Rocky Mountain Angels (17 page)

The sound of Mari’s door opening dragged Eli’s attention away from the window and the snow that was floating down again. He rose from where he sat on the new love seat and tried to read her expression.

She brushed her hair back from her face and gave him a small smile. “Where’s the throw you bought? That plaid is nasty.”

Eli’s pulse picked up, and he started toward the bags he’d left by the door. Fishing around, he pulled out a package and ripped open the plastic. He was afraid to speak—afraid if he did, her next words would be “Goodbye, Eli.” Shaking out the taupe fabric, he draped it over the small sofa and adjusted it until it was even all around, his heart hammering in his ears.

Mari crossed the room and sat, looking up at him. She reached for his hand. “Sit with me.” Eli sat but still could find no words.

Wrapping both of her hands around his, her brows came together, and Eli braced himself.

“Eli,” —she paused and licked her lips— “I’m sorry.”

He bent his head and closed his eyes.

“Seeing Raina today put a face and a voice to your past that I wasn’t prepared for.” She squeezed his hands. “Next time, I’ll be ready.”

Eli looked up in confusion. “Mari, what are you saying exactly?”

She smiled, releasing a hand to stroke his cheek. “I’m saying that I let Raina wound me today. I let her almost take you away from me because of a little embarrassment. I’ve been babied and overprotected by five older brothers. It’s time to grow a thicker skin and fight my own battles.”

Eli sat stunned for a moment; then a smile slowly spread over his face. Pulling his hand out of her grasp, he flung his arm around her. “Come here.”

Mari scooted closer, and Eli hauled her onto his lap. She slipped her arms around his neck, and he held her tight. “You’re an angel,” he whispered before laying a tender kiss on her temple.

Mari giggled. “Actually, Eli, you are.” She pulled back slightly to look in his eyes. “You’re just one of my Rocky Mountain angels.”

Eli laughed, perplexed, but Mari cut off his question with a kiss, then another and another, and when they finally paused, Eli couldn’t remember what he wanted to ask.

Chapter 14

While Mari looked through college courses on her laptop in the kitchen, Eli worked on her house decor. His drill was noisy for a bit as he installed curtain rods; then it sounded like he was moving furniture. Mari didn’t let herself look—if she had learned anything this week, it was that she could trust him completely when it came to decorating. Everything he had done so far had contributed to a more peaceful environment. Mari quirked one corner of her mouth.
Even as he sent my personal life into a tizzy
. She turned her attention back to her computer screen and concentrated on the task of finding herself a new field of study.

She had a list of possibilities compiled when Eli appeared in her kitchen doorway. He seemed barely able to contain a grin and hooked his finger at her in a come here gesture. She started to get up, and he came to her side, offering his arm. She smiled, slipping her hand around his bicep, and he escorted her into the living room to begin the tour. She was nothing short of amazed at the transformation.

Scooting the love seat back three feet gave him room to bring the TV around in front of it, under the window, so Mari would still be able to see the lilac bush bloom in the spring. He had banked the picture window with the book cases and set the wicker bench under the window that faced Eli’s office.

She looked up at him grinning. “What? No bonfire?”

Eli put his hand over hers on his arm. “I was tempted, but then it occurred to me that it would be great for holding house plants or a cat cushion.”

Mari looked at it again, her eyes widening. “Yes. Why didn’t I think of that?”

He turned her around. “Because you were too focused on trying to sit on the blasted thing.”

He guided her to the sofa where several bright pillows picked up the colors of the artwork and gave the neutral sofa cover life. One apple green drapery panel had been pushed to one side on the black rods over each window then draped several times over the rod to form valances.

And in the bathroom, her smile turned into a grin as she took in the green and deep red towels hanging over the wooden towel bars coordinating with the new striped shower curtain. “Oh, Eli, everything is just perfect!”

He pulled her out with a sly grin. “There’s one more thing. Close your eyes.”

Mari complied, and Eli guided her forward three steps and turned her into the bedroom. “Can I open them?”

“Just one second.” Eli let go of her hand, and she heard a whirring sound. “Okay, go ahead.”

