“You think you’re all healed?” I ask. He never talks about his recovery with me. He’ll work out with me, or he’ll let me watch him work out, but he doesn’t share much about his time overseas. I only catch what he tells my dad from time to time.
“Not sure I’ll ever really be healed.”
My heart breaks a little at that. I want to heal him. His hand comes up, pressing down on mine, covering his scar with my palm. He leans into my hand and closes his eyes.
“You guys wanna do steaks tonight?” I hear my dad call out from inside the house. Eli drops his hand away from me instantly. He gets to his feet, and the moment is broken. Just when I think I’m getting through to him, it fades away as my dad enters the garage.
“Sounds good,” Eli says.
He reaches his hand down to help me up, and I take it. I get to my feet next to him, but he steps away from me and starts picking up the workout area.
“Can you make your pasta salad, bug?” Dad asks, rubbing his hand over his belly, like he has a big belly or something. My dad might spend his days at a desk, but he’s fit. I’ve heard more than I care to from women about how attractive he is. People are often shocked he can even be my dad because he’s only thirty-eight. But he had me young and raised me on his own, never mentioning my mother. I often wondered if it was because he missed her, or something else. I know he doesn’t like talking about it, so I never bring it up.
“Sure, when I get back.” I lean down, picking up my water bottle up from the floor and taking a sip.
“Where you off to?” Eli asks.
“Alice and I are going shopping. My birthday is around the corner and I’m in need of a new dress.”
“You don’t like dresses,” Eli says, catching me off guard. I can’t read the way he’s saying it. I haven’t worn a dress lately, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like them. Or maybe he doesn’t see me as a girly type.
“Never had a reason to wear one.” I place my water bottle on the bench, and my dad lets out a sigh.
“I knew this was coming.” Eli and I break eye contact to look at my dad, and my heartbeat starts to pick him. Are my feelings for Eli that obvious? My cheeks warm. “Bug, I know I said you could date at seventeen, but I was hoping I’d have more time,” he admits, thinking I’m going shopping for dress to wear for a line of upcoming dates or something.
“She can’t date,” Eli fires back, like the idea of me dating is preposterous. Maybe it is to him since he looks at me like a little girl. I narrow my eyes at him.
“That’s not really up to you.” I raise my chin. His eyes narrow on me, and I wish I could see jealousy there. Instead I know what this is about. It’s about the first time he met me and caught me with Nick in the backyard.
“Maggie.” I hear Alice’s soft voice and whirl around. She’s standing in the open garage door. Her long red hair is blowing in the wind. She looks a little different today, and I wonder if she plans on meeting someone at the mall. She has some make-up on, which isn’t normal for her, and her hair is down. Not only that, but she’s wearing a dress that hugs all her curves. Normally she tries to hide her figure, which is something I don’t get. I know she has curves in all the right places. I’d kill to have a chest and hips like hers.
“Crap, is it two already?” I glance at the clock over on the wall. “Give me a second to change.”
I slip past my dad, ignoring the fact that Eli is probably staring holes in the back of my head.
“You look pretty today, Alice,” I hear my dad say. “Not that you don’t always. I mean.” I hold back a laugh at my dad trying to make polite conversation. He’s not used to being around anyone but Marines and me. I dart up the stairs and jump right into the shower. I wash quickly before drying off and going to find something to wear. I dig to the back of my closet and find a cream-colored dress. It’s strapless, hugging tight to my top but flaring out at the bottom. I pull my hair down from my ponytail and fluff it a bit, then grab some lip gloss and slip on a pair of flats.
I give myself one last look in the mirror, all too aware that I’m wearing a dress in spite of what Eli said.
“Ready?” I call as I walk back into the garage and everyone turns to look at me. I smile like I’m not up to something.
“I’ll take you,” Eli cuts in before Alice can say she’s ready.
“Alice can take us.”
“I need to go to the mall anyway, and after we can stop at the store and get stuff for you to make pasta salad for dinner.”
I should put up a fight, still be mad about his comment, but I can’t. I want to spend as much time with Eli as possible. He’s like an addiction I don’t want to overcome.
“Fine.” I fake annoyance.
“Grab one of those jacket things before we go,” Eli tells me, pulling off his shirt and sliding on another. I can’t stop myself from staring at his hard chest. Little marks and scars cover his skin and are still visible through the light layer of chest hair, and tattoos cover so much of his exposed skin.
“Jacket thing?” What is he talking about? I lost my train of thought for a second.
“The cloth things that have, like, flowers on them and stuff. You got like ten of them in different colors.” He picks up his keys and wallet from next to the workout bench.
“Cardigan?”
“Sure, if that’s what it’s called.”