“I’m sure you’ll finish your education. A cap and gown will look fabulous on you.” His voice is warm, but something shifts in his mood. It’s hard to pinpoint, but it’s almost like the warmth is leeching out from him, and he’s brooding a bit.
I peer at him. “What?”
“Nothing.” The tone of his voice is final and firm, but he softens it with a small grin. Whatever popped up in his mind and is bugging him is still there, but he isn’t going to talk about it.
I want to know what’s bothering him, but I suspect we don’t have that kind of relationship. I look out the window at the traffic in front of us. Since I don’t want an awkward silence, I resume talking after a moment. “Just spending the time with her reminded me of how well she knows me. It’s almost scary really. She even figured out that I miscarried. I thought nobody would ever know.”
Elliot’s eyebrow rises above his sunglasses. “How could she have known that? You never told her, right?”
“No, but she realized my period was too long to be normal, and eventually she put that and a couple other things together.”
He grunts. “Perceptive.”
“Yes, but she was always like that. Always interested in helping people out.”
“Except for that time two years ago.”
“Elliot.”
“I don’t have to be a genius to figure it out. Why else would you have lost contact with each other?”
The car pulls into the designated spot. He kills the engine, grabs a glossy black paper bag and helps me out.
I sigh. “It was a tough time for everyone. Not her fault she didn’t handle it well. We were both young and immature. She genuinely feels bad about it, and she’s going to help me get a job.”
“A what?”
“A job.”
“Whatever for?”
I frown up at him as we take the elevator to the penthouse. “Elliot, we talked about this already.”
“You also mentioned how you wanted to finish your degree, which is a much better use of your time if you ask
me.”
“Well, I didn’t ask.”
He doesn’t acknowledge me. “You aren’t going to get anything that pays decently without a degree. If you could, you would have.”
My lips go tight. I tilt my head and look up at him, anger and humiliation pulsing through me. Since I left Lincoln City with Nonny, I basically worked as a waitress. Then there was that extremely brief stint as a very bad stripper. He’s also seen me as a cleaning lady.
From the way his eyebrows pinch, he knows he’s made a mistake. He opens the door, his movements unusually jerky. “I’m not saying this to make you feel discouraged,” he says. “But if there was anything available without a college degree, you would’ve had a better job than what you had.”
I walk past him, and he follows me in. The door locks automatically behind him.
Suddenly I spin around and face him. “Elliot, I can’t spend my year doing nothing. I’m not used to being idle.”
“Why not? You worked very hard to provide for yourself and your sister. Don’t you think you need a little break?” He drops the bag on the counter. “If you think you’re going to be bored, why don’t you do some volunteer work? Elizabeth’s foundation can use the help, plus it’d look good on your résumé and college applications.”
He doesn’t understand that I need the money to get out from under Mr. Grayson. I don’t want to wait a year, and I still don’t know how to explain Mr. Grayson and his weird interest in trying to set me up with Elliot. But I owe my husband honesty. “There’s—”
“If you want,” Elliot starts at the same time, “I can call in some favors to help you get into a local school.”
I recoil at the offer. “Don’t be insulting,” I shoot back. “I’m going to a school that I can get into on my own merit, not because you know someone who knows someone.”
“I don’t know someone who knows someone. I just know someone.”