Chapter 5
Julian was running his final errand of the morning, but things had taken much longer than he’d thought. It seemed like everywhere he went, people wanted to talk. Normally, that would be okay, because he needed practice with his civilian communication skills, but today, not so much.
So, no sweat.
His brothers and their wives had been pumped when he’d called the office to tell them their new boat would be delivered sometime in the next couple weeks, and after that bit of business, he’d managed to get Tabbi on the line, solo, to ask if Petula had shown up yet.
She hadn’t. But if Petula followed her normal schedule, she’d be rolling up to the shop door, soon.
And he was twenty minutes away.
Crap.
He hightailed it to his truck and pointed it toward Hampden.
If he didn’t catch Petula during her delivery this afternoon, he’d have to wait another couple days before he could schedule his next order to come in, and that would just be damned sad.
He stepped on the gas and was five minutes out when his phone rang. He answered using his truck’s Bluetooth.
“Julian here.”
“Jules, it’s Tabbi.” The whispered words were barely audible.
“Tab, what’s up?” Biting back a curse, he figured he already knew.
“Petula’s here. Jett’s doing her best to stall her, but our “Paul” is looking a little nervous. What’s your ETA?”
“Four minutes now,” Julian replied, glancing at his GPS.
He wanted to step on it, but he couldn’t. The last thing he needed was a ticket that his cop brothers would surely get wind of. If he got written up, he’d never hear the end of their shit.
“It’s okay if you can’t keep her,” he sighed. “I can wait a few more days.”
Dammit. He didn’t want to miss her, but sometimes life threw you curveballs, and you simply had to roll with them. He’d learned that the hard way while heading up his Guardian Angel Team.
“Okay. But hurry, just in case.”
Tabbi hung up, and Julian pushed his speed to just 5 miles per hour over the speed limit. Surely, he wouldn’t get stopped for that.
When he finally turned onto the main street where the shop was located, his pulse, which had been racing, returned to normal.
The brown van he’d come to anticipate was still parked out front.
He pulled in behind it and dropped his truck into park, quickly turning off the engine. He was just about to get out as nonchalantly as possible when Petula emerged through the glass doors walking with purpose toward her ride.
“Shit.” Julian wasted no time.
“Petula! Paul!” He amended his tone as his boots hit the pavement.
She startled but turned, and seeing who it was, gave him a lopsided smile as she stopped instead of continuing her rush toward the van.
That was a good sign.
Petula waited for him to approach, then started speaking when he got within a few feet of her.
“I, umm, actually wondered if you were working today.”
Julian’s heart gave an extra thud. Petula had been thinking about him?
“I am. I was running around doing some errands,” he answered lamely.
Geeze. Why couldn’t he come up with some clever quip like his brothers would? He felt like he was fourteen again, trying to converse with Ginny Paisley, a cheerleader he’d been crushing on.
He cleared his throat.
“I, uh, bought a boat. For work.”
Nope. That wasn’t smooth, either.
“Oh.” Petula didn’t look particularly thrilled with that. “That’s good. I suppose it will come in handy when you do…things.” Clearly Petula was also struggling to come up with conversation.
Julian needed to step up his game.
“For sure. It’ll be helpful to have it as part of our rescue package. In conjunction with our diving skills, our submarine, and our airplane, we’ve now got just about everything covered.”
Petula blinked. “You have a sub and a plane?” Her voice rose incredulously.
Julian sensed real interest now, and clarified. “Well, Tabitha owns the sub, and the aircraft belongs to Jett, but we’re getting the titles transferred to the business so they can be written off.”
Geeze. What was he, a geek or something? That sounded so…colorless.
“Smart,” Petula replied, then glanced at her watch.
Julian wanted to groan. Was she just being polite, but itching to leave?
“I’m sorry. I must be holding you up,” Julian apologized, figuring he’d lost out on his opportunity to talk by being a goddamned bore.
“No. No. Not at all,” she demurred. “I’m just checking to make sure, but I’m actually ahead of schedule today, so I can spend a couple more minutes before I have to get back to my route.”
Julian’s smile was spontaneous, and when he glanced over her head at the shop, he saw four curious faces in the window.
His excitement faltered. Tabbi and Jett, but also Spence and Trask were like kids with their noses practically pressed up against the glass of a toy store.
Great. Now he’d be answering a shitload of questions; ones to which he probably had no answers.
The minute they saw him looking, of course, they all scrambled backward, pretending to be busy rearranging displays, but Julian knew better. The instant his attention was back on Petula, they’d be rubber-necking again.
