The Julius House Page 0,16

a stop in the front yard a few feet away from the boy as he stood on my front steps.

He rolled his eyes and sneered. It was one of those teenage grimaces that make you amazed that so many of them survive to adulthood. Of course teenagers had acted like this in the library, and I had handled it then, but a few months away had resensitized me.

Already angry, I was now inwardly berserk. What this translated to on the outside was that I had my hands clenched in fists by my side, my jaw felt soldered together, and all I needed to complete my Shirley Temple imitation was to stick my lip out.

The boy dropped the cigarette on my wooden porch and ground it out with his foot. He took another step inside.

"Pick it up," suggested a quiet voice from behind me.

"Huh?" The boy's mouth was open in amazement at this novel idea. "Pick it up and put it in your pocket," the quiet voice said, as if it were implanting a posthypnotic suggestion.

With a fearful stare over my shoulder, the boy reached down, picked up his cigarette butt, dropped it in his pocket, and scuttled into the house. "Now," I said, pivoting on my heel, "I could have handled that by myself."

"I made you mad in the first place," Shelby said. I tried to think that out, but couldn't while he was standing there looking at me.

"We should start again," he said.

"Yes."

"Hi, I'm Shelby Youngblood, a friend of Martin's."

"Hi. I'm Roe Teagarden, Martin's fiancée."

We didn't shake hands again, but regarded each other warily.

"I hope you don't mind Martin suggesting we live here," Shelby said.

That wasn't easy for him. He wasn't used to being beholden to anyone. I blew out a long breath silently, gradually cooling down. I decided on simple positive sentences. "I am very glad for you to be in the apartment. I know that you plan to help out while the renovation is going on. I'm anxious to get it done as soon as possible. We'll get married in three weeks, and be back from our honeymoon two weeks after that, so I hope to have most of it done by then." "If I start work at Pan-Am Agra before then, Angel will be more than able to supervise whatever work is left to be done," Shelby said. "And by the way, she likes light orange - I think she calls it peach - and green." I could feel the tension ease out of my face.

"Will you go back to - Florida, right? - to get her, or..." "Yeah. I'll fly back tomorrow, and we'll wrap things up there and start driving up here in maybe three or four days."

"Okay. That'll work out great." By the time the Young-bloods were in place, I should be more and more wrapped up in wedding plans, and it really would be a help to have them actually on the spot.

For the first time I saw how Shelby Youngblood had gotten out to the house. He was driving Martin's car.

"He really does trust you," I said.

"Yeah."

We gave each other another long look. "Catch you later," Shelby said casually, and strode off, starting up Martin's car and driving off in it. It felt very strange to see someone else in Martin's car.

I ran into town to tell the carpet and paint people they had a new job, and one that took priority. By great good fortune, they had a peach-colored carpet in stock. Since the white walls in the apartment were still in very good shape, I asked the painter to do the baseboards and door and window frames in green. I was lucky enough to find white curtains with a little peach-colored figure at WalMart (I was in too much of a hurry to have some made), and as for furniture ... gee, this was getting expensive. I looked in the for-sale ads of the Lawrenceton Sentinel and called some of the numbers listed. By late afternoon, I'd found a very nice used bedroom suite and a couch and two armchairs in a neutral beige, and had run back to WalMart and bought queen-size sheets and a bedspread (green). The living-room set was in good shape but needed cleaning. I made a note to buy a spray cleaner, and then rushed back to the townhouse to get ready for the wedding shower.

As I sank into the warm water of the bathtub, I realized that I hadn't eaten lunch and didn't