Chapter 12
Aaron sat at the desk in his office. It was after six
o’clock in the evening on Wednesday evening; his last patient had long since
left and his staff had gone home. He was reviewing patient files and working on
his computer. The ringtone from his cell phone signaled a text message. Aaron
reached for the phone that lay on his desk and swiped his finger across the
screen.
Just landed in
Baltimore. Going straight to the hotel. Soooo tired.
Aaron smirked at Julia’s overuse of the letter ‘o’ as she elaborated the word so.
He typed a message back.
What, no Baltimore
crab cakes tonight? Get some rest.
He set the phone aside and turned back to the computer. A
few minutes later the ringtone let him know another message came through.
Aaron read it.
Maybe a room service
burger. Tired AND hungry. Night.
Aaron typed out a quick message and hit send.
Good night.
His fingers lingered over the letters on the screen for a
moment then he typed again.
Miss you.
He hit send quickly and set the phone aside.
Julia had been gone on a trip since the day after they had
come from the cabin. It had undoubtedly been a couple of quiet days; a quick
text or phone call from her here and there. What Aaron hoped would be a long,
romantic weekend at the cabin together had turned out to be a real bust. The
last day they had been there had been a weird one. The dynamic between them had
gotten better after he had offered to talk, but she then said she was fine. The
drive home was fairly uneventful as were the few minutes it took for him to
help her unpack her stuff when he dropped her off at home. Julia had kissed him
good bye in the foyer of her house and said she’d call him. He’d sensed
something was up ever since that last day, but he didn’t want to press it. He’d
decided to back off and let her work out whatever it was that was bothering
her. He had the patience, he just needed to use it. Aaron did miss her, though,
that was a fact.
Aaron leaned forward on the desk and stretched his back out.
It had been a long day and he was nearing calling it quits for the night. He
was supposed to meet John at Riley’s bar soon so he sorted the last of the paperwork
and input a few more details into his computer. He tidied his desk quickly,
grabbed his phone, keys, and jacket, then locked up the office and was on his
way.
______________________________________
“Another round?” John motioned to Aaron with his pint glass.
“Sure.” Aaron said with a nod and John scooted back from the
table and set off for the bar.
It was a slow night at Riley’s; only a couple dozen people
were there to eat and drink and do whatever it was that people do in bars.
Aaron and John were at a table, both having just finished a meal of greasy bar
food and a beer. John came back a few minutes later with two fresh drinks in
hand. He slid one over to Aaron and sat back down.
“So, Julia’s gone right now you said?” John asked as he took
a sip.
Aaron nodded. “Yeah, she’s in Baltimore. She’ll be back
tomorrow night.”
“How was the cabin? Has it changed much up in that area?
Gah, I haven’t been up there in years…” John shook his head.
Aaron took a drink from the glass. “No, it hasn’t changed
much at all. The cabin we stayed in was nice; we had a good time.” Aaron purposely
kept his answer short and sweet, not going into all of the details.
“So, she can hang in the woods then, huh?” John said with a
laugh.
“She can! She absolutely can.” Aaron reached up and ran a
hand through his hair as moments from their weekend came back to his mind.
“Well, good. That’s good. If she survived the woods and spending the weekend with you, then
she must be a keeper.” John razzed him.
Aaron just shook his head and laughed. “Yeah. Must be.”
“Let’s plan something for the next couple weeks. Amy just
said the other day that she hoped we could all do dinner or something.”
“Alright, yeah. I’ll talk to Julia when she’s back and we
can work it out.” Aaron agreed.
They both talked for a while longer and finished their
drinks. Aaron headed home afterward and checked his phone before going to bed.
There was a text message from Julia, which surprised him. He figured she had
already gone to sleep earlier with Baltimore being two hours ahead of Denver.
I miss you, too.
Aaron smiled and then set the phone on the bedside table.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
It was Friday morning, Julia sat with Holly at a small table
inside one of their favorite cafés.
“What’s going on? How ya been? Who’ve you’ve seen? Where’ve
you flown?” Holly spoke a mile a minute as she cut through the huge muffin on
the plate in front of her.
Julia had returned from the long weekend with Aaron on
Monday afternoon and she was thankful she returned to work on Tuesday. She
welcomed the time to distract herself and distance herself from the love situation;
literally and figuratively. She had been on a three day trip and had gotten
home late the night before.
“Well, for starters… I’m in love with Aaron.” Julia squeezed
the juice from a lemon slice into her tea.
Holly almost choked on her muffin. “Julia!” She screeched
through a mouthful of the breakfast pastry. “Could you at least warm up to
that?! Not hit me with it right away!” She took a drink of her coffee.
“Well, you asked!” Julia said in her defense. She sipped
from her tea cup and rolled her eyes.
“Holy hell, Jules. You damn near gave me a heart attack.”
Holly put her hand to her chest dramatically.
