48. Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Eight
ANDREA
Sitting around the table for brunch with my family was as torturous as I thought it’d be. Julian was good company and an expert at steering the conversation away from me when he could tell I didn’t want to talk about something.
My grams is now completely smitten with him after learning his artist’s pseudonym. She has a friend who loves his work and has several of his pieces at her estate.
And of course, my father pretends to remain impartial to his thoughts about him, but I can already tell he’s been won over by Julian’s charm. My mother, well, she has not been holding her tongue. She’s told him she’s in love with him four times now.
I do notice how Willa and Mason don’t make an appearance and when I asked about them, Miles said they had dinner plans with Mason’s colleagues, so they won’t be here until tomorrow.
It doesn’t bother me that much since I saw her not too long ago, but I still appreciate the sympathetic look that Julian tosses me.
As much as Willa gets on me about being the weird one when she swiped my boyfriend out from under me, it’s all one-sided.
I know I never loved Mason in the way that matters, because it only hurt that they would do something like that to me .
I was pissed at first, then sad and confused. Not with Mason so much, but with her—my sister. I felt betrayed, but when that blatant guilt led her to cry herself to the point of fainting, I realized that maybe it didn’t have to be that big of a deal. It wasn’t the end of the world; not at all.
For my entire life, I’d been the peacekeeper of my family. I hated conflict if it could be avoided, but waking up from a coma to find that your boyfriend and sister fell in love called for a sliver of rage.
It became a huge ordeal in the family. My mother wouldn’t even look at Willa for months.
My grams kept it short and sweet. My father did his best to remain neutral, but gave a pretty good scolding when he wanted to.
It was clear whose side everyone had taken, and at some point, I just couldn’t take it anymore.
No matter how many times I told everyone I was over it, they didn’t believe me.
After they learned about my disease, it only added another layer of concern that had everyone walking on eggshells around me.
It drove me crazy to the point of fleeing from the only place I ever knew and to a city where I could be anyone I wanted—a fresh start.
It happened to be the best decision I’ve ever made.
I became a girl without a ticking time bomb in her chest. A woman good enough to deserve a man like Julian Havord.
After the meal, my mother pulled me aside and we both now sit on the back patio overlooking the beach, bundled up in blankets.
My grams was no doubt talking Julian’s ear off somewhere.
I knew I shouldn’t leave him alone for long out of courtesy, but I was in need of some mom action right now.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen her and now that I have, all of my missing her has caught up to me.
Everything feels like it’s going a million miles an hour with my family asking their questions and my feelings growing for Julian. It’s all a lot, and it’s scary to face them.
“What are you thinking about over there, Piggy?” my mom asks softly.
I groan in discomfort. “You did not just call me that.”
“What—Piggy?” she asks with raised brows. “But that’s your name, sweetheart.”
I make a face. “Yeah, when I was ten. I’m twenty-four.”
She hums with a small smile that tells me she’s pleased with herself. “And dating an older man.”
Refraining from rolling my eyes, I say, “He’s thirty-two, not eighty.”
“You love him, don’t you?” she asks, ignoring me.
Alarmed, my heart slams into my ribcage at the mere prospect that she could be right. “I like him,” I respond safely. “I’ve only known him for a couple of months.”
“Do you think there’s a minimum amount of time you have to reach before you fall in love?
” The look on her face says that she knows something I don’t, but she plans to enlighten me.
“I’ve seen you in a relationship before and this seems, I don’t know, different.
Yes, you’re older with new experiences and outlooks, but Andrea, how you and that man look at each other is a reflection. You mirror each other so well.”
I don’t think my heart can pound any harder. “You think so?”
She nods and there’s a flash of concern on her face that I hate before she asks, “Does he know?”
The backs of my eyes immediately burn as I shake my head, panic drowning me.
Her face softens. “Oh, Andrea.”
I stare up at the sky and do my best to blink away the tears. “I’ll tell him, I swear I will. I just. . .”
“You’re afraid? ”
I nod, a tear accidentally slipping free. Groaning in frustration, I swipe the stupid thing away. “I really like him, Mom. What if it’s too much?”
