Page 17 of Eli


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Dr. Elijah Farris—it had a pretty good ring to it.

When the phone started to ring, I knew exactly who it was. My mother must have been part demon because even thinking about her was enough to set her radar going. A quick glance confirmed it and I answered the phone, determined to get her off it quickly.

“Hello, Mother.” Setting my cup down, I tried not to sound as exasperated as I felt.

“Are you sure you can’t come back out this weekend?” Her confused tone set my nerves on edge.

Telling her no was easy, getting her to understand that no amount of badgering would change my mind was difficult. “Mother, we already had this discussion.”Three times. “I was out there two weeks ago. I have too much going on to just drop everything.”

Especially for stupid social events where she was trying to fix me up with women who’d never understand me. For one, I was gay, and for the other, when both of us wanted to be drama queens wearing panties, the insanity would just get to be too much.

I had no delusions about the kind of guy I needed in my life. Someone who wouldn’t mind my crazy leaking out on a regular basis, who liked keeping in charge of me—ideally while over his lap—and someone gay. That last one was kind of important. My mother would never understand that.

She meant well, but it was like we were from two different planets. I could play human when it was required, but I was from somewhere a lot more fabulous than Earth if she was the typical resident. She sighed. “But Elijah, you said you’d be out again soon.”

Soon did not mean two weeks.

“With school and my obligations here, you know that isn’t possible.” Going to school on the other side of the country from my family had been wonderful. Being able to drag things out by getting my MBA had been even better.

Yup, I was going to need a doctorate.

“I just never thought that when we allowed you to go to school so far away, it would mean we’d never get to see you.” She honestly didn’t seem to understand how ridiculous that statement was.

They’dallowedme?

My grandmother had been the only one in the family who’d been able to see past the perfectly normal walls I’d built around me growing up. So, knowing my family, she’d set aside a good chunk for my education to make sure I could go anywhere I’d wanted.

The trust had been designed to provide anything I might need for college and getting started in life, but my grandmother had worded it so it was vague enough that I could justify a lot. It had been enough to not only pay for college, but also for a house when I’d decided living in the dorms was a terrible idea and for the initial startup costs for the business. Plus, there’d been enough left over that I wouldn’t have to worry about anything financial while the business was still growing.

A generous grandma was wonderful, but a roommate in college who was majoring in finance and liked playing the stock market was even better. He’d made me a ton of money as long as I would walk around in something sexy once in a while; it had been a brilliant tradeoff as far as I was concerned.

Walking around in an old-fashioned dressing gown and stockings while he tried not to watch had been my first foray into showing off my desires. I was probably lucky he was a sweet closet case that was too nervous to try anything, or it could have gotten awkward. As it was, I just got a good friend who still stalked the site and gave great financial advice.

Grandma would have probably found the whole thing hilarious, but she’d died when I was a teenager. I could still remember right before she passed when she’d told me that no matter who I was inside, she loved me and wanted me to be happy. The money had made my parents crazy, but it’d been a lifeline for me.

If they’d known everything, my life would have been completely different. They loved me, but they saw things from a very narrow viewpoint. And when my father died last year of a heart attack, my mother’s ability to look past her own ideals almost disappeared altogether. So Elijah stayed in the closet and only went out to see the family when absolutely necessary.

The battle over choosing a college far away never really ended once I’d left. I had it every week or two when I couldn’t go home as often as she wanted. “Mother, we’ve also hadthisconversation before. I understand that you would prefer me closer, but I have a life and job here that I am not willing to walk away from.”

She thought I was an advertising executive. I kind of was, so I didn’t really think it was a lie, but it was about as honest as I was going to be until I absolutely had to. My head wasn’t buried so far in the sand that I thought I could keep everything separate forever, but I would keep it going as long as I could.

Eli loved arguing.

Elijah wasn’t really into drama and didn’t want his life blowing up.

“If you lived closer, it—”

Would make us both insane. “I visit every few weeks. You see me more than most sons who live in the same town as their mother.”

That earned me another dramatic sigh. “At least tell me you’re seeing a nice girl. I would like grandchildren eventually.”

We’d had that conversation before too. Well, something similar to the truth.

“I’ve also said that I don’t want kids, and I’m not looking to settle down with a woman. I like my life the way it is, and I’m too busy for anything serious.” I was also too busy for a “nice guy.” Although I could make room for a kinky one. But kids seriously weren’t an option. I could understand why other people wanted them, but I knew myself well enough to realize that it wasn’t for me.

I would be a damned good honorary uncle to somebody else’s kids, but that was about as close as I was willing to get. I wanted to be the nut throwing themselves on the floor in a tantrum, not standing around trying to act like a functional adult while a kid did it.

That was no fun at all.