Julia was sorry to miss the chance to do another road trip with Taylor, but relieved the distance meant Taylor would be home super late, and it made more sense to each crash at their own places. Despite being exhausted when she got home, Julia found herself wound up and restless and spent half the night tossing and turning.
She finally drifted off around three, giving her just enough time to settle into deep sleep before being jarred awake by her alarm. A cold shower and an extra cup of coffee got her to work, but she wasn’t thrilled about it. She told herself it was lack of sleep and not anxiety about the interview. The interview that had gone better than she expected, once she’d let herself believe it. The one she’d still not told Taylor about.
When Taylor texted an offer to stop by with lunch, she immediately accepted. It might be weird, but after not seeing Taylor for a couple of days, she missed her. Besides, she hadn’t packed lunch and her crackers and peanut butter situation left her far from inspired.
When Taylor showed up bearing Cobb salads and a cold bottle of Diet Coke, she wasn’t sure which she was happier to see. Well, yeah. Taylor, obviously, but it was closer than she would ever admit. They camped out at the picnic table out back and Julia took a long sip of her soda, relishing the fizzy burn. “So good. Thank you.”
Taylor drank from her own bottle of Pepsi. “Of course. You look like you could really use it.”
“I can.”
“You okay?” Taylor regarded her with concern.
“Yeah, yeah. Just a bad night’s sleep.” Julia mustered a smile. “I must be spoiled on sleeping with you.”
That got her a chuckle. “The feeling is mutual.”
“That makes me feel better.” She stuffed a forkful of salad in her mouth. “Thank you for this. It’s so good.”
“My pleasure. How was your,” Taylor paused, “whatever it was?”
Julia nodded. “Fine. Good.”
Taylor narrowed her eyes. “You don’t sound sure. What was it?”
Her brain froze, then raced. She could tell Taylor. But something in her hesitated. Whether it had to do with her ego or not telling Taylor in the first place or something else, she didn’t know. But the lie formed and came tumbling out. “Just a thing with Amanda for her job. She didn’t want to go solo but didn’t want the hassle of a date. It was fun, but I didn’t know a lot of people there, you know?”
“I do. It was nice of you to go with her.”
“Especially when I could have spent the day with you instead.”
“Well, that always sounds like a better way to spend a day.” Taylor gave her foot a playful nudge under the table.
Julia lifted a shoulder. “How about we spend the night together instead?”
“Oh, even better.”
Julia cleared her throat. She hated not being completely truthful with Taylor, but it wasn’t like it mattered on any real level. “Want to spend the night at my place?”
Taylor raised a brow. “Yeah?”
They’d yet to, but it finally felt enough like hers not to be weird. “My new quilt came yesterday. Between that and the paint…”
Taylor grinned. “I’d love that.”
“I’ll make you dinner, too. And dessert.” Not that she was feeling guilty or anything.
“I’m not sure what I did to merit this level of spoiling, but I’m smart enough not to turn it down.”
“You brought me lunch.” Julia gestured to the remnants of their salads.
“Remind me to bring you lunch every day.”
“I could get used to that.” She could, too.
“Since you’re feeling so sweet on me, is it a good time to ask if you want to come to my parents’ anniversary party this weekend?”
“I’d love to.” Perhaps weirdly, she meant it. It helped she already knew Taylor’s parents, at least casually. Mandy, too, since she was Caroline’s best friend. And she didn’t know Chris well, but she’d gotten to know Jack through Amanda, so that counted for something.
“Really?”
“Why do you sound surprised?”
“Well, it’s, you know, kind of relationship-y.”
“Relationship-y?” She knew what Taylor meant, but wanted her to elaborate. Because, honestly, she was kind of digging being in a relationship with Taylor.
Taylor wadded up her paper napkin and put it in the bag with the empty containers. “It wasn’t all that long ago you were shunning all things settled down and serious.”
“I wasn’t shunning, exactly.” Oh, but that’s exactly what she’d been. And although she wasn’t ashamed or anything, her feelings were so different from what they were, it felt strange to own it.
“No?” Taylor angled her head, although it was hard to know whether the gesture was more curiosity or suspicion.
“Okay, kind of shunning. More gun-shy, really.”
“Ah. I must have missed that in all the dating and sleeping around.”
In a different context, from a different person, Julia might have taken offense. But when someone helped out in said dating, then made a move themselves, it kind of entitled them to some teasing. “I can see how I may have given a more brazen impression than is accurate.”
Taylor stood and leaned across the table to kiss her. “I like your brazen side.”
They might have been teasing, but Julia got this sensation of butterflies in her stomach. Taylor liked her. Not pieces of her, not in spite of her faults and failings. Taylor liked her exactly as she was, faults and failings included. It hit her what a colossal and amazing thing that was. Afraid she might turn into a pile of sentimental mush, she offered a playful smirk. “I like the brazen you bring out in me.”
Taylor returned the smile. “You know what? Let’s forget about the party. We can spend the time at my place instead. In bed.”
Julia sat up straight and folded her arms. “Nope. You invited me. You can’t take it back now.”
“Fine.”
“Besides, maybe I want relationship-y.”
Something shifted in Taylor’s eyes, something that turned the butterflies into a full body tingle. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She wasn’t ready to use the L word, but it was there, front and center in her mind. “And besides, you can take me home with you after.”
Taylor’s eyes shifted again. She absolutely loved how much she could make chivalrous, old-fashioned Taylor Winslow want her. Taylor smiled slowly. “Now we’re talking.”
* * *
Taylor had no reason to be anxious. It wasn’t like she was bringing Julia home to meet her family for the first time. Pretty much everyone in her family knew Julia in one capacity or another. And, at this point, most of them knew she and Julia were seeing each other.
