Julie stopped pacing in her parents’ living room and faced her sister. Susan, looking cool and comfortable in a linen maternity top and pants, sat ensconced in an overstuffed chair. She also wore a rapturous expression as she dipped a hot pickled cauliflower into the bowl of lime sherbet that rested on her rounded abdomen. Julie made a disgusted noise. “That is so gross.”
Susan looked up, appearing surprised that she wasn’t alone, and then chewed hurriedly and swallowed. “What is?”
“Are you even listening to me?” Julie perched a hip on the end of the mauve leather couch across from her sister’s chair and crossed her arms.
“I’m listening. But you better be careful. I think Mom’s bugged the house.” When Julie made a face, Susan fished another piece of the cold vegetable out of the jar and added, “Look, kiddo, take some advice from your older sister. Let him go. Keep this up and it’s heartbreak city for you—and you alone.”
“I know, I know.” Julie stood up and paced the room, finally stopping to stare out the patio doors at the golf course. Pairs of Saturday golfers moved over the grounds like industrious ants.
She watched them a moment, before a sudden thought whipped her around. “Then why does he keep coming to me? I never go to him. He’s been at my door twice—okay, the first time Mom dragged him there—but he’s also come to my work. You were there. And then he showed up at my apartment on…what was it? Wednesday? Yeah, Wednesday—the same evening he took Caroline to the airport. And then, bam! He’s at my door with Aaron and wanting me to go eat with them.”
Julie watched as Susan dragged her treat through the sherbet. “How can you eat that? You’re making me sick.”
Susan pooh-poohed that notion with a dismissive noise. “You’ll understand one day. But, hey, did you go with him?”
“Yes. But I picked a fight. That’s why I’m an idiot.”
Susan chewed, looked thoughtful, and then wiped her chin with a napkin. “I don’t think you are. I think you’re protecting your heart against the day when you’re going to see those little napkins with the silver lettering up in Boston that say something like Mike Loves Caroline and the wedding date.”
Julie sat up straighter. “Is that what I’m doing—protecting my heart?”
“Sure.” Then she made a face. “I think so. I don’t know. Are you?”
Julie laughed and tugged at her rayon dress, straightening out the twists in it as it cascaded over her legs. “Thanks. You’re a lot of help.”
Susan grinned. “What are big sisters for?”
Julie crossed her arms and gave a derisive snort. “Yeah, right. If you were being a good big sister, you never would’ve let Mom invite Mike and Aaron here today.”
Susan managed to look guilty, but Julie didn’t believe it for a minute. “Oh, come on, Julie. I consider it a victory of sorts that Mom even asked you how you felt about them being here before she asked them. She must have gone through sensitivity training since I got married.
“And anyway, it’s not my house. I don’t issue invitations, and I don’t have a say in who gets them. She says she did it for Tommy. He’s been begging all week to see Aaron, and we’re leaving tomorrow. We just all sort of caved in, because Mr. Tommy thinks his new chum is pretty neat-o keen. You should have been here. It was so cute. Mom called Mike and then let Tommy talk with Aaron to ask him to come today.”
“I’m sure it was precious—two three-year-olds on the telephone.”
Susan smirked. “We got to hear all about you.”
Julie’s smile vanished. “What do you mean?”
“It seems, baby sister, that one young man, namely Aaron DeAngelo, is quite taken with you.”
Relieved that the name in question was Aaron, she smiled. “Yeah, he’s a cute little squirt.”
“Just like his father.”
“Shut up.”
“Whatever you say. Hey, where’re you going?”
Julie practically ran to the tiled foyer. “Was that a car?” She peeked out through the lace curtains. Yes, it was a car. But it wasn’t a Blazer. It drove on by, continuing down the wide road. She ignored the aching disappointment that gripped her belly as she let go of the curtain panel and turned back to the living room.
Susan called out. “You’re awfully dressed up today for a barbecue, Julie. Is that a new dress?”
Rounding the corner back into the room, Julie dragged herself to the couch and flopped onto it. “Shut up. I didn’t buy it because Mike will be here. I bought it because I like it.”
