Julia lowered her arm. “Yeah, it’s being shipped to Uniontown though, so you don’t have to go clear to Pittsburgh.”
Chad agreed. “Okay, I’ll go get dinner, you get all cleaned up, and then we can just relax.”
Heaving herself from the chair with a whimper, Julia nodded. “Sounds good. Thanks, Chad.”
On a whim, he leaned down to kiss her before he stepped off the porch.
It felt like a remarkably normal thing to do.
* * *
When Chad got back with the grease-splotched paper bag, he let himself into the house and called for Julia. Hearing no reply, he walked through the dark living room to the bedroom door and peeked inside to see her lying across the bed fully clothed, sound asleep, with one hand tucked under her lipstick-marked cheek.
Sighing and resigning himself to another evening alone, Chad plodded to the kitchen and removed his dinner from the bag. He put Julia’s share in her fridge and sat on the back step to eat his burger, sharing his fries with Ringo.
Once his trash was tucked in the can, he returned to Julia’s room, removed her shoes, shook out a folded quilt from the foot of her bed, and spread it over her. Tenderly, he bent to kiss her cheek, patted Ringo’s head, checked on George and the kittens, then backed from the room and turned out the light.
He locked the front dead bolt with a solid and depressing click, turned out all the lights, then left by the back door where he could lock the doorknob and pull the door closed.
Chapter Eighteen
Julia’s eyes blinked open and she jerked to a sitting position. What time was it? What had happened? Looking down, she saw that she was fully clothed. Groping around her desperately, looking for her phone, she realized that she must have fallen asleep when Chad left.
Ringo jumped on her lap, reminding her that he needed to go out, so she rubbed her hands over her face and scooted to the edge of the bed.
George stared up at Julia, the kittens nursing. “Morning,” Julia mumbled.
Staggering to the kitchen, she found her phone on the counter and scooped it up on her way to let the dog out. As Ringo did his duty, she checked for missed calls. Clicking the phone off, she let Ringo back in and headed for the coffee maker.
As the machine bubbled and perked, Julia wandered to the fridge and tugged it open. Sure enough, on the top shelf sat a paper-wrapped burger in a red and white striped cardboard basket with fries on the side. The thought of cold greasy food made her empty stomach turn, so she closed the fridge.
According to her phone, she really needed to bathe and get dressed. Quickly, she poured herself a cup of coffee and headed up the stairs, stirring the coffee as she walked.
* * *
As Julia cleaned the dinner dishes, with thoughts of the shop rattling through her brain, thundering like ten lanes of traffic over a bridge, she sighed. Wide rolls of tissue paper with a dispenser and cutter, foam blocks to support arrangements, supplies of dried baby breath, ribbon, cards.
Gloria materialized out of the depths and crossed Julia’s mind for the umpteenth time. Julia knew what Tara thought of Gloria, but how did Gloria feel? Did she see herself as the type that a guy didn’t take home to mother? Gloria had seemed sweet enough, maybe even vulnerable.
Or maybe, Julia thought, she was just picking up on everyone’s discomfort lately and read it as vulnerable. She wandered to the living room, her eyes roaming over all the preparations for the shop to open.
Reaching under the counter of the display case, Julia pulled out her stack of notebooks and a pen. “Come on, Ringo – let’s sit on the porch,” she said to the little dog.
Julia settled into a wicker chair, and Ringo wandered into the yard to sniff all the people smells of the day. George pushed open the screen and wandered languidly to a chair to join them. With one deft leap, she jumped into the chair and padded around the seat for a moment, then curled into a circle on her side, her black fluffy face touching her paws.
Rolling the rubber band off the top notebook, Julia reviewed her notes for the day as she chewed on the end of her pen. This notebook was filled with personal things she needed to do. Had she eaten? Not enough. She had bathed though – check. Apologize to Chad for falling asleep and missing dinner, was next on the list. There was still time for that.
