She stood up. “Hey, kids, dinner is ready. Wash your hands,” she said, and scooped up Georgie and carried him to the sink to wash his hands for him. Then she put a ladle into the soup pot, carried the soup into the dining room and placed it on a trivet.
She dipped up a serving for everyone, garnishing each serving with chopped bacon, shredded cheese and chopped green onion. It looked pretty with the shreds of orange carrot and green spinach evenly distributed in the soup, and the colors were repeated in the cheddar cheese and the green onions. Nice. She took a picture of her own serving before she took the first bite and sent it to Nick. This wasn’t the kind of pic most guys requested of their girlfriends, she thought, and decided she appreciated Nick sticking to soup. So far, anyway.
Her phone vibrated again with another text from Nick: “OMG, amazing”
She smiled. At least he was easy to please.
“Is Mommy coming to dinner?” Eddie asked.
“I’m not sure,” Julie said. “She was feeling rough earlier. You want to go ask her?” Eddie ran off to knock on his mother’s door. To Julie’s surprise, she showed up a minute later, and acted like nothing was wrong at all. She even complimented Julie on the soup. It was Jolene’s particular recipe for potato soup: Nutritious and inexpensive, like most of her favorite recipes.
Julie had assumed she’d made enough soup for two meals but she was wrong; there wasn’t going to be enough left for another whole meal. Other than Georgie, who ate so little Julie often wondered how the kid could possibly stay alive, Jolene’s children were all excellent eaters. Georgie, Jolene claimed, would eat more when he was ready. So Julie tried not to worry, either.
Jolene ate a decent portion of the soup. Julie always watched that, because her appetite had been poor ever since Ken had so mysteriously left. She seemed nearly upbeat, in fact. She told Julie she’d take care of cleaning up after dinner and urged her to start studying.
“I can tell you can’t wait to get your hands on your microbiology notes,” Jolene joked.
“Thanks,” Julie said. She was totally mystified. She excused herself to her room and opened her laptop, glad to be getting started earlier than she’d expected. For two hours she lost herself in her studies, and then she checked her phone for messages.
Nick had texted her: “So you can make soup?”
Julie texted back: “Let me guess. You want soup lessons?”
“Have actually never had homemade soup, so maybe sometime. I know you’re busy during the week, but want to get ice cream tomorrow?”
“OK”
“7? First Remy’s and then hit Clipper afterward maybe?”
“Beer and ice cream. Can’t beat it”
She smiled, and found her appetite for microbiology was gone. Maybe it would be a good time to take a break and check on Jolene.
Jolene was reading a book on her tablet as the kids did one of their favorite things. They called it “making music” and it was maddening. They had several toy musical instruments. Eddie pounded a drum. Lizzie had a plastic slide whistle. Tori had a small xylophone she tapped incessantly, and Georgie just jumped around and shouted. Julie had to leave the room when they did this, but Jolene was unflappable. The children were so involved in making noise that they paid no attention to the women’s conversation.
“You seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood over dinner,” Julie said.
“I called my lawyer,” Jolene said. “He seems to think that Ken can take medical leave and go to rehab without being fired. He’s looking into the whole situation and thinks this could actually work out pretty well. He’s dealt with this sort of thing before and seems to know what he’s doing.”
“That’s good news,” Julie said slowly. How they’d get Ken to admit to his problem and agree to rehab sounded like a big obstacle to overcome, but she didn’t want to burst Jolene’s bubble.
“We are going to draft a letter and send it to him, laying out all our proposals for dealing with this.” Jolene looked more hopeful than Julie had seen her look in some time, so she encouraged her.
“That sounds great, Jolene. I hope it all works out.” She knew some women would be ready to throw in the towel at this point, but that her sister just wanted her husband to come home and for everything to be like it was. The trouble, Julie privately thought, was that it wasn’t likely to ever happen. Even if Ken did come back, she believed, nothing would ever be the same again. Not after a separation like this. But Jolene looked so happy.