“And that’s the story you’re sticking with, right?” She then turned a mocking expression on her sister’s graceless repose. “Well, that’s attractive. I sit like that because I’m nearly six months pregnant. What’s your excuse?”
With her fingers interlaced over her belly, Julie just made a face at her. She then sat up attentively and twisted around at the sound of a door opening in the kitchen behind her. She listened for a moment, hearing voices. “Mom and Tommy are back.”
“She probably bought out the grocery store. Hey, ten bucks says Tommy has a new toy.”
Julie snorted and turned around, only to flop back down in her original position. “No way. That’s a sucker bet. Her only grandchild not get a new toy every time she leaves the house with him? Yeah, right.”
“Julie? Susan? Where are you, sweeties?”
The two sweeties grinned at each other. Susan quickly put her bowl and the jar on the mahogany table to the other side of her before calling out, “We’re in here, Mom.” She eyed her sister. “Not a word about my snack, either. Here she comes.”
“Like she can’t see the evidence.” Julie settled more fully into her ungainly flop.
“Here you are,” Ida said as she approached them, rounding the corner of the couch to face Julie. “Look who drove up right behind me!”
Instant déjà vu. She was holding Aaron DeAngelo’s hand.
“Aaron!” Julie bolted upright just as the little boy launched himself into her arms. She hugged him fiercely, even as she looked around for his father. But he was nowhere to be seen. Surely Mike hadn’t just dropped Aaron off and left. Well, it wasn’t important, because she had her arms full of his precious little guy. “How’s my friend, sweetheart?”
“I’m okay. I came to see my ‘nother friend, too-Tommy. He gots a new toy at the store. See? It’s bubbles, an’ he got me some.”
He pulled back to show her a red plastic bottle and a wand to match. “Hey, those are pretty nifty,” Julie said. “But where is Tommy?”
Ida answered. “He had to visit the bathroom. Come on, Aaron, let’s go get him, and then we’ll go out back and blow lots of bubbles.” She took Aaron’s hand and turned to her daughters. “Susan, put away that cauliflower before you make yourself sick. And then you two come on outside. It’s beautiful.”
With that parting comment, Ida disappeared into the dining room with Aaron. Julie raised an I-told-you-so eyebrow at her sister, who studiously ignored her at first, but then groused, “How does she do that?”
“You’re asking me?” Grinning, she jumped up to help Susan lever herself out of the chair. Susan picked up her bowl and the jar, taking them into the kitchen. Julie followed her.
“So,” Susan began, “do you suppose little Mr. DeAngelo did indeed drive himself here?”
Done with the dishes, Julie preceded her sister to the patio doors. She shrugged. “We’re about to find out, aren’t we?”
Aaron had definitely not driven himself the twenty or so miles south from Brandon to Sun City Center. Nor had he been dropped off for the afternoon. For there stood his tall, dark and handsome father by the screen-covered pool. Julie’s heart dropped at the sight of him, one hand in his jeans pocket, his muscular legs slightly apart, a can of beer in his other hand. He was laughing with her father and Ben as they stood close to the smoking barbecue grill. Even though he faced her, he hadn’t seen her yet.
“I swear he just gets more and more gorgeous every time I see him.
You poor thing.”
Julie ignored her sister’s whispering in her ear as she gripped her elbow. No one had to tell her how showstopping Mike DeAngelo was. Or how deserving of pity she was for caring more than she should. Her palms slickened as she clutched at her dress and wondered if he was still mad at her for her behavior on Wednesday at Pepper’s.
Then he looked up and saw her. His expression changed, became.yearning? He didn’t say anything, but all of a sudden, beer spurted out the top of his can and ran over his hand. He jumped back in reaction as the brew splattered his cowboy boots. While the two other men looked perplexed, he brought the newly dented can to his lips to suck up the excess.
“Damn, boy, no more beer for you,” Jack Cochran teased.
Ben handed him a golf towel that he snatched off a peg attached to the house. “Here, use this. Then you can suck the beer out of it later, since the host and barkeep here cut you off.”
“Ben!” Susan chastised her husband. She dragged Julie forward with her, stopping when she reached them. “That’s gross.”