As she ticked through the list, it became clear that she had managed to get through her day without forgetting anything major. She closed the notebook and wrapped the rubber band back around it. The second notebook was shop business, which still had a long list of items to do, but she was too tired at the moment.
The third notebook was the most worn and dog-eared and contained her list of long-term goals. She hadn’t opened this one for weeks but instead had carried it around with her stack of notebooks, pretending she’d get to it.
Staring down at the notebook in her lap, Julia smoothed her fingers across the cover. The book was a painful reminder of all the things she could never do. Every time she’d tried to work on it, instead of feeling hopeful and engaged in creating her future, she’d felt defeated and hopeless. Just finding things to write in it that were in any way attainable had seemed impossible. More than being a book of goals, the book was a pathetic reminder of her limitations.
Resolutely, Julia rolled the rubber band down the cover, and it twisted and dropped to lay curled in her lap. Slowly, she thumbed through the pages of jumbled handwriting to the last page she’d written just after arriving in town. Her eyes scanned down the page and with each item on the list, her eyebrows rose. The notebook dropped to her lap as she stared blankly across the yard.
Finally, after the moments of shock had ticked away, Julia lifted the book to scan the list again. Only seven items were written for the month of May -- work on the yard, buy a stove, get a bed, practice going up steps, increase upper arm strength, try to cook, and find a grocery store.
Thinking back, all those items had been things she needed to do, things that were out of her comfort zone. However, looking at the sad little list now, she realized that she had not only attained all those goals, but she had completely overshot them.
Her yard was the prettiest in town (well, except for maybe Winnie’s.) She loved to cook on Bessy, her bed was comfortable and beautiful and— thoughts of Chad interrupted her train of thought. Shaking her head, she refocused and glanced back to the page.
Just that morning she had hurried up the steps stirring her coffee, and she’d been lifting and moving things for the shop for days. She’d found not only a grocery store but also the boutique and Fergus’ greenhouse. Her house resembled something from a magazine. She snorted under her breath. Friends and a lover had been the last thing she’d have ever written down. Those had been unattainable dreams, locked away in the back of her mind.
What had happened to her in the last few weeks? Had she truly changed that much?
Chad’s truck stopped in front of her house, interrupting her thoughts. He climbed from his truck and the evening sunshine sparkled across his dark hair as he smiled and lifted a hand in greeting.
Warmth spread through Julia’s veins, causing her heart to melt. As he approached the porch, Julia studied his walk, his hands, his dark, stubbly jaw. Everything about him was exactly what she would have chosen in a boyfriend lineup. And he was here to see her.
* * *
Stepping up onto the porch, Chad bent to plant a light kiss on Julia’s cheek. “Hi beautiful, did you get some sleep?”
Julia smiled up at him, a faraway look in her eye.
“You okay?” he asked, bending to scratch Ringo between the ears, concerned that Julia, with her expression dreamy, appeared to be lost in space. “Hello? Earth to Julia?”
She jolted, almost as if his comment had knocked her back into the present. “Huh?” she mumbled, her lashes blinking.
Slowly, Chad lowered himself into a wicker chair, his wary gaze on her face. “I asked if you got enough sleep.”
Julia smiled crookedly. “Yeah. I did. Thanks.”
He paused, trying to comprehend her odd behavior. “You seem kind of— out there,” he stammered. He’d seen her scared, hurt, angry, embarrassed, passionate, and confused, but this was definitely new. “So—what were you doing?”
“Oh,” Julia gasped, “I was just going through my notebooks.” She picked up the book in her lap and waved it vaguely.
Chad relaxed a little and nodded; he knew about this. “Which one is that?”
Julia looked as if her hand had been caught in the cookie jar. “I was just—I was looking at stuff I’d written.”
“Obviously. Isn’t that what you do with these?” he asked, pointing to the other notebooks in her lap.
Squirming in her chair, Julia appeared to collect herself. “Yeah, I— this one is long-term stuff. I hadn’t looked at it for a while.”
“Checking up on your progress?”
She nodded. “Something like that.”
