Page 4 of Unbroken

Shannon sputtered a laugh into her coffee.

“What?” I asked, my gaze bouncing between my brother and sister.

“I wouldn’t say that you’ll beheadingit …” Shannon said with a smirk.

“If I’m not, then who is?” I demanded as worry clawed away inside me, telling me that I already knew the answer.

“Eli Carter,” Josh said matter-of-factly.

I shook my head vigorously. “Nope. Not happening. We willnotwork well together.” No way was I reporting to panty melting Eli with the dreamy dark looks and swagger to match. Nor was I thinking about him in that way.

“What are you talking about?” Josh asked, genuine confusion on his face. “You guys were good friends in high school, right?”

“Wow, you really were oblivious back then,” Shannon said, shaking her head at our brother’s cluelessness. “I’d say it was more of a love-hate thing, emphasis on the ‘love’ part, whether they’d admit it or not.”

I smacked the table with both hands. “Shannon,stop! There was no love involved for either of us. It was one hundred percent competition all the time. I told you about how he used to throw wadded up pieces of paper at the back of my head during tests to try to get me in trouble for turning around. And how he put up all of those fake posters around the school saying I was running for student body president.”

“Uh-huh.” Shannon nodded. “And I also remember that you convinced Mrs. Becker in the main office to change his locker without telling him. And you published a poem in the school paper under his name that was a glowing tribute to the school librarian.”

“No,” I corrected her glumly. “It was a poem about the lunch ladies. I rhymed ‘bologna’ with ‘own ya.’ It was a masterpiece.”

Josh laughed. “That’s right, I remember hearing about that. Everyone thought he had a crush on the lunch ladies. See? You guys had fun together. You’ll be a great team.”

“It wasn’t fun,” I pouted. “It was high-stakes drama. A battle of the sexes.”

“With a side of flirting,” Shannon said with a wink.

“I wasnotflirting with Eli Carter!” I sputtered.

As if on cue, the screen door opened and in walked Eli himself, looking every bit as gorgeous as the day before when he’d picked me up on the side of the road. He’d been good-looking in high school, even through the awkward years, but now he was all man. So much time spent in the sun gave his dark hair natural highlights that most women would spend a small fortune trying to achieve in a salon. And I absolutely refused to check out, again, how good he looked in those jeans. My cheeks went hot as I tried to calculate if he heard what we were talking about while trying to stuff down my wayward thoughts pushing their way to the surface.

“Did someone say my name?”

I reflexively smoothed my hair and Shannon cackled as she got up from the kitchen table to bring the breakfast dishes to the sink. I frowned, wanting to press my fingers against the blush burning my cheeks. “We were talking about your shared history with Fiona. How much fun you two had back in the day.”

I flicked a glance at Eli and our eyes met for a moment. Something passed between us, something heavy with things still left unsaid, until Eli looked away. Our shared history wasn’t only about sparring. There was also that one glaring misstep I’d made all of those years ago when, after teasing and provoking him into inviting me to the prom, I’d stood him up. No excuse, no explanation. I was a no-show, leaving him looking like he’d been duped.

I’d played plenty of pranks on him over the years, but that wasn’t supposed to be one. I’d wanted to go to the dance with him, had been excited for it. A littletooexcited. When I’d realized how much it meant to me that we were going together, I’d gotten spooked, unsure what to do with those new feelings for my longtime rival. So I skipped the prom without telling him anything. I knew full well that it had been cowardly, maybe even cruel. Afterward, I waited for him to retaliate, or at least read me the riot act. But he never did. He just … stepped away, ending our rivalry for good. After that, he pretended as if I didn’t exist. And that had been our new normal—right up until yesterday.

“You’re right on time for our meeting, Eli,” Josh said, polishing off the rest of the banana. “Fiona, you ready too?”

“What meeting?” I sputtered. “You didn’t tell me anything about a meeting.”

“I said meet me in the kitchen at eight. You’re here, Eli’s here, this is now officially a meeting.”

“And I’m out,” Shannon said, saluting us. “Good luck and have fun.”

She winked at me as she bumped backward into the swinging door. I glared back at her.

“Coffee, Eli?” Josh asked him.

“I’m good, thanks. Grabbed some at my mom’s when I dropped Patrick off.”

The mention of Eli’s son jolted me back to the present. “Yeah, how’s the little flying monkey feeling today?”

“Better, thanks.”

Josh motioned for Eli to join us at the kitchen table and opened his tablet. I held my breath as I waited for him to pick a side to sit on. If he sat across from me, I’d have to avoid looking at his face for the entire meeting, but if he sat next to me, I’d worry that our bodies might accidentally touch. I needed to keep my distance from him because I had no idea how I would react to any contact. I didn’t want to embarrass myself. I breathed a tiny sigh of relief when he picked the chair at the far end of the table.

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