He shoved his arms into the sleeves of his jacket, silently cursing Brad out. He could hear Brad’s voice again too after reading that letter. The night before the wedding, Brad had been sober and serious at his bachelor party. After everyone else had gone home, he’d asked Angel to stick around.
“I’ve only got a month before I ship out,” Brad said.
“I know.”
Brad’s voice turned gravelly, his eyes watery. “If I don’t make it back, will you look out for her?”
Angel felt a perverse sense of hope. Maybe Brad wouldn’t come back. Maybe he and Julia still had a chance. “You know I will.”
Brad slapped him on the back, blinking back tears of gratitude. “Thanks, Angel. That means a lot. I can rest easy.”
“Yup.”
The next day Angel was best man at his two best friends’ wedding. Probably the most painful day of his life. But Julia wanted him there, and he always wanted to be there for her.
A month later, Brad shipped out. He made it to his third year of active duty before he was killed.
Then Angel and Julia had to live with the consequences of their actions.
And Julia needed Angel more than ever.
Chapter Seven
Angel headed to Sunday family dinner the next day, the lone single guy in a family of happily married or engaged men. He was really starting to feel like the black sheep of the family. Now that his family had gotten bigger with wives and fiancées and a toddler nephew, they always had Sunday dinner at his oldest stepbrother Gabe’s house, an old Victorian in Clover Park. It was the house Angel had grown up in since he was eight when his dad married his stepmom. He’d been damn lucky to get his stepmom, a kind woman who knew how to keep six boys in line while also showering them with love. He only had vague memories of his own mom, who’d died when he was five after a long bout with cancer. Like the way she called him her little Angel—the nickname he’d been saddled with since he was born. He never tried to change that because for his dad and his two biological brothers, Vince and Nico, the nickname reminded them of her. Though he was no angel, they acted like he was. Only Jared, the stepbrother his age that he’d shared most everything with, knew the score.
He headed to the dining room, where his family was already seated—his dad; his stepmom; Vince and his pregnant wife, Sophia; Nico and his pregnant wife, Lily; Jared and his fiancée, Emily; Gabe and his wife, Zoe; Luke and his fiancée, Kennedy. It was clear as black and white which were the Marino brothers—him, Vince, and Nico were all dark-haired, dark-eyed Italians—and which were the Reynolds brothers—Gabe, Luke, and Jared, all fair-skinned with light brown to blond hair and blue eyes. Except Jared somehow got green eyes. That was everyone. Every nauseatingly loving couple.
He waved to them all and leaned down to kiss his stepmom’s cheek before taking the only empty seat next to Gabe and Zoe’s toddler son, Miles, who was sitting in his high chair, industriously stabbing peas with a plastic baby fork. Now that Miles was thirteen months, the family gave him a wide berth. He tended to throw food.
“Hey, little man,” he said to Miles, holding his hand up for a high five.
Miles’s face scrunched up, clearly torn between setting down the fork clasped in his right hand and high-fiving his uncle. Angel picked up Miles’s left hand and gave him a high five that way, earning a big baby-toothed smile.
“I! I! I!” Miles exclaimed, which was baby talk for high five.
“How old are you?” Angel asked.
Miles held up one finger on the hand still gripping his fork.
“That’s right,” Angel said with a smile. He turned and helped himself to some chicken marsala when something hit the side of his head. “Ow!”
Miles’s fork was now on the floor, from where it bounced off Angel’s head. Miles smacked his high-chair tray with both hands. “Dun!”
Miles’s mom, Zoe, came around and retrieved the fork, holding it in front of Miles. “We don’t throw forks. That hurts. Tell Uncle Angel sorry.”
Miles smacked his tray. “Dun!”
“Yes, we know you’re done.” Zoe scooped him up and leaned close to Angel. “Kiss his boo-boo.”
Miles gave Angel a wet baby kiss on the cheek before his mom took him away. Angel was still smiling, cutting into his chicken, when his stepmom spoke up. “So-o, don’t keep us in suspense. Tell us about this girl you missed Sunday dinner for.”