The conversation lagged and Chad’s neck started to itch under Julia’s penetrating gaze. She looked as if she were contemplating eating a tempting dessert. Wait! Could this mean? “What are you thinking?” he asked, hope mounting south of the border like a sunrise.
Julia smiled a warm slow smile, her eyes going soft again. “I was just thinking about how everything has changed.”
Not the response Chad had been hoping for, so he tried again. “Like what?” he asked, hoping he was in there somewhere.
She glanced away and shrugged. “Oh, everything. The shop, the house, Tara.” She paused and looked back, her gaze as hot and liquid as molten lava. “You...”
He stiffened as all the blood in his body surged to his lap. “What about me?” he almost whispered, his hopes spiraling upward, his thoughts scattering as if a tornado had hit the porch.
She glanced at him shyly behind her lashes.
That’s all it took -- and Chad was ready. He clenched his fingers into the arms of his chair, forcing himself not to jump up and scoop her into her arms, then run pell-mell into the house. This was it, the moment he’d been waiting for and trying to instigate for a week, and he didn’t want to blow it.
He cleared his throat. “Julia—” His voice cracked and he tried again. “Would you like to make love with me. Right now?”
She blushed and nodded.
His fingers tightened on the chair, his knuckles white. “You know that I want to be with you for as long as you’ll have me, right? This isn’t just a fling.”
Her expression was growing serious. “I want to be with you, too.”
Chad jumped from his chair, and it scuttled backward into the porch rail. Forcing himself to slow down, he reached out to take her hand. When she laid her palm across his, he could feel her trembling. His heart raced as he struggled to appear calm.
“Come on, Ringo,” Chad called to the dog. The little dog trotted up to the porch and followed them into the house. “Dog in or out of the bedroom?” he asked Julia.
She giggled. “I don’t know. Out, I suppose.”
“Okay,” Chad said as he locked the front door. Tugging Julia gently behind him, he paced to the bedroom, concentrating on deep, even breaths. “Where is George?” he asked himself, more so than Julia, as he glanced through the dim room toward Ringo’s bed. To his utter delight, George lay sleeping, curled around her kittens.
“Stay right here,” he said to Julia, then turned and sprinted to lock the back door and toss his cell phone on the kitchen counter.
When he returned to the bedroom, Julia had slipped off her shoes and socks and lay on the bed leaning on one elbow. She smiled and his breath caught in his throat, his pulse surging.
Carefully and quietly, he shooed Ringo from the room, then closed and locked the door. “Do you have anything you need to say, or something to tell me before—”
Julia’s brow creased. “I don’t think so.”
He swallowed and sat on the end of the bed. “Anything you’re worried about, or—or forgot?”
She giggled and shook her head. “No, I think we’re good.”
All the tension drained from Chad’s body as he neared the bed, his entire focus caught and held in Julia’s dark eyes. He went to her then, his heart open, and as he held her, touched her, kissed her – she was the only reality in his world.
She met him willingly, all warmth and womanly smells, her skin like silk under his work-hardened hands. The sounds she made, her movements under him, pushed him to a place he’d never been.
Carefully watching her every response, her gentle gasping sighs, the toss of her head, the flash in her eye, he became acquainted with all things Julia.
* * *
Julia pulled her truck up to the bed and breakfast and craned her neck, looking for a place to park. Cars and trucks were parked at all angles behind the barn, under trees, and up both sides of the driveway. People of all ages, sizes, and shapes flocked across the yard and porch, some carrying covered dishes of food, others carting chairs and tables, or chasing kids and toting babies.
Old ladies relaxed in the shade of the porch, gabbing like hens, and old men gathered in the open door of the barn, swapping stories and fanning themselves in the summer heat.
Julia reached over to the passenger seat for the pasta salad she’d brought for the potluck and hopped from the truck. As she crossed the yard, people called to her and waved. She smiled and waved back.
