Love Finds the One (Sully Point Book 2) (6 page)

He started to protest but she stopped him. "It's okay.
I know you were worried, but you needn't be. I had food from Deb's--sesame
chicken and lasagna, too. Don't be nervous about me. I'm going to be
fine."

He nodded. "You're right. From now on, I'll stop being
the mother hen, and I'll just be your friend."

"That sounds great."

* * * *

The game was played with intensity, laughter, and
accusations of various nefarious acts. Julia hadn't laughed so much in ages.
They finished off the chocolate chip cookies and Cody declared himself the
winner by eleven o'clock that night.

"You almost lost. I was very close to beating you,"
she said.

"Right, very close--and yet, I'm the winner of all I
survey."

She threw a metal shoe at him which he caught easily.
"All right, I officially surrender this match. But I call for a re-match
another night."

"You've got it."

They began to pack up the game. Julia felt surprised at how
she suddenly seemed vitally aware of his physicality. He was definitely all
man, and she could feel a change in the energy of the air around them.

"Julia--"

"Cody--"

She held up a hand. "This was great fun. Thanks so much
for coming over."

He smiled ruefully. "But it's time for me to go, isn't
it."

"I'm afraid so. I'm not saying I'm not interested. I
am. But, I don't want to rush anything."

"Fair enough. Good night Julia."

"Night, Cody."

She let him out the front door, and watched until he was in
his car and had blinked the car lights. After locking the door, she leaned
against it. "Now, what did I just let walk out of here? Stupid, stupid,
stupid."

Chapter 3

Cody spent the next morning at work thinking about Julia.
Last night had been a blast. It was good to know they could spend time together
just relaxing and playing a game and have that much fun, without sex even being
involved. In his opinion, that could only bode well for when they finally did
have sex. She wasn't like the other women he'd been with. He felt different
around her. When he woke up this morning, she was the first thing on his mind.

He decided to make the bakery run and stop off to say hi to
his dad. On the way to the hardware store, he considered the best way to
convince his father to invite Julia over for dinner again. He had several plans
in his mind, all of which flew right back out of his mind when he walked in and
saw Julia standing there talking to Frank.

Julia said, "Frank, this is the current Monopoly
champion, however I expect to dethrone him any day now."

"Just name the time and the place, baby and I'm
there," Cody said and laughed.

"I came in here to ask a favor," she said to them.
"Would it be okay if I brought dinner to your house tonight? I could pick
up something and bring it and we could eat together. It's kind of lonely eating
by yourself."

Cody knew he shouldn't look quite as happy as he did, but he
couldn't help it.

Frank said, "Tell you what--how about you come on over
and one of us will cook. Sound like a good idea?"

"Great, but I don't want to put you to any
trouble."

"No trouble, one of us will be cooking anyway, and one
more person is no problem," Frank said. "In fact, I'm sure Cody here
would love to be our chef for the evening."

Cody smirked. "Actually, it sounds great to me. What are
some of your favorite foods, Julia?"

"Pretty much anything. Until I came to Sully Point I
wasn't really into food. That seems to have changed since my appetite came
back. I'll eat anything. Surprise me."

Cody grinned at her. "Aha, another challenge."

She laughed. "I'm off to the bakery to replenish my
stocks since someone ate all my cookies last night."

"Hey, you offered them," Cody said.

Frank said, "He'll eat you out of house and home if
you're not careful."

"Want a ride in the Corvette to the other side of the
square, Julia?"

"Sure."

They left and went to the bakery, where Cody got his donuts
and Julia bought muffins and cookies. Outside she asked him, "Will people
have noticed we went there together?"

"Probably. Just ignore them."

"I would, but I have a question for you. Yesterday, I
overheard two women gossiping in the library. They made it sound like you were
a womanizer."

"Damn. Here's the thing--I have dated a lot. Some
people see that as a bad thing. I think it's worse to settle down with someone
you aren't sure of, and end up getting divorced. I get to know the women I go
out with. And, if I haven't found the one for me yet, well, it's not for lack
of trying."

