Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Julia leaned back in the armchair she was sitting in at Main Street Auto. She tried to get a glimpse into the garage through the window that looked into it from the lobby, but her view was obstructed by a couple of customers. She was there waiting for Dean to be available to work on the AC unit in her car. Cooper had made an appointment for her, which she’d thought was sweet of him.
She glanced at her watch. She wasn’t in any kind of a hurry, but she felt restless. Ever since her last conversation with Cooper about the garden, she’d been distracted and starry-eyed. She felt as though she’d started to move through life in a kind of pink, dreamy haze.
“Thanks for stopping in, folks. We’ll give you a call when your car is all set.”
She looked up and saw that Dean had joined the teenage receptionist at the front desk. He glanced at Julia and waved to her with a smile.
The people dropping their car off stepped back out into the cold, and Dean came over to Julia and gave her a big hug.
“Good morning, sister,” he said. “Are you here so that I can work some automotive magic on your vehicle?”
She laughed. “Yes please. I know it seems silly to get the AC unit repaired in the winter, but Cooper wanted to make sure I was all prepared for spring and summer.”
Dean shrugged. “Always a good idea to get ahead on things. Besides, it sounds like he likes you or something.”
Julia nodded, feeling almost giddy. Cooper was treating her the way she’d always hoped a partner would, with care, respect, and love.
“You want to come with me into the garage?” he asked her. “You can watch me fix it. It won’t take long at all.”
“Sure.” She grinned. When they were kids, Dean had always loved an audience for his various projects. Even when he was little, he’d loved to fix things up or figure out how puzzles or 3D models went together. He’d always appreciated having someone there to watch him and cheer him on, and she thought that it was sweet that he still felt that way as an adult.
She followed him into the garage, where the air was filled with the sounds of banging and thumping, and the smells of grease and oil. She wasn’t a huge fan of the smells, but she knew Dean enjoyed them. She shook her head, reflecting that there were some things about men that she would never fully understand.
Since she’d already given her key to the receptionist, who’d given it to one of the other mechanics, her car was in the garage waiting for them. She gave it a quick pat on the side when they reached it, as if it was a horse, and Dean chuckled.
“You’ve got a good car,” he said as he climbed into it, getting ready to start working on her AC unit. “A lot of people have some serious issues with theirs. Well, I guess more expensive than serious, since there isn’t anything we can’t fix. It just takes time and money.”
“I’m glad to hear you have such a high success rate, doctor,” she teased.
He turned around and stuck his tongue out at her, and she laughed.
“You can sit in that chair there,” he told her. “I don’t want you to have to stand the whole time.” He gestured to a lawn chair that was placed next to a pillar behind her.
“Sure. Thanks.” She plopped down in the lawn chair—after first checking to make sure it wasn’t too dirty. She was wearing dark jeans paired with a magenta blazer, and she didn’t want the blazer getting stained.
Dean started to tell her a story about the car of a local couple while he worked. She listened attentively at first, but after a couple of minutes, the dream haze she was in seemed to take over her brain. She found herself staring into space, thinking about what Cooper had said about her planting a garden at his house. She kept imagining the garden, and getting to work in it with Cooper, while Macey played nearby. She imagined her hands, digging in the dirt with a trowel, and she imagined that on her hand was a diamond engagement ring…
“Julia?”
She looked up, startled. Dean was blinking at her in confusion.
“What?” she stammered.
“I asked you a question,” he said. “Does the air conditioning ever work at all, or is it totally gone?”
“Uh, sorry, Dean. It never works at all. Or, we never could get it to work at least.”
“Sounds like a hot summer.” He shook his head, chuckling.
“Yeah, it was toasty.”
“So how come you’re so distracted?” he asked her as he continued to work. “Where’s your mind at?”
“Oh, it’s just…” Her voice trailed off. She didn’t want to come right out and tell Dean that she thought Cooper was thinking of proposing to her, but she decided that she could tell him about all of the things that Cooper had said. Maybe Dean would read between the lines and realize why she felt so excited and distracted. “Well, I made a birthday dinner for Cooper. We didn’t have an actual party with other guests there, it was just me and Macey and Cooper, but he loved it. I decorated the dining room and made him a cake and alfredo lasagna.”
“Sounds nice.” Dean smiled.
“Thanks. It definitely made him really happy, and he said that he couldn’t imagine a day without me.” She inhaled excitedly and kept going. “He even went so far as to say that I should start a garden in his backyard. As in, a whole vegetable garden. We wrote up a plan for one and everything.”
“Wow, really?” Dean looked interested as he continued to work. “That sounds really nice, Julia.”
She squirmed a little, wondering if he thought it meant that Cooper was going to propose. Dean was a man, after all. Maybe he would have a better idea of what might be going on in Cooper’s head than she did.
“Hey, Dean!”
Both Julia and Dean turned in surprise to see Alexis walking toward them across the garage. Julia jumped up to give her a hug as Dean climbed out of Julia’s car.
