Page 185 of Always Meant for You
He waves me off. “I know that, too.”
“You do?”
He looks at me like I just walked through a heap of cow shit. “You’re in the cottage next to my house. With the windows open.”
Betty chuckles into her mug. “Kids these days think we old folk miss everything.”
I must be redder than a tomato. “We figured you were asleep, sir.”
“Not always,” Claudine adds as she slips out of the booth. Her smile is soft and knowing. She presses a gentle hand to Elias’s back.
“You two weren’t the only ones sneaking around,” Elias says with the ghost of a grin.
“You know everything about Mabel and me?” I ask, my stomach in knots. We try to be quiet, but it’s obvious we’ve already messed that up.
“If you’re asking whether I know when to stop listening. Yes, I know when to turn up the volume on the TV.”
I glance past him, sweeping the space for weapons.
“No, son, I didn’t bring my shotgun,” he says, earning another chuckle from Betty.
My cheeks are on fire. If a man could die of mortification, I’d surely be dead.
“Mabel is an extraordinary woman,” he says. “Of course you love her. You’d be a damn fool not to.”
I steady myself. “I can’t argue with that, sir.”
Elias holds my gaze. “I might not say a lot, but that doesn’t mean I don’t notice things.” He settles on the stool on the other side of me. His voice drops to a quieter place. “I had a lot of time to think while Mabel was away. I didn’t always give her what she needed growing up. I did my best. Her mother was the one who softened me. When we lost Carol so soon after she had Mabel, I fell back on what I knew—the rigidity and routine. You and I are similar in that regard. It makes us feel like we’re in control.”
“I would agree, sir.”
Elias’s expression warms. He smiles at Claudine. “But we can’t control everything. I’ve learned that.”
She sits beside him and places her hand on his forearm.
“I didn’t go looking for change,” he says, then presses a kiss to her cheek. “But it found me at the library. And I’m grateful every day that I had the good sense not to run from it.”
He leans toward me. “Mabel’s not asking you to be anything more than who you already are.”
I nod, my throat tight.
“And that’s all good and fine.” Elias stands and rolls his neck from side to side. “All right, then. Good talk, Cal. Now I need to get going.”
What the hell?
I blink. “I thought we were having a stoic farmer heart-to-heart.”
“We did,” Elias says, helping Claudine off the stool.
“You’re heading back to the farm?” I ask, confusion coating my words.
He looks at me like I’m back in that cow shit. “No, son. I’m going to New York City.”
I rear back, nearly falling to the floor. “You’re going to New York?” I must have misunderstood.
“Yes, I am,” he says plainly. “There are things I need to say to my daughter. Things that matter. Things about her hopes and dreams. And those words need to be said there—in the city. Do you have a suitcase?”
“I do,” I answer, whiplashed from this conversation.
