Page 47 of Ella Gets the D
To say Julian is a people person would be an understatement. His easy-breezy aura draws people in, mesmerizing their senses until they don’t know up from down. He mingles from person to person with ease and a megawatt smile—which is why I doubt any moment we’ve had has been anything more than harmless flirting on his end.
“What about Julian and Ella?” Morgan pierces a strawberry.
Erica laughs at her blank stare. “You don’t see it, do you?”
At that, Morgan’s perfectly waxed brows angle to her forehead. “Please.” She Erica waves off. “They’re both nice and friendly.”
Erica’s lip twitches. “I’m sure they have been nice…and friendly.” She takes a sip of mango lemonade. “Haven’t you noticed the looks they steal when they think no one is watching?” She turns to me. “You’re not slick.”
Morgan breaks into a fit of laughter. “Julian is a flirt. He’s always looking at women, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
See? Nothing serious.
“He’s not interested in anything heavy with anyone.”
Exactly.
“He had a date last night.”
Come again?
I reach for my phone to steady my expression and mask the frustration trying to claw its way to the surface. I have no right, to him or the pangs of jealousy constricting my lungs, but it’s there.
After Friday’s dance with temptation and Haile’s bed surprise, which left me in a puddle of tears in the shower later that night,we had a good Saturday. We piled into Julian’s car to watch Duke and Jackson’s team win their baseball game. I told Julian we could drive separately so he could go wherever after, but he insisted. Morgan met us at the field, with Joseph arriving moments after.
Baseball turned into lunch and ice cream to celebrate the victory, Rose’s email from earlier in the morning that said I got the job, and Julian’s birthday. He looked so ridiculous in the polka dot birthday hat, but he was a good sport about our off-key “Happy Birthday” rendition. Julian even split his cake with me to commemorate my first job in over a decade. It was so sweet. It was—
Who am I kidding? The man gave daddy vibes in the V-neck tee stretched over his chest and khaki cargo pants.
We were back at the townhouse by three. Just when I thought he’d high-tail it to meet up with friends, he surprised me again by taking us for a walk around the neighborhood to check out nearby parks and good places to eat. Two hours later, we crowded around takeout lasagna and cannoli on the kitchen counter. I grabbed the kids right after and kept us upstairs for the rest of the night. We’d monopolized too much of his time as it was.
Julian is a thirty-one-year-old bachelor. He should be out enjoying the single life, and I guess he was at some point last night.
A date.
Was it adatedate, or a meetup to throw someone’s legs over his shoulders?
The woman is probably some up-and-coming professional, someone closer to his age with no kids and a tight ass. One of many he keeps on speed dial.
“That settles it.” The smile I smear on is fake, but it gets the job done. Julian out with another woman shouldn’t hurt, but it does.
Were the moments we shared this week a warm-up to last night’s main event?
“The hell it does.” Erica rolls her eyes and neck. “Do you know how many people I went on adatewith who meant nothing more than dick? Him out with another woman doesn’t mean shit. Your brother is into her.“ She says the last part with a finger directed at me. “Maybe it’s for a good time. Maybe it’s for a long time. But the vibe is there.”
Erica mumbles to herself and assesses her nails. I catchMm-hmmandTryna tell me what I sawbefore her phone rings. She gets up to take the call, but not before pinning us with a stare. “He’s looking over here again.” She waves a hand in the air and says, “Told you!” leaving me and Morgan in a trail of warm shea butter andDon’t doubt me again.
“The imagination on that one,” my remaining friend at the table says through a giggle. “As if you and Julian would ever.”
“Right?” I snort. “He’s young, and my life—”
“Let me stop you right there.” Morgan swivels in her chair to face me with a gaze only a best friend unwilling to entertain self-deprecation can give. “First of all, a year shy of forty isnotold.” She tosses hair, thickened from hours of humidity, over her shoulder. “I’m already forty, and no one will make me feel anything less than fine and fabulous.
“I gag at the idea of you and my brother because you’re my sister. Not because you’re eight years older. Julian might be a poster child for the bachelor life, but he’s more mature than most men twice his age.”
She cuts me off again. “And before you fix your lips to talk down about yourself and your situation, I’ll stop you there too.” She takes my hand. “You are priceless, El. Full of goodness that you pour into the people around you. Your circumstance is a blip in time, and it doesn’t make you worth less or unworthy of love. Priceless, got me?”
Well, damn.
