Chapter 17 – Juliana
“Y our turn, Juliana.”
“Truth again, please. I abhor performing in front of an audience and I’m not as talented a singer as your younger brother.” Goodnatured chuckling follows except for Liam who gives an exasperated groan.
I had no clue how seriously the Culver siblings take their Truth or Daring. Overall, they’ve taken it easy on me and Tabitha but, while Ethan and Dean were forthcoming with their blush-inducing truths, Ivy opted for reciting some of her ‘personal growth’ poetry rather than confessing any secrets.
And then, there’s Liam.
“I had no idea you could sing so well while sober,” Ivy says, smirking at him.
Tabitha giggles, agreeing. “You do have a lovely voice, Liam.”
“You should hear him when he’s tipsy. He can pull off an excellent country twang when he’s into it. I think he knows Hank Williams, Sr.’s entire song catalog.”
Liam narrows his eyes at me, incredulous, as Dean and Ethan rub their hands together like evil masterminds. “Traitor.”
“I simply speak the truth. If you opted for that one, you wouldn’t have to sing.”
“Remember where you’re sitting,” he warns, lightly tracing my ribs with his hands.
I know he’s threatening to tickle me, but it doesn’t have the intended effect.
I have to suppress a shudder of excitement.
Being in his lap again after what happened last night is distracting as hell.
I want to kick my own butt for reiterating the one-night-only thing this morning, but what’s done is done.
“Alright, Juliana,” Dean says, dragging us back into the game. “Have you ever been in love?”
I didn’t expect that sort of question. Liam tenses beneath me, but the question is one for which I had a ready answer at least. “Yes, I have. Once,” I reply.
“I fell deeply in love with my smooth-talking but extremely shitty ex-husband who taught me never to make that mistake twice. Farewell, Fairy Tales. Hello, Freedom. Who’s next? ”
Everyone laughs in a more sympathetic sort of way at my answer. Everyone except Liam.
“Truth or Dare, Liam?” Ethan asks, grinning deviously. He’s quite handsome despite that rather woolly beard.
“Dare,” Liam mutters. He’s chosen Dare all night. Does he enjoy performing or is he afraid of telling the truth?
Ethan takes his time mulling over his dare and I start to wonder how far his brothers might push him. “I’ve got it. Go to Mom and Dad’s anniversary party in our stead… and take Juliana with you.”
Puzzled by the odd challenge, I look at Liam, but he keeps his eyes locked with his brother’s. “Done.”
∞∞∞
“How was the party?” Ivy asks a couple of weeks later when I meet her and Tabitha at Twisted Anchor for brunch the morning after the swanky country club affair.
“Not my scene at all but it was fine. Liam and I wound up enjoying ourselves.”
Liam’s not only got a lovely singing voice. He’s an excellent dancer and he's drop-dead gorgeous in formalwear, not that I mention that. I sure as hell won’t admit I kept my vibrator up late last night after Liam dropped me off while fantasizing about him.
“Your mother seemed to want to introduce him to every young lady there. From women his age to the frightfully young debutants.” It had bothered me far more than I should’ve allowed it to considering I’ve got more important things on the horizon.
My injections will start soon and that’s just the beginning.
Ivy chuckles and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, that’s Mom. I was one of those debutants being paraded in front of the bachelors she deemed suitable like a tasty treat ten years ago.”
I shudder at the picture she paints. Sylvia Culver is quite beautiful and very cultured, but there’s something about her that sets my teeth on edge.
And, not just because it was obvious she only views me as nothing more than her son’s ‘mature’ friend if she was trying to set him up under my nose.
Nevertheless, it’s obvious she dotes on Liam.
“How was his father?” Tabitha asks, grimly.
“He did nothing to improve my impression of him,” I say, honestly.
He’s not my family, so I don’t want to speak out of turn, but he strikes me as a real bastard.
“He drank too much as the night carried on and wound up arguing with a couple of men,” I admit.
I was concerned by the behavior and how Liam’s mother expected Liam to handle it all while pretending nothing was amiss.
“Dad did?” Ivy says, curiously. Then, she turns back to her menu when I nod.
Tabitha excuses herself, clearly more bothered by my words than his daughter was. “Is she okay?”
Ivy glances around before leaning toward me. “Dean told me there was history between our father and hers. I don’t know what exactly but he passed away several years ago. I think Tabitha was why Dean finally gave up on them completely.”
I’d wondered about that. Liam said Dean always marched to his own drum.
“Do we have time to look at that space together after brunch?” Ivy asks me, changing the subject when Tabitha returns.
“Of course.”
