Love Finds the One (Sully Point Book 2) Page 11

  "I won't, I'm staying behind you."

  "Yes, I can feel that."

  She laughed softly, putting her arms around him. "Thank you."

  "For what?"

  "For not questioning everything with doubt in your voice. For being supportive. I don't think I've ever experienced that before."

  "Julia, I believe in you. I think whatever you decide to do with your life, you will accomplish it. Plus, I'd love to see you be able to work in a field you enjoy."

  She kissed the back of his neck and let go of him, right as the back door opened and Frank came in.

  "Hello, you two. What's for supper?" Frank opened the door to the refrigerator and pulled out a cold beer.

  "Wine with dinner, Dad, if you want. Spaghetti and meatballs."

  "Nah, I'll just have beer instead. You guys can have the wine. Long day at the store. Maelynne's having repairs done to the motel, and she had to come supervise whenever supplies were bought." He sat down at the kitchen table and took a long swallow of his beer. "All day long, I heard how you two were seen last night at the Lobster Shack and at Wally and Velma's. Anything you want to tell me?"

  "We're officially dating, Dad," Cody said as he poured sauce over the meatballs to finish their cooking at a lower temperature. He found wine glasses in the cabinet and poured for himself and Julia. The two of them sat at the kitchen table with Frank and sipped their wine.

  "I have something to say to you, Frank," Julia said. "Thank you, for your idea about me doing a computer business here. I'm very excited about it."

  Frank looked at her and smiled. "Well now, that's good to hear. Did she tell you we may even have a place for an office if you want one?"

  "Yes, she did."

  "She?" Cody asked.

  "Mrs. Gilchrest," Julia responded. "She was quite helpful. I like her."

  Cody happened to be watching his father's face as Julia talked, and was shocked to see a knowing grin and an almost secretive look. Could his father and Mrs. Gilchrest...? No, surely not, she was nothing like him. Very straight-laced and all about money, that was Mrs. Gilchrest.

  Julia had continued talking. "I'm not sure yet whether I'd want an office. And nothing is definite yet. I still need to think things through. But I'm feeling quite positive about it."

  "Good, good," Frank said. "How long until dinner, son?"

  "About twenty minutes."

  "I'm going to go wash up and read the paper." Frank left the kitchen carrying his beer.

  Cody said, "Do you ever get the feeling Dad and Mrs. Gilchrest--never mind, it's ridiculous."

  Julia didn't say anything, sipping her wine thoughtfully. Cody took his glass of wine and moved to the stove to stir the meatballs.

  "I do wish he'd find someone, though. It's been a long time since Mom died. He deserves to be with someone, instead of living all alone."

  "When the time is right, I bet he does find someone," she offered. "I have a question for you, something I was wondering about today. I was thinking about your boat and you living on it part time. Do you unhook it from the utilities and stuff to go out fishing?"

  Cody shook his head. "No, usually it stays right where it is. Occasionally I'll move it. There is a nice inlet bay keeping it safe from the big surf. And, I get my hookups for electricity and everything right there at the docks."

  "Maybe we should try out the boat. You know, later on."

  He answered her grin with one of his own. Her twinkling eyes and smiling face made him want to leave for the boat this minute. "What brought this up?"

  "I was just thinking about it this afternoon, thinking about tonight, and I realized we have three options of where to go later, not only two. I don't think I've ever had--you know--on a boat before." She was glancing through the doorway to see if Frank was nearby.

  Cody laughed. "'You know?' Julia, I think he might have a clue about us."

  "I don't care. I'm not going to be explicit around him. He's your father after all."

  "What about your father? You only mentioned him once in the car."

  Julia grew somber. "He's nothing like Frank, that's for sure. He's totally into his business--Wall Street. A very long time ago, I was closer to him. But something happened along the way. I think it was my mother's influence, almost like she was jealous of the time I spent with my father. Bit by bit, the time together grew less and less. Now we hardly ever speak. I can't put all the blame on him at this point, because I never try to talk to him. However, when I was younger--yes, I suppose I do blame him for letting Mother do that to our relationship."

  As he watched her talking, Cody felt again a true antipathy for Julia's mother. Her pervasive influence over Julia's life had been quite negative. He knew the loss of her father in her life had meant more than she was saying.

  He put the lid back on the meatballs, and sat back down with Julia at the table. He reached out and took her hand in his, palm up, running a finger lightly back and forth. She shivered. They sat like that, staring into each other's eyes, touching only hand to hand, and it felt like everything.

  Finally, Cody kissed her palm and then jumped up to hurriedly stir the sauce with the meatballs. He dumped the pasta in boiling salted water to cook, and began to pull spaghetti bowls out of the cabinet.

  "Were you going to serve from in here?"

  "Yes. Would you take in the silverware--wow, I almost forgot. The garlic bread should be done too."

  "Don't burn the garlic bread, I love that stuff."

  "I never burn things...okay, sometimes...but not too often."

