Temporary Father (Welcome To Honesty 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

by her collar.
    By the time the fire trucks arrived, they’d all been covered in black soot, he and his mom hugging each other in the rain. Both crying, though she’d never cried before or since.
    No one had noticed his burned hands that day. When his mom had grabbed him by both of them the next morning, he’d said he’d burned himself going back for her.
    Guilt had made her face different—like she hurt. Maybe that was why something had been chewing on his guts ever since.

CHAPTER THREE
    “Y OU ASKED A IDAN over here for hot dogs and you didn’t tell me?”
    “Hold it down, Van. Eli will hear that you’re upset with me.” She laid a piece of salmon on the grill. Mrs. Carleton’s sister was still sick and Beth felt safe taking liberties with her kitchen.
    “Don’t use your son to shut me up. I told you to stay away from Nikolas.”
    “I didn’t say a word about a loan. You’re right. I can’t ask him for help.”
    Van opened the fridge and brought back spinach and feta. “You sound upset.”
    “I am.” She shrugged. “He could have been the answer to my prayers. Instead, I’m still looking.”
    “Are you all talking about that guy in the cottage?”
    Beth and Van turned.
    “Did you meet him, too, Eli?” Van asked.
    “I’ve seen him going in and out.” Eli crossed the kitchen and plucked a grape tomato off the cutting board. “I can see the cottage from my window.”
    Beth passed him another tomato. “We’re supposed to leave him alone. Uncle Van says he’s here because he’s been sick and he needs quiet to get better.”
    “I think you should date him, Mom.”
    “Huh?” Beth turned, and the salmon she’d been in the process of flipping, splatted onto the floor.
    “You should date him.”
    “No, she shouldn’t,” Van said. “What are you talking about, Eli?”
    “I heard you. Mom wants to talk to him. It’s time you started dating again, and if he knows you, Uncle Van, he must have the bucks.”
    “Eli.” Beth bent to clean up the salmon. It slipped out of her hands. “Date him? Where’s that coming from?” Two tries later, she scooped up the fish and dropped it into the sink.
    “I told ya. You need money. He has it. We’d be okay if you went out with someone like that guy.”
    “We have all the bucks we need, and that’s no reason to date anyone. I don’t understand you. For the past three years, any time a guy’s looked twice at me, you’ve been upset. When those men who stayed at the lodge left a big tip behind, you thought they were trying to come on to me.”
    “That was before we found out they tore the mantel off the fireplace in their room.” A shrug made him look a decade older. “You need a life, Mom. I feel like a bug under your microscope, and I’m old enough to know you should be interested in guys. Idon’t expect you and Dad to get back together anymore.”
    “I’m the one who’s supposed to matchmake for you, Eli. You’re creeping me out.”
    “Most divorced moms date. My friends’ moms do.”
    “When the guy is right. And the time. I have to get us back into our own house.”
    “You worry all the time.” He grabbed the plates and silver she’d stacked on the counter. “I’ll set the table.”
    Stunned silence thickened in the kitchen as he rushed to the dining room. Beth turned to Van, still clutching the oily spatula. “That was too many firsts. I should date, I need a life and he’s setting the table without being asked.”
    “He’s hiding something. He thinks by going after you, he can keep hiding it.” Van popped a tomato into his mouth and turned toward the dining room door. “Sucks to be Eli.”
    “Wait.” She almost lost another piece of salmon. “What are you going to do?”
    “Drill for the truth.”
    “He’s been fragile since the fire.”
    “Which is why I want to know why he’s trying to find you a man.” Van paused, his hand on the door. “He’s been sullen and aloof and he avoids us. None of that is like