doors to make sure they were locked when there was a knock on the door. I couldn’t imagine who it would be. The head injury Mia had would keep her in the hospital overnight at least.
I opened the door.
“Eli.” At first, I was surprised, and then pissed. I looked behind him. “You bring your pitchfork carrying friends since you failed to get who you really wanted?”
“I’m alone.” His voice was tense, like he didn’t want to be there.
“What do you want?”
“Mia is worried about you. She asked me to check on you.”
I quirked a brow. “Since when do you give a shit?”
His jaw ticked. “Can I come in?”
I wanted to slam the door in his face, but then I’d be the asshole. I opened it and walked into my living room. “What do you want?”
“Do you have a drink or something?”
Was he kidding? “My liquor is behind you.” He could help himself.
He pulled out a bottle of vodka from the cabinet. “You going somewhere?” He nodded toward my packed bag as he poured himself two fingers of the clear liquid.
“Yes.” I sat on the couch and watched him.
He downed the drink and poured another two fingers, then he sat in the recliner across from me. “Are you going to say goodbye to Mia and my father?”
I shook my head. “No.”
His eyes narrowed. “Sort of an asshole way to leave things.”
“I’d think you’d be glad to be rid of me. Why are you here anyway?”
He sipped his drink. “I didn’t send Lyle and his cronies down to the hospital. What happened wasn’t my fault.”
I rolled my eyes. “Nothing is ever your fault, Eli.”
He glared at me. “Mia getting hurt … yes, I said things about you to Lyle. We were drinking and saying shit like pissed off men do. But what he did … I never would condone that.”
“But you didn’t stop it either.”
“I didn’t know it was going to happen,” the pitch of his voice rising.
“Oh, come on, you had to have known they’d been hanging around the hospital for a long time.”
“Sure, but they were loitering, not storming the place.”
I shrugged. “Mia is the one you need to apologize to.”
“I did.”
“And why are you here?” I’d asked three times and I still wasn’t sure.
“Mia asked me to check on you. She’s worried.”
I held out my hands to the side. “I’m alive and well. I’m unemployed and about to take a trip. I’ve got the world at my feet.”
“You look like shit.”
I felt like shit.
He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs and swirling his drink. “Do you love my sister?”
“I did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” His eyes were piercing, and for the first time, I saw the man I’d known and been friends with once. A man who felt I betrayed him.
“Because I knew it would be weird for you … for us. You asked me to watch out for her and instead I was—”
“Fucking her.”
I gritted my teeth. “I loved her. I’d planned to spend my life with her. She left me.”
“What about now?”
“What about now?” I felt antsy, like all my neurons were wanting to fire but couldn’t. I didn’t want to have this conversation.
“Do you love her now?”
“What does it matter, Eli?”
“Peggy seems to think you do.”
“Peggy should mind her own business.” I dropped my head. Now I wished I a double vodka too.
“You were ready to throttle me because Mia got hurt.”
I looked up at him. “Yeah so?”
“So, I want to know if you’re in love with her.”
Yes, nearly escaped my lips, but if I was going to confess my feelings it would be to Mia, not Eli. “She’s got a career to protect. I’m like a grenade to her life.”
“I agree with that, but it doesn’t answer my question.”
“I’m not going to answer it, so maybe you can move on.”
He sat back. “Okay. Tell me about the day my mother died.”
Fuck, anything but that. Now I wished he was asking me about Mia again. “I told you—”
“Not her injuries. What she said to you.”
Jesus, maybe I should get another drink.