He glanced up to find his petite blond stepmom smiling eagerly at him. He shot Jared a dark look across the table, who merely smiled serenely. Hadn’t he told Jared about that date man-to-man? Did he have to pinky swear him to every damn thing? Jared knew telling their mom something like this was open season. She was dying to get her youngest settled down. Not that Angel didn’t want the same thing, but he had to do it slowly, carefully, in his own way.
“Wait a minute,” his oldest brother, Vince, boomed. He was a big hulking guy, a construction worker, with an equally big heart. “Are you telling me Angel faked sick last Sunday? Our sweet priest told a lie?”
“I told ya he wasn’t a saint,” Jared crowed, his green eyes lit with mischief. “He faked sick to get some tail.”
“Jared,” his stepmom said, her voice a warning.
Jared looked contrite. “I meant for a first date of a, um, relationship.” He flashed a grin, pleased with his amended answer. “So when’s the second date? Hmmm?”
Emily, sitting at Jared’s side, smiled and shook her head. Jared was giving him a hard time because he’d not exactly been an angel when it came to Jared and Emily getting together. Translation: Angel had had a little too much fun at Jared’s expense.
“Would you like to invite her to dinner?” his stepmom asked sweetly.
Angel felt bad, leading his stepmom on with her hopes to see him settled. “I’m not sure we’ll have a second date.”
“What’re you waiting for?” Jared asked in a fake sweet tone. “Just work it out. Talk things over.”
Angel scratched his cheek with his middle finger while looking at Jared. He didn’t appreciate his own words of advice for Jared and Emily being thrown back at him.
Jared snickered.
“Did you ask her on a second date?” Emily asked.
His entire family looked at him with a mixture of concern (the women) and amusement (his brothers). His dad just kept eating quietly; as usual, he left all the dating talk to his wife. Angel shoved some chicken in his mouth and chewed. Everyone kept looking at him. Finally he finished chewing and said, “I’ve been busy.”
“Busy,” Jared scoffed.
“Too busy to hook up?” his stepbrother Luke asked incredulously. “Make time.”
“Yeah,” Jared said, “get your head out of your ass and get some tail.” He jumped. “Ow!” He turned to Emily. “That hurt.” She whispered something to him, and he got quiet.
Angel shook his head.
“What’s her name?” his stepmom asked.
Angel sighed and put his fork down. After all these years, and with all of his brothers happily matched up, he knew his stepmom worried about him. “It’s Julia.”
There was a collective gasp, quickly followed by Jared’s, “I knew it!”
Angel met his stepmom’s blue eyes directly. “She thinks she’s ready to start dating again, so I took her out.”
“And?” his stepmom asked, reaching over and giving his hand a squeeze.
“And she thinks maybe we should stay friends.” His shoulders sagged in defeat.
“Bullshit!” Vince boomed.
“Yeah!” Jared said. “You show her the fun times and wear her down.”
“Angel is a lot of fun,” Emily said, which earned her a dark look from Jared followed by a kiss that was entirely too carnal for the family dinner table.
And then, for the first time ever, his dad spoke up on the topic of love. “Now, Angel,” he started, and the room fell into stunned silence, all eyes and ears on his dad. “I have never in my life seen the kind of dedication and s
elfless devotion to a woman like you have shown to Julia.” He paused, his dark brown eyes filled with compassion and love, all aimed at him. Angel swallowed hard. “It’s been five long years since her husband passed. If you truly love her, you need to step up now or walk away. If it’s meant to be, it will be.” The room erupted into agreement, suddenly silenced when his dad held up a finger. “Otherwise, I want to see you find someone who will love you the way you deserve. You understand, son? Step up or step off. It’s that simple.”
The words hit deep. His dad had a way of wading through the muck and making everything clear. It really was as simple as that. Step up or step off. Angel slowly nodded. “I’ve got it, Dad. Thanks.”
“I know you’ll do the right thing,” his dad said, which got Angel choked up.
His stepmom squeezed his dad’s hand before turning back to Angel. “I have a feeling we’ll be setting another place for dinner soon,” she caroled in an unwavering vote of confidence in him.