She hugged her sister. “I will be gone tomorrow night, by the way.”
“Going out with Nick?”
“Yes. First for ice cream, then maybe for a beer at The Clipper.”
“It’s good to see you having a little bit of a social life. You’re 25, Julie. Not 45.”
Jolene had a point, Julie had to admit.
Chapter 10
The next day, Julie had a long day of classes, but she had a two-hour break in the middle of the day and decided to treat herself to a decent lunch for a change. There was a small sandwich shop on campus where she sometimes went. This semester, she occasionally ran into Lori Randall there. Lori worked as a nurse in the Emergency Room at Fairview Medical Center, but was studying to become an advanced practice emergency room nurse. They didn’t have any classes in common but now and then they ran into each other in between classes.
They had met when Lori’s friend, Molly, went into labor during Lori’s 1970s-themed housewarming party. Molly had been one of Julie’s clients. She had actually had a Hollywood-style quick labor and had given birth right on Lori’s bed during the party. Of all the births Julie had attended, Molly’s was by far the most notable. It had even been covered by the local media.
After delivering the baby together while waiting for the paramedics, Lori and Julie had become friends. Lori had briefly considered the nurse midwifery program, but in the end she decided to stay with emergency medicine.
Julie was happy to see that Lori was there today, eating a green salad. Julie had never seen the woman eat anything else. Julie had been planning to have a big roast beef sandwich with all the trimmings, but decided to follow Lori’s example and order a salad instead. When you were carrying a few extra pounds, it felt embarrassing to be the only one not eating a salad, she always felt.
She greeted her and brought her salad over to Lori’s table. Lori was reading a romance novel, as usual, but she popped it into her oversized bag when she saw Julie and seemed glad of the company.
“Anything new in emergency medicine?” Julie asked.
“I’ve been an ER nurse long enough that I’ve seen it all,” she said. “The big difference is I’m learning how to take more responsibility for things. Even though I’ll still work under a doctor’s supervision, it’s going to be different.”
“I’m so ready to be done with my degree. Even though I’m going to turn right around and start working on my master’s as soon as they’ll let me, I’ll at least be able to start making some money. Living with my sister is great in some ways, but I’m looking forward to being able to afford my own little place. My sister has four kids. There is no peace and quiet.” She took a big bite of her salad. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as good as their roast beef sandwich.
“You’re smart to plan to get your advanced degree as soon as you can, before life gets away from you. If you want to have kids in a few years, going back to school will only be harder.”
“Oh, I’m definitely not having any kids. I know that’s unusual for a midwife, but I’m only interested in helping other women give birth. I don’t plan to do it myself.”
Lori raised an eyebrow. “Never say never. Although it’s fine if you don’t. I had given up on the idea of kids, but now that Jake and I are about to get married, we’re talking about it. But not until I’m done with school. I want to be able to devote some time to them if I have them. And right now, I don’t have much free time.”
“Speaking of babies, have you seen Molly’s little boy recentl
y? How’s he doing?”
“Oh, he is an absolute terror! Molly and David are losing their minds. It’s hilarious. Apparently, her first three were mellow in comparison. He barely sleeps and has the energy of a dozen toddlers. He has three modes: Eating, sleeping and running. They can’t take their eyes off him for even a second. He’s always figuring out new ways to get into trouble. He’s too smart for his own good and Molly is exhausted all the time.”
“Oh, poor Molly. I know what it is to be sleep deprived. I love my nieces and nephews, but they exhaust me, and Jolene is going to have No. 5 in about four months. I have no idea how I’m going to manage.”
“You will. It’s surprising what you can do when you have no choice,” Lori said. She had finished her salad. “I have to get going, but it’s been great seeing you.” Julie finished her salad and eyed the treats on display. The chocolate chip cookies here were so good. But she resisted the temptation since she was getting ice cream later and slogged off to her last class of the day, looking forward to both Nick and ice cream.
