Just a Little Embrace (3 page)

“Oh,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “I was just here to see Charlie
—”

“Sure you were,” he said, a smile enveloping his face. “You want me to let him know you dropped by?”

“I was just visiting my uncle
—”

“Okay,” he said, throwing his hands up. “I guess you’re both in denial
then
.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed through the door of the station, only taking two steps outside before registering Detective Bruno’s last words
.
I guess you’re both in denial then
.

What was that supposed to mean?

I turned back and opened the door, only to find Bruno standing right in front of me.

“I was wondering how long it was gonna take yo
u.”

“What did you mean by that?” I asked. “About both of us being in denial?”

“Mi querida,” he said, shaking his head and patting me on the back. “It’s in your eyes; his too. Believe me, I know it when I see it. I
’ve
spen
t
my
whole
life reading people, interpreting the words they say, and better yet—the words they don’t say.”

I scrunched my brow and stared at him for a lingering moment. “What do you see?”

“The love,” he said
, smiling as though he knew something I didn’t. “The love.”

Saturday September 15, 6
pm

“Love,” I said, resting my chin in my hand. I sat on the barstool at the center island in the kitchen. “Do you think I love him?”

Matt looked up at me from a sheet of cookies, his eyes widening. “Not possible, Julie,” he s
aid. “You’ve known Luke for
…what, two and a half weeks?”

“Something like that
.”

“Love takes time to mature,” he said.
Matt had never been one to believe in love at first
sight.
I thought that his recent circumstances with Hann
ah might have changed his mind b
ut it clearly hadn’t.
“You’re not in love, it’s just an infatuation. It’ll wear off in time
.”

“But Detective Bruno
—”

“Is a nut,” he said,
carefully
decorating the cookies with a fiery red icing.

“I guess,
” I said, somewhere deep inside
wishing that maybe Bruno had seen something I had failed to.

“Yo
u hanging out with Hannah again tonight?” I asked, expecting his answer to be the same as it had been every night since Wednesday. The two of them were
practically
inseparable.

“Yeah,” he said, nodding at the
baking sheet
. “I told her I’d bring by some of my famous cookies for sampling
—”

“You’re going
over
there
?” I asked, surprised that I would be getting an evening away from Hannah for a change.
Her presence had been a bit overbearing, because when she came, she came with a string of personal questions and a bad attitude. She had n
o sense
of
personal boundaries, and
I had no idea what Matt saw in her.

“Yeah,” he said.
“I didn’t want to expose her to D
ad’s poker night
—”

“Poker night?” I asked. “Here?”

“Didn’t he tell you?” Matt asked. “Dad has one big poker night every year. Tonight’s the night. And between
D
ad, Bruno, and some of the other guys from the station, it gets pretty rowdy
—”

“Other guys?” I asked, wondering if Luke was
included among the
others
.
Bruno
had
mentioned that Luke would be back in time for a game.
“What time is this thing supposed to start?”

“They’ll be showing up any minute,” he said, putting the final touches on the last cookie. “And yes,
since I know you’re
dying to know
,
Trigger
will
be here.”

“Oh,” I said, nodding as though it didn’t faze me. I glanced at the clock and back to Matt. “Well, have fun with Hannah tonight. I’m go
ing to run up and get a shower—”

“To impress Trigger?”

“So that I don’t look like a slob for Charlie’s guests
—”

“You never look like a slob
—”

“Bye Matt,” I called over my shoulder as I ran up the back staircase, taking
two
step
s
at a time.

After a quick shower, I spent a
while
styling my hair and perfecting my make-up—and taking the extra time to pay very special attention to
choosing an outfit.
If Luke was going to be here this evening, especially in a casual capacity, I wanted to make sure he couldn’t help but look my way.

I stood at the closet with the towel still wrapped around me, plucking through each shirt
, skirt, and dress I owned
. When I finally settled on a dark orange turtleneck dress, I took one last glance in the mirror and ruled myself perfectly acceptable.

A roar of laughter came
from the kitchen
. Obviously the men had already arrived, and from the sound of things,
had taken
no time to
break out the alcohol and
get the party started.
For a group of educated cops, they sounded like a room full of frat boys.

I walked downstairs to find Charlie, Bruno, and a
few
handful
s
of other
men
sitting around three
poker
tables, all smoking cigars
.
All except Luke, who was at
the furthest table,
carefully
dealing out a hand to his fellow players, never once glancing up to notice me as I a
nnounced myself with a simple “H
ello.”

