Perfect Fit (Small-Town Secrets-Fairview Series Book 4)

by Sophia Sinclair

  The kids were having a great time but Julie grew more and more ill at ease, because it was clear that she and Nick were in over their heads. Eddie quietly ate his food with great gusto, not bothered at all by the hijinks of his siblings. Lizzie was trying to be on her best behavior. But Tori and Georgie were in rare form. Tori kept slipping off her chair and running around. Julie had eaten almost none of her tenderloin, because after the third time she’d had to swoop down on Tori and put her back in her seat, she’d given up. Now she had both Tori and George on her lap, and both were squirming. Nick eventually offered to take Georgie, but that just meant neither of them could eat their food.

  “What was that you were saying about how great it would be to have a big family?” Julie asked.

  “Well, I’m thinking if you work up to it, maybe it’s easier. We’re jumping in unprepared. Or maybe two or three kids is a better number for me. Georgie had dragged a sticky hand over Nick’s head, and for the first time, Julie was seeing him with his hair messed up. Syrup made a poor hair gel, she noted.

  Nick didn’t even order his apple pie. He was ready to get the kids out of there. Julie surveyed the damage. “We better leave a really good tip,” she whispered.

  “I know. I might have to take out a loan to cover it,” he joked.

  As they were making their way out of the restaurant, a childless couple at the first booth, who had been watching them with dismay all through their meal, shot Julie a dirty look.

  “Betting our tax dollars are going to support all those kids,” the man hissed to his companion.

  “Maybe we should tell them how babies are made,” the woman said. “By the looks of her, she’s been popping them out since she was 16.”

  Julie’s eyes met Nick’s and she felt overwhelming temptation hit. She knew she shouldn’t do what she was thinking, but she couldn’t help it. With Georgie in her arms, struggling to get down, she turned to Nick and casually remarked, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Doctor down to the clinic says I’m knocked up. Yer gonna be a daddy again!”

  Nick got what she was doing immediately. “Dang, girl, did you ask him how this keeps happening?”

  “No idea,” Julie said. “I just hope this’un ain’t messed up from all the drugs.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll switch from meth to booze. I hear it’s healthier for young’uns.” Then he gave her a good smack on her butt and winked at the couple in the booth.

  He’d finished paying for their meal by then. The cashier hadn’t seemed to notice anything remarkable about their conversation at all. She just said, “Have a nice day!” very pleasantly as she handed Nick his receipt. But the couple in the booth looked like they were about to explode.

  Nick and Julie waited until they were out of the restaurant before they started laughing. She could barely get Georgie into his carseat for her laughter, and Nick struggled to get Tori strapped in. Tori wanted to know what was so funny.

  “Nothing,” Julie said, her voice still quivering. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I liked that place,” Lizzie said. “How come we never ate there before?” Evidently, while Nick and Julie considered the outing a disaster, the kids had found it to be fine entertainment. They asked if they could go there again the next night.

  “We’ll see,” Julie said. She sounded like her mother, or like Jolene. But now she understood why they said it so much.

  When they returned, they found Jolene reading a book, her feet up and a glass of ice tea nearby.

  Before they could say a word, Tori ran in and threw herself into Jolene’s arms. “Mommy! Mommy! Guess what! Aunt Julie is having a baby!”

  Jolene shot a look of surprise at Julie, who laughed.

  “No, I’m not. Physical impossibility. But there was a super-judgy couple who seemed to think Nick and I were a couple of irresponsible baby-makers, and we couldn’t resist a little play-acting.” She paused. “I think you had to be there.”

  “Well, by the look of Nick’s hair, I’m guessing it was a learning experience for both of you, huh?”

  “What?” Nick asked. And then he did the hair thing and understood. “Ah, yeah. Georgie and syrup don’t mix,” he said.

  “Did you enjoy your evening off?” Julie asked.

  “I did,” Jolene said. “Mostly because I was imagining a scene that apparently was pretty accurate. How many glasses got overturned and how much stuff broke?”

  “Not that many,” Eddie said. And then his eyes got big and he ran off at top speed to use the bathroom.

  “He may have had multiple glasses of root beer,” Julie casually confessed.

  “It was nice of you guys to take them all for an evening,” Jolene said. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve had an evening all to myself.”

  “It was fun,” Nick said. But Julie assumed he was just being polite.

  The kids were pulling on Nick’s arms, wanting to show him their rooms and the playroom and various pictures they’d drawn. But he said he wanted to talk to Julie for a little while first, and Jolene sent them off to play outside.

  “I think I’ll head outside to keep an eye on them,” Jolene said. “You guys deserve a little kid-free talk time.” She went off to the backyard, leaving them alone.

  “Jolene seems to be doing well,” Nick said when she was gone.

  “She does seem to be. I hope that she is. She’s not really talking about the Ken situation. Part of me wonders if I need to think about a new place to live, though. He’s got the month in rehab and then he’s coming home. If he’s really going to live here, he’s probably going to want his study back. And I’ll be feeling kind of … extra.” Nick had held his arm out, and she snuggled up next to him.

