live wires,” CJ said, shaking the hand that had just been subjected to a decent electrical charge.
“S-sorry about that,” Dennis offered.
CJ found a flashlight and took the stairs to the basement, where he found the circuit breakers and flipped the master switch, cutting power to the home. Satisfied, he returned to the kitchen, picked up the needle-nosed pliers and reached for the wire.
When it zapped him this time, it was then—while dancing around the kitchen, cursing and shaking his hand—that Julie found him.
“Hello,” CJ said, forcing a smile that was more of a grimace.
“D-did I forget to tell you that they d-don’t use that box anymore?” Dennis asked. “There’s a new one in the closet there.” He pointed to a small utility closet near the mudroom.
“No, you didn’t mention that,” CJ said.
Julie set down the lunch bags she’d brought and crossed to CJ, taking his hand and giving it the sort of inspection that reinforced the stereotype that men have of women—that all of them had a nursing degree lurking around the next corner.
“I think you’ll make it,” she said. “But you may want to put some burn cream on that.”
“Words to live by,” CJ said.
“Lunch is a w-word to live by,” Dennis said, picking up one of the bags and leaving.
When they were alone, Julie picked up the remaining lunch bag and handed it to CJ. “Why don’t you try something a little less dangerous,” she said.
“Apparently you’ve never heard of a little thing called cholesterol.”
“Choleste-what?” she asked.
CJ laughed, taking the bag. He had to admit he was glad to see her, even if he was also confused. It would have been one thing if she was just his sister-in-law, and he could chalk this attention up to familial consideration. But there was some baggage between them, and what made it worse was that CJ couldn’t stop thinking about her.
“You don’t have to keep doing this,” he said.
“I’m not doing it because I have to,” she answered.
He removed the double cheeseburger from its wrapper and took a bite. “Okay then,” he said. “Why are you doing it?”
“Can’t a person do something nice for family?”
CJ considered that, and it bothered him that he was presented with no other option but to say, “But we’re something more than family, aren’t we?”
After a few moments Julie said, “I have no idea what we are to each other.”
It was a form of honesty for which he’d been unprepared, and he didn’t like it. Even when he’d made the decision to stay in Adelia for a while, he’d done so knowing full well that it was a temporary arrangement, that at some point his real life would come calling and he would have to return to it. Things like this—like Julie—didn’t help. Julie seemed to know that, and she relieved him of having to respond.
“Do Dennis’s hands hurt?” she asked.
When CJ answered with a furrowed brow, she said, “He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Your friend Dennis kicked the stuffing out of Richard last night.”
“You’re kidding,” CJ said, but it was obvious she wasn’t.
“I don’t know what it was over, but Abby said he was in rough shape when he got home.”
CJ was dumbfounded. To the best of his recollection, Dennis had never lifted a finger against anyone. Not that he couldn’t; the man was as strong as oak.
“I guess it’s good for him to know what it feels like,” CJ said.
Julie made a face, showing her opinion of CJ’s cousin.
“So he didn’t say anything?” she asked.
“Not a word. I’m as surprised as you.” And touched, he didn’t add. There could have been only one reason why Richard had incurred Dennis’s wrath.
Right then, CJ heard the concussive pop of a nail gun coming from the great room, and he could only shake his head and smile.
Chapter 12
If CJ was grateful to Artie for the job, he was even more thankful for the apartment. When he’d hired CJ, Artie asked where CJ was staying, and when CJ told him about the hotel, Artie had nearly had an aneurysm. He immediately offered CJ the apartment above the store.
Over the years, he’d rented it out to any number of different people, and CJ could see the remnants of those multiple tenants amid the things that had been left behind. For one reason or another, those who had claimed residency above Kaddy’s often found it necessary to leave in a hurry, so the apartment came fully furnished with an assortment of mismatched furniture, as well as some boxes that