Chapter 19
It’s noon when I walk into the store. Julia is standing on the front counter, Noah holding her ankles while she strings up a banner.
From behind her, Noah lifts a brow and eyes me coolly as I walk toward the counter.
“What’s this?” I ask.
Julia shifts a strained look down at me, her arms still holding the banner over her head trying to anchor it to the ceiling.
“The publishing house sent it for the event,” she says.
“We have a ladder in the back,” I remind her.
“The brothers came and borrowed it last week,” she tells me and I shrug.
“Last week? And they never brought it back?” I’m nearly shouting.
With his hands still wrapped around Julia’s ankles, Noah looks at me. “What brothers?”
“Williams brothers. They own the brewery down the street.”
Noah nods slowly. “They serve food there?”
I narrow my gaze on him. “They do.”
He motions for me to take his place anchoring Julia.
I move in behind the counter, drop my bags, and take up his position holding on to Julia. “Anything there you don’t like?” he asks.
“Not really,” I say.
“What about you, Jules?” he says, and I’m not sure what to think of him calling her something other than her given name. Is it a pet name? Did they agree on this? Is she making moves on him? Is he making moves on her?
“I have a poor college girls’ lunch in the back,” she says straining up on her toes to connect the banner.
“What if you save that for your poor college girl dinner. I’ll get you lunch. My treat.”
Julia shifts a look down at him and it’s all smile. “Pick me out something yummy, Pops,” she says, and now my stomach tightens. I don’t like this budding friendship at all.
Noah puts his hand on my back, as if it’s a gentle reminder that he and I have something going on. And, the way I feel at the moment, I’m fully aware of the something we have going on because it’s making jealousy rise in me, and I hate jealousy.
A moment later he’s out the door and Julia is walking across the counter and I’m following like an Olympic gymnastic spotter.
“What’s been going on this morning?” I say as she lifts the other side of the banner into place.
“Couple sales. Noah signed a few books. Mrs. Packer fed him breakfast, but she didn’t offer me any,” she says with a humph. “Then he locked himself in the office for a few hours. He didn’t know you came in later.”
I hadn’t thought about telling him that last night when we left the store.
Of course, I hadn’t been thinking of much when we sat in his car and made out, again like teenagers hiding in the alley.
The very thought of the steamed up windows and his roaming hands over my body makes my body heat all over again.
I clear my throat and my mind, my hands still holding on to Julia. “You two seemed to have talked a lot this morning.”
“What makes you say that?”
“The pet names,” I say, trying to keep the strain out of my voice.
“What pet names?” she looks down at me, her arms still lifted over her head.
“Jules? Pops?”
She laughs as she refocuses on her task. “I didn’t come up with those, Mrs. Packer did when she brought him breakfast.”
That has my stomach tightening again. I should have known that. For what ever reason, Mrs. Packer can’t remember Julia’s name, so she always calls her Jules.
“Why Pops?”
Julia lowers her arms, looks at the banner, and then at me. I realize she’s done and I can step back now. She lowers herself off the counter and looks at the banner and then back at me.
“She told him he was too old for me,”
“Why would she say that? I mean why would she think that you two?—”
Julia laughs. “Because she and I talked about how sexy I thought he was before he showed up. And then she told me how sexy she thought he was when he did show up. And then she told me you were having an affair with him, and she called him Pops.”
I know my eyes are wide and my face has gone pale when Julia reaches for my arm. “Are you okay?”
“She said that?”
“Yeah, is she wrong? I mean Noah just laughed it off, took his breakfast sandwich into the office and closed the door.”
I blink hard and stare at her. No one but Lily knows what’s been going on. I don’t even really know what’s going on.
“I … Well …” I don’t have words for this.
We’re both pulled from the conversation when Noah knocks on the front door, obviously in need of assistance because he has a Kraft bag hanging from his wrist, a tray of drinks, and the ladder under his other arm.
Julia runs to the door, opens it, and takes the drinks and the food as Noah carries the ladder into the store.
“They forgot they had it,” he says. “Are you missing anything else? They had a storage room filled with things that look like they might belong to all the other businesses on the street.”
His eyes settle on me, and his expression turns to worry.
Julia sets the food and drinks on the counter. “I’ll put the ladder back. And I’ll let you divvy out the food.”
She takes the ladder from him and starts for the back of the store as three women walk in the door. They each have a The Reading Nook canvas bag, and though I can’t place them, it tells me they’re repeat customers.
I give them a warm smile and welcome them, but Noah is still watching me, assessing me.
“We should take this to the back,” I say, looking down at the food.
He only nods, grabs the food and drinks, and hurries off to the back of the store while I busy myself cleaning off the front counter and waiting for the women to make their selections.
As is sometimes the norm, the store has a constant flow of people, and lunch gets forgotten. Eventually, Julia returns from the back room and relieves me from the front counter.
“Go eat,” she says.
I start for the back of the store, fix a few shelves on my way, pick up a random piece of paper from the floor, and eventually make my way to the break room. Noah sits at the small table, his takeout container unopened, his arms folded in front of him, and his eyes closed.
I quietly take the seat across from him and open the container that waits for me.
As soon as I do, Noah’s eyes pop open.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” I say looking down at the BLT he’s brought back for me.
“Damn, didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep. Where’s Julia?” he asks and I’m glad he knows her real name.
“She took over out front. We’ve been steady since you got back.”
“I must have been horrible company,” he laughs and then opens his box.
“Why are you so tired?” I ask, picking up one of the halves of my sandwich and taking a bite.
A thin smile forms on his lips. “I was up a lot last night. Making notes. Thinking things through. Then around one, I checked my email and Abby’s sister had emailed me. Her daughter is graduating this year and she wanted to send me an invite, but wasn’t sure if I’d moved.”
I chew thoroughly, not wanting to choke or appear thrown by what he’s told me.
When I swallow down my bite, I pick up my drink and take a big sip, only to begin coughing.
“Are you okay?” Noah sits up as if he’s going to move toward me and start slapping my back.
I nod frantically as I cough until I get myself under control, and he eases back slightly. “What is that?” I choke out the words.
“Sweet tea,” he says.
“Oh,” I blow out a breath and push it away from me. “I didn’t even know you could get sweet tea in Colorado,” I laugh.
“You don’t drink sweet tea in Colorado?”
“Um, no. We’re very pure here,” I say. “No sugar.”
“Then it’s undrinkable,” he says matter-of-fact.
“Acquired taste, I guess.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.” His smile widens and he lifts his sandwich from the box and takes a bite.
I study him. The dark circles under his eyes are deeper today. What would it take to make this man relax?
“Do you keep in touch with Abby’s family? I mean, do you talk to them often?”
He shrugs as he chews, then wipes his mouth and takes a sip of his drink.
“It’s gotten to be less in the past few years.
Out of sight out of mind, I guess. Her sister lives in Virginia, so we didn’t see her too much.
Her mom is still in the city, so I’ll have dinner with her for birthdays and such. ”
“I think that’s nice. Even when I was married, my husband always came down with some kind of sickness and didn’t attend birthdays or special events. Red flag, huh?”
Noah reaches across the table and covers my hand with his.
He doesn’t say anything. I guess there’s nothing to be said.
We both lost when it came to love. Noah brings a comfort to me that I didn’t know lived inside of me, and that’s exactly how I’ll have to think about it.
It lives inside of me and it’s awake now.
Because he’ll be gone, and I’ll still need to retain my comfort.