Chapter 26 #2
Since Puppy had never met a stranger, he leaned into her, seeking as much attention as he could get. The woman laughed at his antics.
“Do you live here, or are you visiting?” Julia asked, scanning the horizon for Deacon’s boat.
“I wish I lived here. It’s so beautiful. But I’m only here for a couple of days to see my boyfriend.”
“Oh, are you seeing Colby?” She seemed quite a bit older than the young man who worked with Deacon, but Julia wasn’t one to judge.
“No, Deacon. Do you know him?”
Julia was stunned speechless. Deacon had a girlfriend? How was that possible when he spent every available second he had with her? She had to force herself to remain calm, not to overreact, to wait and give him a chance to explain. Surely there had to be some explanation.
The woman stood to her full height. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. And yes, I know Deacon.” I know him as well as I know myself, Julia thought, or at least I thought I did. Stay calm, keep breathing… Easier said than done when your heart is about to explode in your chest. This could not happen again. It just couldn’t.
“He’s the best. I’ve missed him so much since he’s been gone, and I couldn’t wait another day to see him.”
Breathe. Just breathe.
Julia wasn’t capable of making conversation while they waited for him, so she focused on the puppy and keeping him entertained so she wouldn’t lose her composure and break down in front of this stranger who’d staked a claim on Deacon.
She thought about how Finn McCarthy’s ex had shown up on the island a month or so ago, determined to get him back, and how she’d stabbed him and his new girlfriend, Chloe. Maybe this woman was like that one had been—a delusional ex who didn’t know how to accept when something was over.
It had to be something like that. There was simply no other explanation. He’d known how big of a deal it’d been for Julia to go all in with him, especially after everything that’d happened with Mike. He wouldn’t hurt her this way. Would he?
No. Not Deacon. He wouldn’t do that.
Remaining calm and continuing to breathe in the ten minutes it took for his boat to appear at the entrance to South Harbor was one of the more difficult things she’d done in quite some time. But she’d done it, and she credited her new coping skills with getting her through the challenge.
When Deacon got close enough to see her and Puppy waiting for him, his face lit up with the smile that had become so familiar to her, complete with that damned dimple that got to her every time it appeared.
She was watching him so closely, she was able to see the exact moment when he saw who else was waiting for him.
He couldn’t hide the shock or the nervous reaction he had to seeing both women waiting for him.
Time seemed to stand still as he brought the boat into the dock and tied one line at the center of the boat.
“Julia,” he said, looking at her with fierce determination.
“Do not move. Stay right there. Do. Not. Move.”
Only because she didn’t trust her legs to carry her up the ramp and away from that dock, she did what he asked her to and stayed put.
He got off the boat and approached the other woman, who’d lit up with delight at the sight of him. Julia wanted to claw her eyes out. “Sherri, what’re you doing here?”
“I came to see you, silly.” She threw herself at him, but Deacon didn’t react. He kept his hands by his sides. “I missed you so much!” She kissed his cheek. “Say something, will you?”
He took a step back from her and moved toward Julia. “Sherri, this is my girlfriend, Julia. Julia, this is my friend Sherri from Harwich.”
Sherri looked from him to Julia and then back to him again. “You… You have…”
Deacon put his arm around Julia. “A girlfriend. A very serious girlfriend who I love more than anything.”
While Julia tried not to swoon from hearing him say the L word for the first time, Sherri stared at him in disbelief.
“You love her? You were with me two months ago.”
“We hooked up, Sherri. We had some fun. I was never ‘with’ you. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it’s the truth, and you know it as much as I do.”
“You… You fought with Roger.”
“I did, and I’d do it again if I saw another woman about to get beat up by a man. Please don’t make that into more than it was. You and I are friends. That’s all we’re ever going to be.”
“You gave me money.”
“Because I felt bad about you losing your job after the fight. I’m sorry if you came here expecting something else, but the fact is I’m crazy in love with Julia, and I plan to spend the rest of my life with her. If she’ll have me, that is.”
Julia wanted to say something cute and witty and profound, but words escaped her as she wallowed in the realization that nothing was going to go wrong, not even an ex-lover, or whatever she was, showing up to stake a claim on him.
He was as true blue as he’d seemed from the beginning. For once, she’d gotten it just right.
Sherri broke down into sobs. “I feel so stupid. I thought, when you gave me the money, I thought that meant you were, like, you know… into me.”
