Page 26 of His Best Friend's Baby

“Morning, Nana,” he said and Agnes turned to kiss his hand. Ben’s hair stood up in an airy blond cloud and his grandmother slowly patted it down, stroking his head and face as she did it.

Finally she turned to Julia. “Just fill out the application. You still have plenty of time to make the decision. It would mean a lot to us to be able to help you get your degree.”

Julia nodded, words deserting her.

What would it hurt? she thought and tried to swallow the sickly sweet taste of gratitude and obligation from the back of her throat. She’d come to New Springs to give Ben a family and for the love that Agnes gave Ben, so Julia would fill out a million applications.

She uncapped the pen that had been left beside the papers and sat to fill out the paperwork for another dream that wasn’t hers.

AFTER A BREAKFAST of yogurt and fruit, Julia loaded her son into the old stroller. He had to practically kiss his knees to sit in it he was so big, but she didn’t have the money for a new one, yet. She prayed the screws, worn out wheels and cheap fabric would hold out just a little bit more.

“You gonna do some sight-seeing?” Ron asked, lowering the newspaper from in front of his face. The envelope with her completed application stuck out of his shirt pocket. He’d insisted on delivering it himself, as if it would change the inevitable outcome. Even if accepted, she had little intention of attending. But she’d cross that bridge when she got to it.

“I’m going to look for a job.”

“What?” Agnes asked, her voice and eyes sharp. “Why?”

Julia was taken aback by Agnes’s sudden tone.

“You’ve been so generous, but Ben and I have to make some effort to be independent.” She tried to make it a joke but Ron and Agnes didn’t laugh. “I’d feel better if I was working at least part-time. Saving up some money so we could get our own place.”

“Why?” Agnes asked. “Why do you want to leave?” Clearly the woman took this personally, something Julia had not expected at all. She’d expected some halfhearted protestations and reassurances that they were welcome to stay as long as they liked, but the deeply wounded look on Agnes’s weathered face surprised the heck out of her.

“It’s not that I want to leave—”

“Then why do it? You and Ben can stay here. We’re happy to help you out in any way. Besides with you going to school what would be the point?”

Julia looked between the two, but they shared the same stern expression. It was as if her not wanting to be a burden was an insult to them, as if she were throwing their hospitality in their face. She hadn’t anticipated the costs of being a family with the Adamses.

Julia sighed, defeated by their questions and their expectations.

God, you’re spineless, Mitch’s voice chimed in.

“We’re just going to go check things out. I need to get some kind of job, I can’t live off your goodwill forever. We should contribute something to the household.”

The older couple looked at each other in silence and Julia felt as if she’d been tricked. What happened to the happy welcoming people she’d met a few days ago?

It’s my life, she thought with a surge of rebellion. She had every right to want her independence.

“Well, at least you’ve got good daycare,” Ron finally said with a wink.

Julia heaved a sigh of relief, unsure of what she’d have done if they’d continued to object.

Ben waved goodbye and she maneuvered the stroller out the door and down the slate path to the sidewalk. She took the long way, down two blocks, deliberately walking past Jesse’s house. It looked even prettier in the sunlight. The red geraniums bobbed in the breeze like rubied sock puppets. The ladder still leaned against the house and her eyes, despite her best intentions, searched for Jesse.

He was on the roof, his back to her, naked under the sun. Jeans clung to lean hips as he stood from his crouch, his long, tough body unfurling so he could toss an armful of shingles into the side yard. He tugged on the wrists of his gloves and twisted at the waist as if getting rid of a kink.

He shouldn’t be working so hard so soon.

The sunshine and sweat of his labor made the red color of his scars against his pale skin even more alarming. More shocking. He was all bone and muscle and scar tissue. But even the crooked collarbone and the ribs that pushed at his skin didn’t detract from his breathtaking beauty.

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