4. Chapter 3
J ulia didn’t bother knocking but walked right into her sister Rachel’s house. The entryway was a disaster like usual, and she set down the still frozen garlic bread to lean down and rearrange the shoes. When they were paired and sitting straight against the wall, she added hers to them.
“You’re early,” Rachel said from the arched entrance to the kitchen. Her hands worried at a faded holiday dish towel. “You always are.”
“I don’t like to be late,” Julia agreed. She picked up the red package and carried it toward her sister. “Here, this needs to be put in the oven.”
“Of course it does.” Rachel rolled her eyes but turned back toward the kitchen.
Julia glanced into the living room where her niece was curled up on the couch, reading. “Hey, Piper,” she greeted.
Piper looked up from her book with a puckered forehead, her eyes slowly focusing behind her new glasses. “Oh, hey, Aunt Julia.” After the acknowledgement, the nine-year-old looked back down at her book.
Julia smiled as she opened the closet to grab a hanger, starting to hang up the jackets that spilled off the entryway table. When she was done, she pushed the mail into a neater stack, then made her way to the kitchen.
Rachel dumped a box of ziti noodles into the already boiling pot. The garlic bread was arranged on a pan, waiting for the oven to preheat. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and she’d shoved the sleeves of her sweater up to her elbows.
“Anything I can do to help?” Julia offered.
“I’ve got it,” was Rachel’s immediate response.
“Ben is late again?” Julia asked. “I thought this was his weekend.”
Rachel’s jaw tensed. “Don’t start.”
“Mom!” Rachel’s son called from his room. “Where’s my laptop bag?”
Rachel closed her eyes, breathing out. She opened them again and shouted back, “Did you check by the desk?”
A door slammed, and Julia watched her nephew rush into the living room. “Hey, Sammy,” she greeted, watching him freeze, his shoulders tensing before he ignored her and kept going.
“It’s Sam now,” Rachel murmured.
“Oh.” Julia winced. “When did that happen?” She followed behind her nephew. “Sorry about that. Hey, Sam.”
“Hi,” he muttered. Julia suppressed a smile. Her nephew wasn’t quite a teenager, but he was already perfecting his lack of interest as a preteen.
“Need help looking for your bag?” Julia offered.
Sam bent down by the desk, lifting the bag in answer.
“Guess not.” She watched him load up his laptop and charging cable. “What game is your favorite lately?”
He turned toward her, let go of the bag, and started talking a mile a minute, including hand gestures. Julia listened to him ramble, smiling.
The doorbell rang, making Sam pause mid-explanation and run to the door. “Dad!” the boy shouted after he opened it, accepting a hair ruffle.
Julia leaned against the hallway wall and studied her ex-brother-in-law.
He still looked solid and had an easy smile.
The man hadn’t been abusive or anything, though he hadn’t been happy when Rachel called it quits “out of nowhere.” He shouldn’t have been surprised.
He’d been doing the bare minimum long before she gave up.
Rachel moved to the kitchen entrance.
Ben looked up, his eyes widening when he saw Julia, but his gaze slid past her to Rachel, then looked away altogether. “Sorry for being late. An interview ran long.” Her ex-husband was a detective, wearing his normal badge and gun on his hip.
Rachel nodded. “I understand. Things happen, but I’d appreciate a phone call next time or we’ll have to reschedule the weekend.”
Ben’s lips tightened. “It was only an hour.”
Rachel didn’t respond. She just stood there, her gaze steady.
Julia was proud of her. Her sister never would have said anything before.
Ben blew out a breath but nodded. “I’ll do better at calling.”
Julia would believe it when she saw it, but she bit her lip so she wouldn’t stick her nose into it again. Her sister hated that.
Rachel turned her eyes on her son. “Did you pack up your laptop?”
“Oh, shoot,” Sam muttered, hurrying back to the living room.
Piper moved up behind Julia, putting her book in her backpack before zipping it.
“Hey, sweetie. You got everything you need?” Ben asked her.
Piper nodded, then moved to her mother, giving her a quick hug before heading to the door.
Sam was back with his laptop bag, but he didn’t say goodbye to Rachel before leaving.
“I’ll text you before I head this way on Sunday,” Ben said, his hand on the door.
Rachel opened her mouth, but the door shut before she got out any words. “He knows we have a set time,” she muttered, moving back to the stove.
Julia followed behind her, picking up the empty box from the noodles and moving to the trash to dispose of it. “You’re doing better at setting boundaries.”