On the porch, Winnie met Julia at the steps and took the salad bowl, giving her a peck on the cheek. The old woman’s bright eyes twinkled as she regarded Julia thoughtfully. “You’re different somehow,” the woman said with a sly smile.
Julia shrugged and blushed, causing Winnie to chortle as she turned to take the salad in the house.
Following her elderly friend, Julia noticed that the inn was designed for people to gather in cozy sitting areas and to congregate in larger groups.
The kitchen was bustling with activity, women babbling and uncovering food, clinking dishes and silverware. Children ran around their feet, chasing a dog someone had brought. Julia was glad Ringo was safe at home; he’d be terrorized by this group.
“Your shop looks like it’s going to be a huge success,” Becky said with a grin as she squeezed up next to Julia. “From what I hear, the town plans to buy up everything in the first week.”
With a shrug, Julia blushed and laughed. “I have my work cut out for me to get all the paperwork done, that’s all I know for sure.”
“I’ll come by next week and help you with it if you’d like.”
Admitting that she would appreciate that, Julia relaxed into the warmth of the gathering and gave Becky a warm hug.
Becky turned away to swat a teenage boy out of the desserts, so Julia left in search of Tara, finally finding her surrounded by women in the dining room. She gave her a hug, but the craziness kept them from being able to speak more than a few words of greeting.
Joining the folks on the deck setting up tables and chairs, Julia chimed in on the conversation, laughing as she shook out a tablecloth Marge handed her, and wafting it across a table.
A warm hand on her back sent shivers down both arms, and she turned to smile up at Chad. They stood quiet for a moment, the crowds and noise forgotten. Warmth spread through Julia’s chest and contentment radiated around her.
The women in the kitchen called for everyone to come eat, and the crowds began to move toward the open door and the mixture of tantalizing smells. Julia and Chad wandered the opposite direction to the far side of the deck in the shade, where she leaned against the rail, feeling suddenly feminine and a little shy.
Chad smoothed his palm across her glossy curls, pulling her to his chest and holding her to him. She sighed and closed her eyes, her arms slipping around his back.
Finally, she was truly happy, and she’d enjoy it for as long as it lasted.
* * *
People lingered as the meal wound down, swapping stories of Justin and Tara, who reigned at the head of the table. Laughter rang across the yard where children ran, their
hoots filling the afternoon air.
Finally, Justin stood and announced it was time to gather the folks in the wedding party and get on with the rehearsal. The women not in the ceremony began gabbing as they collected dishes and silverware from the tables, and the men folded tables and moved chairs with a clatter.
Julia and Chad followed the wedding party into the living room. Tara pulled Julia close with one arm around her shoulder and introduced her to the pastor, who pumped her hand up and down enthusiastically.
“My wife is so excited for your little shop to open,” the man drawled. “It’s all she can talk about.”
Tara gave Julia’s shoulder a squeeze.
The group shifted as more people shuffled into the room, and Tara informed the pastor of everyone’s assigned place in the wedding party. She spoke briefly about where everyone should stand, then the group headed back out to the deck where the tables had been cleared away and the chairs had been arranged into two groups with an aisle down the center.
The pastor was led to his position in front of the pool, his eyes darting through the crowd, which was clearly enjoying the festive air of the wedding rehearsal.
“Justin,” Tara called over the crowd. “Grab Julia and Chad and line them up by the French doors, then get down here.”
Shoving Chad to get him to stop gabbing and get in place, Justin nodded to Julia as she stepped into position, then headed down to the pool to stand near the pastor.
“Ms. Maid of Honor,” Chad said, grinning, as he took Julia’s arm.
“Mister Best Man,” she echoed back with a laugh.
Tara trotted back up toward Julia to position the flower girl and ring bearer, pausing to hug them both. Just as Tara stepped into line behind Chad, a rumble of raised voices emanated from the kitchen, causing a ripple of heads to turn toward the house.
Mac burst from the dining room, his eyes wide. “There you are!” he said, grabbing Chad by the arm. “Thank God I found you.”
Hometown Series Box Set Page 52