  They worked around each other easily in the kitchen, Julia putting out the salad and bowls for it, while Cody drained the spaghetti and began serving it up.

  "Dad! Time to eat."

  They all converged in the dining room. Julia said, "I'm practically drooling here. It smells fantastic."

  Frank sat down and gave Cody a nod. "Nice job. Glad you finally learned to cook."

  "He didn't used to know how?" Julia asked.

  "No, he used to bring pizza every time it was his turn to cook. We ate a hell of a lot of pizza. But lately he's been making actual meals."

  "That's interesting, and funny how I had the impression he'd always been a great cook."

  Cody coughed. "Yeah...well...."

  Julia laughed. She took a bite of garlic bread and moaned.

  "Good isn't it?" Frank said. "The bakery makes such good bread."

  "I could eat just the bread for dinner," she said. "But I think I'd better try out the meatballs."

  Cody watched her across the table. He was surprisingly nervous about her reaction. Of course, he was that way about everything with her, not just over the meatballs. Seeing her smile now, made him feel like the hassle of making the damn meatballs was well worth the trouble.

  They talked and ate and laughed, while sitting around the polished oak table. Julia and Frank discussed whether an office would make a good idea for her business. As Cody gazed at the two of them, he liked the friendship he saw developing between them. But, even as he heard them discussing the computer business like it was definitely going to happen, a part of him worried.

  Julia's relationship with her mother appeared to him to be complex. To actually leave the city for good, and more importantly, her mother, would be a major step. It sounded to Cody like this woman was a major manipulator and would probably pull out all the stops to keep Julia under her thumb. He couldn't help but wonder if Julia would actually make the break and pull away, after a lifetime of manipulation by her mother.

  "What is it, Cody?" Julia asked with a slight frown. "You look too serious for the Maelynne story your Dad just told."

  "Sorry guys. My mind wandered--work, the charter business."

  "You won't have anything to worry about once the tourists arrive. Captain Hank, and Joe, will be kept busy all summer," Frank said.

  Julia looked confused. "Wait a minute--you don't take people out? I thought you were the one to handle the charters."

  "
No, I own the charter business, but Captain Hank and Joe are the ones who actually take people out. Unless there's some kind of major screw-up or some special reason I need to go--then, of course, I'll be on the boat."

  "You own two businesses?"

  "Yes."

  "How many people work for you at the Bait and Tackle shop?"

  "Six during tourist season, four the rest of the time. That doesn't include my accountant."

  "I keep underestimating you. I think it's because I heard about you for years as Holly's 'little brother,' which kept me thinking of you as still in high school or something. Since I've been here you've been nothing like what I expected."

  Cody stared into her eyes and saw the warmth spreading in them.

  "Any dessert, son?"

  "Ah...dessert?" His attention was completely distracted by looking into Julia's dark blue eyes.

  "Yes, you know, the sweet stuff we usually have after a meal," Frank said slowly.

  Cody turned to look at his father. "Funny man. No dessert tonight. I forgot to stop by the bakery."

  "No worries. I don't need dessert." He stood up and patted a hand on his stomach. "Got to keep in shape. Why don't you two take off? Go see a movie...or something. I'll clean up."

  Cody glanced back at Julia who gave him a nod. "Come on then, girl, let's get outta here before he changes his mind."

  Julia laughed, and followed him through the kitchen and out the door.

  Chapter 6

  They drove out to the beach house. Julia ran inside to grab a few items to take to the boat. A toothbrush was mandatory. She quickly threw clothes for tomorrow into her weekender bag, and she was ready to go. Cody was waiting in the car.

  "That was fast," he said as she got in.

  "I was motivated," she replied with a smile.

  He started the car and got them on the road. His hand reached for hers automatically, and he felt the same connection as before, just from touching her. "There's something about you, Julia, something I've never felt before."

  "And here I thought it was only me feeling that way."

  "I don't want to move too fast, but already I feel so close to you."

  "I've felt close to you since I first met you. There's a comfort level between us that surprised me from the beginning."

  Cody squeezed her hand gently while he watched the road slipping by beneath them.

  "Cody?"

  "Yes?"

  "There's something I should tell you. It doesn't really make any difference to anything, but--well, we're talking about being close and knowing each other, and I thought--"

  "Go ahead, we'll handle it whatever it is."

  "I come from a wealthy family. Like--stinking rich. My father inherited from his father who inherited from his--well, you get the drift. And then he--my father--went on and made his own bundle of money. Mother made a name for herself, and her own money, with the agency. I grew up in a mansion, a kind of compound actually, when I wasn't in Switzerland or other places for boarding schools."

  Cody mulled over this new information. Her isolation had been even more than he'd thought from little things she'd said. "Let me ask you something--did you ever enjoy having any of that money?"

  "I probably enjoyed it in the sense that it was better than being poor. And I don't want to sound like some poor little rich girl. But no, I never saw it give anyone in my family any joy. Their lives, our lives, were focused on making more money."

