Page 89 of The Rules We Broke
“Well,” he began, “back in junior high, my friends used to ask who I liked. I couldn’t tell them I had a crush on Ella Eaton—not with everything going on. So I came up with a name—a mix of her first name and last initial. Ellie.” He smiled. “That way, I wasn’t lying. And no one knew who I was talking about. Thereweren’t any Ellies in our school, so everyone figured she lived somewhere else.”
He looked at me with the same quiet affection I’d probably missed back then. “I never corrected them.”
Oh, gosh, I loved that so much.
“I thought about her so much that, in my mind and heart, she became Ellie.”
I peeked over at my aunt to see her response. Her look seemed to say,“I’ll give you that one.”
We’d had enough of our first little experiment. I jumped up. “I think we should head down to the pediatric ward.”
Brady eagerly stood up next to me, which made me think he was calm and cool on the outside, but maybe not so much on the inside. I walked over, kissed Aunt Lu on the cheek, and told her we would be back later.
I stressed “we”so she wasn’t surprised. Also, I wanted her to get used to “we”.
“It was nice to see you, Luanne. You look lovely, by the way,” Brady added.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. That was a little overkill.
“Well . . . you two enjoy the children.”
As we stepped into the hallway, Brady slipped his arm around my waist.
“She’ll be calling me Brady in no time,” he said, sounding far too smug.
“You think so?”
“I know so, darlin’. I had her eating out of the palm of my hand.”
“Were we in the same room? I think you’re lucky she didn’t eat you for lunch.”
“You just wait, Ellie. She’s going to love me.”
“I hope so.”
We waited in silence for the elevator. After a moment, I turned to him.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me the story about my name?”
He smiled. “You never asked.”
I tilted my head. “So how long have you liked me?”
He didn’t miss a beat. “Forever.”
“We didn’t even talk until ninth grade.”
“Doesn’t mean I didn’t want to.”
“When did you know you loved me?”
He looked down at me, voice softening. “To know you is to love you. But I realized it after our first kiss—on the tire swing.”
I sighed. “I loved that swing. Is it still there?”
Brady grinned. “No. I replaced it.”
“Oh,” I said, disappointment slipping out.
