Strangely Normal - By Tess Oliver Page 0,55
meet you, Eden, Finley has told me a lot about you. Welcome.”
“Nice to meet you.” They were the only words I could push out. I’d never been the type to be star struck, and maybe it was just because my dad had glorified the man so much, but I was truly feeling shy and nervous around him.
His phone rang. “Excuse me.” He turned away to answer it.
Finley reached into the fridge for a soda. “Want one?” she asked.
“No, I’m good.”
Jude walked into the kitchen, and it dawned on me that just seeing him made my heart speed up. That may or may not have been a good thing. A small muscle in his jaw twitched as he reached for a glass. I could tell he was upset, and the fact that he basically ignored me, made my racing heart slow and drop to my stomach.
His dad hung up the phone. “Look, Jude, it’s just that if you were the reason for Tanya leaving then the least you could have done is hired another fucking chef.”
Jude placed the glass down hard on the counter. “First of all, Dad, I’m not the reason Tanya left. She’s the reason.”
His dad waved a ring-covered hand at him. “Yeah, yeah. You could have handled the whole damn thing better.”
“Just because you sleep with every woman who blinks at you, doesn’t mean I have to follow in my old man’s footsteps.”
Nicky looked harshly at Jude. “I guess that’s why they named a bloody saint after you, Jude.”
Finley grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the kitchen. “They don’t always get along. Jude knows how to push all of the right buttons.”
“Sounds like some pretty mutual button pushing,” I said, and realized it was a comment better left unsaid.
Finley didn’t respond, but it was obvious she didn’t want to hear anything negative about her dad. The glass door slid open and Jude stormed out.
Finley returned to the kitchen, took hold of her dad’s hand, and dragged him to the couch. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy, Dad.”
The couch was filled with several strangers, two were on phones and one was on a laptop. I was feeling awkwardly out of place and Finley was occupied with her dad, so I slipped out the door to find Jude.
He was a few hundred yards ahead on the path leading to the pool house. I hurried to catch up to him, terrified that he might not want to see me at all. He was upset, but a cold greeting would be heartbreaking. I’d have no other choice but to face the sobering reality that he didn’t care for me that much.
“Jude.” At first it seemed he was ignoring me, and it felt like a fist in the stomach. But then he stopped and turned around. His face was a torrent of emotions, and the anger and sadness in his expression only made the pain in my stomach worse.
His long legs closed the gap between us in seconds, and he grabbed my arms roughly and pulled me into an urgent kiss. His arms wrapped around me. He held me so tightly it felt as if my ribs would crack and yet I wanted him to hold me even tighter.
After a deep, long kiss my head felt as if it might float away from my shoulders. He held me against him.
“I’m sorry things went so badly for you in there,” I said.
“It’s nothing new. Dad and I are alike in a lot of ways, so we’re always butting heads. Sometimes, when things are calm around here, we actually get along.” His arms fell away, and he took hold of my hand. “I’ve got to warn you though, when Dad’s around, Finley doesn’t know anyone else exists. So don’t feel too hurt if she seems distracted and distant. She thinks he’s a god too.”
We wandered past the hedge border of Finley’s invisible perimeter and across the verdant green lawn. “The man does have a presence. No doubt about it. There are half a dozen people in that room but your dad is like a—”
“Like a giant meteor that just crashed into the room?” he asked.
I laughed. “Sort of. I don’t know if it’s because my dad built him up as larger than life or what, but I was totally tongue tied when he greeted me.”
“He definitely steals any room he walks into.”
“You two are alike.”
He shook his head. “I usually only attract negative attention when I walk into a room filled with