Trudy had said Eliot and his family were going to be her guests, so he wasn't allowed to cook dinner. He'd said she shouldn't have to cook it either, and they'd both refused to make everyone eat leftover funeral casserole ( Read more... )

The house had been quiet all night. The family spent about another hour at the hospice with Emerson's body before Trudy finally let them take him away, then everyone had gone back home. It was too late to call most people with the news, so there wasn't much to do that night but try -- and fail -- to sleep ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Eliot wasn't sulking. He was laying low. He didn't feel right leaving Trudy to clean up after their father's mess, but until Emerson Spencer had the grace to actually die and stop cluttering up the damn world, there wasn't a whole lot he knew of that he could do, other than stay out of the way.

So he was laying low.

( Not low enough to avoid being taken to school by his niece )

Eliot had dallied as long as he possibly could at Trudy's house, getting her family set up for lunch (most of them had already eaten breakfast) and chatting with his nieces and nephew, telling them increasingly outlandish, invented stories about his 20 years away. He even made it so far as offering to help Jake clean out the garage before Trudy ( Read more... )

"Right, so." Eliot stood by the rental car at the end of Trudy's driveway, suddenly realizing that this was it, this was Hardison's 'meet the family' moment. "Trudy said Ellie stayed at the hospice with Pop last night, but Cassie and Johnny and Jake'll be here -- and Trudy of course. . . ."

( The moment of truth! Or -- one of them, anyway. )

Eliot had slept in ( Read more... )

So it was Mother's Day. The day didn't usually sneak up on Eliot the way it had this year, but he'd been, well, distracted. What with Fandom and his crew and all the wonderful and terrifying things that came with Fandom and his crew. So when he woke up Sunday morning and realized it was Mother's Day and he hadn't set up his usual flower delivery ( Read more... )