Love Finds the One (Sully Point Book 2) (9 page)

Cody came over and sat down opposite her. "You did your
statement with the Sheriff?"

"Yeah. I'm glad it's over with."

"Any big plans for the day?" Cody leaned back in
the rocker and sent it back and forth gently with one foot.

"I'll be in town." Julia realized she was sitting
rather tensely and couldn't figure out why. Then it hit her. "Can I ask
you something?"

"Sure."

"Were you bothered last night, your sleep I mean?"

"Yes. I had some pretty bad dreams."

"Me too. I wasn't sure if it was just me. I wondered
how you were handling it."

His face was serious and he ran a hand through his hair,
brushing it back off his face. "I think we'll probably both have bad dreams
for a while. We've been through hell. You were held hostage and threatened. My
dreams last night were all about not arriving in time. What happened was a
violation of the space you're living in, and of your safety. The woman was
crazy enough to have done something terrible. You can't expect to come out of trauma
with no residual effects."

"Yes, I suppose so. My dreams of her slashing me, and
yours of not getting there to save me--I guess they are ways we're working
through the fear of last night." She sat back in the rocking chair and
slowly let it rock, gradually relaxing. There was a comfortable silence between
them. She didn't feel like she had to talk all the time around Cody. He was
good at quiet.

The bell over the door rang as a man walked into the shop.
"Hey Cody, got a minute? I want to know what you think about this
setup."

Cody said, "Sure thing, Bob." He turned and
shrugged at Julia.

She smiled and said, "I've got to head on out anyway.
I'll see you later."

He nodded and turned back to his customer, and Julia
retrieved the windbreaker and left.

* * * *

Frank was surprised to see Julia already, before lunch. She
had a bit of color in her cheeks and came in blowing on her hands. "Don't
you have any gloves?"

She smiled. "I picked some up at the mall but I left
them at the beach house."

"You never really got a chance to look at the
store." Frank waved an arm around the space.

"Yep," she said. "Looks like hardware to
me."

He laughed. "Let me guess. You got an earful about
fishing equipment from Cody during his tour, am I right?"

"Exactly right. But the place he has out there is
really quite nice. I was impressed."

Frank nodded. "I'm proud of the boy, I really am. But
don't worry--no tours of wrenches and types of nails here. What I'd like is if
you could look at the computer. Things are piling up and need to be input."

"Lead the way. There's probably something to be done to
fix it."

He showed her the office in the back of the store, with the
computer on the desk. "I have a part-time secretary and clerk. They handle
inventory on the computer and other paperwork. This thing hasn't been working
for two days now. What do you need to look at it?"

She grinned up at him as she sat at the desk. "Space
and time. Go do whatever you normally do and I'll see what's up."

He watched her lift her hair up off her neck and twist it
into a swirl of a bun, secured by a pencil. Her hands were poised over the
keyboard.

"Go!" she said.

He went.

The morning passed quickly, and he was surprised to see it
was time for lunch. He'd heard or seen nothing of Julia during the entire day
thus far. He walked quickly back to the office area and was horrified to see
the computer opened up, cover off, Julia leaning over it to wiggle a part out.

"What--what--Julia what have you done?"

"No problem, Frank. Calm down. I just need to get this
fan--ah, here we go. This is the culprit. Your fan's busted and you need a new
one. I can go pick one up at the computer store at the mall, and have it
installed in no time. Then you should be all set. Plus you really need to
defrag this thing, but I'll take care of it. The computer was running too hot
and shutting down."

"Oh--you actually know what you're doing, don't
you?"

She laughed. "Yes, I really do. I was building these
things when I was fourteen."

"Why don't you do this for a living then? Work with
computers, I mean."

"A very good question, and one I'll be thinking about
over the next month."

"It's time for lunch, Julia. If you're going to the
mall, don't forget to eat."

"Yeah, I could definitely eat something."

