Sweet Twins For My Brother's Best Friend: An Enemies To Lovers Romance (The Sweet Twins Collection)

Chapter Fourteen

Christopher

Yep, it’s definitely Julie smiling at me like she didn’t leave me at the altar after cleaning out my house, taking our dog, and disappearing into the night five years ago, while I waited for her at the church in front of all our friends and family. But hey, I’m not bitter or anything.

I force a smile. ”Hey, Julie. It”s been a while.”

”Yeah, it has,” she replies, her tone cautious. There”s an awkward silence between us before she speaks again. ”How have you been?

”Good, good,” I answer, trying to sound casual. “Well, for the most part. And you?”

Julie shrugs. ”Oh, I’ve been good, too. Staying busy.” She laughs. “Well, you know how it is. A bit too busy, usually.”

I nod, unsure of what else to say. My mind races, searching for something to fill the awkward silence.

It’s strange. I have so much to say to her and yet really have nothing to say.

What does someone say in a situation like this?

‘Hey, why’d you leave me?’ seems a bit much for the condiment aisle. So does ‘I haven’t ever emotionally recovered and my therapist isn’t sure when I will.’ More of a diary aisle thing.

“So, you here for a bit?”

“Oh! Yeah.” She rocks back and forth on her toes, a pained expression on her face. Please don’t say what I think you’re about to say. “I’ve got a new job out here.”

“So you’ll be staying, then.”

I flatten my lips, my heart and mind racing as I imagine having to run into Julie at the grocery store every week. I want to ask to see her calendar, so I can schedule my grocery trips for another time.

“Great,” I say with feigned cheer.

She laughs wryly. “Yep. Well, hey, you’ve had the last five years without me. It’s time to face your fears, yeah?”

She’s joking, but her words still sting.

Her hair is in two long, brown braids that hang over her breasts, and she takes one and nervously twirls it like a rope. It’s sort of comical, like it isn’t attached to her head at all.

I guess she’s right, anyway. Maybe it is time to face my fears.

Already, I can feel my adrenaline subsiding as my body seems to acclimate to Julie being in front of me.

“Well, um, hey, I was just talking to someone the other day, and maybe it’s good you’re here! Because I was wondering: how’s Noodle?”

Her expression darkens for a moment before she replies, ”Oh, well, okay. Promise not to be mad?”

I laugh. ‘What is this, 3rd grade? Julie, we’re well past me being mad at you.”

My empty living room, my empty bedroom, her clothes gone, her dishes gone, her art gone. Our dog gone. Her gone.

“Okay, well…” she continues to twist her braid anxiously like it’s a toy of some kind.

I stop her hand with mine. “Can you tell me, please? Is she okay? Did she get sick or something?”

“No! No, she didn’t get sick. I just… I got rid of her.”

I furrow my brow, surprised by her response. ”Really? I thought you loved that dog.”

Julie looks at the ground with something that looks like a tinge of shame or regret. But it’s hard to tell with Julie. She could be feeling anything.

As I learned the hard way, I evidently can’t read her emotions well.

”Yeah, well. She wouldn”t stop peeing on everythingng, okay? It was driving me crazy. She peed on the floor and on my purses and in my shoes.”

I let out a bitter laugh as anger, resentment, and sadness all fill the caverns of my ribs at once. It’s unbearable, this mixture of emotion.

Noodle was my family. Noodle was our family, I thought. I thought she took her because she loved her so much.

“She was a puppy, Julie. That’s what puppies do.”

She scoffs. “I know what puppies do, Chris, I’m not an idiot, but I was dealing with a lot.”

“You caused that. I thought you took her because you loved her and couldn’t bear the thought of being without her, and you’re telling me you not only weren’t willing to actually put in the work to raise and train her, but also wouldn’t let me do it? What is wrong with you, Julie? Are you actually made of stone?” I tap her arm as though I’m checking what material she’s made of.

She yanks her arm away from me and walks back to her cart. “I’m not made of stone, Chris. I was young, okay? I made some mistakes. I should have called you. But it’s been five years. Get over it.”

“Are you serious? Get over it? Are you a villain in a Lifetime movie? Noodle loved us, Julie. I loved Noodle. I would have taken her if you didn’t want her.”

“That dog didn’t care who she ended up with, Chris. She just wanted to be fed. Anyone could have done that.”

She walks away, one wheel of her cart screeching and wobbling horribly beneath the weight.