Will"s jaw drops and he smirks, then shakes his head. "Excuse me?"
"I don"t think I stuttered," Meg responds, then puts her hand on my shoulder and grins at me. "It was great to see you. Take care, girl."
"You too, Meg."
"What the h.e.l.l was that all about?" Will asks, bewildered.
"I don"t know." I shrug and then smirk at him. "You just have such a debonair way with women."
"Shut up, brat."
It"s Wednesday, but the whole family is at my mom and dad"s for dinner, despite it being the middle of the week. I know it"s because everyone wanted to make sure that I"m okay, and it makes me feel loved and secure knowing that they care enough to want to check on me in person.
But my heart just isn"t in it. It"s been two days now since I last saw Nate, and it"s killing me.
"Jules, honey, would you like some dessert?" my mom asks, smiling at me. I"m completely stuffed from her delicious fried chicken and mashed potatoes, which will earn me another killer session at the gym, but I always have room for dessert.
"What do you have?" I ask.
"I made your favorite," she says with a wink. "Chocolate cheesecake."
And just like that my world falls apart all over again. At first, all I can do is stare at her as I feel the tears fill my eyes, and the next thing I know, I tip the chair over in my haste to get out of it and run out into the back yard. The tears are falling in earnest and I just can"t control the shudders working through my body.
Suddenly, strong arms wrap around me and I"m cradled in my dad"s arms. He rocks me back and forth, his big hand running up and down my back.
"Shh, baby girl, it"s okay."
"No, it"s not okay," I sob and cry harder, gripping onto his shirt with my fists.
"I take it Nate gave you chocolate cheesecake?" he murmurs with humor in his voice.
I nod.
"Sounds like he likes to spoil you."
"I can"t talk about him." I mumble through my tears. "I don"t even know why I"m so upset."
"Because you love him and he disappointed you, darlin"."
I lean back and look up at my dad. "I thought I knew him."
"What exactly happened, honey?"
I shake my head and pull out of his arms, but he leads me to a nearby bench and makes me sit. "What happened?" he asks again.
So I explain what happened on Monday, and as I work my way through the events, my dad listens, his eyes narrowing, nodding, exhaling loudly, and when I done, he looks at me with a sober face.
"Julianne Rose Montgomery, I"m disappointed in both of you."
"Huh?"
"You need to let him explain."
I start to shake my head but he lays his hand on my forearm, catching my attention.
"People screw up, Jules. He has some explaining to do, but you wouldn"t let him talk. Let the man talk."
"You and Will are two peas in a pod."
We stand and walk back in the house. It"s quiet inside. Everyone looks so somber waiting for us to return.
"You okay?" Isaac asks quietly.
"I will be." I respond.
Natalie is burping Olivia and I hold my hands out. "Baby. Mine."
Natalie smirks and hands her over to me. I cuddle Olivia close and smile at Nat. "Thanks."
"So, no cheesecake. How about apple pie?" Mom winks at me and everyone starts chattering around me again. I kiss Olivia"s head and look over at Luke who grins and takes a sip of a beer.
"So, why did I have to call Will"s phone to reach you?" Natalie asks from the facial bed next to mine. We"ve decided to cash in my birthday spa day. Our heads are wrapped in white towels, our bodies draped in cozy white sheets, and we both have mud masks freshly brushed on our faces with cuc.u.mbers over our eyelids.
It"s freaking heaven.
"Because I haven"t turned my phone on in four days." I murmur.
"Why?" she asks again.
"Because I don"t want to know if Nate"s called or texted." I respond and sigh as the technician begins to ma.s.sage my hands.
"But... why?"
"Trying to de-stress here, Nat. You"re not helping."
"I"m sorry, I"m trying to understand."
"If he has called," I say patiently, "I"m not sure I want to hear his voice or his excuses. If he hasn"t called, it"ll hurt."
"Okay." She doesn"t sound so sure, but she drops it, and we stop talking and enjoy our delicious facials. We"ve decided to go for the whole princess treatment today, and indulge in one-hour ma.s.sages, mani-pedi"s and waxing too.
"That was fantastic." I link my arm through Natalie"s as we leave the spa and take a deep breath of early-summer air. "Tell Luke thanks for me. It"s so nice having an obscenely rich brother-in-law who loves nothing more than spoiling his gorgeous wife, and therefore, his gorgeous wife"s bff gets spoiled too."
"I will tell him," Natalie laughs and leads me down the street to our favorite cafe for lunch. I look over at my friend and smile. She"s is beautiful, with her freshly polished face and chestnut hair back in a loose pony tail.
