Page 5 of Elijah's Hope
“Fantasy what?”
“Never mind. I forget I’m surrounded by children.”
We liked to bust on Cal that he was the old man in our group, but the reality was, at forty-two, he was only twelve years older than me. Certainly not too old to give love and life another chance. That’s what we all thought. Cal, on the other hand, believed he was done with relationships. Which was why I had no plans to tell him about Vivienne, the woman Ark and I had picked out for him, until it was too late.
I sucked in my breath and waited as the plane turned in the sky then started its descent. What if Shelby didn’t look like her picture? What if she took one look at me and thought I didn’t live up to the hype? What if we had nothing to say to each other? This would be the longest and most painful date in the history of blind dates if that was the case.
It seemed to take forever, but finally the plane landed and the door opened. Doogie, the pilot, got out to set up a step ladder for her. Then he was giving her a hand down and there she was. On the runway.
In a dress. In Alaska. Her hair blew around her face, but I could see it was the same honey blonde from the picture. The dress, too, whipped around her legs. While they were a bit of a blur, I could tell even from this distance they were leaner and tanner than any legs I had seen in a long time.
“She wore a dress.” Cal snorted. “To Hope’s Point, Alaska. Sorry, Angel. That’s got to mean she’s dumb as fuck.”
“She’s from Louisiana and it’s August. Let’s give her a break.” I waved my hand, but it had to be obvious who I was as Cal and I were the only two people standing at the edge of the runway.
Doogie dropped her duffel bag next to her feet and I made my way over to help her carry it. Only she already had it over her shoulder and was jogging toward me, which looked pretty hard to do in the wedge sandals she was wearing.
“Hi!” she called out as soon as she was in shouting range. “Oh my gosh, it’s cold! I looked online and it said temperatures should be in the sixties and I thought I would be okay. But my goodness, I was so cold flying here I thought my legs were just going to freeze up and snap off like ice picks.”
That accent. Sounded like honey flowing out of a jar when she spoke. Luscious and smooth. She looked and sounded as advertised. Wholesome. Sweet.
I might have fallen in love in that moment.
“You must be Shelby,” I said, introducing myself and offering to shake her hand.
But she just moved in and gave me a sweet, albeit brief, hug. “And you’re Eli. I would say you look just like your picture but, oh my goodness, you’re more handsome in person if that’s even possible.”
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. She had big brown eyes and the widest smile I had ever seen.
She also wore a hoodie with a jean jacket on top of it. On top of her completely ridiculous dress. Certainly, nothing that would hold up against the winds that were coming off the inlet, making it feel colder than the thermometer indicated.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get you somewhere warmer.”
“Amen Jesus to that!”
I directed her toward my truck where Cal was leaning against the door. He stood straight as we approached.
“Shelby Reese, this is Caleb Walters. He’s here to be our chaperone. So you don’t have to be alone with me until you’re comfortable.”
She didn’t look convinced. “You thought having two strange men greeting me was better than one? I’m not sure you understand women very well.”
Caleb huffed out a laugh. Then he pulled his cell phone out. “I planned on this. Hold on.”
He dialed a number then put the phone on speaker.
“Dyson Enterprises,” a woman answered on the other end of the line.
“Hey, Sally, it’s Cal. Can you do something for me? I’ve got a nice, young woman with me and I want to assure her I and my team of workers are decent men.”
“No problem there, Cal. I would trust you with my life. Honey, I’ve been working for Dyson for twenty years, known Cal as many as ten. He’s the best and he only hires the best of kind of men. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Thanks, Sally.” Cal ended the call and we both looked at Shelby expectantly.
“Well, I suppose I can trust another woman. Unless of course she was a plant. But I imagine that would be some pretty elaborate planning on y’all’s part. So I’m just going to go with my gut. Now, Eli, you promised me some warmth. Let’s make that happen.”
I laughed and opened the door to the passenger seat. “You mind getting in the back?”
“Oh, goodness me, there is a blanket!” Shelby scrambled into the back of the cab and promptly proceeded to wrap herself up.
