Page 5 of Into the Mountains (Blue Grove Mountain #3)

CHAPTER FOUR

ELIAS

“ W e can work out the details for everything later, but it is ready, so technically, you could go home and start moving your stuff today if you really wanted to. We don’t even have to wait for an official closing.”

My head is spinning. I thought I had a lot to do this morning with figuring out this project and now add a move to the mix? Whenever I expect to get a little bit of a break, even the tiniest bit, there’s always something. At least this one is a good something.

“Okay, yeah, I’ll let you know when I talk to Ethan about it. I think he will be excited about it, but sometimes I don’t know what to expect from him.”

Everyone turns towards Ethan, and finds him with the kitten nipping at his ear as he giggles and pets her back.

The look on his face is enough to make another unexpected decision and I can feel my face soften.

There are a lot of things I wish could have gone a little bit different in my life, but my son has never been one of them.

“Alright, so what’s the plan here then?” I ask, pointing toward the blueprints and bringing the conversation back to what we all came here for.

Charlotte stands with the kitten on her shoulder now, clinging to her sweater. “Yes, what exactly is this grand scheme of yours?” she asks, an accusatory finger pointing between the two of them.

“We want you two to work together.”

“Yeah, we figured that much out on our own, thanks.” Charlotte’s voice is low, like she wasn’t sure she wanted them to hear her, but I don’t think she actually cares that they did.

“As one interconnected unit,” Jacob explains

“Exactly.”

I look at Sky, waiting for her to continue, going into any details on what they mean. I risk a glance at Charlotte who looks like she wants to let out a frustrated groan but can’t because of the creature on her shoulder.

“Can you just explain what exactly that means?” she asks between clenched teeth.

“Interior designer, that’s you.” Sky points to Charlotte. “Architect, that’s you.” She moves her finger to me. “Work together to make sure the building design and the interior design are completely cohesive.”

“If you design the space at the end, Charlotte, I don’t think it’ll have as much impact as I want it to.

I know this is just a clinic or just a shelter to some people, but to a lot of the animals, it’s their home and I want to make the expansion for them just as much as I want to make it for the clients.

There’s so much potential here and I know we all see it.

And I really think if you two work together on it, it’ll be the best it can be. ”

I knew Jacob could give some killer puppy dog eyes, but I’ve never actually seen them until now and I’m pretty sure he’d be able to get me to agree to just about anything with those eyes. Lord help me if he teaches Ethan how to do that.

“Alright,” Charlotte finally says. Her eyes are firmly on the kitten who moved to being held in her arms—eyes closed to enjoy the head scratches.

“Really?” Jacob’s voice is filled with surprise like he didn’t think what he said would work on our friend’s stubbornness. I don’t know if I can consider Charlotte a friend, however it seems right now we might need to form some sort of a truce.

“Really.” She throws a glare my way and suddenly I wish I had the kitten in my arms just so my hands had something to do. Anything other than sit idle at my sides.

“Fine,” I agree, meeting her glare. If she’s in, then so am I.

“Fine.”

From the corner of my eye, I can see Jacob and Sky exchange nervous glances, but I don’t break mine from Charlotte. It’s a battle on who will break first. The one who was hurt all those years ago or the one who did the hurting.

I feel a small tug on my sleeve and the one who did the hurting breaks the glare first. “Dad, do you think we could take Sable home with us?”

Furrowing my brows, I ask, “Who’s Sable?” He looks away from me, shyly, but not ashamed. I see a small grin appear on his face. “Ethaaaan,” I draw out. “Did you name that cat?”

“Maybe,” he says. But the look on his face gives me all the information I need to know.

“You’re really giving me no choice here, are you?”

“That’s the plan.”

“The plan, huh?” This time I direct my glare at Sky, because I know this is what they were scheming up over there on the couch.

“What? Plan? There was no plan,” Ethan scrambles, trying to backtrack as he grabs the cat from Charlotte.

But it’s too late. Sky knew if he named the cat, I wouldn’t be able to say no.

And she was right. He’s completely attached to her now and it would be cruel to say no.

That and I don’t really have a reason other than my general dislike of cats, but that isn’t enough.

Ethan having a companion would be good for him and now we will have more space for an animal.

“Alright, E. But you have to be responsible and take care of her yourself.”

He starts bouncing in place, his energy palpable. “I promise,” he says, almost too loud.

“That means cleaning the litter box—”

“Yeah, I know. Cleaning the litter box, feeding her dry food, and wet food at least once a day, and making sure she has water. Oh, Dad, can we get her one of those harnesses cats can wear to go outside? And a collar, but it has to be a breakaway collar in case she gets stuck, that way it won’t choke her and we need lots of good toys to keep her stimulated—”

“How do you even know the word stimulated? And how do you know all of this?”

He just shrugs. “I’ve read a lot of books on cats.”

“I thought you usually stuck to The Hobbit ?”

“Well, yeah, but I like to learn too, Dad.” I hate that he says it like it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. And maybe it should have been.

“Okay, then.”

He looks up at me with all the love in his little brown eyes and Sable looks up with her green ones, and I don’t think this is a decision I will ever regret. “Okay?”

“Yeah, let’s see what all we need and then we can go home.

” I almost mention packing, but that’s a conversation for another day.

Let him be excited for today and get used to one big change before tackling another.

Before I have a chance to mention anything else, he gently runs up to Jacob and starts listing all the things he needs before we go.

They disappear into the back room, taking the chatter with them as they go.

“I’m just gonna go see if they need help gathering everything up,” Sky says, pointing to the back. She disappears too and I have a feeling that was more so she could leave Charlotte and me alone to have a conversation neither of us really want to have, than to actually help Jacob and Ethan.