Her sister hadn’t been wrong when she described Nick as a computer geek. Certainly, he wasn’t what she’d describe as cool. Chances are, she wouldn’t have been interested in him if she’d met him when they were in high school. Now, Derek … she’d met him in college and he had always been good-looking, popular and self-assured. Nick was very different from Derek. Nick was the sort of adorably geeky nerd who probably spent his high school years reading fantasy novels and playing video games with his equally dorky friends. However, there had to have been a girlfriend or two in his past. He didn’t lack confidence in the way he kissed and touched her, and she looked forward to experiencing more of that.
That evening, she had a light early dinner with Jolene and the kids, and then showered and got ready to see Nick. She took her hair down and styled the edges a little. She didn’t want to look too done up on a weeknight, but she did want to look good. Her goal was to make it look like she just naturally looked great without trying, so she put on her makeup with a light hand. She dressed casually in a cute but loose sundress that she thought did a good job of hiding her tummy. She wished she could either lose the weight or stop obsessing about it.
Nick picked her up on time, relieved that Jolene had corralled the kids into the playroom. Julie guessed that Jolene felt embarrassed to face Nick. She answered the door and gave him a quick kiss hello.
“You look good,” he said. “Hey, have you been to Remy’s?”
“I can’t even remember the last time I went downtown for anything,” she said. “I’ve heard it’s good, though.”
“It’s honestly the best ice cream I’ve ever had. If I could get a scoop of their vanilla on some pie from Vinnie’s, I would be in heaven,” he said.
“Well, if it’s that good, let’s get going,” she said.
The downtown was in its glory at the height of summer, with giant planters and hanging baskets of flowers and giant, colorful banners with “Shop Fairview” on them fluttering in the slight breeze.
“They’ve done a lot down here,” Julie said. “It’s nice. I don’t know why I don’t come here more often. Jolene and I should take the kids for some ice cream.”
“She should. It’s amazing.” They’d arrived and Nick held the door for Julie.
“Oh, I love the mural,” she said to the girl working behind the counter. It was a giant copy of the Van Gogh painting “Cafe Terrace at Night,” except all the little tables were full of families eating ice cream in bright sunlight.
“Isn’t it cool?” the girl said. “The owner’s sister-in-law did it. She’s an artist.”
“It’s awesome,” Julie said. “I love that she started with a famous painting.”
“Would you like a sample of this month’s special, Orange Dream?”
“We both would,” Nick answered for her. The girl gave each a tiny plastic spoonful of orange ice cream. It reminded Julie of a type of ice cream novelty she’d eaten as a child, but was somehow creamier. It was good, but she had her eye on the pistachio, her favorite. She ordered one scoop in a waffle cone.
Nick, on the other hand, had to try samples of three different flavors before finally deciding to have two scoops of the apple pie ice cream, which the girl explained was made by adding an entire apple pie to a batch of vanilla ice cream right at the end of the processing, so that chunks of it were swirled into the ice cream.
“And add some whipped cream,” he requested. He insisted Julie try his ice cream.
“It’s good, but the pistachio is actually better,” she said. “It has something different in it.
“Cardamom is the magic ingredient,” the girl said. “Also thanks to the owner’s sister-in-law.”
“Does she work here?” Julie asked.
“No, she’s busy at home with her baby,” the girl said. The name “Zora” was on her nametag. Zora had pinned her long black hair into a classic updo, that, along with her creamy brown skin and dramatic eye makeup, lent her an air of timeless beauty. Julie thought if she ever had any spare time, she’d love to draw her.
“Well, tell her I love her pistachio ice cream,” Julie said. “What’s her name?”
“Her name is Tanya. I’ll send her a text. She hardly ever comes in now that she has the little one to take care of. She did paint the babies into the mural, though. See the table right in the middle?” She pointed to the middle of the mural. It had two couples, one with a baby boy and the other holding a baby boy and a baby girl.
“Who are the other people?”
