Love Finds the One (Sully Point Book 2) (13 page)

She stirred a little and moved closer to him. One eye popped
open and stared at him. He smiled at her. She moved closer until her head was
on his chest. "Mmm. This feels good."

"Then we did it right."

She gave an abrupt laugh. "Cody! I think I'm hungry for
ice cream. What time is it?"

"About six-thirty in the morning."

"Good enough. Ice cream for breakfast!"

She moved across him, planting a kiss on his lips, then
walked into the kitchen dragging the top sheet around her body.

He stayed in bed for a minute, watching her across the big
room. Her long black hair fell around her shoulders, her cheeks were rosy and
her blue eyes speared his now. "Get up and help me eat this."

He pulled on pajama bottoms and headed for the kitchen.

"Did you just put your ice cream in the microwave?"
he asked.

"Yes. I want it kind of melty around the edges. It's
frozen too hard."

"I suppose there are times when hard isn't a good thing
but--"

"Hush! We're talking ice cream here, a wholesome food.
No sex talk."

"And whose mind decided I was talking about sex?"

She ran her fingertips which had been holding the ice cream
across his abdomen.

"Holy...your fingers are icy."

Her hand moved down. "Still want to play that
game?"

"Uh, no. Get those frozen fingers away from me."

She laughed.

They decided ice cream for breakfast was delicious, but only
for special occasions. Julia thought this day should be considered special
because it was her seventh day in Sully Point. He argued that last night was
the actual special day since it was their first date.

"You know, I was wondering the other day if you just
weren't attracted to me," Julia said. "When I crawled into bed with
you, and you were a perfect gentleman..."

"That took a supreme effort of concentration. But I
didn't want to take advantage of you."

"And now?"

"Now, you don't seem frail anymore. And frankly, my
feelings for you have been growing every day. I didn't expect us to end up in
bed together last night, but I hoped."

"I didn't expect it either, but I'm sure glad you
decided to kiss me out there at the point. And I think you discovered I'm not
too frail after all."

"Um, yes, yes I did," he said, with a grin. Her
eyes met his and there was sudden heat between them. "How about you come
over here?"

"I was thinking the shower." Her eyes twinkled as
she smiled at him.

He gave a moment's thought to imagining soapy, wet, sexy
Julia in the shower and stood up. "What a damn good idea."

* * * *

Julia walked into the beach house feeling like she was
flying. Cody had dropped her off and then headed into work. The sexual
encounter in the shower would stand as a highlight in her memory forever. Part
of her was still stunned this was really happening. When she was with him, her
feelings threatened to overwhelm her. She was shocked at how fast her affection
for him had grown into something more. When she was away from him, he was
always in her thoughts and dreams. She realized she was waiting for the one bad
thing to show up, the kiss-of-death moment, when she learned something about
him she couldn't live with. But it didn't seem to be happening.

She changed clothes in the bedroom pulling on jeans and a
bulky white sweater. Deciding it was time to face the music, she opened her
laptop and got into her email program. As she had half-expected, there were a
number from work--including five from her mother.
What on earth?

The only time her mother ever emailed her was to demand
something faster or to complain. She thought it best to put those emails off
for the moment and instead opened the ones from Ron, her assistant and the guy
her mother had put in charge. The emails went from cajoling to begging to
pleading for help. Evidently Mother hadn't fired him yet, and he was under the
gun from her--and wasn't handling it well.

Curious as to her mother's reaction, based on Ron's emails,
she opened those up. At first, there were complaints about Ron. Then she
graduated into demands, wanting to know why Julia hadn't fired this
incompetent. Finally, came the email ordering Julia to respond to her at once.
That one was fired off the day before the phone call. Since then there was only
one, saying the company looked forward to her return from vacation.

"The company looks forward? Couldn't you, yourself,
look forward to my return Mother?"

She sighed and realized there was no point in expecting
anything different. She'd been here a week and her mother was already putting
oblique pressure on her to return, even after what she'd told her. The more
Julia thought about it, the angrier she felt. How dare this woman, her own
mother, put pressure on her to return to a job that was making her sick, and
practically killing her? Where was her parental concern? Where was her love?