Mari opened her eyes and gasped. Seeing the spread in the store was nothing like seeing it on her bed. The rich red brocade edged in matching tassels was stunning, and the contrasting black pillow sham in the same texture carried the black of the canopy pipes into the bedspread design. In the same way, two small white lace pillows pulled in the sheer white canopy, and white lace draped over the black curtain rod echoed it again. The fading daylight was supplemented with the light of the small lamp on her dresser and only added to the romance.

Mari looked at Eli, her mouth agape.

Eli’s eyes narrowed. “So, do you like it?”

“Do I like it? Eli, it’s absolutely fabulous!”

Eli grinned as he stepped to the window, and Mari recognized the whirring she’d heard earlier as he lowered the white pleated shade. She reached over to flip the light switch and looked at it all again in brighter artificial light. It was still beautiful.

Mari sighed, and Eli meandered over to her side. She looked up at him, and the satisfaction in his eyes warmed her heart. “You did good, Eli Rhodes.”

He slipped an arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her head. “You were my inspiration.”

***

Joe pumped his fist in the air. “Yeah! Strike!” his yell of victory adding to the din of the noisy bowling alley.

Ben scowled. “I don’t know why your arms aren’t noodles after all that wall destruction this morning. I just scooped it up, and my arms are sore.”

Joe flexed a bicep as he walked back to the curved seating. “The more you’ve got, the more you can do, little brother. You need to visit my weight room more often.”

Ben shook his head. “Maybe when you get the basement remodeled.” He rose to take his bowling ball off the return. “Right now it’s just a haven for spiders. There are probably brown recluses down there.” Slipping his fingers into the ball, he moved to hit his mark on the floor. “Why don’t we put the exercise equipment in the parlor, since it’s totally bare right now anyway?”

“Hmm, I never thought of that. I guess that would work until you guys move out, and Beth moves in.”

Joe leaned back and crossed his arms as Ben lifted the ball to his chest. It had taken most of the afternoon to connect with Beth by phone, and when Joe finally got ahold of her, she already had plans for the evening with her roommate, Sheri.

Ben had spent hours alone in his room after his talk with Mari and seemed mad enough to kick a dog when he came back from helping Eli with her furniture. Joe decided the best thing for them both was to get out of the house.

He watched Ben’s approach and release, thinking he might get a strike, also, but he just took out the center eight pins, leaving a difficult split. He knocked down one more with his next ball, but that ended his game, while Joe had two more balls to roll for his strike.

Ben grimaced at the final score. “Well, you whooped my butt by thirty points.”

Joe slapped him on the back. “Better luck next time, kid.”

“Yeah, that seems to be my motto lately.” He leaned forward to untie his bowling shoes.

Joe knew he should say something about Mari, but he wasn’t sure what. He slipped off his shoes. “I know you were hoping that you and Mari... Eli told me that they are dating... anyway...” —Joe picked up his shoes and gestured with them awkwardly— “if you want to talk about it, I’m here.”

Ben nodded, and the two put their own shoes back on in silence. Ben set his bowling shoes on the bench beside him and sat back, looking straight ahead. Joe just waited.

“I really thought she was the one, Joe. Everything about her is just what I’m looking for. She’s pretty and funny, and there’s nothing fake about her.” Ben looked to Joe with a look of wonder. “And there she was at our synagogue, singing with the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard.”

Joe felt his throat constrict, and he nodded, trying to swallow.

“It means something to her, I can tell.” He threw up his hands. “And then she picks Eli, who doesn’t give a rat’s behind for any of it. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Joe reached over and put a hand to his shoulder. “Ben, if she were more your age, I’m sure...”

Ben jumped to his feet. “Why does everybody think that matters so much?”

Joe rose, and the two shrugged on their coats and started walking to the counter to return their shoes. “Sometimes it doesn’t. But both parties have to feel that way. Attraction is a weird thing.”
Weirder than I ever realized.
They laid their shoes on the counter and made their way to the exit. “You’d think that if one person felt that... that—”

“Zing,” Ben supplied.

Joe nodded, a corner of his mouth lifting. “That ‘zing,’ well, that both would feel it, but I guess it doesn’t always work that way.”