“Siblings can be the best, but they can also be extremely annoying,” Petula grunted.
Of course she’d noticed they had an audience.
Siblings… Ah. There was a question he could safely ask.
“You have siblings?” Julian queried.
A dark cloud passed over her face, but she quickly shook it off and forced a smile. “I do. My brother, Statler and I live together. He’s an industrial contractor.”
There was clearly something Petula wasn’t saying, but Julian wasn’t going to dig deeper, at least for now. If he had a chance to get to know her better, he’d get answers to any questions he might have.
“Industrial contractor, huh? Warehouses and malls?” Julian questioned, sticking to the safe territory Petula had offered up.
“Yup. Both. And smaller jobs,” she told him. “He actually helped Spencer with the reno on your shop before it opened.”
Julian hadn’t known that.
Petula seemed to relax a little. “Right now, he’s hoping to win this huge contract for a big factory-build up north.” Her mouth twisted up. “I’m not looking forward to him getting it because it means he’ll be gone for several months.”
So the pair were close. That was good to know. Family was important.
Julian wanted to immediately assure her that if she needed help with anything while her brother was absent, he’d be happy to come to her aid. But considering how little they knew each other, it seemed a bit presumptuous.
Perhaps if he worded it differently…
“If you need any extra hands around your place while he’s gone, or if you just get lonely and want to hang out, the Sothard clan is always available.
All of us. And it’s not just my seven brothers I’m talking about.
There are actual females in the family now besides Tabbi, Jett, and my mother, for which our matriarch is supremely grateful. ”
“Your mother is pretty wonderful,” Petula concurred.
She knew Ellen Sothard?
“You’ve met my mom?” he asked.
“Yeah. I see her out at the camp in the summer when I make deliveries there.”
Of course she did. Petula probably knew everyone in town.
“And as for your new sisters, let me see if I have this right. Besides Tabitha and Jett, you must be talking about Bobbie,” Petula responded smartly. “And you probably consider Sheila part of the clan, now, as well.”
“That’s right,” Julian confirmed. “Those four, but there’s also Mason’s wife Everlee, and Kyle’s wife Rowan.”
Petula nodded and grinned. “I knew that. I see Everlee on my route quite a bit. She and Mase order a lot of toys for their daughter, who’s…now two?”
Julian chuckled. “Yup. They spoil Reilly rotten. But she’s the sweetest little thing, so it’s easy to do.
Rowan and Kyle have a different philosophy for their son, Benny.
He’s only six months old, though, so we’ll see how well they stick to their “minimal toys”, “adventure-kid” philosophy once he’s up and about.
It’s possible he’ll want to be a nerd, rather than an action hero. ”
Petula laughed.
She actually laughed.
Julian’s stomach did a gleeful flip-flop. The woman was beautiful on any given day, but when she showed overt happiness? Stunning. If only he could think of more things to say that would light her up. Perhaps…
“Did you know that Bobbie and Tabitha are both pregnant?”
Julian didn’t know how much the women talked when Petula did her deliveries.
“I know Bobbie is,” she smirked. “When I was dropping off paper-goods one day at her catering place, I caught her throwing up in one of the dumpsters in the alley. I held her hair while she barfed. That was…” Petula tapped her lip.
“…a little more than two months ago and she was just getting out of her first trimester, so she’s five months along now? ”
“That’s right. And Tabbi is three.”
“I didn’t know about Tabitha. I’ll have to give her my congratulations next time I come into your shop.”
“Schedule a little extra time. Between Tabbi and Sheila, they’ll talk your ear off about all the baby books they’ve read.”
“Good to know.” Petula stared down at her feet, then looked at her watch again.
“Listen…” they both said at the same time.
It was Julian’s turn to laugh. “You go first.”
“No. You,” Petula countered.
“Okay.” This part was easy. “I was going to mention that I was glad I caught you.” Dare he say more? He glanced at the window again to see Tabitha grinning and giving him a thumbs up.
Okay. Here goes.
“You brighten my whole day when you show up with our deliveries.”
Color crept into her face, and Julian hoped that was a good thing. Since Petula was a redhead, it might just be a blood-vessel reaction that happened all the time, say from the cold or something. But… Was Julian being selfish wanting that blush to be just for him?
Still, it might embarrass her to have her emotions—whatever they were—scrutinized, so he changed paths.
“What were you going to say, before?” he questioned.