Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
T hat morning, Cora woke up tired and sick to her stomach. She reached for the glass of water she’d left on the nightstand and gulped it down, wetting her sticky mouth. She laid back and cringed to herself.
Why had she left with Julian last night? As if things weren’t bad enough, she had complicated things by jeopardizing her only job and forcing the sweetest guy in Boston to deal with her problems. She needed to get herself together.
She pulled the covers back and got into the shower. She had less than an hour to get ready and make it to the restaurant in time for her apology meeting with Brandon, where she would have to explain why she left her shift with a complete jerk.
Why had she kissed Julian? He was always full of excuses. She could list a million red flags about the guy. He never apologized. He was always late. He would forget plans. He didn’t listen to what she would say, like where she worked. He often had big ideas followed by empty promises. He’d over-compliment her when they were together, then act as though she didn’t exist when they were apart.
She should forget about him.
Suddenly, her apartment buzzer went off. She turned off the shower and listened. Then it buzzed again. And again. She opened the bathroom door and heard shouting coming from outside.
“Cora!”
At first, she stood there listening, thinking her mind was playing tricks on her.
“Cora!” she heard again.
She threw on her bathrobe and looked out the window.
Julian stood in the middle of the street. He looked up at her apartment window. He was in the same fancy three-piece suit that he wore the other night. A car drove around him and blew the horn, but Julian didn’t move. He shouted again.
“Cora!” He looked at his watch as though he was running late. “I’m sorry!”
She stayed away from the window, watching from a distance so he couldn’t see her.
Usually, he dressed impeccably, but his suit looked wrinkled and disheveled. Normally, his hair would be perfectly in place, and his expensive loafers shiny, but today, something was off. He still looked handsome but broken.
She stepped back, farther into the shadows. She didn’t want to see him. Or talk to him. She needed to be done with him.
“Cora!” he shouted again, but quieter this time, almost in resignation. “I’m a mess right now. Please forgive me.”
But there was something else in that voice. Something she knew all too well.
Sadness.
“Get out of the street!” a driver yelled from his car as he drove by Julian.
She went to the window, and as soon as she opened it to the outside, her fears came true. He was more than just a mess. His usually clean-shaven face had a five o’clock shadow. His eyes were bloodshot and swollen, and his movements were jittery and short.
“I’ll be down in a minute,” she said before she could think about it.
She got dressed, and when she got down there, she went straight to the point.
“What’s going on, Jules?” She didn’t often use his shortened name when thinking of him lately. That guy was back in Blueberry Bay.
“I don’t remember why you left last night.” Julian looked at her, tears forming in his eyes—a vulnerability she hadn’t seen with him.
“Well, I do.” She couldn’t hold back her annoyance. “Why don’t I remind you of what you said.”
“Cora,” he interrupted. “I’m sorry.”
“Maybe don’t drink so much next time,” she said, now irritated she even bothered talking to him. “I have to go.”
“No, Cora, you don’t understand.” He looked up to the sky, letting a tear fall, and then he wiped it away before asking, “Can we talk privately?”
His wide, teary eyes held a desperation she hadn’t seen in anyone’s eyes before. She looked at her watch. She would be late to meet with Brandon. She knew she was lucky he had agreed to talk, but she couldn’t leave Julian in this state.
She opened the door to her apartment building. “Come in.”
Julian went in, and they walked upstairs to her apartment.
“I’m so sorry about last night,” Julian said as soon as they were inside.
“Why don’t you sit?” she said, gesturing to the one chair she had, tired of hearing the same line.
But he didn’t sit. He scratched the back of his neck hard. “I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
“Julian,” she said as calmly as she could. “It’s okay. Just tell me what’s going on.”
She sat on the edge of her bed, which shared space with her living room and kitchen. She didn’t say anything, letting him talk.
He covered his face with his hand. She then noticed his shoulders shake. She couldn’t hear him, but she could tell he was crying.
“I’m drinking all the time, and when I don’t, it’s not good.” He pulled out a cloth from his pocket and wiped his eyes.
He exhaled as he looked at her. The pain in his eyes made her stomach knot.
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
She shook her head. “You don’t have to be sorry. You need to figure things out.”
He nodded, exhaling out hard. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
She didn’t know either.
“Maybe you should start by getting some help,” she said. “There are places that can help you with this sort of thing.”
He shook his head. “I can’t go to one of those places. People can’t know I have a problem.”
“It’s private information.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “All it takes is one person to say something, and my career and reputation are ruined. No one will trust me with their money if they think I have a drinking problem. I’ll lose everything.”
He rubbed his hands on his face and stood up. “I should go. I shouldn’t have bothered you with this.”
“What about Oliver?” She knew his brother would help. “If you told him what’s going on, he would want to help.”
“He’s got his wedding coming up,” Julian rubbed his day-old beard. “I can’t drop this on him now.”
“Go to a place that specializes in helping people with addiction,” she said, pulling out her phone. “They’ll be discreet.”
He shook his head before she’d even finished her sentence. “It’s not an addiction..” He rubbed his hands together as his eyes watered. “You’re right. I need to figure things out.”
Cora’s advice suddenly hit wrong. He clearly couldn’t figure things out. And the confession meant he knew he couldn’t.
“Having a problem with alcohol isn’t a weakness.” She reached for his hand. “It’s okay to get help.”
“It is in my family,” he said, not taking her hand.
“I know this sounds easy for me to say, but you have to think about yourself right now.” Cora had heard enough stories about the Abbotts from her sister to know they had very high expectations for their children. Going to rehab probably wouldn’t fit the brand of their last name. “You need to talk to someone who can help you.”
Julian looked terrible—his eyes red, his cheeks flushed, sweat forming on his forehead. So different than the night she’d met him—confident, cool, and collected. Even up until last night, he seemed all of those things. Well, maybe not cool, but confident for sure.
His eyes welled up. “I’ll ruin everything.”
“You should go somewhere secluded. No one even has to know why.”
“I just need to figure things out.” He stood quickly, wiping his eyes. He looked as though he was about to dart out of the apartment. “I’ll be okay.”
“Julian, stay,” she said. She wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but he needed someone to help him. He stumbled into her restaurant last night for a reason. “I’ll help you.”
He stopped at the door. “I can’t ask that of you.”
She got up from the bed when her phone started to ring. She went to turn it off when she saw Brandon’s name on the screen. She was late. She needed to answer that call, but then Julian grabbed the doorknob.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said, opening the door. “I’ll be fine. Really.”
He stepped out of the apartment and walked down the hall. Cora silenced the phone and went after him.
“Come back inside,” she said, almost pleading. She didn’t feel comfortable with him being alone. “Stay and talk with me.”
He hesitated. “I don’t want to drag you through my troubles. It’s not fair.”
Then she reached out for his hand and squeezed it. “Stay.”