“Oh, quit it. You’re fine.” Julia reached across and plucked
off a piece of Holly’s muffin and popped it in her mouth.
“Love, huh? That’s a big word. One you don’t use often…”
Holly let the sentence hang and took another drink of coffee.
Julia nodded in agreement. “Sure isn’t.”
“And…,” Holly pressed on.
“Aaaaand… It’s eating me aliiiiiive.” Julia sat back in the
chair, exasperated.
“So… you haven’t told him, I take it.”
“No! Of course not! We haven’t even been dating for that
long! I don’t want to be that crazy girl that tells a guy she loves him and
then scares him off.” Julia ran her hands down the sides of her face.
“Does he know, though, I mean already?”
“I don’t know. He knows something is… wrong with me, but I
keep freezing up and shutting down. It’s awful.” Julia slowly stirred her tea
with a small teaspoon.
“Sounds like you’re better off just getting it over with. If
you love him, then tell him. Or you might end up pushing him away, Jules.”
Holly said with a nod.
Julia groaned in agreement. “Yeah. I suppose you’re right.
But I’m just so… you know…. Scared.”
Holly smiled. “Of what, Jules?”
“Of being this girl. The one who falls in love unexpectedly,
and opens herself up to being vulnerable. I don’t do this, Holly. You know
that. It’s been a long time since I’ve done this.”
“I know, but I think you’re overthinking this. Just try to
go with it. You love the guy, so what?”
“Ugggggh,” Julia groaned again. “I do. I totally do.”
Holly leaned closer to Julia over the table. “Look, I’m sure
you are scared. There’s nothing wrong with that. And seriously, when have you
ever let that stop you from doing something?”
Good point.
Her friend was right and it was just what she needed to
hear. Julia stole another bite of Holly’s
muffin.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Aaron wheeled through the aisles of the grocery store with a
handbasket on his lap. It was early Friday evening and he had left work not
long before. He was shopping for ingredients that he would bring to Julia’s for
dinner. She had called him earlier in the day and they had set a plan for him
to come over and he offered to cook.
He suggested that they have fajitas and Aaron made his way
through the store, grabbing things as he went and tossing the items in the
basket. In the produce section as he selected some fresh vegetables, something
caught his eye. A woman was standing with her hands on the push handle of a
shopping cart with a young boy at her side. A man at the display of bananas
turned around and knelt down to the boy’s level. It was obvious that they were
a family. Aaron couldn’t help but watch for a moment as the man let his son put
the bunch of bananas in a clear plastic bag and then he reached up, stood on
tip toes, and dropped them into the cart. Aaron smiled to himself as he picked
up a few peppers and put them in a bag. As he pushed toward the onions, Aaron watched
the family again from afar. The dad pushed the cart and the young mom had the
little boy on her hip.
They look really
happy.
He watched them disappear around the corner. Then, suddenly, Julia flashed across Aaron’s
mind and he caught himself wondering what it might be like for them one day; to
have a life and a family. He dwelled on it for a moment.
Whoa. Stop, Evans. Get
the onions.
He shook himself from the thought and pushed to retrieve the
remaining items he needed. He added those to the cart and checked to see that
he had everything, then made his way up to check out.
Julia. Family.
Children…
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Julia heard the knocks come from the front door. Aaron must
have arrived. She crossed through to the door and took a deep breath before
opening it.
Aaron was there, a sack of food on his lap, and a sly smile
on his face.
Oh god, I did miss
him.
“You don’t have to knock anymore, you know…” Julia said with
a small laugh as she stepped back and invited him in.
Aaron nodded and popped the wheels of his chair up over the
threshold. “Shall I go out and come back in?” He asked through a laugh.
“No!” She said with a smile and she closed the door behind
him. Julia took in his appearance. All of a sudden, the three days she had been
gone had felt like longer. She realized how much she had actually yearned to
see him.
Holly’s words from earlier in the day ran through her mind.
Or you might end up
pushing him away…
He looked so good right then sitting in front of her. She
figured he hadn’t changed after leaving the office; he had on navy blue pants,
and a light blue shirt, and a gray coat. Putting all her mixed up emotions
aside, she went to him and took his face in her hands. The kiss was slow and
deep and Aaron brought a hand up behind her head.
When they pulled away, he kissed her cheek. “Good to see
you.”
“You, too.” She agreed.
“I should get started on this,” Aaron looked down at the
sack in his lap.
“Oh. Right.” Julia followed him as he quickly pushed to the
kitchen island and placed the bag of food there.
“What do you need?” She asked.
“Um, a cutting board, a good knife, and a skillet.” Aaron
unpacked everything and crumpled up the plastic sack.
Julia got out the requested items and laid them out.
“Thank you.” Aaron shrugged off his coat and laid it over
the back of a kitchen chair. He unbuttoned the sleeves of his long shirt and
rolled back the cuffs a few times, exposing his forearms in the process.
He looked up at Julia and cocked his head. “You’re hovering.”