Julia debated throwing her laptop across the room. She sat
and brooded for a while, getting more and more angry, as she thought about her
Mother's emails and the phone call from before. When the phone rang, she
answered tersely, "What?"

"Uh--Julia? It's Cody. What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's you. I'm sorry. I'm just in a bad mood."

"Julia, honey, what's wrong?"

"My mother. An email from her. Not the email of a
concerned mother. No, she has to be the company expecting my return. She makes
me want to scream."

"Go ahead and scream. Nobody's out there within miles
of you. Scream all you want."

"You know Cody, sometimes you're brilliant. Bye."

Only after she set the phone down, did she stop and think she
might have been abrupt.

* * * *

Cody set his phone down carefully on the counter. "Okay
then," he said.

"Did your girl hang up on you?" Joe Crawford asked
with a guffaw.

"Not exactly."

Joe and Captain Hank looked at each other and Joe rolled his
eyes. "Funny how we never heard you say good bye."

"It wasn't that kind of call," Cody replied, still
thinking about Julia. And her mother. Would the woman convince Julia to go back
to the city?

Captain Hank offered, "Maybe you should call her
back."

"Hmm. Not right now Hank, she's angry."

"At you?"

"No, no, someone else. Anyway, what were you talking
about before?"

"Wondering if the tourist season might start earlier.
Heard the weather's gonna be warmer sooner this year. You know, all the global
warming. Gotta affect our temperatures here."

"Could be," Cody said. He sat down in one of the
chairs around the table. He decided to give her time before trying to call her
again.

"You know--" Joe began, only to be interrupted by
Cody's phone ringing.

Cody glanced at the number and jumped up, walking to the
back of the store. "Hello, Julia."

"I want to apologize for being incredibly rude to you.
I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven. Sounds like you had good reason to be
angry."

"Perhaps--but not at you. I did what you said, however.
I screamed all the stuff I wanted to say to her. And I feel much better. So,
thanks."

"I'm glad it helped."

"What did you call me about before?"

"I wanted to thank you for a memorable evening...and
morning."

She gave a low-pitched laugh. "I want to thank you,
also. That was some first date."

"Yes, it was. When can I see you again?"

"You're the one with a job. When do you get off
work?"

"I think I'll close up early today."

"I'm coming into town for a bit this morning, but I'll
be home all afternoon."

"Then expect me to be knocking on your door by four
o'clock. Wait a minute--tonight's my night to provide dinner at Dad's
house."

"We can't go have dinner at your Dad's right after
we..."

He laughed. "You think he'd somehow know?"

"Yes! In this town, I think everyone will know."

"Silly goose. Want to come with me to the grocery
store?"

She said, "Of course."

He laughed at her quick response. "All right. See you
later."

"Okay. Bye for now."

He walked back to his interested friends in the rocking
chairs with a big smile on his face.

Joe said, "See, I told ya. They made up. Look at him
grinnin' there. Don't know how you do it, man."

"I didn't do anything fellas. Sometimes, if you're
lucky, the woman you're with makes everything perfect."

Joe looked at him uncomprehendingly. "If you say
so," he said doubtfully.

Captain Hank gazed at him thoughtfully.

Cody laughed. "Life is good today, guys. Leave it at
that."

* * * *

Julia talked to Mrs. Gilchrest at the bank. They agreed on
which computer she should buy, and then Julia would set it up at the bank
president's home when it arrived. As she stood up to leave, Mrs. Gilchrest
said, "If you could stay for a few more minutes..."

Julia nodded. "Sure," she said and sat back down.
"Need more computers fixed?"

"In a way, yes. The other day when Frank suggested I
talk to you about my problem, he also proposed an idea to me. As you know, the
computer support for this town is dismal and exceedingly over-priced. He
thought, and I agree after seeing how you work, that we should make a proposal
to you."

Julia tilted her head to one side. "Okay--I'm
listening."