We order our usual of soup and sandwiches and find a table.
"So, I think you should turn your phone on, friend." Natalie says with a raised eyebrow. She pulls off her thin green scarf and drapes it on the back of the chair next to her.
"No." I sip my diet c.o.ke.
"I dare you." Her lips turn up in a soft smile and I glare at her.
"Don"t be a b.i.t.c.h, Nat."
"Don"t be a p.u.s.s.y, Jules."
f.u.c.k.
I hate how well she knows me. She knows I can"t resist a dare. I have four older brothers who got me into all kinds of s.h.i.t with my mom growing up because of their dares.
"G.o.dd.a.m.n it, Natalie," I mutter and pull my iPhone out of my Gucci handbag. "You turn it on."
I pa.s.s her the phone and she fires it up, watching the screen and twirling a strand of her hair with her fingers.
"Does it seriously take this long for that piece of s.h.i.t to fire up?" I ask.
"Yes." She laughs up at me and keeps watching the screen. "Looks like ten voice mails and twenty two texts."
"Holy f.u.c.k. I don"t know that many people."
"Here." She tries to hand the phone back to me but I wave it away.
"No. You check them."
"No, Jules. Jesus, grow a pair and check your phone."
I take a deep breath and continue to glare at my best friend. G.o.d, I hate her right now.
"Okay, give it to me."
She hands it to me and I check the voice mail first. The first six messages are from my family, wanting to know if I"m okay. The seventh and eighth are Natalie wanting to meet up for a spa day and threatening to call Will.
The ninth is Mrs. Glover telling me that I forgot a personal item in my office and she"ll mail it to me.
The tenth is Nate. It was left this morning.
"Julianne," he sighs and pauses and I grip the phone tighter, pressing it harder against my ear as if I"ll be able to hear his voice more clearly this way. "I hope that four days is long enough. I can"t go another day without hearing your voice. Please, baby, call me. Talk to me. I love you." There is another long pause and then the message ends.
I"m staring at Natalie with tears rolling down my face. I"m not sobbing or making a scene, but the tears began to fall when he said my name. I press replay and pa.s.s the phone to Natalie so she can hear.
She listens avidly, her beautiful green eyes on mine. Her eyes also well with tears as she pa.s.ses the phone back to me.
"Wow, Jules."
"d.a.m.n it," I mutter.
"What are you going to do?" she asks.
"Write you out of my will." I reply and wipe my cheeks.
"Seriously," she smirks.
"Oh, who am I kidding? I"ll probably call him later today." The waitress sets our lunches in front of us and we dig in.
"He"s been calling me, you know."
"Jesus, he"s been calling everyone. Will said he called him, and mom told me last night that he"d called her."
"He hasn"t been able to find you, Jules. It"s making him crazy."
"Good."
"My best friend once gave me good advice when I was mad at my husband. She said, adon"t play games with him."" Natalie frowns at me and I squirm.
"I"m not playing games."
"Yeah, you are." She shrugs and sips her soup. "I get it, though. He was an idiot on Monday. But I get why he was."
"You do?" I ask incredulously.
"Yeah, we all do. We"re all talking to him, bonehead."
I sit back in my chair and stare at her, my mouth open and eyes wide. "You"ve all been talking to him?"
She nods and takes my hand in hers. "Just talk to him, Jules. I hate to see you hurting when you don"t need to be."
"You weren"t there..."
"Nope, I wasn"t. And you have every right to be angry. But doesn"t he have the right to explain?"
"I just..." I shake my head and look down, blinking tears from my eyes. "I just keep seeing myself sitting in that chair, with those people looking at me impa.s.sively while they took away my job. A job that I was so good at, and dedicated so much of myself to. And Nate knew, Natalie. He knew how much I loved my job, and how good I was at it."
"You"ll find another job, Jules."
"I know, but while they so flippantly took my job away, the man I love so much, and professed to loving me so much in return, sat in his chair and looked at me like he didn"t even know me. There was no emotion in his face. In his eyes. He was just... blank. And that"s what tore me up the most."
I pull my hand out of hers and lean back again, shaking my head. "You were there Friday night, Nat. You saw how he kicked DJ"s a.s.s. You know how protective he is of me, yet I"m telling you, that man was not sitting in the conference room on Monday. And it tore my heart out."
Natalie frowns and looks down at her plate and then looks back up at me. She looks like she wants to say something, but stops herself.
"What?" I ask.
"Jules, maybe he didn"t have a choice."