Angel grinned and dug into his dinner, knowing his family had his back. No matter what.
~ ~ ~
Julia headed to book club at Something’s Brewing Café, eager to share the life-changing results from the decluttering book. She may have been the only one to read the book this time, but she was sure after hearing how much it helped her, everyone else would take an interest. She just hoped they didn’t get into too much nitty-gritty about Fierce Longing. It was so uncomfortable to sit and listen to that. She opened the door of the café and Hailey greeted her like a long-lost friend.
“Julia! You came back!” She rushed over in her bright green sheath dress with matching pumps and gave her an air kiss on both cheeks. “I was so afraid we scared you off!”
“Not at all,” Julia replied. “In fact, that book changed my life.”
“Ooh,” Hailey said, her pale blue eyes lighting up with anticipation. “Do tell.”
Julia took off her fleece jacket and headed for the circle of chairs. Hailey followed. “The book hit me on a deep level.” She dropped her purse next to the chair and met Hailey’s eager eyes, searching for the words to describe just how much the book meant to her. “It was like a spiritual thing. The more I decluttered, the better I felt.”
Hailey deflated. “Oh. I thought you meant the dirty book.”
“Did someone say erotic?” a female voice said from behind them.
Hailey turned toward the door and put her hands on her hips. “Mad! You’re deliberately teasing Julia. Not everyone is as ballsy as you.”
“It was dirty, filthy fun,” Mad said, clomping her way past them in her heavy black work boots and over to the coffee counter. “I already bought the second book.”
Hailey turned to Julia and lowered her voice. “I’m not even sure what she’s doing here. I thought she was only here the first time because she lost a bet.”
“You talking about me, Red?” Mad asked.
“My hair is strawberry blonde, not red,” Hailey said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “You’re red.” She pointed at Mad’s dyed red hair.
“Next time I see you it’ll be purple,” Mad said.
Hailey huffed. “Whatever. Where’s your brother?”
Mad’s face fell, surprising given how tough she seemed. “I just…kinda wanted to talk about the Fierce book, but if you’d rather have him…”
Hailey rushed over to make amends, so Julia thumbed through her decluttering book, picking out favorite tidbits to share. Her friend, Ally, a fifth-grade teacher at the same school where Julia worked, arrived with Carrie, a young blond nurse with glasses, talking and giggling as they walked in.
“I loved it!” Ally declared. “Damon was so hot. Did you all love it?”
Julia felt heat rise up her neck and headed to the counter to get herself some coffee.
“I loved it too!” Hailey exclaimed.
“Not bad,” Mad said, and when Hailey elbowed her, she grinned. “I loved it too.”
“Carrie says Damon is her new book boyfriend, but I had him first,” Ally said.
“It’s fiction,” Mad said dryly. “We can all get off to him whenever we want.”
The women laughed, except Julia, who hurried back to her seat, putting her book in her lap, mentally preparing to interrupt all the Fierce Longing talk with her own nonfiction report.
Lauren Bishop, a teacher from Clover Park Elementary with long brown hair, arrived next. “How hot was Damon?”
“Smoking,” Mad said. The women all rushed to agree, piling on the glorious adjectives—to die for, swoony, vibrator-worthy. Julia’s cheeks burned an inferno of quiet embarrassment as she squashed lustful memories of just how vibrator-worthy Damon really was.
“Are we all here?” Hailey asked as the women settled into the circle of chairs with steaming mugs of coffee, tea, and cappuccino.
“Wasn’t there one more?” Julia asked. “Charlotte? The woman with the workout clothes?”
“Sorry I’m late!” Charlotte rushed in wearing a jacket over leggings. Her light brown hair with blond highlights was pulled into a cute ponytail on top of her head. “Had a personal training session right before this. I’m the trainer.”
“Hi, Charlotte!” Hailey said brightly. “Did you enjoy Damon?”
“Fuck me!” Charlotte exclaimed. “He’s the stuff of wet dreams. Am I right, ladies?”
A chorus of wolf-whistles and “abso-fucking-lutely” rang out.