“It’s quite a story. The owner and his wife had twins the day after the owner’s brother and sister-in-law had a little boy. So if you look at the painting, that’s Tanya and Rhys with baby Danny on the left, and then Remy and Catarina with their two, Veda and Joey. It was good luck for me, because it meant with all those babies on the way they had to hire a full-time manager. Remy originally intended to run the place himself, but he’s far too busy now.”
Nick finished his huge portion before Julie finished her small cone, thanks to her chattiness. She reminded herself she was here to pay attention to Nick, not to engage in long conversations with other people.
“What do you think? Is their apple pie stuff as good as ours was?”
“Well, we didn’t think of mixing it with ice cream, but give us time. That’s the whole reason I’m dating you, you know. Free cooking lessons.”
“I suspected as much. But I’m getting beer and ice cream out of the deal, so I’m game.”
They waved goodbye to Zora and stepped into the warm summer evening.
“Let’s walk around a bit, OK?” Julie suggested. “I haven’t really looked at the downtown since they started working to revive it. It looks like there are some cool little shops now. And maybe we could walk off a little of the ice cream before we add beer.”
Nick agreed, and they noticed several new businesses. “It’s getting trendy,” he said.
“But there are still a few of the old places,” Julie said. She pointed to Loveridge’s on the corner. “The lady who runs this place was at the birth I did at that party,” he said. “She was there playing the violin. She’s an artist, too. Come to think of it, her name was Catarina. I bet she’s the one that Zora said married Remy and had twins with him. Can’t be that many Catarinas around.”
“Who is Zora?”
“Didn’t you see her nametag? She was that beautiful woman at the ice cream shop.”
“The one you were gabbing with when I was concentrating on eating delicious ice cream?”
“The very one.”
They looked in the window of the shop and saw a “for rent” sign taped to the door, advertising the apartment above the shop. “It must be the same Catarina,” Julie said.
“When she married Remy, she would have moved out of her shop apartment. I’ve always loved the idea of living in a loft. Too bad it’ll be long gone before I can afford to rent a place.”
“Technically, I could rent now
, but it’s too good of a deal to take all the money I’d spend on rent and utilities and throw it every month at my student loans. And honestly, I really like coming home to my nephews. Brad isn’t there until late, so when I come home, I give my sister a little break from the kids. Sometimes she hasn’t even had a chance to shower all day, so I play with them for a while so she can put herself together and make dinner. I started doing it just to help her out, but now I love it.”
Julie stopped walking and turned to face Nick.
“You said you didn’t really have a passion, but I think you were wrong. You’re a born family man, Nick. You probably should be dating somebody whose goal is to stay barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Maybe not someone who doesn’t plan to have any kids.”
Nick cocked his head and seemed to be thinking about what she said.
“I think you’re right that I love to be around little kids, but they don’t have to be my kids. I can always be a part of my nephews’ lives, even after I eventually move into my own place. You said you get plenty of kid time from your nieces and nephews. So maybe it’s the same for you. Or, maybe, you’ll change your mind in a few years.”
“Don’t count on that,” she said. But then she wanted to change the subject. It probably wasn’t such a great idea to discuss such heavy subjects as marriage and children on your second date. “Ready for that beer now?”
“Onward to The Clipper,” he said.
The bar was full, even on a weeknight. It was where everybody in Fairview went. It didn’t matter what your job was or how much money you made. Factory workers rubbed elbows with doctors. Stay-at-home moms got away long enough for a rare glass of wine with their mom friends before they were due back for bedtime duty. They might strike up a conversation with the career women in their suits who had stopped by for a drink after work. Some of the at-home moms looked forward to being career women later, and some of the career women dreamed of a future time when they’d stay home with babies — or fondly remembered the years when they had.
Young people like Nick and Julie who were already dating came here, as did other young people hoping to meet someone to date. Everybody was an equal here, and Ashley, the bartender, seemed to remember the preferred drink of everyone in town. If there was a single soul in Fairview she didn’t know, it was because they were under 21 or a teetotaler.
Perfect Fit (Small-Town Secrets-Fairview Series Book 4) Page 10
