Page 13 of A Recipe Called Home

During a lull, Jules complimented Jax on the food.

“It’s usually Roxy back there, running the kitchen. They’re all her recipes. She went to culinary school back when we were living in Chicago. That’s why we bought this place, so she could open her own restaurant. Much cheaper to do here than in the city,” Jax shouted above the music, which had gotten louder since they’d arrived.

Jules felt a twinge of jealously rear its head. That had been her dream once upon a time, too. Turns out, Riverbend could have been an option if she just hadn’t been so scared of failure. Her chosen path had been the responsible option: college. And now she had a reliable job that kept her busy and paid well, she reassured herself, squashing the thoughts. She was fine. More than fine.

Just as they were ordering another round of beers, a speaker crackled from the stage. Jules didn’t give it much thought until she heard the opening chorus of a song and the hairs on her arms stood up.It couldn’t be…

Sure enough, Miles was on the stage, strumming a guitar, singing into the microphone and staring directly at her. Heat shot up her entire body. She wasn’t even sure what song he was playing, just that he was here and looking at her. His eyes smoldered, appearing darker than she’d remembered.Was he mad? Or was it just the dim lighting?Jules couldn’t tell. His face looked so intense with his chin lowered, lips almost touching the microphone as his deep, soulful voice lingered in the air. He still had talent oozing from every pore.

The heat in her belly swelled with every breath, eyes still locked. In those few moments that seemed to last hours, the bar faded away to just the two of them. Jules wished she could read his mind, but his expression didn’t change, only growing more intense as they continued to stare at each other.What is happening?

Taking a swig of her beer to distract herself, Jules forced herself to break his gaze and looked over to Emily, who squeezed her hand.

“Everything ok? Want to step outside for some fresh air?” she asked, noticing the moment between them.

“Good idea,” Jules mumbled and followed her to the door.

Once outside on the wrap-around porch, Jules threw her head back to take a deep breath of the humid evening air.

“I’m sorry. We should have warned you. Although, I didn’t think he’d be here tonight because of the game and all. He rarely plays on Friday nights,” Emily said, shaking her head as she assessed Jules’ mental state.

“So, he’s a regular here?”

Emily told her that Miles knew Jax from the time they’d spent together in Chicago a few years back. Miles helped him and Roxy fix up the old barn and now played for a few hours almost every Saturday night and sometimes during the week. He’d become somewhat of a small-town celebrity, apparently.

After a few moments breathing in the thick air, Jules felt more like herself, in control and level-headed. This would not derail the fun night she’d been having with her friends. Both her, and Miles were adults and could deal with seeing each other, even if it did throw her off-kilter.

She just wished he’d stop giving her those long, heavy glances. They stirred something deep in her stomach, and she wasn’t ready to deal with the emotions it brought back. For all she knew, the looks meant he was still angry with her for leaving town without a word after he ripped their plans apart, reminding her she only had herself and her grandparents to count on.

Miles still stood on the stage singing and strumming his guitar when they walked back to their seats. Jules angled her back to the stage so she wouldn’t get distracted by his glances and fell into a friendly argument about who had started the infamous water balloon palooza junior year.

Winnie always argued that she’d started it, but Jules knew the truth. Jules was the one who’d suggested it one night out of sheer boredom. It remained the one and only thing Jules had ever done that involved the police. It was stupid, yet so much fun.

School had just let out for the summer, and they had split a six-pack of Mike’s Hard Lemonades when Jules half-heartedly suggested that they take the huge sling Winnie’s brother had for launching kickballs and use it to launch water balloons onto the roofs of the houses in Winnie’s fancy neighborhood. Not surprisingly, Winnie was in.

Recruiting Winnie’s brother, they snuck through the dark neighborhood, darting across backyards holding a bag full of water balloons and the sling. One by one, lights popped on in each of the houses as angry yells came from the windows.

Thankfully, no one caught them in the act and no damage had been done, just loud thuds as each of the balloons smashed onto the roofs. They saw a write-up about it the next day in the county paper as a few people had called the police. Although they could have been in big trouble, it was one of Jules’ favorite memories from growing up in Riverbend.

“Did I overhear you talking about water balloon palooza?” came a voice from the back of her chair. Jax reached across the bar and handed Miles a tall glass of ice water.

“Oh, you know about this, too?” Emily asked mocking surprise, eyebrows lifted.

“Worst kept secret in all of Riverbend. If Jules’ granddad wasn’t police commissioner back then, who knows where these two would have ended up,” said Miles, sipping his water to hide a smile.

“No one knew it was us!” shouted Winnie, whipping around in her seat to face him.

“Your brother made sure half the town did.”

“That little snitch! He’s going to pay for that later.”

All of them laughed, knowing that Winnie would do no such thing. She loved her brother and had been his fiercest protector growing up. Even now, although he’s a twenty-six-year-old man with a wife and kid of his own, she’d go to battle for him.

“It’s last call, folks. Let me know if I can get you anything before you head out,” Jax announced.

Emily looked to Winnie, asking if she was ready to leave. “You want to share an Uber, Jules?”

“No, that’s ok, I’ll get my own,” Jules answered, knowing Winnie only asked to make sure Jules was alright riding by herself since they lived on opposite ends of town.

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