Julia studied herself in the mirror, lifting her chin and squaring her shoulders. It was fine. Everything would be fine.
Probably not a good sign that she had more anxiety about her niece’s birthday party than all the first dates she’d gone on in the last month, but whatever. It was her own hang-ups, honestly. She let her sister and her parents get under her skin when, really, their hearts were in the right place. She sighed. Even if their good intentions came out as backhanded compliments and their encouragement came laced with vague disappointment.
At least she looked cute. She’d dropped close to ten pounds since the breakup, which she didn’t want to consider an accomplishment. She’d made peace with being what most people would consider fat. But since she’d spent the better part of six months subconsciously eating her feelings, it felt good to fit into her clothes comfortably again. Especially since she didn’t have the funds for a new wardrobe.
She grabbed Ellie’s gift and the bowl of fruit salad and headed over to Caroline and Darren’s. A bunch of balloons in brown and green, tied with string to the mailbox, bobbed in the breeze. The camo colors gave her pause, along with a lick of panic that she’d somehow confused Luke’s and Ellie’s birthdays. She’d never hear the end of it.
She bypassed the house and headed to the backyard. More green and brown balloons. And a bounce house in the shape of a brontosaurus. Right. Dinosaurs. Ellie was obsessed with dinosaurs. Julia shook her head at her own self-doubt.
“Aunt Julia!” The enthusiastic squeal definitely belonged to Ellie.
Julia turned and found Ellie standing in the doorway, a huge grin on her face. “Hello, birthday girl.”
“I’m so glad you’re here. Mom is freaking out.” Ellie turned on her heel and walked back into the house without elaborating.
Julia set things down and followed Ellie inside. Caroline, hair in a messy bun and with what appeared to be powdered sugar all over her shirt, looked up. She looked panicked. “I’m not sure I can do this.”
On the island in front of her sat a large rectangular cake frosted in the same green and brown as the decorations. “I’m one hundred percent certain you can. What is it you’re trying to do?”
She pointed to a sad looking piping bag full of frosting. “I’ve tried to write ‘Happy Birthday Ellie’ eight times already. If I scrape the frosting off one more time, the cake is going to disintegrate.”
Julia bit her lip, trying to fight off a smile. While part of her was all empathy, the other part took some small satisfaction in Caroline being unable to do something perfectly. It was such a rarity. “Okay, let’s step back for a second and consider our options.”
“It has to have my name on it,” Ellie said from the living room. The quiver in her voice said she was closer to tears than a tantrum.
“And it will.” Julia managed to insert more confidence into her voice than she felt.
“Why didn’t I order a cake from the stupid bakery?” Caroline asked.
“Why didn’t you?” Maybe not the time to pose such a question, but it was out of her mouth before Julia could stop herself.
“Because it’s dinosaur marble on the inside,” Ellie said.
Julia looked to Caroline for elaboration. “I found it on Pinterest. It’s chocolate and vanilla tinted green.”
Was she the only one who kept getting camo instead of dinosaur? She knew better than to ask. “Ah.”
Caroline stuck out her arms with exasperation. “The cake came out great. I just made the idiotic assumption I could decorate it, too.”
Okay. Clearly, someone needed to take charge. And since both her sister and her niece seemed to be on the verge of a meltdown, that left her. “We’ve got this. It’s going to be great.” She looked around the kitchen. “Do we have other decorations to work with?”
Caroline pointed to a collection of dinosaur figurines and a tub of chocolate rocks. “Just those.”
Inspiration struck. “Didn’t I see M&Ms out on the table when I got here?”
“Yeah.” Caroline gave her a quizzical look.
“Ellie, would you go get them for me?” She looked at Caroline. “I got this.”
“Are you sure? What are you going to do?”
Julia waved Caroline away. “Trust me. You go get ready. People are going to be here any minute.”
Caroline looked down at her clothing, then back at Julia. The panic had returned to her eyes. “Oh, God.”
“Go. You’ll look gorgeous in ten minutes, I’m sure.”
Without another word, Caroline fled the kitchen. Ellie returned with the bowl of candy. “Can I watch?”
“Of course.” It might not look amazing, but it would be better than nothing. Julia took a second to compose herself, then got to work.
By the time Caroline returned—looking gorgeous, as predicted—Julia had arranged the required message in various candies, turning the M&Ms on their sides so she’d have room for everything. She’d taken the liberty of putting the dinosaurs on, too, under the opinionated direction of Ellie. Not the most elegant design, but it worked.