She immediately starts crying as she reaches over to grab my hand in hers. “It won’t be. Not with the right person.”
I want to believe that more than anything. “I can’t have him look at me like I’m broken. I can’t handle it the same way I can with you and Dad.”
She frowns. “We don’t see you as broken. Is that what you think?”
“It’s what I see whenever I catch you both looking at me.”
“We just worry is all. It’s our job as parents.
” She lays her free hand over our joined ones.
“This time apart has given us a lot of time to think. Learning about your disease and the situation with your sister at the same time threw us through a loop. I’m sorry if we acted in a manner that made you feel that we saw you as anything but strong.
” She strokes my cheeks with her thumb, catching a tear on its way down.
“You handled everything better than any of us. We were so proud of you for taking a stand in your life and moving to New York.”
“You guys weren’t mad at me for leaving?” It’s a question I’ve been waiting to ask for a while now.
A flash of hurt crosses her face. “Of course not. Is that what you’ve thought all this time?”
I half-heartedly lift a shoulder. I’ve tried to push the thoughts away every time they came in fear of unpacking something I wasn’t sure I was ready for.
“We are so proud of you, Andrea. Words cannot describe just how much. You’ve always been much more independent than your sister, so we had no doubts about you thriving in New York even with Carter’s bad influence.
” I laugh nasally as she continues, “He knew who he was watching over when you headed that way.”
“Carter introduced us,” I tell her. It was as close to the truth as I could get without her asking a thousand questions.
Her brows raise. “You and Julian?” When I nod, she asks, “So, if you don’t mind me asking, is there a reason you two are living together?”
Oh boy.
My attempt to avoid this was now impossible thanks to Willa, no doubt.
“It’s only temporary while I look for a new apartment.
The building I was living in is getting torn down.
” I leave out the part where I’m way in over my head when it comes to finding a new place.
Most of them are out of my price range. It’s not that I’m embarrassed by the fact, it’s that I know they’d give me money.
They nearly went bankrupt after the car accident and are finally getting back on their feet.
The only reason they didn’t lose the house is because my grams sold hers and moved in with them to help with costs.
There’s a silent guilt that comes with leaving the people who did so much for you, but I couldn’t stay. It’s pressure off my shoulders to know that they understood me even before I gave them the chance to.
The sound of the sliding door behind us opens and I let out a breath, thankful for the interruption.
“There they are.” The familiar sound of my father’s voice has us turning to look. Julian is following him outside, looking at something on his phone with creased brows. “We’ve been looking for the pair of ya everywhere.”
“I needed some alone time with our girl,” my mom answers, patting my knee as she stands. I do the same.
Pocketing his phone, Julian comes to stand behind me and I step into him, taking his arms and wrapping them around my body to steal some of his warmth. I shiver and he kisses the top of my head, holding me tighter.
My eyes connect with my mother’s, and she gives me another knowing look that should scare me, but it doesn’t. For once, she and I are on the same page.
“You have her back by dinner, Julian,” my father says sternly.
My mother rolls her eyes, hitting his chest with the back of her hand. “He’s messing with you. Keep her for as long as you’d like.” Her smile says enough, though it wouldn’t hurt to tone it down a notch. Her cheeks have to be aching from all the smiling.
Julian chuckles, but I’m still confused. I tilt my head back to look between him and my father. “What are you guys talking about?”
Dropping his mouth to my ear, he whispers, “It’s a surprise.”
Excitement thrums through me and I have to resist the urge to bounce on my toes. “I love surprises,” I tell him.
I feel his smile against my cheek.“I know.”
THIRTY MINUTES LATER, WE'RE breaking and entering my old ballet studio called Dancing Dolls. Only it’s not breaking and entering because Julian has a key.
As he unlocks the door, I point at it. “How did you get that?”
The corner of his mouth lifts and something flutters in my stomach. The door clicks and he pushes it open an inch, looking over at me. “I know a guy who knows a guy who knows the woman who owns the building. ”
I lift a brow. “So that’s what you and my father were plotting in the corner?”
“Precisely,” he murmurs, and his eyes drop to my mouth before he pushes open the door for me to step inside.