Ben pushed a lock of blond hair off his forehead and widened his blue eyes teasingly at his wife. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he kissed her temple. “Unlike eating sherbet and cauliflower together, right?”
“That’s different.” Susan playfully pinched at her husband’s side and turned to Mike. “Hi, Mike. We’re glad you could come today. Tommy’s been so excited since he talked with Aaron on Thursday.”
Mike grinned. “Thanks for asking us. Aaron’s been talking about this for two days straight. All I’ve been hearing about, since Ida called, is coming to the grandma-lady’s house.”
Since “Ida” called? When had her mother become Ida to him? Julie watched him with her family. He just looked so darned right, being here. It wasn’t fair. She quickly reminded herself that he was engaged to her cousin. And she’d better accept it. Yeah, right. Still, the little reminder her angelic conscience poked at her made her frown.
Then Mike trained his attention on her, drawing her in, erasing her troubled thoughts. “You look really nice, Julie. I like you in that dress.”
Was it just her, or had he managed to make his comment sound like he’d like her better out of the dress? Either way, she felt her face heat up as the men all stared at her appreciatively. “It’s new, and she bought it because she likes it,” Susan informed him. She then turned slightly to beam at her little sister and raise an eyebrow, as if to remind her that it was her turn to speak.
Had not everyone’s attention been on her, Julie would have glared at Susan. As it was, she was forced to be cordial. “Thank you, Mike. Um, you look nice, too.” Stupid, stupid, stupid—you don’t tell men they look nice. See? Look at his face. Close to a panic, Julie cast around for something not related to clothes. “Um—did you ever find your frog?”
All heads swung to him, putting the ball squarely in his court. Thank God. He addressed Julie’s family first. “The frog’s Aaron’s. It got out of its aquarium in our apartment.” He took another sip of his beer before turning back to her. “And yes, we did find him. In the toilet. But he’s not the nicest person I’ve met recently in a bathroom.”
The day heated up dangerously. Or was it just her? She returned the amused, it’s-your-turn glances her family sent her way. “Well, there you have it—my claim to fame. You stumble into one wrong rest room and no one ever forgets it Thanks for bringing it up, Mike. You’re my hero.”
Mike grinned, raised his presqueezed can in a salute and skewered her in place with his soft, black-eyed gaze. “I’ve been told that before. But the thing about heroes is, sometimes they can be real jackasses to the people they care about the most.”
Into the charged silence, everyone but Mike and Julie, who were occupied with sending apology-laden goo-goo eyes at each other, began talking at once. Remarks—that the one functioning part of Julie’s mind recorded—ranged from “oh, what a beautiful day,” to “how about them Gators?”
Before they got back to the weather, Ida rounded a corner of the house with the two little boys in tow. Their cheerful chatter roused Julie, and apparently Mike, for he too looked their way. Julie was quite sure that Queen Elizabeth herself had never had a more effusive greeting from her subjects than Ida did from this gathering. At the burst of overly happy emotion expressed at seeing her and the boys at long last, Ida stopped short. Equally startled, Aaron and Tommy clutched at her legs.
Putting a comforting hand on each of the boys’ backs, Ida frowned, opened her mouth once or twice, then pointed a thumb at the garage. “I just went to the grocery store. What’s wrong with y’all?”
HERE, MIKE THER’S ROOM by Julie. Sit here. Something else to eat? To drink? No more beer for you, ha-ha. How’s the FBI business? Julie, heard anything yet on your promotion? We’re all keeping our fingers crossed! So, Mike, how go the wedding plans? Sweetie, pass that ketchup to the boys. Will Caroline be visiting again before the wedding? She’s such a lovely girl. So unaffected by her wealth. Let’s see, she’s my mother’s oldest brother’s. Well, never mind. We’re related somehow. Kissing cousins, I guess. Ha-ha.
And so the afternoon had gone, Julie reminisced on her way back to Brandon. Right up to where it was decided she and Mike had been silly not to have driven down together and saved the gas. He’d just looked at her, like the same idea had crossed his mind. She looked in her rearview mirror. Yep. He was still right behind her. She adjusted the rearview mirror on her BMW to reduce the glare of his headlights.
