3 Buried Leads Read Online Free PDF Page B

that day in the hospital either.
    “Well, I’m glad to hear that,” Eliot said honestly. “I was hoping that maybe . . . “ He broke off uncertainly.
    “Maybe what?” I prodded.
    Eliot swallowed hard. He was clearly waging an internal battle in his own mind. “Do you want to have dinner with me?” He asked finally.
    I was surprised – and thrilled. “I would like that,” I said honestly. The sense of relief that was washing over me was a surprise – even to me. It was like the stress I had been carrying for the past month was just erased. Sure, my boss still hated me and Jake was avoiding me like the plague, but the Eliot situation was definitely looking up.
    Eliot seemed equally relieved by my response. “Really? This would be a real date, you know?”
    “I figured,” I said sarcastically.
    Eliot paused a second, then he fixed me with a hard look. “If I’m going to date you, then I’m going to date you.”
    “Isn’t that how dating usually works?”
    “For normal people,” Eliot replied. “You’re not normal, though.”
    “I’m better than normal,” I teased.
    “You are. You’re also frustrating – and you don’t listen for shit.”
    The warm glow I had felt when Eliot asked me out was starting to fade. “Are you asking me out or insulting me?”
    “Both. Get used to it.”
    “When do you want to have dinner?” I didn’t want the invitation to just sit out there and ferment. I wanted a definite plan of action. I was ready to move forward for a change.
    “What are you doing tonight?”
    Tonight? He was as eager as I was. “Nothing,” I said hastily.
    “Well, then let’s go out tonight.”
    I remembered my mom’s call from earlier in the day and slapped myself in the forehead. “Oh, I can’t.”
    Eliot regarded me suspiciously. “Why?”
    “Family dinner,” I explained.
    “Family dinner?” Eliot looked confused.
    “Once a week, I have to drive up to my family’s restaurant in Oakland County and have dinner with all of them. I’ve missed the last two weeks. If I don’t go tonight my mom will send out a search party – and it will be a really shrill and loud search party.”
    Eliot smiled despite himself. “Well, I guess that’s a good enough reason.”
    I was mentally toying with an idea. I couldn’t tell if it was a good idea or not, but I didn’t want to lose the forward momentum I was feeling. “You could come with me, if you want.” I had said it relatively quietly. I think Eliot was surprised by the invitation.
    “Go to family dinner with you?”
    “Yeah,” I plowed on. “It’s not a big deal. It’s pretty casual.”
    “Define casual.” Now Eliot was the one who was hedging.
    “We have a family table at the restaurant,” I explained. “All my aunts, uncles and cousins will be there.”
    “And your mom?” Eliot looked dubious.
    “And my mom.”
    “I don’t know . . . “ Eliot looked torn.
    “You don’t have to. It was just an idea.” I averted my gaze from Eliot.
    He regarded me for a second. “Why not.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah,” Eliot said. “I’ll have to meet them eventually. They’re just normal people, right?”
    Define normal. “Of course.”
    “And they’ll like me, right?”
    I looked at his long hair, white tank top, flannel shirt and the Native American tattoos on his forearms and realized one thing with absolute certainty: My mom was going to hate him on sight.
    “They’ll love you.”

Six
    Eliot insisted on driving to dinner – even though he had never been to the family restaurant before. I don’t think he trusted my driving. The last time he had been near me when I was behind the wheel I had accidentally hit him with my car. Personally, I blame him for running into the middle of the road. I don’t think he felt the same way, though.
    The restaurant itself was located an hour north of Detroit, in an area of Oakland County that was still more rural than urban. My great-grandmother had started it in the 1960s, and