More Than a Convenient Bride(21)

"I'm used to sleeping alone," she'd explained, but he had the feeling  it was more than that. He just wasn't sure what. He'd begun to wonder if  this friends with benefits deal they had going was a little more  complicated than either had expected. Aside from the sex, their  relationship hadn't changed, so why did everything feel so...different?  Was he falling in love with her? For real? And if he was, what next? Did  he take the chance and tell her? If she didn't share those feelings, he  knew it would only drive her away.

That wasn't a risk he was willing to take.





 Twelve

Julie believed Amelia when she said she only wanted to talk to Luc, but she seemed to be the only one in town who did.

"Everyone hates me," she told Julie that Friday, while they shared  lunch in the hospital cafeteria. When Tommy slept, which was quite often  due to the heavy dose of pain meds that he was on, Amelia would  sometimes sneak away and visit Julie. She was the only friend Amelia had  in town, and though they were an unlikely pair all things considered,  they had quite a bit in common.

"I'm sure no one hates you," Julie said, though she, too, noticed  Amelia getting the cold shoulder and more than a few suspicious looks.  "Luc is a respected member of the community. People are just very  protective of him."

"I noticed," Amelia said, moving her food around her plate, but not  really eating much. With her son's surgery scheduled soon she was  understandably edgy. "I'm getting sick of hospital food, so I went to  the diner last night. But I got so many dirty looks I had to leave. Even  the waitress gave me the cold shoulder. I had them wrap my food up and I  took it back to the hospital to eat."

Julie hated that people would treat her that way when they didn't even  know the full story. Didn't even know Amelia. Did no one care that she  had a sick child? Why couldn't they cut her a little slack? "If they  knew you like I do, they wouldn't act that way."

"They don't want to know me," she said. "I can see now that coming here  was a mistake. After the surgery, as soon as Tommy is stable enough to  be moved, I'm going back to Houston. I'm as big a joke there as I am  here, but at least there I don't get sneered at every time I walk down  the street. They're kind enough to do it behind my back. The poor little  debutante with the sick kid whose husband couldn't keep it in his  pants."

Julie cringed. "Ouch."

"I know. And my parents hold me personally responsible for tarnishing our family reputation."

That was just wrong, but Julie knew from experience how unreasonable  parents could be. "How is your husband cheating on you your fault?"

"Oh, they didn't care about the cheating. That's just what husbands do, apparently."

"According to who?"

"Houston high society."

"That's crazy," Julie said.

"At first Tom, my ex, was very discreet, but I knew something was up.  He'd work lots of late nights and went on weekend business trips. I  fooled myself into thinking that I was imagining things. I was used to  men fawning all over me. I was young and beautiful and rich, and I knew  it. It was a blow to my pride to think that my husband, the man who was  supposed to worship the ground I walked on, would stray.

"I was sure that fatherhood would settle him down."

"Did it?"

She shook her head. "It only seemed to push him further away. Tom was  never there for our son, not even when he was an infant. Even less after  he was diagnosed. All the money and status in the world wasn't worth my  baby being treated that way."                       
       
           



       

"What did you do?"

"I got really, really angry. Then I said enough is enough and divorced him."

Julie admired any woman who had the courage to stand up for herself in the face of adversity.

"For what it's worth, I never would have had the guts to do what you did," Julie said.

"Humiliation is one hell of a motivator."

Julie told Amelia about her abusive ex, and how long it took her to  screw up the courage to walk away. "He completely shredded my  self-esteem. I was weak and pathetic."

"You were doing the best you could with the skills you learned growing up."

"That's just the thing. I never learned how to defend myself."

"That's my point. You were totally ill equipped to deal with the situation, but you still got away. You prevailed."

"Not as soon as I should have."

"Julie, I stayed for over four years."

"But you were married with a son. There was nothing keeping me from leaving. Nothing but my own cowardice."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Amelia said. "You're one of the bravest people I know."

For a second Julie was sure that she was joking. Brave? Her? "How could you possibly think that?"

"Look at all the extraordinary things you've done. You've traveled all  over the world helping people. You ventured off on your own and turned a  terrible situation into something really good. That takes guts."

Julie had never really thought of it like that before. "I guess so."

"As crazy as my parents drive me, my mother especially, the idea of  completely cutting them from my life is terrifying. I think about it all  the time, but I could never actually do it. Despite everything, their  opinion still matters to me. You don't seem to let anyone else's  opinions color your judgment. If you did, you sure wouldn't be sitting  here with me. The town pariah. I thought talking to Luc's friends and  the people in town might give me some insight into how to relate to him.  To make him listen to me. Maybe find some common ground. All I've  managed to do is make a whole bunch of enemies."

"What those people think shouldn't matter to you. You know your intentions were good. That's all that's important."

A frown furrowed her brow. "I guess."

After lunch Julie went back to her office, feeling bad for Amelia. She  believed it would be in Amelia's and Luc's best interest to talk, to  settle the past so they could both move forward, but if Luc refused,  there wasn't much Julie could do about it.

Or could she?

She wasn't duplicitous by nature, but if the situation called for it,  and she truly believed it could benefit Luc, even she could be a little  creative.

* * *

A few hours later Julie's phone rang and she was surprised to see  Elizabeth's number on the screen. Her first thought was that it was her  nurse and something was terribly wrong. And if she was calling Julie,  Luc must have been unreachable. But when she answered it was Elizabeth's  voice, and she sounded just fine.

"Something arrived for you today," she told Julie. "Can you get away from work? You should probably come home and open it."

It was an odd request, to say the least. "Who is it from?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it might be perishable."

It was probably something from her sister, who had finally called Julie  to congratulate her on her "pseudowedding"-Jennifer's exact words.  She'd probably sent chocolates or a fruit basket. "Can't you just stick  it in the fridge for now?"

"It wouldn't fit."

"Can you open it for me and tell me what it is?"

"I wouldn't feel right opening someone else's package," she said. "You should come home."

Julie looked at the pile of transcripts from the interviews she'd  conducted with spinal patients, and had been hoping to review that  afternoon, but for whatever reason her coming home now was important to  Elizabeth, and that was good enough for her. "Let me finish up what I'm  doing, then I'll come home. Give me thirty minutes."

"See you soon!"

That was a little strange, but, okay. She finished what she'd been  working on and headed home, surprised to find Luc's Beamer in the garage  next to his mother's van. What was he doing home so early?

Julie let herself into the house, hung her keys on the rack next to the door and called, "I'm home."                       
       
           



       

"In here!" Elizabeth called back from the vicinity of the living room.  When Julie got there, she saw Elizabeth in her chair, and Luc sitting  close by on the sofa. He was dressed casually in jeans and a polo shirt,  and next to him on the cushion was a brown cardboard box. It was around  eighteen square inches and from what she could see, unmarked. The top  wasn't sealed, either. Nor did it look like it ever had been. It would  have been pretty easy for anyone to peek inside.

"You're home early," she said.

"I am," he agreed, wearing what she could only describe as a sly smile. "I had a few things to take care of this afternoon."