  “Well, I have been thinking about that,” Nick said. “I have been considering something, but it’s probably a little too soon to discuss.” His arm tightened around her in a mini-embrace and she felt a rush of affection.

  “To discuss what? That you smell like pancakes?” She lightly kissed him on the cheek. “You taste like them, too. Georgie must have smeared some syrup on your face.”

  “Girl, I have syrup in places you’ve never even seen,” Nick joked.

  “At the rate we’re going, I will never see those places,” she said.

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” he said, his other arm circling around her and tightening around her in another embrace.

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “Well, I was thinking that the downtown loft apartment might be worth looking into,” Nick said.

  “Catarina’s place above her shop?” The thought hadn’t even occurred to her. The apartment’s proximity to his favorite ice cream shop was probably what got Nick’s attention.

  “Yeah. I’m just guessing it might not be horribly expensive. Not many people would want to live there, right? It’s up a steep flight of steps, so no family would want it. And this isn’t the kind of town with a hip downtown full of loft-living artists. I thought I might see how much she wants for it.”

  “But you said you actually really like spending time with your nephews, and that you like being able to do things to help out Patty. And you said it was allowing you to pay off your student loans fast.”

  “Having my own place wouldn’t mean I couldn’t spend time visiting my sister,” he said. “But you’re right, I wouldn’t be able to keep making mega-payments on my loans if I rented a place. It would just mean being in the same boat as everyone else. No biggie.”

  “But you’re basically talking about renting a place just so we can have sex?”

  “No. Not just for sex, Julie. I want to be able to spend some quality time with you, without kids or sisters or anyone else around. It could also be a quiet place for you to study. Oh, and maybe there might be a little bit of sex sometimes, too.” He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

  “A place where I could study in peace and have sex too? Wow! I don’t even know which option sounds better,” Julie joked.

  “You should wait to see i
f I’m any good in bed first.”

  “Yes, I have a 50-point checklist you have to pass.” Then she turned serious. “I think you have had a lot more sex than I have. I was never with anyone but Derek. I don’t think it’s the same for you.”

  “Definitely not the same. I have never been with Derek at all,” Nick said.

  Julie lightly punched his arm. “I’m serious.”

  “I had a long-term girlfriend in high school and another in college and there were two others who were short-timers. So four. Not so very bad, right?”

  “I’m just a little nervous about it.”

  “Why? It’s obvious just by our kissing that we’re compatible.” He kissed her again, proving his point.

  “Oh, you know. The thought of taking off your clothes for the first time.” She turned her head away a little, trying to hide her embarrassment.

  “I’ve seen you almost undressed. Did I not seem properly appreciative?” He reached out to touch her cheek, gently guiding her face toward his so he could kiss her again.

  “Oh, you did. But I’m still shy about it.” She took a deep breath. “I kinda feel self-conscious about my weight.”

  Nick just looked puzzled. “Seriously?”

  Now Julie wished she’d never brought it up.

  “Well, of course, you don’t feel self-conscious when you take off your clothes in front of someone for the first time. You’re a man, and you’re thin, and you have a huge ….” she placed her hands about a foot apart and raised her eyebrows.

  “Whoa,” he said, and reached out to move her outstretched hands a lot closer together. “I think you overestimate me.”

  “I might be exaggerating a little, but you have to admit you’re rather … well-endowed.”

  “I have a sneaking suspicion Derek might have been a little on the small side,” Nick said. “I’m not that much bigger than average, honestly. Maybe just a lot bigger than your previous experience.”

  He paused. “And you have no reason to worry about how your body looks naked. No. 1, I’ve seen most of it and you’re beautiful. No. 2, I’m not dating you just for your looks. No. 3, if you don’t think I understand what it is to be embarrassed by your body, you’re wrong. I nearly died worrying about what my first girlfriend was going to think of my body. I was so skinny I looked like I had just recovered from some dread disease. I’ve always been too skinny. I eat like a horse but I can’t gain weight. I’ve been lifting weights and drinking protein shakes like a madman for the past year, and I’m much stronger, but now I’m just a skinny guy with more muscles. That’s just my body type and I can’t change it. No. 4, if you haven’t noticed, my body likes your body a lot.”

  Julie was blushing and knew it. She buried her face in Nick’s neck, thinking to hide her red face, but as her lips touched his neck, she couldn’t help but start kissing him there. His immediate reaction was so encouraging that she kept it up, kissing a line from near his ear down to his throat. The fine hairs on the back of his neck rose up, and she dragged her fingertips through them, earning her a small moan.

  “Julie,” he breathed. “You’re killing me, you know.” He shifted his position slightly, obviously trying to make some room for the sudden bulge in his pants.

  She faked innocence. “I don’t know what you mean. I just wanted to kiss you a few times.”

  In response, he cupped her face in his two hands and kissed her thoroughly. There was nothing gentle or romantic about it. His mouth simply ravished hers. All the passion he wanted to express with his body was limited to what he could do with his lips and tongue, so he was making the most of it. His tongue roughly invaded her mouth in a way that, she instinctively knew, foretold what he would do to her body once they were alone. And she felt swept along on the current of his passion, trying to kiss him back but mostly feeling that she could only accept everything he did. Finally, he pulled away, breathless.