“Oh, my God. You saved the day.”
Ellie jumped up and down. “Aunt Julia saved the day!”
Julia was pretty sure that was the first time such a phrase was uttered about her. It probably wasn’t a good idea to get puffed up over a simple compliment, but she couldn’t help it. Especially when it came to her family and being competent at something. Before she could respond, Darren and Luke walked in, Darren carrying six large pizza boxes. “Pizza is here.”
He’d no sooner closed the door than her parents arrived, then Darren’s. She joined the flurry of last-minute setup just in time for the first guests. Caroline slid into supermom hostess mode and Julia let herself fade into the background with a glass of rosé.
It was fun to watch a bunch of kids run around, jump in a bounce house, and stuff themselves with the cake she helped decorate. She chatted with a couple of Caroline’s friends, a few she remembered from high school, a few she’d never met. At one point, her dad came over. He whispered conspiratorially he’d heard she rescued the cake and saved Caroline from the horrors of a bad mom moment.
Julia chuckled. “My reputation wasn’t on the line. It made it easier to keep a level head.”
He laughed. “She’s glad you’re back, you know. We all are.”
Great. She’d just congratulated herself on being the cool, together one, and a single comment from her dad had tears threatening. The thing was, for all her family’s judgment about her life and her choices, she believed him. And, maybe for the first time since coming home, she agreed. “I am, too.”
He put his arm around her. For a guy not big on displays of affection, it was kind of a big deal. “You’re going to make something of your life. I can feel it.”
The idea that, at thirty-three, she’d not made anything of her life stung. But she couldn’t really deny it, either. “Thanks.”
“This time, it will be yours. Not what your parents want or what some woman wants for you. Don’t you doubt that, or yourself.”
If her father wasn’t big on PDAs, he was even less one for heart-to-heart talks. This one made her chest swell uncomfortably. She swiped at a tear that threatened to spill over and took a sip of her wine. “I’m going to do my best.”
“I’m sure you will, baby girl, and it will be amazing.”
Julia couldn’t remember the last time he’d used the pet name. If someone had asked, she would have insisted it made her feel like a child—fragile and unable to take care of herself. Oddly, it didn’t. It felt, for the first time in a long time, like she had someone in her corner.
* * *
Taylor eased down from her truck and groaned. She didn’t mind the drive to Lake Placid, but going there and back in one day exceeded her threshold for sitting in one position. She stretched side to side and reached down to touch her toes. At least three vertebrae shifted, each with a satisfying click. She let out a different sort of groan.
Waylon greeted her at the door, tail wagging with enthusiasm. “Hey, buddy. How was your day?”
He sniffed her feet and sat, waiting for his signal to go out. She patted him on the head and swept her hand. He bounded down the porch steps and flung himself onto the lawn, rolling around and covering himself with the grass she’d cut that morning. After sleeping, it had to be his favorite pastime.
She left him to his own devices and headed to the bathroom to shower off the day of driving and unloading furniture. Clean, relaxed, and dressed in boxers and a tee, she wandered into the kitchen to contemplate dinner. More hungry than inspired, she pulled out a beer and fixings for a sandwich. She ate standing at the counter, content to be home.
Waylon scratched at the door to come in. Taylor gave him his dinner and a bite of her turkey, then picked up her phone. She’d missed a text from Julia along the way. Let me know when you’re home?
Without context, it was difficult to read meaning into Julia’s question. Was she worried about Taylor getting home safe? Looking to chat? Looking for more than a chat?
“Why is this so complicated?” she asked Waylon. Certain the question had nothing to do with more turkey, he snuffled and disappeared in the direction of his bed. “A lot of help you are.”
She spent more time than she cared to admit crafting a reply. Just a bit ago. You?
Okay, that really didn’t warrant the thought she put into it.
Same. About to climb into bed.
Taylor glanced at the clock on the stove. Quarter of nine. Not an unreasonable time to call it a night, but knowing Julia had spent the day with her family made her worry. Up for a phone call?
Julia replied with the emoji that made Taylor think of jazz hands. It made her smile. As did her response of Give me ten.
Taylor glanced around the kitchen. With no dishes to do and no other reason to stay downstairs, she decided to head to bed as well. Might as well be comfortable. She whistled for Waylon and he followed her upstairs, settling into his bed in her room. A bed was a bed in his book.
Taylor propped herself up with a stack of pillows and set her phone in her lap, willing it to ring. It only took about ten seconds. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Julia sounded tired.