She smiled at him. "I think you are a good man,
Cody."

He felt surprised. "Well, thank you." He drove her
back to her car. "Any big plans for the day?"

"Believe it or not, I'm going to traipse around the
gardens. A couple of other people mentioned it to me and I thought, why
not?"

"Just wear boots. Some parts might be overgrown."

"Yes, Dad."

He felt himself turn red. "Sorry."

She laughed. "I do like how you want to watch out for
me. Makes me feel safe."

"That's a relief."

"I'll see you later," she said. "Six?"

"Yeah, that should be good."

He watched her drive off, and started up the Corvette. Maybe
tonight he could convince her to go for a drive with him. Or was it too soon?
He decided to stop overthinking it and just see what presented itself to him.

* * * *

Driving around town that morning, Julia took the time to
really look at the businesses and shops. There was a candle shop she thought
she'd like to visit at some point, as well as a yarn shop.
How long has it
been,
she wondered,
since I crocheted?
Her grandmother had taught
her to crochet when she was a girl, and she used to always have a project
going. Once she started working at the agency, though, a lot of things had
fallen by the wayside.

On impulse, she stopped at the yarn store. It was a small
shop, with every wall filled to bursting with a wild variety of types and
colors of yarn. As she walked through, she idly touched various yarns, looking
for the right feel. That one, she thought, liking the nice heavy weight. It
would make a great sweater for Cody.

"Can I help you?" a voice asked at her elbow.

Turning, she saw a very short, little, round woman with gray
hair pulled back in a barrette at her nape, her hair falling down to her waist.

"I'm Violet, and this is my shop. You must be the new
woman in town, staying out at Sam's beach house?"

"Yes, hello. I'm Julia Tremaine. I was looking for some
yarn for a crochet project."

"Ooh, lovely. The yarn you've got there is a very nice
texture. Is purple the color you want, dear?"

"Actually, if you had a nice sky blue," Julia said
thinking that she wanted it to match Cody's eyes.

"Let me see here what I can find." Violet hustled
away, and Julia went to look at the racks of crochet hooks. She noticed a
sweater on the front of a crochet magazine. With a few modifications, it would
be perfect for Cody. By the time Violet was back, with her arms overflowing in
blue yarn, Julia had a stack of other items to purchase.

"Oh, my, looks like you need everything. How much of
this yarn do you think you'll need?"

They conferred over the pattern in the magazine and decided
on an amount. Julia added a nice roomy quilted bag to her purchases. Violet put
everything in it for easy carrying.

"Now dear, I've heard you're here 'recovering.'"
She said that with fingers making quotations around the word recovering.
"It must be hard to give up your afternoon martini, but we must do what we
must do."

Julia said, "Wait, uh, Violet. You're mistaken. I'm not
recovering from a drinking problem."

"You're not, dear? Are you sure?"

"Yes! Look, all that happened was, I collapsed in a
meeting. I got totally burned out from work, and I'm taking some time off, to
get my health back is all. No big deal. And no drinking problem."

"Well then, that's just lovely. And who is this sweater
going to be for?"

"Uh, well, a friend."

"Ooh, a friend." Violet tittered. Julia was sure
she'd never heard anyone titter in her life before this.

"I'd better get going," she told the inquisitive
little shopkeeper. "Thanks very much for your help. I'm sure I'll be
back."

"Lovely, dear, just lovely."

Julia hurried out to her car, got inside, and realized the
conniving little woman had done what nobody else in town had succeeded at.
She'd gotten Julia to tell the truth about why she was here. Chagrined at
first, she ended up laughing loudly. Violet, she thought, was a character.

She drove back to the beach house and was too excited to
postpone her crochet project. She settled down with some Norah Jones music
playing in the background, and began working on the sweater. Within a few
minutes, it had all come back to her, and she was happily crocheting when her
phone rang. Without checking to see who it was, she answered.