∞∞∞
Tabitha chooses not to join us for this errand, heading home to Dean instead.
Ivy strolls around the empty storefront for rent.
She’s looking to start up a small boutique in town and, while it’s not the same as planning and designing a building, I appreciate that she asked for my professional opinion on the space.
I appreciate that the three of us are forming a friendship, too.
It’s giving me a deeper connection to the Culvers I hadn’t expected.
He’ll be the father of my baby if this all works out.
Even if I raise the child primarily on my own, I think it would be good for the child to know his or her family on both sides.
Maybe that family element will help me to not fixate on Liam so much that I start seeing things that aren’t there. We’re friends, best friends, who had amazing sex that one time. That’s all it’s supposed to be.
Whatever drove her away, Ivy’s important to Liam, a puzzle piece I think he’s missed, and he wants her to stay in San Francisco.
I hope this potential business venture means she will.
She’s quite beautiful, but her manners are much more reserved than her brothers’.
I think she’s got wounds she keeps to herself beyond a Vegas wedding.
I don’t know what they might be exactly, but I understand her wish to keep them private.
“What was Liam like as a boy?” I ask, something I’ve wondered but never had the nerve to ask him. Beyond sharing his middle name with me, he’s tight-lipped about his childhood.
Ivy takes another full turn around the room before answering. “Shorter.”
I snort.“Obviously.”
“He was eager to please, painfully so.” That’s not the answer I expected. “You probably thought he was a troublemaker, right? He wasn’t. That was Dean and then it was me while Liam tried very hard to keep everyone happy. Sort of like Ethan. That’s where his natural charm was first honed.”
“He’s charming without a doubt.” I’m sure it’s helped him immensely when it comes to bedroom conquests but don’t repeat that.
“Our house was ground zero for my parents’ cold war when we were kids,” Ivy continues, surprising me. “And, Dad’s domineering personality was at its worst there. The constant conflict bothered Liam a great deal though he pretended otherwise.”
That hurts my heart to hear and it’s familiar to Old Reliable Juliana. Not the fighting or being the charmer of the family, but the intense desire to keep them all happy. “I would guess the conflict was upsetting to all of you.”
“A bit.” She shrugs, but I don’t think she’s as indifferent as she acts. “Dad was worse back then,” Ivy comments, running her fingers along the glass and cherry display case. Worse? “He likes you.”
I know she’s not referring to Jock Culver. “I would hope he likes his best friend.”
Ivy smirks, turning to look at me. “No, he really likes you. I’ve never seen him look at any woman the way he looks at you and, trust me, I used to spend plenty of time at Twisted Anchor with him as well as at our parents’ required society events.
Sorry if you’d rather not hear that but I know my brother. ”
I glance away, unsure. She doesn’t know we had sex at his club the other night.
Maybe that’s why he was looking so much.
She doesn’t know that I’ve been mulling over my decision to return us to friends-only since then either.
Whenever we’re together lately, he doesn’t say anything about that night but the way he touches me, the way he stares makes that fire in my core burn all the hotter for him.
I was a fool to think simply having sex with Liam once would quench my lust for him.
“I’m not certain…”
“...what you feel?” she finishes for me.
“Since my divorce, I’ve locked away the very idea of that kind of thing. But I would never want to hurt Liam.” Ivy seems dissatisfied with my words. I’m dissatisfied with them, too, but I can’t allow myself to feel too much.
“Did you like Oregon?” I ask. Gracefully accepting my deflection, she tells me of Ethan’s ramshackle Victorian on Wallowa Lake and how he convinced her to try fishing before we dive back into the pros and cons of the space she’s considering.
After we part ways, I head back to my office space which I’m considering giving up.
I don’t really need it for my projects. I’ve got a home office.
Miles could come to my house if I could carve out a nook for him to work.
I don’t want to walk away from my business, but I will want to focus on being home and doing less for the first few years after the baby comes.
After the baby comes? I reach into my jacket pocket for a coin to toss, a superstitious sop to fate I’ve picked up lately every time I think of my baby as a foregone conclusion. I don’t want to jinx anything.
But, just as my fingers close around the coin, my steps slow.
My period is due. Overdue by a day, actually.
My breasts have been achy all day. Some women experience that during PMS but I generally don’t.
“Breast sensitivity is an early sign of pregnancy, too.” The stranger passing beside me gives me a startled look at my unsolicited rambling.
It was a bit past the prime ovulation time period, but I’m not stupid. We had sex without protection. I just didn’t expect that one time to be the time.
Turning around, I head into the nearest pharmacy to purchase a test kit.