“How was it?” Taylor asked.
Julia sighed. “It was fine.”
“That bad, huh? Tell me everything.” She set her beer on the nightstand and burrowed into the bed.
“It really wasn’t. Ellie was adorable. Caroline indulged her pleas for a dinosaur-themed party and didn’t even pink-ify it.”
She imagined a slew of little girls reenacting scenes from Jurassic Park, which was probably inaccurate, but gave her a chuckle anyway. Especially since she knew one of the little girls involved was Ava. “I love that. Still, there’s something in your voice. I can tell.”
Another sigh. “Should I be worried you know me so well?”
“I don’t think that’s something to worry about.” She sure as hell hoped not.
“Since my default is to worry, I’m going to take your word for it.”
“You should. I’m very trustworthy.”
Julia laughed, a trace of her usual energetic demeanor coming through. “Noted.”
“So, what happened? Did you get the ‘what brings you back to town?’ from someone you hadn’t seen yet or the ‘why don’t you have kids of your own?’”
The second laugh had even more punch. “Neither, actually. By all accounts, I saved the day.”
“Oh, fun. Tell me more.”
Julia relayed a story about a cake mishap, Caroline’s meltdown, and her rather clever solution. What came after, though, was what had Julia stirred up. The sidebar conversation with her father, the sentimental end to the day with her sister and mother. “I don’t know. It’s like they really are happy I’m home.”
Taylor shook her head. “Why wouldn’t they be?”
“I know they love me. It’s just, it was hard when I left. And I’ve been gone so long. I didn’t think they’d reject me. I think I expected it to be more grudging, or maybe judgmental.”
Taylor couldn’t fathom having that sort of ambivalence about her family. She never felt like she took them for granted, but maybe she didn’t fully appreciate how solid the relationship was. “Isn’t that a good development?”
“It is,” Julia said quickly. “Totally. Surprising, but good.”
“I’m glad, then.”
“Enough about me. Tell me about your day.”
Taylor talked about her drive up to Lake Placid, the funky shop that ordered from her a few times a year. It all seemed uneventful after Julia’s day, but Julia asked lots of questions about the drive and the kinds of furniture they bought. Taylor confessed to coming home with a bear carved from a tree stump with a chainsaw. “He’s really cute,” she said in her defense.
“I’m only mad you didn’t bring me one.”
“Next time.”
Julia let out a hmm. “Maybe next time I could go with you.”
“Deal.” She liked the idea of spending a day driving back roads with Julia. Taylor rolled from her side to her back and switched the phone to her other ear. Her brain half registered something and she pulled the phone away to double-check. Sixty-eight minutes. She chuckled.
“What?”
“I just realized we’ve been talking for more than an hour.”
“Seriously?” Julia’s voice held the same surprise she felt.
“Apparently.”
Julia laughed. “It hasn’t felt that way.”
It hadn’t. The whole thing reminded her of high school and spending night after night on the phone with her friends or, if she was being honest, her first girlfriend. Before cell phones and before she had her own car. When endless conversations stood in for what she’d rather be doing—making out, and more. “It’s nice, though.”
“Yeah.” Julia sighed, a very different sort of sigh than at the start of their conversation.
“I should probably let you go to bed.” Though, really, she’d much rather talk to Julia than go to sleep at this point.
“Probably. I’m helping on the production line tomorrow and I’ve got to be at work by seven.”
Taylor glanced at the clock. It was quarter after eleven. “Oh, that’s so early. Why did you let me keep you up so late?”
“Because this was fun.”
“It was.”
There was a moment of silence, then Julia asked, “Do we get to go out again?”
Taylor had been thinking about how and when to ask Julia on a second date. She didn’t want to seem too eager, but she’d been thinking about it pretty nonstop. “Would you believe me if I said I was just thinking about that?”
“Maybe.”
She loved the playfulness Julia had at these unexpected moments. “How about I let you go to sleep and we iron out details tomorrow?”
“I’d like that.”
She’d like it, too. “Get some sleep.”
Another relaxed sigh. This one might even count as contented. “I will. You, too.”
“Good night.”
“Night.”
The line went quiet. Taylor plugged in her phone and shut off the lamp. In the dark and otherwise quiet room, Waylon’s snores became more pronounced.
When was the last time she’d spent an hour on the phone with a woman? High school, probably, like she’d remembered earlier. But even though she’d had a thing for Julia then, their relationship had never included late night story swapping. She smiled at the unexpected shift since Julia’s return. Better late than never.