"We want you to consider staying in Sully Point and
setting up your own business here. You could provide computer repair, build
computers and sell them, maybe even have a website design business. It
obviously wouldn't be as fast-paced a lifestyle as living in the city, but we
thought maybe that, in itself, might appeal to you."

"My own business?" Her voice rose a little high in
surprise. "Working with computers, or on computers?"

"Yes, exactly. Frank and I thought you might be wary of
starting your own business from scratch, and I want you to know the bank would
help out with a small business start-up loan. We even know of a place in town
where you could set up shop--unless you'd want to work out of your own home.
That would, of course, be up to you."

"Work with computers--all the time--on my own. This is
an incredible idea!"

Mrs. Gilchrest smiled tentatively at her. "Does that
mean you're interested?"

"Yes, yes it does," Julia said, smiling broadly.
"I never even considered...but why not? It's what I love doing. It really
is mind-boggling."

"Well...good. You go home and start thinking about the
details. Make sure this is what you want. As I said, Sully Point is a big
change from the life you had in the city. You'd be doing the town a big service
if you do decide to stay and do this."

"It is a lot to think about." Julia said in a bit
of a daze. "I'll get back in touch with you, soon."

As she left the office, she noticed Mrs. Gilchrest seemed
pleased. Couldn't hurt to have the bank president on her side, she thought. If,
she did this thing. Her head was spinning.

She left the bank and went to Deb's Deli to pick up a
sandwich for lunch. Deb made her an Italian meat sandwich on a long roll with
all the fixings--what Julia would call a sub and what the locals called a
grinder.

"Hey, you look like you're somewhere else. Something on
your mind?"

"Yeah, there is. Sorry. Can I have some potato salad
too?"

"Sure. I heard you and Cody were seen at the Lobster
Shack last night."

"What? Yes, we were there."

"You know you're the first date he's had in
months."

"Really?"

Deb laughed. "Okay, I won't try to get you to talk--but,
if you ever want, or need, to talk about Cody, feel free to contact me. For the
record, I think he's a great guy, and I hope he can settle down some day with
the right girl. I feel a little protective of him, I guess."

"Don't worry. I have nothing but the best intentions
toward Cody," Julia said with smile.

Deb looked into her face for a moment and then smiled back.
"Yes, I can see you do."

Julia paid and left with a wave. She stopped by the bakery
and picked up a bag full of oatmeal cookies, and then drove back to the beach
house. She went in and set her food down on the counter, realizing she didn't
even feel like eating now. There was a lot to think about. Cody. Computers. Her
own business. Cody.

She'd never considered having her own business. From the
time she was a teenager, her path in life had been set to follow in her
mother's footsteps. There was something incredibly freeing about even thinking
of leaving advertising for good. And then, to start a business where she did
something she loved? It made perfect sense and was a bit scary at the same
time. If she were to do it, there would be no fallback position. She'd sink or
swim on her own. Another consideration was whether or not a town this size
could support such an endeavor. Of course, she thought, nibbling on a cookie,
she could always do work over the internet. Web design, freelance coding jobs--who
knew what all she could get into? The thing was, she'd be enjoying her work
rather than deciding which skinny model should sell which brand of soap.

Suddenly, her appetite was back and she wolfed down her
sandwich. It could work. The excitement that filled her was like nothing she'd
felt before. She could finally be in charge of her own life.

After lunch, she sat down with her computer and began
looking things up on the internet about having your own small business. Mrs.
Gilchrest was right--there were a variety of helpful options available. She
stopped after an hour and picked up her crochet project. Keeping her hands busy,
helped her to think.

It all came down, she decided, to whether or not she was
brave enough. Brave enough to go it alone and shoulder the responsibility. And
more importantly, brave enough to stand up to her mother about leaving the ad
agency. She knew for most of her life she'd been trying to get her mother's
approval.
Well, really,
she thought,
doesn't everyone look for
approval from their parents?
But it never seemed to come. By now she knew
what her mother was like, how driven, and how selfish, she really was. Julia
could look down the years and see herself slaving away for crumbs of approval
from her mother for the rest of her life. Or she could make the break, facing--uncertainty,
yes--but also a life designed by herself, doing something she loved.