“So.” God, I sound so fucking pathetic.

“So,” she repeats like she’s ready to wait for me to go on. I’m tempted to see how long she’s willing to wait.

We both stand in silence for what seems to stretch on for hours, but the clock on the wall only moves a few ticks. Without the cat in her arms, Charlotte’s hands are absently fiddling with the fabric at her elbows, twisting until they can’t go further before letting it go and starting over again.

“So much for avoiding each other then,” she finally says.

“Yeah, so much for that.”

“Something tells me they’re doing this on purpose.”

“You don’t believe they want the whole design concept thing?

” I ask, because I was fully convinced by what Jacob had said, but I’ve always been a bit more gullible and ready to believe things than most people.

I don’t like the thought of there being another reason Jacob and Sky are wanting us to work together.

Some other diabolical reason other than what they said.

“I mean, I do believe that,” she answers. “But two things can be true.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning,” she draws out, moving around the front desk to look over the blueprints.

I suspect it’s just to have somewhere else to look besides at me while she’s talking.

“Sure, they actually want us to work together because of the design thing. I do understand Jacob wanting the place to seem like one cohesive building when people walk in here, but I also believe they want to push us together because they want us to be friends or something.”

“Us…friends?”

She just shrugs. “Yep. Like that would ever happen.”

“Never.” We were friends at one point in time, so really, us being friends isn’t that far fetched.

“Then let’s make a new agreement,” I suggest. We finally stop avoiding each other’s eyes and she leans in, eyes gleaming at me with a challenge twinkling just behind the gold flecks. She flattens her hands against the blueprints, her thumb partially covering the space we’re in now.

“Alright,” I say, mirroring her stance until we are only a few inches apart because I never back down from a challenge.

“We do this work, because I need the cash and the experience that will come with the job. And the exposure. Hell, let’s be honest, here, I probably need this job way more than you do.”

“Okay.” It’s all I can say, because I don’t know much about her life now other than she moved here a little over a year ago to help her friend, Avery, start a photography business.

She does a ton of website stuff for it and designed Jacob’s website, but where she went after high school and after our time together that summer, I have no idea.

Even though I do remember her ambitions being different at some point—a mention or two about interior designing—I have no intention of messing this up for her.

“Let’s just do the job and leave it at that.”

“Okay.”

“Just work. No personal stuff. No bringing up the past. No questions about our lives. Only the job.”

“How personal is too personal though?”

“Really, Eli?”

I cringe. I really fucking hate that name.

“Yes, Charlie . Do we strictly talk about work? We can’t talk about anything outside of it? If I see you lying on the side of the road or limping down the street, or stranded on the highway with a flat tire, what do I do? Stop to help or drive on by since we aren’t friends?”

“I think it’s cute you think I can’t change my own tire.”

If I could roll my eyes into the back of my head I would. In fact, I try to and hang my head back, looking at the ceiling and let out a frustrated groan. This woman is not going to make this job easy.

“You know what I mean.”

“Just work.” She reaches out her hand, waiting for me to shake on our new truce.

“Fine. Just work.” I link our hands together and we grasp the other more firmly than is needed for a friendly handshake, but we both know better. This may be a truce, but this is far from a friendly one.

The others choose that moment to come back, startling us both, our hands springing apart like magnets on opposite ends.

“Oh that looked intense. You’re welcome for interrupting,” Sky says, her arms filled with a litter box that is also full of cat-related gear. I don’t even want to know the cost.

“Dad, we got a green collar for Sable, look!” Ethan lifts the kitten up to me and sure enough, there’s a light green collar with a cat shaped pendant hanging from the loop.

It suits her black fur. “Jacob said we could eventually get the silver thing personalized with her name. And we found a litter box and some wood pellets for her so the house won’t even smell.

James at school has them at his house and you can never really smell the litter box at all.

And we got some really amazing cat food that Uncle J said would be good and some wet food too. ”

It all comes out in a jumble that I can barely decipher, but all I care about is the excitement I see in his eyes and smile.

He gets excited for books or anything relating to The Hobbit , sure, but this?

This is something I haven’t seen in a long time.

I scratch the cat’s head and behind her ears before he gently coaxes her in the cat carrier Jacob placed on the ground.

I’m pretty sure that is also full of whatever else a cat might need, but I’m not going to worry about it now.

“Alright, let’s load her in the car and get going, okay?”

“Okay!” He starts toward the car, cat carrier in hand, Sable meowing softly.

Knowing my wallet is metaphorically going to feel emptier in a few minutes, I pull it out and ask Jacob the total for everything. He puts his hand up, stopping me from handing over my card.

“Don’t.”

“You can’t be serious, J? He collected half the shop back there.”

He lets out a chuckle. “Practically. But he and Sable were meant to find each other and I suspect that what they have is going to be pretty special. That’s payment enough for me. Plus, you two will be filling my childhood home with more love. I can’t ask for more than that, really Elias.”

“Will Sable be okay if we go to the rental and then the house? I need to talk to Ethan about it first, but I don’t want to move too much for her either and stress her out with two new environments in such a short time period.”

Jacob considers this for a second before answering.

“Well, it is better to acclimate her to where her permanent home is going to be, but I understand your situation is unique. Ask Ethan what he wants to do. If you do stay at your house, wait a few days and see how Sable adjusts to a new environment. If she adjusts quickly, then moving shouldn’t be an issue for her. ”

I picture Ethan and Sable in a big, empty room the first night, cuddling beneath a sleeping bag, the only sound is her purring.

“It’s very rare we get to see Elias smile.”

“You see me smile, Sky.”

“We do,” she admits. “But not like that.”