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As it turned out, there wasn’t just one more round of sex.
No, there was another the next morning, too.
As Julie packed up her suitcase, she tried to be upbeat. It had been good to be back in Ashton Corners, but in Toronto, she’d get to see Bridget. Go out for sushi and falafels and other things you couldn’t get in Ashton Corners.
Tacos, too.
Ugh, would tacos always be linked with Tom in her mind?
He was currently folding his pajamas and setting them neatly in his suitcase.
She’d normally fold her pajamas, but she didn’t today, feeling like being contrary. Maybe wanting to annoy him.
Though he didn’t seem to notice.
Tom finished with his suitcase, then put on the tie he’d draped over the back of the chair. This one was plain gray and disconcertingly boring.
“You ready?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Your tie’s crooked.”
“No, it’s not.”
But when she walked over and undid his tie, he didn’t object. She carefully knotted it again, her fingers lingering on his chest and feeling the thump thump of his heart.
She swallowed. She would miss touching him.
When she finished the knot, she stepped back.
“Perfect,” she said.
It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t bad, but the knot had been better when he’d done it. She knew that, and she was positive he knew it, too, but he didn’t say anything.
They spent the rest of the morning hanging out with her family, and Julie felt more sorrow than she usually did before leaving Ashton Corners.
For lunch, they had the last of the leftovers from Christmas Day and a green salad.
“Christmas is over and we need to be healthy now, yes?” Mom said as she served Julie a generous helping of salad.
But when they moved on to dessert, she put lots of cookies on Julie’s plate.
“Julie, when is your next shift?” Dad asked.
“Tomorrow.” She picked up a shortbread cookie. “Six to midnight, I think?”
“Wah, I don’t like you working so late,” Mom said.
Usually, the criticism of Julie’s job would have started earlier in her visit, but thanks to Tom’s presence, her parents had had other things to think about at Christmas.
“I don’t mind working late,” Julie said. “I’m almost always up past midnight anyway, and it’s not as though I’ve ever liked mornings.”
“But you’re thirty now,” Mom said, “and you have a nice boyfriend. It’s time to grow up. Don’t you want to be...”
Don’t you want to be good enough for him?
Mom wouldn’t be so crass as to say those words in front of everyone, but Julie knew what her mother was thinking.
“There are lots of things you could do,” Dad said. “You could be a financial planner, like Mike.”
“Just shoot me now,” Julie muttered. “No offense, Mike.”
“None taken,” Mike said.
“Maybe you could be a teacher,” Mom said. “You have a degree, so just one year of teacher’s college, yes? It will not make you rich, but it’s a stable job with a pension, and you will have summers off. Useful if you have kids—”
“Mom!” Julie said.
“It’s not like we demanded you be a doctor,” Mom continued. “We were very flexible.”
Someone cleared their throat. It took Julie a moment to figure out who.
Tom.
Oh, gosh, what was he going to say?
* * *
“Julie does not need to change who she is.”
Tom understood how annoying it would be if her parents did this every time she saw them. It wasn’t like they were mean. It was clear they only had the best of intentions, but...
No, he couldn’t take this anymore.
This was the woman he cared for, very much, and he hadn’t realized just how much until now. He didn’t want this to be over. He wanted to continue seeing Julie when they returned to Toronto.
Spur-of-the-moment decisions weren’t his thing, but he didn’t need to make pro and con lists to know he wanted to be with Julie. He’d never imagined having a long-term relationship with a woman who’d wear a koala hat, but all those vague, pre-conceived notions he’d had? They’d been thrown out the window.
It was fucking terrifying.
Still, he had no doubt he wanted her, and he wanted her as she was.
“I know this isn’t the life you imagined for her,” he said. “My parents also wanted me to have a stable, comfortable career. But people don’t work at the same job for thirty years the way they used to. Life is unstable.”
He hated that, but it was true.
“Yes,” Charlotte piped up. “I know you approve of my job, but it’s the exact opposite of recession-proof. When there’s a recession, people aren’t doing mineral exploration. It’s very boom-bust. You can’t guarantee anything these days.”
Tom took Julie’s hand. “I support Julie in whatever she wants to do.”
It was against what he’d been taught, against his instinct, to speak back to someone’s parents, but he had to do it. A part of him wanted to mention that Julie had gotten a fake boyfriend for the holidays because she’d become so exasperated with their criticism.
Fake. Pretend.
It made him cringe now.
He wished this was real, with such an intensity that he wondered if he’d ever really been in love before. He wanted to tell her exactly how he felt, but not in front of her parents.
Bonnie and Albert turned to each other.
“Ah, good, good,” Albert said. “You really do love her.”
Bonnie gave her husband a strange look. “I’m still not sure about this. I think it would be better if Julie was a teacher. Maybe an occupational therapist. But I’m pleased you will accept my daughter no matter what.”
Tom smiled at Julie.
But she looked utterly broken.
* * *
Julie couldn’t stand it any longer.
She’d been lying to her family. She’d let them think Tom was important to her. Her parents liked Tom because he was exactly what they wanted for a son-in-law, and now they also liked him because he’d stood up for her?
She was the underachieving youngest daughter, and now she’d done it once more. She’d lied about her love life. Her parents would never see Tom again, and that would not make them happy.
It would not make her happy, either.
This had spun out of control, but the very least she could do was tell the truth. Sure, she was frustrated with her parents’ expectations, but they were good people. They didn’t deserve this.
She shoved her plate away. “Tom isn’t my boyfriend. I just asked him to pretend to be my boyfriend for the holidays so you’d think I was less of a failure.”
And then she bolted.