“Hey, you!” Julia grinned at her sister. “What’s the occasion?”
Alexis lifted up a plastic bag containing a to-go box. “I brought lunch for Dean. I had Allison make it, and now that I’m on my lunch break I decided to stop by to drop it off.”
Dean frowned a little as he took the bag from Alexis. “Why are you doing this?”
Alexis shook her head. “You’ve really seemed tired the last couple of days. I want to make sure that you’re keeping your strength up. You’ve got to take care of yourself, Dean.”
Julia noticed that Dean’s frown deepened, but Alexis didn’t seem to notice it. She continued to talk about the lunch she’d made for Dean, patting her belly as she spoke.
“I have to confess, I ate half the Fritos that are in there with your burrito on the way here. I suddenly was craving them like crazy, and then I realized they’re not actually what I’m craving.” She shook her head and sighed.
“Sounds like you need some peanut butter,” Julia teased.
Alexis made a face at Julia.
“I wish you hadn’t done this, Alexis,” Dean said. He looked upset.
“Are you mad about the Fritos?” Alexis asked, looking dismayed.
“No!” Dean ran his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated. His tone was short, and Julia hadn’t heard him speak that way in a long time. “I’m doing fine, Alexis. I don’t need you to bring me lunch. There’s no need to give me special treatment here.”
Julia and Alexis both blinked at him in shock. It wasn’t like Dean to be so curt, and Julia could tell that there was something really upsetting him—and it definitely wasn’t just the lunch.
“Dean, what’s the matter?” Alexis asked softly. “Are you okay?”
Dean sighed, setting the bag down on top of Julia’s car.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just… I really don’t want to be treated like an invalid, okay? I appreciate you bringing me lunch, but I don’t like feeling like you think I can’t take care of myself. Or that it’s so hard for me to function that I need help. I’m okay. I just want you to treat me the way you used to. Please.”
“I used to bring you lunch sometimes,” Alexis pointed out.
“Yeah, but you didn’t tell me it was because you were worried about me and I needed to keep my strength up. And you would always bring food for yourself too and eat with me. Look, I’m sorry, Alexis, but I just don’t want people paying me special attention because of my diagnosis. I want to be treated normally.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Dean and Alexis shared a hug, and Julia watched them with an ache in her heart. She could tell that Dean was struggling with his diagnosis more than he was letting on, but she wanted to give him the space he was asking for. Besides, she trusted that he would be able to figure it out. If he did need help at all, he knew that he could come to his family. The Owens were great at supporting each other, and they’ve made it clear to Dean that he never had to deal with anything alone.
“Let’s talk about something else,” Dean suggested as he pulled away from the hug.
“Sure.” Alexis smiled at him. “We can get the focus off you stat, Dean. What were you two talking about when I walked in?”
“I was telling Dean that Cooper offered to let me plant a vegetable garden in his backyard.” Julia smiled, noticing the way butterflies seemed to take off in her stomach as she added, “And I told him about what Cooper said at the birthday party I threw for him: that he couldn’t imagine life without me.”
Alexis squealed so loudly that the other mechanics in the garage turned to see what the fuss was all about.
“Julia, that’s amazing!” Alexis pulled her into a hug. “That really sounds like he’s getting ready to propose, if he offered to let you plant a garden at his house. Right, Dean? Gardens are totally a long-term thing. Totally a ‘wow, we both live here let’s plant some vegetables together’ kind of thing.”
Dean laughed. “It does sound like he’s serious. I wouldn’t be surprised if he proposes to Julia soon. But then again, I wouldn’t have been surprised anyway.” He smiled and shrugged.
Julia felt a rush of excitement when she heard Dean’s words. If her more level-headed brother thought that Cooper might be proposing soon, then maybe it really was about to happen.
“This is so exciting!” Alexis pulled out her phone and began to tap on the screen eagerly. “I’m making you a manicure appointment right now, Julia. That way your nails will look great when Cooper proposes to you. What color do you want? Something feminine and demure, or something vibrant? I guess it will kind of depend on what you’re wearing though, won’t it? What do you want to wear when he proposes to you?”
Julia laughed. “Even if he does propose to me, we have no idea how soon he’s going to do it. Shouldn’t we wait? I mean, maybe in a few weeks I’ll have a clearer sense of what he’s really thinking.”
“Absolutely not.” Alexis shook her head. “There is no way I’m letting you risk getting caught with lousy nails on your engagement day.”
Julia chuckled, and Alexis continued to set up a manicure appointment. Julia and Dean shared a grin, and she could feel her hope building.
I can’t believe this might actually be happening , she thought, aglow with anticipation.
The fact that she’d told her siblings and they were excited for her made it all seem so much more real. She answered Alexis’s questions about what kind of manicure she wanted in a kind of daze, wondering if a proposal was really going to happen, and when.