Just whose idea had it been for Aaron to stay over at her parents’ house with Tommy? She thought about it. Oh, that’s right—big shock—her mother’s. Julie could just hear her all over again—“Oh, no big deal,” the conniving little stinker had assured Mike. Aaron can sleep in a pair of Tommy’s pajamas. And they’ll bring him back with them tomorrow morning when they pick up Julie on their way to the airport.
And so it had been settled. And that left her and Mike alone, in their separate cars, and in a few more minutes, in their separate apartments. On a Saturday night. And it was only—she looked at the fluorescent glow of the digital clock in the dash—ten forty-five.
Just what did her mother think was going to happen? Did she think for one minute that Julie and Mike would jump each other’s bones just because they had the opportunity? Julie scoffed at that thought. Who was she kidding? Her mother was positive that her baby was still a virgin since she wasn’t married. No, forget that. Ida Cochran would do a lot of things, but she would not purposely set up a sexual tryst for her unmarried child.
Julie pulled into the Providence Road Apartments’ parking lot. She glanced again into the rearview mirror. Mike turned right when she went left He’d gone his way. She’d gone hers. See? She’d been silly to work herself up into giddy knots thinking that Mike might follow her to her apartment If he had, she would have sent him packing. Well.no, she wouldn’t Oh, geez, she wanted him to pursue her. Pulling into an empty parking space, she turned off the headlights and sat there. With her hands at the top of her steering wheel, she rested her forehead on them. Forget it. Go away, lustful thoughts. No way was she going to his apartment. No way.
Way. Julie worked the clutch and slipped the gears into reverse. And stopped. Still staring straight ahead, she forced herself to analyze her thoughts, her motives, her desires. No way. She popped the gearshift into neutral and killed the engine. No way. She set the emergency brake. With conscious, resolute intention, she gathered up her purse and her sweater and got out, locking her car. Satisfied with her lofty morals, she put her keys in her purse, pulled her sweater around her shoulders, and began the walk back to Mike’s apartment.
Sticking to the middle of the lit parking lot, Julie strode on purposefully, all the while listening to the night sounds around her. There was always the traffic, the cars whizzing by on Providence. But, somehow, the motorized noises mixed amicably with the frogs croaking, the owls hooting and a subdued conversation that was coming from a tiny patio she pa
ssed. She walked on, keeping the tennis courts to her right, the buildings to her left, and her thoughts on anything but what she was actually doing.
Just as she congratulated herself on so successfully immersing her psyche in denial, she very nearly screamed out loud when she rounded a corner and ran smack into a large, solid someone who grabbed her arms. Shadowed by the overhanging branches of a two-hundred-year-old, moss-draped oak, which hid the winter moon’s pale light, Julie could not clearly see her…what? Attacker? Accoster? Poor slob out for a walk, just like her?
Praying for the third scenario, she mumbled “excuse me” at the same time Mike did. Mike did? Julie froze for a numbing second. The implications were too horrible, too wonderful. “Mike! Is that you?”
“Julie?”
“Mike! It is you!”
“Julie! What are you doing out here?”
Well, now. How to answer that question. Stalling, she looked everywhere but at him as he turned her into the moonlight. “I’m, um…What am I doing out here? The same thing you are.”
Silence. “You were bringing me a picture Aaron drew for me at his baby-sitter’s?”
That was the best he could come up with? Pathetic. But it was better than her excuse. “No, of course not, silly. I was, um, bringing you a brochure on my bank’s new.checking account services. In case you might want to.switch.to my bank.” Lame. World-class lame.
“At quarter to eleven at night on a Saturday?”
“We have extended hours, too.”
“I guess you do.” He had the nerve to laugh at her story. “So, where’s this brochure?”
Brochure? “Where’s the picture Aaron drew?”
Damned if he didn’t hand her one. She held it up to the light. “You wanna give me a hint here?”
“It’s you.”
She moved it closer to her face. No. Maybe it was upside down. She turned it around. “Ah. There we are. Hey, a remarkable likeness. I see he studied under Picasso.”
“Yeah, I kinda thought the same thing. Especially since both of your eyes are on the same side of your head.”
A Man In Demand Page 7