The sun had set while they were bowling. They walked across the well-lit parking lot to Joe’s truck. “So,” Ben continued, opening the door and climbing in, “you and Beth feel a mutual zing.”

Joe fastened his seat belt and started the engine. He stalled his answer whiled donning his gloves, not really knowing how to respond.

Ben’s brow furrowed. “Joe, you do feel something with Beth, right?”

Joe threw the truck in drive and pulled forward. “Sure, of course I do, it’s just...” He ground his teeth while Ben looked at him expectantly. “Sometimes I wonder if the ‘zing’ is over-rated. A solid marriage needs so much more than that, and how long can that last, really? It’s better to base your relationship on mutual interests and convictions—to be committed to each other rather than head over heals crazy for each other.” He paused and glanced at Ben. “At least, that’s what I think.”

Ben shook his head. “Gees, Joe, even if I’m just picking out a dog from the pound, there has to be some attraction between us. I’ll pick the one that runs to me excited and licks my face over the one that sits and looks the other way. Seems to me that attraction makes commitment deeper.”

Joe ticked his chin up and nodded a noncommittal response.

After awhile, Ben broke the silence. “If I never felt it with anyone, I wouldn’t know what I was missing. In that case, I guess I’d be happy without it.” He looked to Joe. “But what happens when you’re tied up with someone, and then that special someone comes along that has it all?”

“You remind yourself of your commitment,” he spat out louder than he intended. He took a few breaths and started again, quieter. “You remind yourself that the ooey gooey feelings don’t last, and you turn your face and your heart away from that person and back to the woman you married.”

Joe felt Ben’s penetrating stare on the side of his head.

“I noticed you didn’t say back to the woman you love, Joe.”

Joe adjusted his grip on the wheel. “That was implied.” He turned into their driveway and hurriedly turned off the lights and the engine, feeling the need to get away from Ben’s probing.
How did this conversation become all about me?
He got out and walked speedily to the house, but Ben stuck to him like glue.

“So if it wasn’t Beth, who have you felt it with?”

They trotted up the porch steps together. “Who says it wasn’t Beth?”

Ben grabbed the door knob first but didn’t turn it. He smirked. “That was implied.”

A muscle at the corner of Joe’s eye jumped. “Ben, open the door, please.”

Ben turned the knob and pushed the door open. Joe stormed past him and ran up the stairs without taking off his coat. He nearly ran straight into Eli at the top. “Have you been giving this kid lessons on being annoying?”

Eli look quizzically down at Ben as Joe pushed past him.

Ben called up, “Oo, zing, Joe, zing.”

***

Mari had hoped to bounce some of her field of study ideas off of Eli, but he had left after showing off his decorating, saying he needed to put in some work on the Marshall apartment designs, or Joe would have his head. So she sat down alone at her small table with a bowl of Hamburger Helper and the list she had made.

She had jotted down everything that had stirred anything inside her at all, but she was already marking off Dental Assistant.
What was I thinking? Looking in people’s mouths all day? Ugh!
She also scratched out History and Music as they seemed like fields that would have her teaching.

Mountain Field Studies sounded interesting, but she supposed it might have her out in the cold as much as a zoo. Criminology and Forensics were always made out to be exciting fields in the movies, but she doubted that she was cut out for either one.

She pondered Marketing and Web Design and looked through some of the class descriptions for each. She thought she probably would have to take a lot of catch-up classes in computer programming to do web design, even though it looked like something she might like. She knew nothing about marketing...
But that’s why I’m taking classes. There’s no point spending money to learn something I already know.

She put a star next to Marketing and continued down the list to Photography. She had a pretty nice camera and had always enjoyed taking pictures that were a bit out of the ordinary. She felt a spark of excitement and put two stars by Photography. She doodled around the edge of her paper as she tried on the title of photographer, picturing herself taking senior portraits and family reunion pictures.

The last thing on her list was Religious Studies. Mari set her pen down before getting up to get another helping of pasta from the skillet on the stove. She thought of Joe’s admonition to pray about her future and realized with some embarrassment that she had been in such a whirlwind since Thursday, she hadn’t given his advice another thought. Sitting back down, she paused before picking up her fork.