Page 77 of His Best Friend's Baby

Stunned, Julia took the white envelope in her gloved hand. “Thanks,” she murmured.

“Next week we’re sending some staff up to Lawshaw to take a class on herbs. You want to go? We pay.”

Julia blinked at both the irony and the offer.

“Of course,” she stammered. “That’d be great.”

Virginia nodded. “If Doug doesn’t shape up here, you’ll get promoted,” she said, before heading off to deliver the checks to the rest of the employees.

Promoted! She’d been working a week.

All the other guys were taking their checks and finishing up. Julia checked her watch and hustled into action. It was still a long walk to Jesse’s house and Amanda was waiting on her.

She rolled up her hose, punched out and grabbed her uneaten lunch from her cubby in the staff room. She’d been too busy to eat lunch. Again.

She said goodbye to Sue and the other cashiers and walked through the parking lot to the bike path that led into town. She fished an apple out of the bag. Yesterday Jesse had told her that she was wasting away.

Of course, what they’d been doing at the time indicated he didn’t much care. She flushed thinking of that man, and his hands and his wicked mouth.

Jesse burned slow, all night, as though he couldn’t get enough of her. He watched her, tortured her, stole her breath in ways she’d never thought were possible.

She dodged a pack of kids on bikes and put her apple core back in her bag.

But there was more going on between them than sex. The emotional connection grew with each beautiful meaningful moment they spent together. Every minute with him in that house filled her with secret knowledge. Powerful, intimate knowledge about things such as how he liked his coffee and what he looked like asleep on the couch.

He talked back to the news on his radio in the garage.

He hated onions.

She grew enamored by this knowledge. She studied the airplane posters on his childhood bedroom walls. She touched the small whittling knives lined up like soldiers on his desk. She found the markings on the doorframe that recorded his growth spurts to adulthood. Each memento of his past, each indication of his humanity and his secret heart thrilled her.

She reveled in their domesticity—the shopping lists and dinners, the laundry and cleaning. Each task she performed was a little thing to make up for all that he’d done for her. She liked doing them, liked caring for him.

She liked loving him. While he might be slow in the process, she knew he was coming around. In time he’d realize that something more—something long-term and permanent—could happen between them. He’d understand that Mitch and the army and the accident didn’t matter to her. Jesse mattered to her. Jesse and his giant heart and his wounded spirit and his battered beautiful body. She wanted him and he just needed some time to come to grips with it.

Sometimes when she watched him, she could see him get lost in the past, the accident and Mitch. During those times she held her breath, gathering her courage to encourage him to talk about it. She knew he needed to. But so far she hadn’t actually asked him about her past. Couldn’t risk what she had with him.

Julia stopped by the bank and deposited her check. She withdrew the hundred dollars that she owed Amanda for babysitting and an additional thirty dollars.

Tonight she was going to take Ben and Jesse out for dinner.

She couldn’t be more proud if she’d made a four-course meal.

JESSE STRUGGLED to hear that quiet voice that had been telling him to open his mind and his heart to Julia and Ben. Perhaps he couldn’t fully relax and enjoy the first bit of happiness he’d felt in ages, but he could enjoy going out for fried chicken on Friday night with Julia.

Ladd’s Chicken was on the main stretch of downtown New Springs and boasted the best fried chicken in all of Southern California. On Friday nights the whole town waited in line to get their fair share.

The whole town that hated him.

What an idiot, he thought, wiping his damp hands on the steering wheel, going to Ladd’s on a Friday night. Why don’t I just ask for another fight?

But Julia had been so excited about celebrating her first paycheck and Ben had caught her enthusiasm. Jesse couldn’t look into those bright faces and squash all that hope by refusing to join in.

---