She shook her head. “I didn’t want to touch anything, mess anything up.”
“Lucky for you I came along,” Max said as he stood. “I am the king of messes.” Max approached the insane medieval cooking area and said over his shoulder, “Besides, the silverkin love to clean. Let’s give them something to do, eh?”
Juliana smiled and came to stand beside him. “How do you make food in a fireplace?”
“Seriously, I have no idea.”
Since Max didn’t know how to spit a lamb or do whatever else one does over an open fire, he and Juliana ended up making bread. Not only was bread something Max could actually digest, he thought he was getting pretty good at making it. As for Juliana, she took out her frustrations on the dough as she beat it into submission. There was flour smeared on her nose and dusting her black shirt, the sunlight streaming through the windows making the fine particles glow around her.
When they’d beaten the dough as much as they could, Max scooped it into a bowl and set it aside. “Now, we wait for it to rise,” he declared.
“How long does that take?” Juliana asked.
“Couple hours.”
“We just did all that work, and we don’t even get to eat yet?” Juliana swiped at the flour on her nose, but she only succeeded in spreading it onto her cheek. “Not fair, not fair at all.”
“No, it’s really not fair.”
Max grabbed a towel and dampened it with a little of the leftover water from making the dough. I thought he was going to clean the counter, but he stepped forward and wiped Juliana’s nose, and then her cheek. “Lots of things aren’t fair around here.”
Her dark eyes fluttered closed, and she turned toward his hand. “Max.”
“Talk to me, Jules,” Max implored. “Say anything, just talk.”
“I don’t think you should call me that,” she said, taking a step back. “It upsets Sara.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Max soothed. “Sara was your best friend. She’ll understand.”
“No, she won’t.” Juliana walked away, but she paused when she reached the door. “She hates me, with good reason. You should hate me, too.”
“Jules—”
“Max, no.”
Then she left, and Max was alone in the kitchen. He stared at the door Juliana had exited through for a moment, then he looked toward the pantry—even though he couldn’t see me, he knew I’d heard everything. Max scraped the remaining bits of flour off the counter, then he exited through the same door Juliana had. As for me, I remained where I was for another moment, feeling guilt eat its way through my heart.
34
I’d just experienced some of the best days of my life.
Micah and I had finally managed to make this marriage thing official, which had been amazing. More than amazing, actually—if I’d thought I could die of pleasure before, now I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I wouldn’t. Though I intended to keep trying.
And we’d found my father, my real father, not a shapeshifter facsimile or any other stupid Peacekeeper trick. After sixteen long years, my family was whole again.
But, and there was always a but, the matter of Juliana remained. I understood that we couldn’t just send her back to the Peacekeepers, not now that she had openly helped us, but I wasn’t all that comfortable with her staying at the manor either. It was supposed to be a temporary solution, but we all knew that after helping us she really had no place to go. More than likely, she’d be here for a long time.
Oh, and there was the fact that she was in love with Max, and he with her, though neither of them seemed to be able to act upon it. No, that didn’t complicate things at all.
I mean, I understood that Juliana wasn’t the great evil I’d thought she was. Her actions had directly led to me finding and rescuing first Max, and then Dad. If her stupid uncle learned of what she’d done, who knew how he’d punish her? She might even end up in that tube Max had once called home. But I just didn’t know if I could be her friend again. I wanted to, but I couldn’t quite shake the sense of betrayal. I knew why she did what she did, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
I was still struggling with these conflicting feelings a full week after we’d found Dad. In that time things had calmed down at the manor, and we Corbeaus and Silverstrands, along with the lone Armstrong, had fallen into something of a routine. We’d all gather in the kitchen midmorning, and the silverkin would feed us one of their truly epic brunches. After lingering over the food, we wandered away in what had become predictable patterns, with Juliana and Sadie heading toward the library, Mom and Dad retreating to the orchards, and Max hanging out in the kitchen and making more attempts at honing his culinary skills. He was getting pretty good at baking bread, though his cookies still needed some work.