Chapter 32 #2
“I suppose we should do introductions, shouldn’t we?
” Hayley pointed to the woman with the head tattoo that he’d met a few weeks ago at the library.
“This is Evangeline. She also works at the library and is Tai’s other half.
That hulking specimen of a man over there”—she gestured to a very tall man in a flannel shirt sitting on one end of a sectional sofa—“is my boyfriend, Levi. And there are three kittens hiding around here somewhere, but I doubt they’ll come out. ”
“It’s nice to meet everyone.”
With introductions out of the way, they all stacked their plates with food and returned to the sofa in pairs.
Hayley wiped her fingers with a napkin after finishing off a slider. “I thought tonight we could play Taboo.” She reached under the coffee table and produced the game box.
Tai groaned. “I call unfair advantage.”
“Unlike last time when we played Pictionary?” She raised her brow at him.
He laughed. “Hey, don’t blame me. I’m not the one who drew what looked like an avocado when the prompt was a pregnant woman.”
“For the last time, that wasn’t—You know what? Never mind.” She grinned in a way that was truly frightening. “Why don’t we do a battle of the sexes? Boys versus girls.”
“Three librarians against three guys whose jobs don’t revolve around words?” Tai scoffed.
“You’d have Julien.”
Tai looked at Julien skeptically.
“If you hadn’t gathered, those two like to give each other a hard time,” Martha whispered beside him.
“I see that,” he whispered back.
“Why don’t we do couples?” Evangeline asked magnanimously.
“Yes!” Tai jumped on the suggestion.
“Fine,” Hayley capitulated. “But Levi and I go first.” She pulled a card out of the box, quickly reading it to herself. When she raised her eyes to Levi’s, her gaze was as focused as an Olympian about to compete for a gold medal. “Ready, babe?”
Levi dipped his chin.
Tai reached out and flipped the timer. “Go.”
“Delicious. Fuji. Honeycrisp.”
“Apple.”
“Correct.” Hayley picked another card. “Salmon, trout, bass.”
“Fish.”
“Right.” By the time their round was finished, they had six cards in front of them. “Ha! Beat that!” She gloated at Tai.
Tai cracked his knuckles, then made a show of cracking his neck like he was preparing to go a few rounds in a boxing ring. Hayley rolled her eyes at him, but everyone else was laughing.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
Hayley flipped the timer.
Instead of barking out words like Hayley had, Tai looked at his card and then settled his soft gaze on Evangeline.
“You have a pair of these that I dream about every night. They’re sweet and soft and drive me insane.
I’ve memorized the shape of them but want to keep coming back to discover them over and over and make sure my memory is correct. ”
“Can we please keep this PG, Casanova?” Hayley snarked.
Evangeline leaned toward Tai and kissed his mouth. “Lips?”
“Most definitely,” he said before kissing her again.
“Time!” Hayley yelled. “You only got one.”
“I still think I won that round.” Tai smiled as he gave Evangeline one more kiss before leaning back into the sofa.
Julien picked up the box of cards and held them between himself and Martha. “Do you want to go or should I?”
“I’ll go.” She took the box and pulled out a card.
“Ready?” Hayley asked.
Martha nodded.
“Go!”
“We climbed a lighthouse to see one in Florida.”
“Rocket.”
She switched cards. “I made one for you when I was ten.”
“Bracelet.”
New card. “These have a vendetta against you.”
“Birds.” He shuddered involuntarily.
That made her grin.
With every card she pulled out, she gave a clue that they had either seen or experienced together. When the timer finished, they had five cards answered.
“Good job, guys,” Evangeline said as she scooped up some salsa with a chip, her shoulder snuggled into Tai’s side.
Hayley also leaned into her boyfriend’s side, his arm around her shoulders. She studied Julien.
Martha set the box of Taboo words down on the coffee table and picked her plate of food back up.
Julien rested his arm along the top of the couch cushion.
When Martha settled back into her spot, Julien’s hand was near her neck.
He gently ran the backs of his fingers along the soft curve of skin there.
He loved being able to touch her whenever he wanted.
As far as the game was concerned, it was Levi’s turn. The giant man didn’t make a move toward the box of cards, content to just sit with his plate perched on his thigh, his arm around Hayley, and munch on chicken wings that he’d put extra hot sauce on.
“So, Julien,” Hayley started.
Julien’s hand stilled for a moment at the tone in Hayley’s voice. Looked like it was time for the interrogation part of the evening. He wound one of Martha’s curls around his finger and met Hayley’s gaze, unintimidated.
“My man here”—she patted Levi’s thigh—“wrote me letters with romantic literary scavenger hunts inside. Tai immortalized Evangeline’s indomitable spirit in a piece of artwork that empowered her.
” She held him with her intent gaze. “What have you done for Martha? Besides disclose your relationship to HR, which, by the way, is practical, not romantic, and no longer even relevant.”
“She’s going there, huh?” Tai muttered.
Levi grunted in response.
“Some people find practicality very romantic,” Martha argued in defense, her spine going ramrod straight.
Julien applied pressure to the muscles along her neck, massaging, but he didn’t jump in. If she had something she wanted to say, he very well was going to let her say it.
“I’ve never needed nor sought grand gestures.
It’s the things that don’t fade that matter to me.
A good character. Integrity. Kindness. Daily showing up, even through tough times, means more to me than a single extraordinary event.
” She placed her hand on Julien’s knee while she narrowed her eyes at Hayley.
“Don’t judge our relationship by your own measuring stick.
Especially if you find it lacking, because I don’t. ”
Julien’s heart swelled. He hadn’t needed Martha to come to his defense, but the fact that she had meant more to him than he realized it would. Overcome, he gently gripped the back of her neck and pressed a kiss to her temple. This woman. She was simply too perfect.
But he didn’t want her friends to think he lacked any sentimental bones in his body.
Hayley was right. Martha did deserve grand gestures and a man who would woo her with both the practicality she appreciated but also the romantic actions of a man entirely devoted.
The integrity she’d praised had held him back from displaying any of his feelings before their return from Florida, but that roadblock had been removed.
Now he would romance her like she deserved.
Julien had thought to save sharing this with Martha in private, but right then seemed just as good a time. Especially since he didn’t want to say what else he was planning since he couldn’t guarantee the outcome and didn’t want anyone in the room to be disappointed if it didn’t all work out.
Shifting, he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. Their discussion on the flight to the conference had gotten him to thinking. When they’d returned, he’d done a little digging.
Opening his wallet, he pulled out a frayed length of braided strings. Ever since finding it between the pages of an old textbook, he’d been carrying it around with him.
Martha gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. “Is that . . . ? You still have it?”
“What is it?” Evangeline scooted forward to look.
Julien laid his palm flat so everyone could see.
“It’s a friendship bracelet Martha made me when we were kids.
Somehow, even way back then, she knew we were bookmarked to be the most important person in the other’s life.
I didn’t appreciate it at the time the same way that I do now, but I’m older and wiser. ”
He gave her a peck on the lips, then returned the bracelet to his wallet. Shifting again, he dug into the front pocket of his pants. When he opened his fist this time, two identical woven bracelets lay in his palm.
“Best friends forever?” he asked as he tied one of the bracelets around her wrist.
She kissed him, took the second bracelet, then secured it on his wrist. “As long as we’re the kissing kind of best friends.” She winked.
“Deal.” And to prove his compliance to her demand, he did just that.