“I’m so sorry, Sherri. I just wanted to help you get back on your feet after you lost your job. That’s all it was.”
She nodded. “I get that now. I, um, I’m going to go.”
“Do you have somewhere to stay tonight? The last ferry is long gone.”
“Yeah. I’m at the Beachcomber. I, uh… Bye, Deacon.”
“Take care, Sherri.”
She pushed past them and rushed up the ramp, disappearing into the murky darkness.
Deacon turned to face Julia, seeming adorably uncertain. “Hi.”
She wanted to hug him and kiss him and tell him she loved him, too. “How’s it going?”
“Um, well, you tell me.”
“It’s going rather well, actually. Better than it has in, well, ever.”
He stepped closer to her, seeming to sense that she wasn’t going to let Sherri’s sudden appearance screw things up for them.
A month ago, before he’d shown her that she could truly trust him, something like Sherri’s appearance would’ve ruined her.
But everything was different now, and he was the one who’d changed the game for her. “I’m sorry about that.”
“I assume you have nothing to be sorry about.”
“Technically, no, but that had to have been upsetting for you.”
“It was a little shocking when she told me she was waiting for her boyfriend, Deacon, but since I knew there was no possible way you could be her boyfriend when you spend every minute you aren’t working with me, I decided to breathe and stay calm and wait to hear what you had to say about it.”
His gorgeous eyes sparked with amusement and happiness and so much love that was all for her. “That’s highly evolved of you.”
“I know, right?”
“I’m very proud of you, darlin’.”
“I’m rather proud of myself.”
“You should be.”
Puppy jumped up and down at their feet, wanting Daddy’s attention after a long day without him.
Deacon bent to pick him up. In a few more months, he’d be too big and too heavy to carry around like a baby. They were enjoying being able to carry him while it lasted. Holding the dog in one arm and putting the other around Julia, Deacon escorted them up the ramp to the pier.
“I got a lot more than I bargained for when I set out to meet you after work tonight.”
“I got a lot more than I bargained for when my brother made me come to Gansett for the summer. I’ve got my own little family now, and I love you both with my whole heart.”
Julia had kept it together during the episode with Sherri, but hearing him say those words again had her choking up from the swell of emotion.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that for the first time when I was talking to someone else.”
“It’s okay.”
Deacon stopped walking and turned so he was facing her. “It’s not all right. I should’ve told you that weeks ago, because I’ve felt it for a long time. The only reason I didn’t tell you was because I didn’t want to freak you out with too much too soon.”
“Who’re you kidding? You’ve been freaking me out with too much too soon from the day you kidnapped me from my sister’s wedding.”
That smile. That dimple. Those eyes. The scruff on his jaw. She wanted to look at that face every day for as long as she lived. “It’s not a kidnapping if the bridesmaid comes willingly.”
Julia laughed. “I was rather easily led that day.”
“For which I’ll always be thankful. That day was the start of the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“Put down the baby,” she said.
Deacon put Puppy down and ignored his whining protest.
Julia flattened her hands on the ridiculously sexy uniform shirt and gazed up at him. “In case you were wondering, I love you, too.”
“You do? Really?”
“You honestly have to ask?”
“I was hoping…”
“Deacon, my God, I’m so crazy in love with you, I can’t see straight—and I definitely can’t walk straight, thanks to you.”
His cocky grin lit up his face. “Is that right?”
“You know it is. I love you. I love everything about you, especially the way I feel when I’m with you and even when I’m not.”
He cupped her ass and brought her in tight against his erection. “How do you feel?”
“Happy, healthy, joyful, amused, aroused, entertained, hopeful.”
“All those things?” he asked in the gruff, sexy tone that got to her the same way it had from the start.
“All those things and so much more.”
“I’m so glad you decided to blow your dick diet on me.”
Julia laughed so hard, she had tears in her eyes, a regular occurrence with him around. “Me, too.”
“Let’s take our little boy home.” Deacon took the leash from her, put his arm around her and directed them toward his place. “I want to get naked with Mommy.”
“Mommy would be all for that.”
He kissed the top of her head and held her tight against his side. “I love you so much, Julia. It’s such a relief to finally be able to tell you.”
“I’ll never get tired of hearing it.”
“That’s good, because I plan to tell you every day for the rest of our lives.”
“I’m all for that, too.”