Toni who still held her. She closed her eyes and winced. “I’m sorry. I’m okay now.”
Toni’s eyes showed her remorse. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think about the fact you would know him, but of course you would. You work at the same hospital as him. I’m sorry. Like I said, I need to work more on that filter between my brain and mouth.”
“It’s okay, Toni. I wasn’t expecting Aaron to come up in conversation so it just took me by surprise. I’m okay now.” God, talk about over-reacting and now she’d made Toni feel bad, too. Julie winced inwardly. Yep, she was getting better. Not.
“You were close to him?”
The tears built behind her eyelids as she nodded. “He was an amazing man.”
Julie pulled herself together and managed to make it through the rest of the meal without falling apart. The rest of their conversation remained light and didn’t touch on anything serious. Julie really enjoyed Toni. She might have a habit of sticking her foot in her mouth, but honestly, Julie liked that irreverence for life. It was the complete opposite of how Julie approached everything, so being around her felt like a breath of fresh air.
Toni set her napkin next to her plate. “That was amazing, Julie.”
“It’s not over yet. No meal is finished unless it includes chocolate.”
Toni groaned which just caused Julie to chuckle. “It’s a nice night. How about we go for a walk and work off some of our dinner? Then we can come back here for coffee and dessert, guilt free.”
“Guilt free works for me.” Toni pulled herself up from the table. “Bring on the exercise portion of the evening.”
Chapter 12
He sat outside her house, hidden in the bushes. He’d been able to watch the two girls as they ate dinner and heard their conversation since Julie’s windows were open in the cool of the evening.
She tried to hide it, but every time that neighbor’s name was mentioned, Chris, emotion filled her eyes. He knew her too well. She couldn’t hide that deep of response from him. Just the thought of it sent his blood boiling.
He’d seen the girls’ exchange with Chris before their dinner began. He was entirely too comfortable with Julie. The ties of their friendship and something more were stronger than he’d ever realized. Why didn’t she ever talk about him? What exactly was their history? There definitely seemed to be more than he’d first thought. It was not acceptable.
He would not allow the neighbor to screw this up for him. It was time to step up the threat toward him, since his warning hadn’t been taken to heart the first time around. Maybe it was time to convince Chris that he meant business. Julie was his and Chris would not be allowed to get in the way of that.
Chapter 13
Julie sank her head into her hands on her desk in her office. It had been a long day and every minute she was more exhausted than the one before it. God, her head was pounding and her sinuses were killing her. She didn’t have time to get sick this week. There was only six days before Jake and Cassie’s wedding.
Time! Crap, she was even later now for Krav Maga class. She dashed out from behind her desk to get to the gym.
When she arrived, she was relieved to see the guys had already set everything up for her. Toni and Pete were off talking to the side and that looked promising. Julie headed directly for Lyle and Stephen. “Thanks, guys, for covering for me. I had someone drop by the office just as I was leaving. I owe you all an extra case of beer.”
“We don’t mind,” Stephen said, “but are you okay? You don’t look so hot.”
She was suddenly struck by a sneezing fit, which made both guys back up a couple of steps. When it ended, she apologized. “Sorry. I think I may be coming down with something.”
Pete had finished his discussion with Toni and now he was the only one with the balls to get close to her germy self. “Do you need to go home? We can probably handle the class between the three of us.”
“No, I can’t leave. My contract with the hospital includes me teaching these classes, but I feel pretty crummy. So I think I’ll have a seat over here on the mats and let you all run the class tonight, if you really don’t mind.”