Finding Our Forever (Silver Springs #1)(46)

He had a point. But she had a secret. Now that they had an understanding of sorts, would she be a fool to divulge that? What if she shared the circumstances surrounding her birth and he insisted she tell Aiyana? The deception could make Aiyana angry. Or there could be some reason Aiyana wouldn’t or couldn’t be around her. In that case, she’d lose her job, which wouldn’t be the best thing for her or the school, not midyear. She liked it here, liked being with Elijah.

So, once again, she ignored her better judgment—put what she felt now above what she’d probably be feeling at the end of the school year—and decided to wait.

Fortunately, that was made easy when Eli’s phone began to buzz, drawing their attention. He was getting a call or text. When he reached over to grab it, she thought he’d answer. But after checking the display, he cursed and tossed the phone back on the nightstand as if it had burned his hand.

“Who is it?” she asked.

Closing his eyes, he leaned his head against the wall again.

“Eli?” Whoever it was, he didn’t like them—or wasn’t happy they were trying to reach him. “It’s not Aiyana...”

“No.”

Of course not. Cora couldn’t imagine he’d be unhappy to hear from one of his brothers, either. So...maybe it was an old girlfriend.

When she said nothing more, he opened his eyes and looked at her.

“What?” she said.

Instead of answering, he reclaimed his phone and showed her the text he’d received—How can you be so selfish? I only need $50.

She noted the name associated with that text. “Maleficent’s texting you?”

“Jo Seifert. My mother.”

“Maleficent’s a Disney character, right? From Sleeping Beauty?”

“An evil character. Maleficent means doing harm.”

His mother. She was tempted to touch the scar on his chin—she still didn’t know how he’d gotten it—but refrained. “Seems fitting.”

That he would change his mind and share this with her suggested he was making an effort to be more open, to have some semblance of a real relationship, despite what he’d termed his “limitations.” She would’ve smiled at that but she didn’t want him to think she was smiling at the fact that he was upset.

She leaned forward to peck him on the lips. “Are you going to give her the money?”

“Hell, no.”

“I don’t blame you.” She started to get up, but he caught her arm.

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not going to ask me a million questions about Jo?”

God knew she wanted to. She was so curious about his biological family and background. But she figured he’d talk about his past when he was ready. She wouldn’t try to force him to share things that were painful for him. “No.”

“Because...”

“I already know the most salient points.”

The old guarded expression claimed his face. “You’re aware of what happened to me?”

She wished she could erase all the pain he’d suffered. She hated the people who’d hurt him, even though she’d never even met them. “I did an internet search.”

“On me?”

“I was attracted to you from the beginning.”

“My childhood is on the internet?” he asked with a scowl, obviously too fixated on that to react to anything else.

“You’ve never Googled yourself?”

“Why would I?”

“Some people do, just to see what comes up.”

“I guess I’ve never been interested in seeing what’s out there. Everyone around here knows me, so it didn’t seem important until now. What’d you find?”

“An old article from when Aiyana first opened this place. They cited you and your...um...background as an example of the type of boy she hoped to help.”

“Oh. Right.” He relaxed a bit. “I have seen that article, now that you mention it. Although it’s been a while.”

“She probably needed the publicity to stay afloat.”

“She tried to keep me out of it, but...there’s no controlling what some reporters dig up.”

“It made for a sympathetic story—a heartbreaking story—so it had to have helped with donations.”

“I wouldn’t know. I was just a freshman then. But...what you read about me, it didn’t raise more questions?”

“It did,” she admitted, “but I’m not going to pressure you for details. If you want to talk about that period of your life, I’m here. If not...let it go—if you can.”

His mood lightened instantly. “Hallelujah,” he said. “Let’s get some breakfast.”

Cora smiled to think letting him avoid that conversation would bring him so much relief. “At Lolita’s Country Kitchen?”

“If you like that place.”

She thought it would be a nice change to go out with him, to forget about trying to hide the fact that they were romantically involved. “Sounds good to me. But...what about Matt?”

He grimaced. “Don’t tell me we have to invite him. I don’t like him very much.”

“No, we don’t have to invite him,” she said, laughing. “But I should at least go over and talk to him, tell him goodbye.” And see what she could do to minimize the damage she might’ve caused by running out on him last night...