Most of
the men turned
to greet me
, a few even letting their gaze linger a little longer than appropriate. I
peeked
at Luke once again, hoping to get some kind of acknowledgement, but
I didn’t get so much as a glance.

“What can we do for you
p
umpkin?” Charlie asked, taking a long drag from his cigar.

“Just wanted to let you know I’m going out,” I said, with no intention of
actually leaving.
After all, I had no plans. Where would I possibly go?

“Back by midnight,” he said with a smile. “Have fun
—”

“That’s it?” I asked, frustrated that he didn’t care enough to ask
where I was going
, and even
angrier
that Luke hadn’t looked up once to indicate any kind of interest.
“No string of questions? No rules? Just a
back by midnight and have fun
?”

“What do you want me to say?” Charlie asked. “You’re
you
. What kind of trouble could you possibly get into?”

“Forget it,” I mumbled. “Have fun.”

I turned and walked out of the room, my heart breaking a little
more with each step I took
. It seemed to me th
at Bruno had been way off
.

Luke didn’t
have feelings for me; he wasn’t even the slightest bit interested.

But my heart ached for him, and I didn’t know how much more of his cold
shoulder
I could take.

Chapter Four

Saturday September 15

I sat on the
p
orch
step
for the
third
consecutive hour,
letting the rain fall on my face and
wondering how much longer I’d have to stay
out
in the dark
,
wallowing in my own self-pity.

At what po
int could I just give up the pretense
, sneak back in the house, and act as though I’d been out and enjoyed myself?

The sun had set and all that was left of the day was the faint drizzle of rain as it dropped from the night sky.

“Julie,” a voice said quietly. “What are you doing out here
in the dark
?”

I glanced up to the sidewalk
to see our new neighbor Derek
standing at the edge of the pavement with a leashed dog in hand. The
white, slightly damp
German shepherd
licked
Derek’s hand as he took a step closer
.

“I guess you’re not
afraid of a little rain,” he
observed, watching as the beads of water dripped
off
the ends of my hair. I c
ould
only imagine that my face was soaked from
the earlier
rain
fall…
and
there were
probably
mascara t
rails left over from the few tears I’d cried since leaving the house
.

Derek
took a seat next to me on the bottom step and the dog rested
in a puddle
at his
owner’s
feet. “
Need to talk
?”

I gave him a half-hearted grin and shrugged.

While I
sorted out whatever feelings I had for Luke, the only person I’d ever turned to was Matt—and even he’d been a worthless confident since
Hannah came along.

“My uncle has a houseful of guests,” I said, deciding that unloading my problems on a perfect stranger was probably a terrible idea. “There’s just a lot going on in there
—”

“And you feel left out?”

“No,” I said. “Just in the way, that’s all.”

He nodded, but he
was skeptical.

“So,”
I said, taking the focus off
me. “How do you like Oakland so far?”

He smirked and met my eyes, sparking another bout of wonderment between the two of us. “No complaints.”

“Good,” I said, unable to tear my eyes away from his.
Again, I couldn’t help but wonder why I recognized him.
“Why do you look so familiar?
I swear I must know you from somewhere
…
.”

“Maybe we knew each other in another life
,
”
he said as if he really believed it.

“Yeah,” I said, half-smiling. “Maybe.”

“Hey
,” he said, looking down at his sleeping dog. “I know I shouldn’t even go here,
especially considering you’re as young as my kid sister,
but I was curious if maybe you’d like to go out sometime?
Just for dinner, maybe a movie?
”

My cheeks flushed
red
with warmth
, and while I took a moment to contemplate what he was asking me, I shook my head.

“Thanks, but I’m not sure that would be such a good idea
—”

“You
enjoy
our conversations, right?”

“I do
—”

“And I’ve been told I have a pretty charming smile
—”

“
And you do
,” I said, silently agreeing that there was a definite charm in the way his eyes gleamed when he smiled.

“Then what is it?” he asked. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No, no boyfriend
—”

“Is it me?”

“It’s not you,” I promised. “It’s
a long story. It’s complicated
. It’s
—”

“Julie,” a
nother voice said, only this one came from behind
. I turned to
find
Luke standing on the front porch, looking down on Derek and
me
. I stood up and smiled, straightening the wrinkles from my wet dress
.

“Luke,” I whispered, taking a step.

Derek let out a slight chuckle and stood up,
waking his groggy pet.

“It’s Luke,” he said to me with a wink. “That’s all you had to say.”

I turned back to Derek. “No, it’s not… I just
—”

“It’s cool,” he said
, nodding at the dog
. “I’ve gotta get this big guy home, so I’ll just… see you around, I guess?”