Chapter 7
chapter
seven
Emory
I’m saved from having to answer his awkward question by three women yelling at us from the back door.
“Yay, you convinced her!” one yells.
Another one smacks Sofia. “It totally is her!”
“I told you,” Sofia says, then hits her sister back.
“Any chance y’all would pretend to be normal for one night?” Jude asks.
“Not a chance!” Sofia and the other one say in unison.
And for whatever reason that makes me laugh. All of a sudden I’m flooded with images of a younger Jude trying to wrangle three younger sisters. The third one, I’m assuming the youngest, comes down from the porch and kisses Jude on the cheek.
“Thank you for being the good one, Juliette,” he says. “I have enough trouble with those two.”
Juliette giggles then introduces herself to me.
“Very nice to meet you,” I say.
“You’ve already met Sofia,” she continues. “That’s Aria.” She points to the one currently poking a finger in Sofia’s ear.
I laugh.“Are they always like this?” I ask Jude.
“Yes.” He glances at me and sees me smiling and he grins right back. “They have their decent moments too.” He puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me forward.
“Oh look at Ms. Rosie!” Aria squeals. “I just wanna eat you up. Yes I do.”
“I promise you don’t have to stay long if you don’t want to,” Jude whispers.
I laugh. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. As long as she doesn’t actually eat my dog.”
Fifteen minutes later, after more official introductions, we’re all seated at their family table. In an actual dining room. With placemats. I’ve never eaten on placemats outside of restaurants, but those are usually made of paper.
The meal itself isn’t overly fancy, just spaghetti and meat sauce, but I’d be the sauce didn’t come from a jar.
“Everything is delicious,” I say.
“I made it,” Sofia says.
“You did not,” Aria argues. “You boiled the damn noodles. That is not the same thing as cooking.”
Jude rolls his eyes, but I find it all endearing. And, I realize suddenly, none of it feels awkward. I try not to examine that sentiment.
“Do you have a favorite of all of your videos?” Juliette asks me.
“Oddly enough, no one has ever asked me that before. I guess I’d probably say it’s the one where I got Rosie. I wasn’t expecting to adopt a dog that day or any other. But she just kinda picked me and that was that.”
“That was such a sweet one,” Juliette says. “I love with the one where you introduce Lola the best.”
I chuckle. “I think that’s everyone’s favorite.”
“Oh yes,” Juliette says. “Buck sounds like he was probably a total sweetheart.”
I laugh again. “Not even a little bit. He could be mean as a snake.”
“He clearly had a soft spot for you,” Sofia says.
“He did. I think partly because I wouldn’t leave him alone. Maybe I just saw something in him that I knew would help me in the long run.”
“And he probably saw something in you that kept him from being lonely in his last few years,” Jude says.
I think back to Buck and how he’d started keeping my favorite soda in the cooler in his garage. And how he’d happen to have an extra sandwich or too much pizza or whatever that I’d have to take off his hands. We were an odd pair, but we somehow fit.
“What I want to know is why our dear big brother never taught us the soapy water trick with finding the leak in a tire,” Aria says.
“Oh yeah,” Sofia points at Jude. “That was really cool.”
Jude holds his hands up. “I can show y’all that kind of stuff, but are you actually going to do it? No, you’re going to bring it to me and make me do it.” He takes a sip of iced tea. “I taught y’all the crucial skills for what happens if you have car trouble while you’re out.”
“You did,” Juliette says with a sweet smile.
She’s clearly the family peace maker and seems completely genuine.
“Oh,” she says. “I also really liked the one about the importance of knowing how to read an actual map because sometimes phones don’t work and the GPS can’t get a clear signal.”
Jude turns to face his youngest sister. “That’s what you bought all of us maps last year for Christmas,” he says.
She grins. “Yes. We should all be prepared.”
He reaches under the table and squeezes my thigh. “That’s something I never thought to teach them.”
I lift a shoulder. “Just things you have to be careful when you’re traveling as a single woman. It’s not surprising you wouldn’t have thought about it,” I say.
“What you’re doing matters though,” he says. “Don’t discredit yourself.”
“He’s not wrong. Your tutorial on how to do winged eye-liner was wicked cool,” Aria says. “Now I can do it perfectly.”
Jude laughs. “Not what I meant.”
“I bet if you practiced, you could master it too,” Sofia says to her brother.
“Y’all are hilarious,” he mumbles.
A pang of emotion hits me, making my eyes burn. I swallow thickly willing myself not to cry.
What he did for these girls. For himself… to keep their family in tact. He had to have put things on hold to essentially become a single dad. What kind of person does that?
I sneak a glance over at him and he’s laughing at something the two older sisters are talking about.
“He is the very best man in the world,” Juliette whispers to me.
I feel a bit guilty for being caught staring at her brother, but he’s hard to look away from. I don’t say anything to her though, just nod.
“I was too young to fully understand everything at the time, but I know now how much he gave up to keep us all together.” She releases a small laugh. “And those two didn’t always make it easy on him.”
“What are y’all whispering about over there?” Aria asks.
“I was telling Juliette about an upcoming video.”
“Oh, I wanna know,” Sofia says.
“Nope,” Juliette says. “She’s sworn me to secrecy and we all know the two of you can’t keep a secret.”
“Rude,” Aria says.
“Y’all can’t keep secrets,” Jude says. “Juliette is not wrong.”
I wink at Juliette.
“You mentioned the episode where you adopted Rosie, did you know we have a facility like that here in Saddle Creek?” Aria asks.
“Oh, that’s right,” Sofia says. “Great Dane’s Dog Sanctuary. It’s run by Dane Whitmore.”
“Sad day when that one went off the market,” Aria says.
“Also too old for you,” Jude says.
“It would probably be great publicity for them if you stopped by while you’re in town,” Sofia says.
“We’ve got a big cold front moving in tonight,” Juliette says. “They’re even saying we might get some snow.”
The other two sisters roll their eyes and laugh.
“They say that all the time,” Aria says. “We rarely get snow here.”
We finish up dinner and chat for a little while longer, but then Rosie gets restless so I decide it’s time to head back to Lola. Besides, I shouldn’t let myself get accustomed to sweet family dinners like this. This is not my life.
Jude insists on walking me back to my van after all three of his sisters insist on hugging me and making sure I know I’m welcomed back any time.
We walk in silence for a while before I finally speak.
“Your sisters are awesome,” I tell him.
“They’re all crazy. Well, Juliette is only partially crazy.”
“No, they’re fun. You did a really great job raising them.”
“I didn’t?—”
I grab his hand to stop him. “Take the compliment, Jude. You did do it. You did what needed to be done and now you have these three beautiful girls who are confident and know where they belong in the world. That’s no small thing.”
I try to let his hand go, but instead he threads our fingers together.
“Thank you for saying that.”
Why does holding his hand feel so right? Why isn’t it freaking me out?
Once we reach Lola, he allows me to drop his hand.
“Thanks for coming tonight. They really would never have let me live that one down.”
I laugh. “No problem. It was fun.”
He takes a step forward. And then another. “I want to kiss you.”
“What’s stopping you?” I ask with a boldness I’m not sure I actually feel.
“Because I’m pretty sure that once I start, I won’t be able to stop. Then I’ll just have to kiss you goodnight every day for the rest of your life.”
My heart is pounding and I want desperately for him to kiss me. But instead I force out an awkward laugh. “Wow, how do the women of Saddle Creek keep their wits about them with that level of charm?”
I don’t really give him a chance to respond, instead I lean up and kiss his cheek.
“Goodnight Jude.”
“Night Peaches.”