"Hello?"

"Julia. Why haven't you answered my emails?"

It was her mother. "I haven't been well, Mother, so I
haven't been checking my emails." Which felt a little bit like lying,
since she already felt much better.

"Well if you had read them, you'd know I've decided to
fire Ron. He's completely incompetent. You'll just have to come back and take
over again."

"What? Mother, you heard what Dr. Deville said. I need
time off."

"You don't seem to be hearing me. I need someone in
charge of that department as soon as possible."

"Well, I hate to say this, but it can't be me.
Mother," she said and stopped to take a breath. "I may not be coming
back. Ever."

"What nonsense is this? Of course you're coming back."

"No, I mean it. The work is killing me. I don't think I
can do it anymore. It's too much pressure."

There was silence on the other end. Finally her mother said,
"Obviously, you're just overtired. Dr. Deville said you needed a vacation,
so you stay and get better. Then we'll see you back here."

"Mother you're not hearing me now."

"Have a nice vacation, and I'll be in touch,
soon."

Julia heard silence as her mother hung up. "Damn. Damn,
damn, damn."

Deciding she was too upset to sit calmly and crochet, she went
into the bedroom to change clothes into jeans and her knee-high black boots. A cream-colored
cashmere sweater, and a black leather jacket, completed her outfit for the
gardens. Looking in the mirror she thought it might be wise to take a trip to
the mall to get a less expensive shirt to wear, then realized she just didn't
care enough to bother.

She made sure she had her phone tucked into a pocket and
grabbed her handbag. The phone might come in handy if she wanted any pictures
of the place. Then she realized she didn't know where the gardens were located,
so she called Frank. He gave her directions after asking several times if she
was sure she wanted to go out there.

The sun was peeking out from clouds, and the cemetery was
lit by stray rays of light. A breeze ruffled cool green shimmering leaves,
along the large rectangular area, filled with tombstones and monuments. Julia
walked slowly through, and was impressed by the artistic sense of some of the
stones. There were the plain and simple ones, with only dates. Others were so
old the names were all but gone, worn away by the years.

She found herself drawn to one of the newer stones with an
angel on top. On the face of the stone she was shocked to see 'Natalie
Grainger, beloved mother to Holly, Cody and Anna.' Below was the line, 'Love of
a lifetime to husband Frank.'

She sank down to her knees and brushed some dead leaves away
from the base of the stone. Tears came to her eyes as she thought of the
meaning of the phrase--love of a lifetime.
What must it be like to
experience a commitment, a certainty like that? To be so sure of your love, you
carved it into stone to last forever? To lose such a love through death?

"She was a very good mother, you know."

Julia turned quickly to see Cody approaching. "I didn't
expect to see you here."

"It wasn't me being over-protective this time, it was
Dad. He got concerned at the idea of you out here by yourself and called to
have me check on you."

She stood up and brushed dirt and leaves from her hands.
"I was shocked to find this grave. I couldn't help but imagine how it must
have been devastating for your father, to lose such a great love."

"Yes, I think it was. And he would tell you now, the
love wasn't lost, just postponed. He had some very rough years."

"I can't imagine finding such a love. All I've seen are
either loveless marriages, or ones that break up. Nobody seems willing anymore
to have the kind of commitment to each other your father and mother
experienced."

"There are still some who are willing," Cody said softly.

She stared into his eyes, and saw the warmth and the smile
there. And, a patient waiting, which made her suddenly blush. "Well, I
think I'm done here at the gardens for today." She began to walk back
toward the entrance.

Cody walked next to her and said nothing. As they passed
through the arched gate it felt like a spell was broken and the real world was
back again.

"Where are you off to now?" he asked her.

"The mall. I need a few things. I should be back in
plenty of time for dinner."

"Sounds good. I'll see you later then."

"Yes, you will." She watched him walk away to the
Corvette. Something had changed between them, back there in the gardens. She
felt...something...a fluttering something when she looked at him. Something
located right in her heart.