Rachel shook her head, stirring the sauce. “It’s still a work in progress.”
“But it’s progress. Give yourself a little credit.”
Rachel snorted. “I don’t need a pep talk. Who’s the older sister here?”
“Mentally or by years?” Julia asked, grinning back when her sister scowled at her.
“You’re still the baby, Jules.”
“Sure, if you’re focused on the construct of time.” She began rearranging the things on the kitchen island for something to do with her hands.
The front door opened and two more sisters came in.
Heather was the oldest, happily married to her high school sweetheart for twenty years already with three mostly grown boys.
Maria was just a few years older than Julia, her smile the widest and her appearance a bit on the whimsical side of business casual for a new high school teacher.
“We’re here!” Maria called, as if that even needed to be said. She followed Heather toward the kitchen.
“Dinner is almost ready.” Rachel’s eyes landed on the tray of garlic bread. “Oh, shoot, except for the bread.” She picked up the tray, sliding it in the oven and setting a timer.
“That’s my fault,” Julia reminded her, wanting to soothe her sister’s fluster.
“Ben was late again?” Heather asked, leaning on the kitchen island.
“And Rachel let him know that wasn’t acceptable,” Julia added before Rachel could snap that it was none of their business.
“When I was pulling up, the kids looked happy at least.” Maria put the dessert she’d brought down on the kitchen island.
Rachel carried the pot of pasta to the sink to drain, ignoring them all.
Julia changed the subject. “What did you bring for dessert?”
“A Chantilly cake!” Maria carefully opened the box to show them. Fruit decorated the white frosting, looking bright and cheery, just like her.
Heather groaned. “Can’t you ever bring anything healthy? I’m trying to diet again.”
“It has fruit,” Maria said, as if that made it all better.
“Oh.” Rachel froze at the sink. “I forgot. I made pasta.”
“No worries.” Heather lifted her contribution. “I brought salad. Besides, I’m not changing what I eat as much as reducing overall portion sizes. You’re good.”
Rachel nodded, but her shoulders remained tight.
Julia moved over to the sink. “Want me to help take something out to the table?”
They all began moving, chatting about nothing and everything as they organized the food on the dining room table. Rachel was just sitting down when the alarm went off for the bread.
Julia popped up first. “That’s my portion. I’ll grab it.”
Rachel hesitated, then settled in her seat.
Maria had been the one to suggest they get together for dinner the last Friday of the month. They met up for lunch at their parents’ house the second Sunday already, but there were some things they couldn’t talk about among their parents and their big brother.
Julia enjoyed it more than she thought she would. There was something different about being together like this, more than texting in their group chat could ever give.
Heather begged off the most, both on lunch and dinner.
She’d had three teenage boys in multiple sports, and it seemed like all they did was run from practice to games.
That was finally slowing down now that two of her sons were in college, though she still went to their games to support them as often as she could.
Julia took the bread to the table, catching the tail end of the sports schedule.
Rachel usually talked the least. She’d once been the most spontaneous of them all, but that had slowly changed over the years. Julia had thought it would get better after the divorce, but often it seemed like Rachel was wound even tighter than before.
It wasn’t until after they’d finished eating that Maria reminded them of the monthly tradition she’d insisted on ever since the first one. “So, what’s your something good?” she asked while cutting the cake.
Julia bit back a groan. Last month, it’d been so much harder to come up with something good. She’d gone with the fact that Charles had hired her. That really had been good. Maybe she could use something about work again.
She was more of a realist than anything, but she tried to not let her optimistic sister down.
“I bet I know yours,” Julia said, hoping for a delay. “It’s the new teaching job, isn’t it?”
Maria’s lips twitched before the edges of her mouth pushed higher. “Of course!”
Julia wasn’t fooled. Her sister hadn’t mentioned anything about the new job all night. Her hand came down on the table, bouncing the fork she’d set aside. “All right, spill it. What happened with the job?”
Maria continued smiling, raising her hands in surrender. “No, no, it really has been great. The students seem to like me, and teaching is as rewarding as I always thought it would be. It’s definitely my something good today.”
Heather put her napkin down as she pushed away her plate. “But?”
Maria laughed, shaking her head. “There’s no but. It’s been great, and there are some faculty members I have the opportunity to get to know better.”
Julia winced. “He followed you there, didn’t he?”
Maria gripped the edge of the table. “I don’t know who you mean.”
“Don’t start with me. That guy, the one who you turned down already. Twice!”