She set the cover over the computer, but didn't fasten it. Frank
watched her gather up her things, along with the computer part. He'd just had a
brilliant idea. But should he mention it yet? No, better to wait, he thought.

"Okay, see you in a while, Frank."

"Right. See you then," he said, distracted. Yes,
it was the perfect solution, for everyone.

* * * *

After spending yesterday and now today at the mall, Julia
decided she much preferred shopping back in Sully Point with its cute unique
shops. She'd found the computer store and was shocked at the prices they were
getting away with on computers and parts. When she asked about repairs, the
hourly rate was outrageous. No wonder Frank had put off calling these guys, she
thought. Lunch at the mall was not nearly as good as Deb's Deli, and Julia felt
a sense of coming home when she headed back into Sully Point.

"Got the part, Frank," she called out as she
walked into the hardware store. "Oops, sorry," she said after seeing
him with a customer. He nodded and smiled, and Julia headed back to the office.

Two hours later she was just playing around with the
computer. She'd run standard housekeeping software and cleaned up a number of
glitches that had been slowing it down. The fan was installed and working
perfectly. She sighed. Time to go. Her fun for the day was over. Then she
thought about the word she'd just used. Fun--working on the computer really had
been fun. If only--

"Julia? How's it going back here?" She noticed how
relieved he looked to see the computer put back together again.

"Perfect. Everything is fixed," she told him with
a smile.

"It's fixed? You mean, it works?" It was said with
some degree of astonishment.

"Of course it works. Nothing too tricky. You'll notice
it runs a bit faster now."

"That is fantastic. What do I owe you?"

She laughed. "Are you kidding me? Nothing. You guys
have been great to me since I've been here. I'm just glad to help you
out."

Frank leaned against the door and said, "If I knew
someone else who was having computer problems...how would you feel about
looking at another one? Not for free, you'd get paid."

Julia felt her mood brighten even more. "Sure! I'd be
glad to."

"It would be a big help. It's for Mrs. Gilchrest--she's
the bank president--but her home computer is on the fritz, and I hate to see
her go to those rip-off artists again."

"No problem. Give her my number and we'll arrange
something."

"Thanks, Julia. Mrs. Gilchrest is a special friend, and
I'd appreciate it."

Ah, she thought. Frank has a personal life. Good for him.
"I'm going to run out to the beach house and see how it feels to be
there."

"You're welcome to stay at the house again tonight. And
it's pizza night, which means Cody will be bringing over pizza from Delucci's.
They make the best pizza in town."

"Okay, you've convinced me to come back for supper at
least. See you later."

She walked out of the store to her car and sat inside it
without turning it on. It really had been enjoyable to work on the computer.
Why had she ever given it up? Advertising. And Mother.
And my godawful need
for approval from her.
But she'd never gotten the approval she needed, had
she? Conditional approval, half-hearted approval, but nothing like Frank's
simple pride in his son's business. What would she have given to get that from
her mother? Just about anything.

Starting the car, she thought maybe this was worth thinking
more about. But not too fast. It made her feel shaky inside.

Driving out to the beach house wasn't bad, but when she
walked up to the door, she found herself tensing up and feeling afraid.
"Don't be silly," she said out loud to herself. "It's over and
she's all locked up again." She took a deep breath and opened the door.
Nobody jumped out at her. Nothing attacked her. Walking in she stopped at the chair
she'd sat in when Patrice held the knife on her. The police had tracked in sand
and dirt on their boots and there was a feeling of wrongness here.

She went into the bedroom and changed into a denim shirt she
wouldn't mind cleaning in. Then she found the cleaning supplies and set to
work. If she was going to come back to live here, the place had to be cleaned
completely.

There was a release to be found in the process of cleaning.
As she scrubbed the floor, she let herself feel the anger at what had happened
last night. Wiping down counters, dusting, vacuuming, all of it was an outlet
for her turbulent emotions. And when she was done, she stood in the living room
by the windows and let herself cry.

She didn't hear Cody come in, but somehow wasn't surprised
to see him standing there.

