“Caffeine? Does that mean coffee?” Jake looked at her hopefully. She nodded and started them back over to her town house.
“Coffee and food. The chocolate babka just came out of the oven.” She led them into her house.
Colton and Chris moaned in unison. Chris asked, “Is that the same chocolate babka you made for New Year’s Day?”
She forced a smile, wishing she could just act normally around him for a change. He’d just been out of the hospital for about a week when she’d made the babka and he still hadn’t had much of an appetite. He ate three servings of it that day. It was such a little thing, but it had been the first interest he’d shown in anything and the first glimmer toward recovery for him. Knowing how much he liked it was the main reason she’d made it today. “It is. I thought it would make a good welcome to the neighborhood breakfast.”
“Thanks for this Julie. You really did way too much, but I appreciate it.” Chris spread his hands out over the over-the-top spread of food and drinks on the table. Like her, he seemed to have issues meeting her eyes. This awkwardness sucked.
Colton looked at Chris. “I think I moved in with the wrong friend. If she does this for you often, I may just have to move in with you.”
They all laughed, but it was Chris who said what they were all thinking. “Like you would ever give up what you have with Penelope.”
Colton just gave the self-satisfied smile of a guy in love.
Julie asked, “Where is Pen today? Is she at the bookstore?” Penelope owned and ran a bookstore near the University. She also taught yoga and wrote erotic romance on the side. She was constantly busy working on one of her many projects. Just a few weeks ago, she’d almost died at the hands of the same guys who killed Aaron. It wasn’t often that Colton let her out of his sight if he could help it.
“Yeah,” Colton said. “She needed to put in a few hours this morning since it’s Saturday and you all have wedding stuff going on this afternoon. She didn’t want to abandon the store completely today.”
That reminded her. Julie went over to the table by the phone, grabbed her binder, and turned to Cassie. “I got an email from the caterer. They were wondering if you’d like to come by and sample a couple of different dishes for the reception.”
Cassie frowned down at Julie’s binder and grabbed Jake’s arm. “Jake, she pulled out the notebook. Every time she pulls out the notebook I have to make another decision. Can’t we elope?” she whined.
Julie rolled her eyes at Cassie’s theatrics. “Stop whining, you baby. It’s only for another couple of weeks and it’s going to be a perfect day. Remember your dress and think about Jake standing at the end of that aisle waiting for you.”
Cassie’s face transitioned from worry to bliss as she looked over at Jake. She gave him a slow kiss and then said, “Yeah that will make it all worth it.”
“You just had to get them going again, didn’t you?” Chris whined to Julie.
Cassie and Jake cuddled for a moment. Both her brothers looked mildly disgusted. For Julie, it just made her feel incredibly sad again. She was happy for Cassie and Jake, but watching them just seemed to drive home her guilt and sorrow. Gah, it was time to get back to her lists.
“So anyway, can you meet with them Monday afternoon,” she looked down at her notes, “say around 4:00?”
Cassie reluctantly drew her gaze from Jake. “Sure that should work. My last class that day ends at 3:00.” She was a military history professor at Texas Tech.
“Okay, I’ll let them know. And don’t forget, we have our fittings this afternoon at 2:30.”
“No problem,” Cassie agreed. “At least that will be the case if we get to work. Come on guys, eat and drink up. The day’s a wasting and we have a couple of trucks to unload.”
* * *
Julie and Penelope sat on a small velvet settee sipping champagne while waiting for Cassie to emerge from the dressing room in her wedding dress. Julie checked things off her lists while Penelope glanced around the quiet store.
“I think Colton and I are going to elope,” Penelope said.
Julie looked up from her notebook, her mouth gaping open. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, that’s what we’ve been talking about. If we did a traditional wedding my mom would