Page 121 of The Sound Of Us

Eli’s smile could outshine the sun. “Beautiful on you.”

I thank him in sign even though I feel stupid, not beautiful.

He signs, but I don’t catch it. I frown and shake my head to let him know.

He writes at the back of my letter. “Can we go home right away?”

With a smile that feels like the first real one since my mother died, I nod.

Eli’s assistant signs goodbye to me and then speaks animatedly with Eli in sign. I’m able to catch only a few words, but it seems like they’re rearranging his diary.

We enter the elevator with Pepper sitting quietly next to Eli. Eli holds me close to him the whole way down. His proximity is deliberate, not casual. It’s in the way his grip around my waist is so firm, telling me that he’s all the way present here, with me. Aware of my current state of being. Letting me know that he’s okay here with me. That I’m okay here with him.

A car is waiting for us next to the elevator as we exit and step into an underground parking area.

The driver greets me with a smile, an even bigger one for Eli and an affectionate rub for Pepper. It’s fascinating to watch how people just… love Eli. Even back home in River Valley, everybody loved him.

Eli urges me into the back seat and he follows, sliding in close to me. Eli’s driver opens the door on my side to let Pepper in. She settles in, pouting over me not letting her sit next to Eli. I want to sit next to him, I tell her with my eyes. She barks once to tell me I’m an asshole. I ignore her after that.

A darkened screen separates us from Eli’s driver, so I edge closer to him, pressing my outer thigh to his and tightening my fingers through his.

Leaning over, he brushes his lips against mine. So soft, but so possessive at the same time. And again, I’m taken by surprise at how this kind of possessiveness doesn’t feel the same as with Frank. With Eli, I’m his, but I’m still me. With Frank, there’d been no space for me.

We kiss like that, slow and sweet, but I also know the passion simmering just beneath the surface wouldn’t be contained for much longer.

I pull back reluctantly when Eli’s phone buzzes. He sends me an apologetic look and I motion for him to please take his video call. He is, after all, everybody’s boss and I’m the hurricane that just ripped through his day.

While Eli tends to his call, I turn to the window to get my first real glimpse of… home?

I’m still embarrassed to think about it like that, coming out here acting like everything belongs to me. These busy streets with people rushing by, trying to get to wherever it is they’re headed; these cars, purchased with money people have around here because they’re smart, educated… employed; teenagers on a school break, their heads buried in their phones, their earphones cutting them off from the rest of the world, knowing they have their whole lives ahead of them.

They’re all so different from me. Their lives, so different from mine.

Eli pulls me out of my downward trajectory toward self-deprecation with a hand on my forearm. I turn back to him with a smile. It’s okay. I’m starting over. I’ll be okay. All is not lost.

The driver slows down in front of a building that looks like a hotel and then eases out of traffic and down a security controlled ramp. I can’t remember the last time I’ve even seen a building like this. High rise, elegant and very-expensive looking.

The driver pulls into one of the parking spaces and within a minute, we’re flying up in an elevator. When the ding sound of the elevator indicates we’ve arrived at our destination, Eli takes my hand and steps into an apartment so large my eyes bug out.

We’re in a vast open space, separated into various parts by the furniture. To the left, glass walls with no curtains and a leather sectional off to the side. A coffee table with various books stacked neatly on the carriage underneath. A fireplace with a plush carpet placed in front.

On the right is an open concept kitchen—very state-of-the-art type, separated from the living area by a two-sided book case.

Eli pulls my gaze from the bookcase with a smile. “Welcome home, Axel,” he signs.

Pepper doesn’t bother with thank you’s. She scoots through the glass doors, which, as far as I can see, lead to an enclosed balcony. She’ll be safe.

“Thank you,” I sign back with a lump in my throat when my eyes return to Eli.

“Eat?”

The truth is that as much as I want to eat because I really am hungry, the sight of Eli standing in his own home and me standing here with him, with nothing but a piece of paper of no value, standing between us, it isn’t food that I need.

He has the same thought because as soon as I give my head a small shake, he advances, stars shining in his eyes.

The light of day changes everything we’ve come to expect of our time together. Each time before, it was always under the cover of night. Always with the fear that Frank would find out. That the town would find out.

But it didn’t stop me then, and it’s certainly not going to stop me now.

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