“Sexual Healing” started blaring nearby and I rushed to the kitchen to answer the phone and, more important, stop the song.
“Just a moment,” I said into the receiver, before covering it with my hand.
“Interesting choice of ringtone,” Julia said, laughing.
“My brother’s idea of a joke,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Do you mind?”
Julia shook her head and dug into her food.
“Stephen Worthington,” I said.
“Oh, hello. This is Lily Lawrence,” a woman said. “My mother is friends with your mother?”
Oh, damn. Worst timing ever.
“Yes, um, hello,” I said awkwardly, glancing at Julia, who seemed to be enjoying her meal a great deal, eating with her usual gusto. “I’ve been expecting your call.”
Truthfully, I’d almost forgotten that my mother wanted to fix me up. I looked at Julia again and smiled. I’d been a bit preoccupied lately.
She’s enjoying herself! What should I cook for her next time?
“Am I catching you at a bad time?” Lily asked politely.
“Sorry,” I said. I was being rude. “Yes, this is not the best time, I’m afraid.”
“That’s all right. Should I call you tomorrow?”
“I, uh…”
Oh, God. What am I going to do?
“Yes, that will be fine,” I said, cringing inwardly.
“All right, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Have a nice evening, Stephen.”
“You too, Lily,” I answered automatically.
I didn’t just say her name in front of Julia. I did not just say her name in front of Julia. Oh, who the hell am I kidding?
I sat down again, worried about Julia’s reaction. She would undoubtedly have heard my end of the conversation. I scanned her face for unpleasant emotions, but couldn’t decipher her expression. It was excruciating that I couldn’t read her properly and I had to know how she felt about this.
“That was a woman named Lily Lawrence. Her mother and my mother are friends and they’re trying to set us up on a blind date.”
“OK,” she said, shifting slightly.
Does it make her uncomfortable?
I tried to imagine Julia announcing that she was going on a date with a man. The mere thought made my stomach feel as though it was filled with molten lava.
“I don’t have to go,” I assured her.
She shook her head. “That’s OK. Just let me know if things get serious with her and we’ll stop doing this.”
But I don’t want to stop doing this.
“Really, Stephen, you should go,” she said. “It’s no big deal. I don’t date, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t. That’s what most people do. It’s just not for me.”
“All right,” I said, despite the fact that I didn’t feel right about it at all.
“So…what are you doing this summer?” Julia asked, changing the subject.
“Oh, nothing special. I have some articles I’m working on that I’d like to finish when the semester is over and I’ll probably take a trip to Napa Valley for wine tastings.”
“That sounds like fun. I like this one, by the way,” she said, holding up her glass.
“Yeah, I bought that last summer. I go almost every year. What are you doing?”
“Not much of anything. I’ll probably go to LA a few times with the girls, if there are any good bands in town, but that’s about it.”
“No vacations? Trips abroad?” I asked, knowing that Julia had traveled a lot in her past due to my Facebook research.
Research, stalking. Potato, potahto.
“No, I have things that keep me here,” she said, avoiding my eyes.
“Things?”
“Just things,” she said vaguely.
What things?
We ate in silence for a few minutes, but I had lost my appetite. Julia, however, ate ravenously, which made me both happy and sad. Happy that she was enjoying something I’d prepared for her, and sad because my going on a date didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest, and apparently there were things she didn’t want to share with me.
“That was excellent,” Julia said, leaning back in her chair. “I haven’t had chicken cacciatore since I visited Italy.”
“You’ve been to Italy?” I asked, hoping that I sounded surprised.
Like I didn’t already know. God, I am such a stalker.
“Yep, I traveled a lot after high school. I wanted to see more of the world before I started college. Have you traveled?”
“No,” I admitted. “I’ve never left the US. I went to college right after high school and grad school right after that.”
“That’s too bad,” she said. “But being a professor is a huge accomplishment in itself. You still have plenty of time to travel if you want to.”