"Julia--"

"I just--"

"Come here," he said gently and she took two steps
and was in his arms. After a few minutes he said, "You had to come back by
yourself didn't you?"

She nodded even as she cried. His arms surrounded her and
made her feel safe. He smelled of wind and surf and he was warm even as she
shivered.

"Here, sit down next to me." They moved to the
couch, and he pulled a knitted afghan across her shoulders before sitting down.
Then he put his arm around her and pulled her closer and she relaxed against him.

"Sorry about the blubbering."

"No apology necessary." He sniffed and looked
around. "Have you been cleaning?"

"Yes. I wouldn't be able to stay here without cleaning
the place of any smidge of Patrice."

"That was a good idea."

"How did you know to come out here?"

"I stopped by the store and Dad said you were coming
out here. I didn't think you should be alone the first time back. I'm just
sorry I wasn't here sooner."

She gave a little hiccup and a laugh. "No, it was
better you weren't here at first. I got all my mad out with the cleaning. I
needed to be alone for that. But I'm sure glad you showed up when you
did."

His hand smoothed the back of her head, stroking her long
hair. They sat quietly, content in the moment. He finally said, "Do you
think you can stay here tonight? Alone?"

"I'm not sure. It was reassuring last night to know
your father was just down the hall."

Cody pulled away as she sat up straight. "You know, I
could stay out here with you. There's a guest room. It might give you a chance
to adjust."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all. It would set my mind at ease to know you
felt safer."

"All right then, it would be great if you were here.
Thanks, Cody."

"But for now, we need to head to town for pizza night
with my Dad. And I can pick up a change of clothes at my place."

"Did you drive the Corvette?"

"Of course."

She laughed. "I'm riding with you rather than the other
way around. I do love Corvettes."

He grinned at her. "I'd noticed that."

"Yes, I have since I was a teenager. I don't know why I
never got one for myself. Just let me change out of this shirt I was cleaning
in, and we can go."

They were on the way to town when she asked him, "Where
do you live?"

He chuckled. "Someplace you'd never expect." Then
he refused to answer any more questions about it. When they had to stop at the
train tracks for a train going by, he called the pizza place and put in the
order. It sounded like a lot of pizza to Julia, but she realized she was
suddenly pretty hungry.

When they drove to the docks and he motioned her out of the
car, she stared at him.

"No. You don't--"

"Live on my boat? Yes, I do. Well, for part of the year
anyway. I just moved back in last week actually. During the worst of winter I
live in Anna's old loft apartment."

He grinned at her look of shock and led her down to where
his boat rested against the dock. "Come on in," he said, and helped
her onto the boat, and then into a nice-sized cabin.

Everything was compact and had a place. The bedroom and
living area took up most of the room inside. The kitchen was a small
affair--she guessed it would be called the galley on a boat.

"You know what this reminds me of," she said as
she stood and turned, looking at everything. "Travis McGee--the John D. MacDonald
books."

"Where do you think I got the idea? I read those books
in my teens and became obsessed with the idea. Even when I grew up, I kept the
idea of one day living on my own boat. Not forever, but for a while. And I've
enjoyed it. Here, have a seat and I'll be right back."

Julia couldn't believe he lived here. She remembered loving
the Travis McGee books and wishing she lived on a boat like him. Leave it to
Cody to actually do it. She smiled to herself.

* * * *

Cody threw some clothes into a duffel bag and came back to
find Julia sitting there smiling. The smile transformed her face from pretty to
beautiful. He realized he was staring and quickly walked into the room.
"Ready to go?"

"Yes, but I'd love to come back some time. I'm
completely fascinated by you living on a boat. What do you do in a big
storm?"

"If it's really bad I can always stay in town. Most
storms I can just ride out here."

They left the boat and headed back, stopping at Delucci's
for two big pizzas. "What's on these anyway?" Julia asked.

"Everything on one of them. Pepperoni and mushroom on
the other."