Page 78 of New Growth
“I might be busy,” I said in a teasing tone, but I was being honest. Not that he cared anyway.
He gave me a lazy smirk. “I’ll call anyway.”
Help.
Saturdaymeanthelpingoutat the Women’s Shelter.
“Please, please, please. Two hours, that’s all I need.”
“No.”
Esther groaned. “Girl, you don’t even have to like him. Just keep him busy while I talk his friend out his drawls.”
I turned to her, my face twisted in disgust. “That is so wrong.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She waved me off. “I’ll repent tomorrow. But I really need your help here, Ellie.”
I sighed, shoving a box of supplies into the van. “Why can’t one of the other girls do it?”
“Because, Ellie, we are the only single women here. The rest are married, cuffed, or just not interested.”
“I’mnot interested.”
Esther punched my arm playfully. “You’re different. You’re my best friend, so you’re not allowed to be uninterested in my bullshit. Besides, the guy’s in PR. Maybe you two will hit it off, and you could bring him onto the team. Think of EL’evation.”
I thought about it. If he was any good, maybe I could work with him and eliminate the need for Hope’s involvement. A quiet part of me was sure that Esther was hoping that would be the case.
“Are you trying to put Hope out of a job?” I eyed her suspiciously.
Her lips curled slightly. To the untrained eye, it was easy to miss. “No, this isn’t about her. This is about you being my wingman again.”
The feeling of Elliot’s arms around me when I fell asleep last night replayed in my mind. The look in his eyes this morning as he thanked me. The smell of his cologne on my sheets after he left and I crawled back into bed just breathing him in. I was still processing how I felt about everything, so going on a double date, especially so soon, was out of the question.
“Well, not this time. Sorry, Es.”
“But why not? We’ve done it before. You know it’s not that serious.”
“I know, I just don’t want to this time.”
I went back to loading up for our visit to the women’s shelter, ignoring the way she was staring at me like she needed to know the real answer. After a few moments of silence, she hummed.
“Hmm. Sooo… what’s really going on with you and old boy?”
I nearly dropped the stuff in my hands at the mention of him. “What? Nothing’s going on.”
“You a damn lie.” Esther crossed her arms. “You forget I caught y’all on the couch last night?Andyou let him sleep over.”
I rolled my eyes. “So what? It was late, and I didn’t want him driving home half-asleep. No big deal.”
“Did you fuck him?”
“No.”
“Tell the truth, Ellie.”
“I am! We did not sleep together. We didn’t even kiss.”
Esther tilted her head, a knowing grin spreading across her face. “But you like him.”