“We really need to get some male members for our little club,” Hailey said, looking around. “I know it’s fun with us girls, but the whole point of a singles book club is to meet someone. Since Josh isn’t coming through for me, again, does anyone have a brother, cousin, friend, anyone at all they could invite?”
And then, like he’d been summoned, the door opened, and in walked Angel. “Is this where we get to talk about sexy books?” he asked, looking right at Julia with a devilish grin.
She instantly heated, simultaneously embarrassed and mortified to talk about that book in front of him. This could not be happening. Why did she tell him about the book club?
“Angel!” Hailey exclaimed, leaping to her feet in her excitement over his presence. They knew each other from cooking class. “You really are an angel, here to save the day. We were just saying we needed some men in book club.”
He shed his black leather jacket and strutted over to the group, taking them all in with one of his charming, dimpled smiles. “I’m happy to be the token male. Call me Angelo. Angel is an old nickname.”
A soft swoony sigh echoed among the women. Julia stiffened. It was one thing to set Angel free, quite another to see six lusty, man-crazy women leering at him. She knew Angel had dated over the years, even slept with some of them, but it was always done far away from her, and he never talked about it.
“Have a seat, Angelo,” Charlotte purred, indicating the seat next to her.
And damn if he didn’t take it. There was a seat next to Julia too, but did he want to sit next to his best friend? No-o. He wanted to sit completely across the circle where she’d have to watch—
He winked at her.
Her breath caught. What did that mean? Was he playing some kind of game? Was he going to embarrass her by talking about that book? Please no. Anyone but Angel.
“Would you like some coffee?” Carrie asked from Angel’s other side. “I could get you some.”
“I’ll get it,” Lauren and Mad said at the same time.
Angel held up a hand. “Ladies, please, keep your seats. I’ll get it. Anyone want something sweet from the café? On me.”
The six women rushed him in a mob. Julia rolled her eyes. Seriously. Were they that desperate that the first sign of kindness from a man had them falling all over themselves? She heard Angel chuckle, a rumbled reply, and then the crowd cleared as he headed to the counter. The women returned to their seats. Hailey moved to Charlotte’s other side, probably to be closer to Angel.
“Is he single?” Charlotte asked Hailey in a stage whisper t
hat Julia clearly heard across the room.
“He must be or he wouldn’t be here,” Mad returned.
Hailey nodded enthusiastically.
“Who brought him?” Lauren asked, taking them all in.
“I know him from work,” Ally said. “Isn’t he dreamy? I asked him out once, but he said he doesn’t date coworkers.”
“What?” Julia burst out. Angel had never mentioned that. Nor had Ally, and she thought they were good friends. They chatted every day in the teachers’ lounge over lunch, and just last week Ally announced she had a new boyfriend and they were in love. “When was this?”
“When I broke up with Dean,” Ally replied. That was two months ago, after Dean, her boyfriend of four years, dumped her. Ally didn’t take any kind of breather between boyfriends, just dove headlong into the next one, declaring herself in love. Julia didn’t think love happened that quickly or easily, no matter how much Ally sang that silly song.
“I thought he would’ve told you,” Ally said to Julia. She addressed the group. “Julia and Angel are best friends. They tell each other everything. Well, I guess not everything.”
“He’s your best friend?” Mad asked. “Why don’t you hit that?”
Julia stuttered, unable to articulate any kind of explanation for her relationship with Angel.
Hailey switched seats to sit next to Julia. “I completely understand a platonic relationship. That’s how Josh and I are. So how did the online dating thing go? Did you find any matches?”
She glanced over at Angel chatting with Shane, owner of the café, and thought of her surprise match. Her first do-over date with Angel. “I did, but it didn’t work out. I deleted my profile. Online dating isn’t for me.”
“Honey, you can’t give up after just one date,” Hailey urged. “You’ll never find love that way. And isn’t that our goal?”
Maybe that was Hailey’s goal, the hopeless romantic wanted more weddings to plan, but for Julia, she had her hands full just getting a fresh start on her life. “I’m fine. I can’t wait to share with everyone about this book.” She held up the decluttering book.
A Tempting Friendship (Clover Park #10) Page 7