He chuckled. “Sit down; I’ve got this.”
“But I…,” Julia started to protest.
“Sit, Julia. I told you I would cook.” He smiled that smile
of his.
She did as requested and took a seat on a stool at the kitchen
counter. She watched as he moved around the kitchen with ease, having been more
familiar with where things were after spending more time at her place. He got
to work on preparing dinner.
My very handsome
boyfriend is in my kitchen cooking me dinner. Maybe this isn’t so scary after
all.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
After dinner and the subsequent cleaning up, Julia and Aaron
migrated to the living room. Both feeling full and quite happy, with their
shoes kicked off, they lay together; stretched out along the length of the
couch. Julia lay in the nook between Aaron’s arm and chest and he had his arm
around her.
They were quiet for a while, then Aaron pulled Julia closer
to his side. “I missed you, you know.”
Julia looked up at him. “Good, because I missed you. And I’m
glad you’re here now.”
“Me, too.” His voice was low and smooth.
They were quiet for a while longer and Julia looked up again
at one point to see that Aaron’s eyes were closed; he must have dozed off. She
laid her head back down and closed her eyes. A short while later, Aaron moved a
little bit, adjusting his position. When Julia lifted her head again, Aaron was
looking at her.
“I fell asleep didn’t I?”
She nodded. “You did.”
Julia moved so that he could move and he did.
“Will you stay tonight?” Julia said suddenly.
Aaron shifted his upper body and turned more toward her. “If
you want me to, sure.”
“I do.” She said.
“Then I’ll stay…”
“Bed?” Julia suggested.
“Yes.” He agreed through a chuckle.
Julia climbed over him and planted her feet on the floor
before standing up. Julia went around the room and turned out the lights one by
one.
Aaron grabbed the back of the couch and pulled into a
sitting position before setting his legs over the side. He reached forward and
pulled his chair closer before transferring quickly.
They met in the bedroom. Julia had already started
undressing and Aaron headed into the bathroom. Julia left just a camisole and
panties on and crawled into the bed. Aaron came out a few minutes later, with
only his undershirt and boxer briefs on. He wheeled to the other side of the
bed and began the transfer. He got settled quickly and turned over on his
stomach to face Julia. He held himself over her easily and dropped his head to
kiss her. She knew where this was going and she welcomed it. They hadn’t slept
together since before going to the cabin. They kissed for a while, their
arousal growing slowly. Julia pulled Aaron’s shirt over his head before he
removed hers.
“Wait. I…”
Right now. Say it.
Tell him.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Aaron asked, looking down to see
if something was wrong.
“I have to tell you something.”
“Tell me…” His breath was heavy.
It just felt right. The need to say it was overwhelming. She
had to go for it.
“I think that I might have… well, uh…fallen in love with
you. A little.” Julia shrugged her shoulder and crinkled her nose. She waited
for his reaction while inside, her heart began to race.
Still holding himself above Julia, Aaron blinked a few times. His mouth opened but no words came out.
________________________________________________________________________________
As always, comments appreciated. Until next time!
What?! Where is the rest of the chapter?! Please, don`t tell us we have to wait 14 loooong days for his answer...
ReplyDeleteMuahaha! The wait won't be long!
DeleteFinally!!! Thank you so much for this chapter, now I can relax!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading!
DeleteRelax?? How can anyone relax?? Please don't make us wait two weeks for the next chapter! Love this so much!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you love it. The time will fly by!
DeleteWay to go Julia! Hoping for another chapter soon. The last two weeks were agony!
ReplyDeleteAgony?! Haha, I'm sorry!
DeleteO my goodness, I can't believe you left us with this cliffhanger!! I absolutely cannot wait for the next update, to see what happens next, I love Aaron and Julia's interactions!!
ReplyDeleteStay tuned!
DeleteMy very handsome boyfriend is in my kitchen cooking me dinner. - Isn't it anyone's dream... :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the new chapter!
Thank you for reading. : )
DeleteGlad u posted this (:
ReplyDeleteAnd I am glad you read it!
DeleteTerrific! I'm so glad she finally had the courage. Now for his answer . . .
ReplyDeletePlease update soon.
Yes, now for his answer...
DeleteAnd just like the other readers, my first thought was that I cannot wait 2 weeks for his reaction! But I will be a good girl and patiently wait because I'm so happy that you brought this story back! Love it!
ReplyDeleteThis comment made me laugh aloud. : )
DeleteI'm glad ☺
DeleteAnd still patiently waiting!
You can't leave us hanging like that! Lol love it!!
ReplyDeleteHahaha, I'm sorry!
DeleteLooking forward to the next chapter!
ReplyDeleteso, it's been 2 weeks and a day... LOL please come back
ReplyDeleteObsessively checking all day yesterday and today for the next chapter...going crazy over here!!
ReplyDeleteGreat story - thanks for updating!
ReplyDelete