  “I don’t want to hear another word about you worrying how I’m going to react to your body, OK?” He stood up, inelegantly rearranged the front of his pants, and announced it was time for him to go home.

  “But I’ll call you tomorrow, and I might have some news,” he said.

  Julie weakly nodded. She felt so overwhelmed that she didn’t even walk him to the door.

  Chapter 15

  Julie drove around the downtown square the next morning before heading to campus for classes. It was early, and there was almost nobody out and about. Only the small artisan bakery was open. It did a brisk early-morning business, and she was tempted to run in for a sweet roll. But she resisted. She needed to get to class. But she pulled over briefly in front of Loveridge’s. The business had been there her whole life — longer than almost any other downtown business — but she’d never given it a thought. Certainly she’d never considered that the building would have an apartment over it.

  In larger cities, she knew, living in lofts was the hip thing. But here in Fairview, trends were slow to take off. She looked around. If there were other upstairs apartments here above the other businesses, they probably weren’t the sort you’d see in a decorating magazine. Or maybe they were. What did she know?

  Loveridge’s had a pretty sofa, chair and table grouping in the window, complete with a board game set up on it as if a family had just stepped away from a game. She got out of her car and parked, holding her fingers up to the glass so she could see further into the dim interior.

  There were a couple of work tables with furniture under construction. She peered through the door. Some recent carpentry work had been done, it looked like. Apparently, someone had been remodeling to separate the entrance to the shop from that of the apartment above. It looked to be a project in process, so she guessed the “for rent” sign to be recent, perhaps giving Nick a better chance at scoring the apartment. She scanned the notice again, seeing if the cost of rent was mentioned and she’d just missed it last time. But it didn’t say.

  Well, she certainly wasn’t going to be paying for it, so that was Nick’s concern. She glanced at her phone and saw she’d lingered long enough. She turned her thoughts to her classes and drove to the first one.

  At lunch, she checked her phone and saw that she'd had a text from Nick: “Meeting with Catarina at apartment @6. Want to come?”

  She could do that, and quickly texted that she’d be there. Then she pushed it out of her mind. Her classes were demanding; she couldn’t afford to spend time daydreaming about being alone with Nick.

  At 6, she arrived to find Nick already in front of the building, and Catarina walking up the block.

  “I hope you weren’t waiting long,” she said. “I left the babies with Remy at the ice cream shop.”

  “Not at all,” Nick said, and he held out his hand. “I’m Nick. We spoke on the phone.”

  “Catarina,” she said, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake.

  “We had ice cream there the other night,” Julie said. “The lady — Zora? — told me you’d had twins. I hadn’t heard. Congratulations!”

  “Thanks. They’re a handful. Two handfuls. Remy and his brother and my friend Tanya, who is also my sister-in-law, are working on some new flavors tonight but they won’t be getting anything done until I get back there. So I’ll give you two a quick showing, if that’s OK.”

  Nick and Julie both quickly murmured their assent and Catarina unlocked the front door. “This will be finished off in the near future,” she said. “It looks a little rough right now. My brother-in-law is doing the work as he gets a chance. It was all one entrance when I lived here. I want to have a separate entrance for tenants, of course.

  “Do you still do any reupholstery?” Julie asked.

  “Very little right now. Mainly just established customers. I plan to get a nanny soon, though, so I can work at least a couple days a week. To be honest, we are all completely overwhelmed with the babies right now.”

  “We get that,” Nick said.

  “Oh, do you have children?” Catarina asked him, as
she turned on a light and started up the stairs.

  “No, it’s just that we both live with our sisters right now, and they both have children we’re helping with. That’s how we met, actually. My sister had to go back to the hospital and I didn’t have a clue how to take care of a newborn myself, so Julie came right over and saved the day.” Nick was smiling at the memory.

  “Julie’s good to have around in an emergency,” Catarina said. “I’m sure she’s told you the story of the emergency birth she handled during a party.”

  “Parts of it,” Julie said. She turned to Nick. “I’ll tell you the whole thing later.”

  “Here we are,” Catarina said, opening another door and turning on another light.

  Julie had heard from Lori that Catarina’s loft was something else, but it truly had to be seen to be believed.

  “I have left most of the furniture,” she said. “It didn’t really mesh well with the new house, and some of it wasn’t very baby-friendly. So what you see is what you get. I did move the trees to the ice cream shop. I’m not here often enough to take care of plants. But if you do move in, there’s so much light that plants do wonderfully here. Even potted trees.”

  The loft’s main room was beautiful and light and looked, visitors often exclaimed, like the inside of a Romany vardo. Lots of midnight blue and crimson velvet. Off to the side was a kitchen with a long wooden table, around which sat charmingly mismatched chairs.

  Julie couldn’t help but imagine herself having coffee in this kitchen, her laptop and books scattered across its surface as she studied. The light would be wonderful for drawing, too. She trailed her fingers along the table as she inspected the rest of the kitchen. It wasn’t fancy, but everything was in perfect order.