She tied her shoes and assessed herself in the mirror. It was about as good as she looked in jeans and a short-sleeved button-down, and her hair was definitely working for her. Not that she put much stock in that sort of thing, but it was nice when it all came together. She grabbed her keys and was halfway out the door before remembering the cases of beer she’d stuck in the fridge the night before. Waylon watched her backtrack through the kitchen, one eyebrow lifting, then the other. “Why am I nervous?” she asked him.
His response, as it so often was, was a long and snuffly sigh.
“I know. It’s not whether everyone will get along. It’s whether this means we’re serious.”
Blink.
“Yes, we’re adults and should be able to have a conversation about it, but given how we started, I’m not sure I want to be the one to bring it up first.”
He picked up his head and shook it, sending his floppy ears flying. Then he yawned.
“All right, man. Jeez.” Nothing like being dismissed by a dog. She loaded the beer in a couple of trips and headed to Julia’s.
By the time she pulled into Julia’s driveway a few minutes later, she’d talked herself down. She liked what she and Julia had. It was a whole lot more than she expected when they agreed to go on a real date just a couple of months ago. No need to rush things or rock the boat. She could do a check in, but it didn’t need to be a big thing.
Patience was a virtue, after all. She’d said as much to Julia. Yes, that had been in the bedroom, but the sentiment still applied. Patience.
When Julia stood up from the rocker on her front porch, red sundress falling to her knees and swaying in the breeze, all that went out the window. She’d propose to Julia tonight if she thought Julia might say yes and happily spend the rest of her life doing everything in her power to make Julia feel as smart and beautiful and special as she was.
Taylor shook her head. Patience.
Julia offered her that radiant smile and headed her way, holding a tray of cookies. Taylor gave herself firm directions to chill the fuck out and got out to greet her. “You look amazing. And you didn’t have to bake.”
“Thank you and I know. I like to bake though, and it’s fun to have a reason.”
Taylor leaned over the tray of what looked like snickerdoodles and gave Julia a kiss. “You’re perfect, you know that?”
Julia smirked, but a hint of color rose in her cheeks. “Nah.”
“Here, let me hold these while you get in and then you can keep them safe on your lap.”
Julia handed them over and climbed into Taylor’s truck. Maybe Taylor imagined a lifetime of Julia doing that exact thing, but she brushed it aside. The thing about forever was, if that’s what they were meant to have, there was no rush to get there.
At Mandy’s, where the party was being held, she did a few introductions, but it was mostly “you remember” and “it’s great to see you again.” Julia, who’d been so apprehensive about running into people in the first few weeks after arriving, talked and chatted like she’d never left town. It made Taylor wonder what might have happened if she never had left. Silly, really, since Taylor might not have ever worked up the courage to ask her out. A decade of admiring from afar would have been rather sad.
They talked to Chris and Jack, making Taylor realize Julia knew more about their adventures in foster parenting than she did. Julia grinned and blamed girls’ night. Taylor elbowed Chris and told him to keep up.
She’d anticipated keeping close to Julia the whole time because it was rude to bring someone to a party and abandon them, but it quickly became a moot point. Julia peppered the next-door neighbor with questions about keeping aphids off her roses, asked her mom for her potato salad recipe, and, if Taylor wasn’t mistaken, booked three photo shoots. Instead of tempering her thoughts of forever, it only intensified them.
“So, this is big. I take it you talked.” Chris, who’d appeared out of nowhere, offered her a fresh beer.
“Thanks.” She took it, but didn’t make eye contact. “Not officially.”
“You talked unofficially? How does one do that?” His tone was facetious.
“I mean, I invited her to a family function. That counts, right?”
“Dude, you didn’t talk to her at all, did you?” He shook his head, disappointment evident on his face.
“I will. I kind of have this romantic thing planned. Assuming it goes well, I thought we could talk then.”
“I can’t believe you’re being chicken shit about this.”
How could she explain how badly she didn’t want to mess this up? “I’m taking my time.”
“You act like you’re planning a proposal and not a ‘hey, do you want to go steady’ conversation.” His eyes got big. “Oh, my God, are you planning a proposal?”
“No. Absolutely not. Are you insane?” Yes, she’d thought about how she might like to propose should she have the chance, but she wasn’t actively planning. Chris did not need to know that specific detail.
“Whoa, whoa. Settle down. I was just asking.”
“Just, it’s complicated, okay?”
Chris slung an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “It’s cool. I didn’t mean to make you feel pressured.”
She chuckled. “Nah. I seem to be doing a perfectly good job of that all on my own.”
He gave her another squeeze and asked about the schedule for the upcoming week. Since he and Jack were momentarily kidless, he offered to come to the shop every day and she wasn’t about to turn it down. She gave him a rundown of the bigger projects she had lined up. While they were talking, the food truck they’d hired to do the catering pulled in, and Chris went in search of Jack.
Taylor scanned the crowd for Julia, finding her in a matter of seconds. As if sensing her gaze, Julia turned her way and smiled. Taylor’s stomach flipped, as it did every time Julia looked at her that way. No, she’d not be proposing anytime soon, but it didn’t mean she didn’t want to when the moment was right.
Julia made her way over and they joined the line for plates. Taylor made a joke about calling dibs on her for the fire. The way Julia leaned against her and rested her head on Taylor’s shoulder told Taylor she didn’t mind in the least. She snagged a couple of the stools she’d carved from tree stumps and scooted them close.
S’mores led to sparklers and her cousin pulled out his guitar. The whole thing was, in her mind, a perfect summer evening. Well, almost perfect. She had a couple of tricks up her sleeve still, and it felt like about the right time to pull them out.