  "If you leave the ad agency and start your own business here, do you think they'll cut you off, financially?"

  "I already supported myself with my salary. They had stopped giving me money. I do have a trust fund I will come into when I'm thirty. I usually forget that it's even there. It was set up for me by my grandfather."

  "If your parents didn't agree with your decision about the computer business, there's nothing they could hold over your head to make you do what they want, right?"

  "Right," she said with a sound of relief in her voice. "You're right. The most they could say would be they were writing me out of their wills."

  "And you'd walk away from the money they might leave you, just like that?"

  "Like you said, what enjoyment has the money ever brought me? My relationship with my mother is twisted, and I've lost my relationship with my father. Money was no help there. No, there's nothing they can say to stop me. Plus, there is a certain amount of freedom in the thought of just walking away from it."

  Cody said, "The main thing is you being happy with whatever decision you make--whether you start a computer business or not."

  Julia turned in her seat to look at him. "Does the money make you feel weird? I mean, one day I am going to have access to the trust fund. It's not a small amount."

  "I think I already knew you came from a well-off family. I don't think money defines people. I think what a person does with their wealth is what matters. With wealth comes a certain responsibility I believe.

  "For instance, take Sam and Anna. Now he'd already made a fortune before he met her. He has a number of scholarships set up around the country at colleges for low income students who want to be writers. Once Anna's paintings started selling like hotcakes, she set aside a part of her profits to buy art supplies for schools that can't afford them any longer. She believes strongly in exposing children to art at an early age."

  "You know, I haven't got a clue what charities, or things like what Sam and Anna are doing, that my parents might be involved in--if any. They never talked about charitable giving when I was living at home. Sam and Anna sound really special."

  "That they are. I'll be glad when they get back here."

  They arrived at the parking lot next to the docks. Retrieving her bag from the back, Cody walked around the car to throw an arm across Julia's shoulders for the walk to the boat.

  "Tell me you have coffee for in the morning," she said suddenly.

  He chuckled. "Of course I do. And I might even have some frozen cinnamon buns in the freezer. Almost as good as when they're fresh, when you reheat them."

  "Good. Lately food has become a priority to me, in case you hadn't noticed."

  "I have noticed. You're looking healthier too."

  "Is that your way of saying you noticed I gained weight? It's okay--I know I was too skinny when I got here."

  "All I know is you're looking good to me."

  "Good answer." She laughed.

  They entered the boat and Julia spent some time looking around while Cody poured them snifters of cognac.

  "It's all compact, yet it still feels roomy to me. And the bathroom is quite large--totally unexpected."

  "You remember when we talked about the Travis McGee books? I bought this boat off a guy who was trying to live out the fantasy. He ran out of money and decided to give up and sell. The good news for me was, he tried to copy what he could from the book descriptions of the boat. The end result was that I ended up with a large bathroom and a great shower."

  They sat on a built-in couch and sipped their drinks. "Ooh, it's been a while since I had cognac," Julia said. "I used to drink it on the rocks."

  "You're kidding."

  "No, it's true. And you don't have to say I was spoiling the drink."

  "I'm just trying to figure out why you would drink it on the rocks in the first place, like a regular drink. Cognac is to be savored, sipped, the fumes inhaled--but I'll forgive that perversion if you promise you no longer drink it that way."

  "Yes, I gave it up. One too many horrific cognac hangovers."

  He had an arm along the back of the couch and was running his hand along her shiny black hair. She tilted her head back, so his hand was cupping her head.

  "I do love the feeling of your fingers playing with my hair," she said softly.

  His hand moved her closer to him as he bent to kiss along her jaw, slowly making his way to her lips. She moaned. He gave a low, rich laugh. "We've got all night. I don't plan to rush this."

  "Wow," she whispered, as his lips touche
d hers.

  Cody wanted to give her a night of pleasure like nothing she'd experienced before. As he felt her pliant body beneath his hands, he suddenly was sure he was in love with her.

  * * * *

  Julia woke up hearing the shower running in the bathroom. She snuggled down deeper into the bed, covered by a sheet and a heavy quilt. It was warm and cozy and she was drowsy and utterly satisfied with life. Cody had taken her places last night she'd never known were possible. She'd finally passed out, held in his arms. Nothing in her life before had prepared her for what she was experiencing with him. Physical pleasure, yes, but it was more than that. It felt like something destined, meant to be. The more time she spent with him, the more it felt like he completed her.

  Which, on one level, was a bit scary to her. She'd never trusted anyone like she was trusting Cody. There was still fear he would somehow betray that trust.

  She looked up, and watched him walk toward her, towel wrapped around his waist. Suddenly, worries about trust went out the window, er, porthole.

  "What are you thinking about so hard?" he asked.

  "You."

  He smiled and walked to the closet. "How do you feel this morning?"

  "Better than I have in my whole life."

  Grinning at her, he dropped the towel and she watched him get dressed. "Why are you wearing clothes so soon?"

  "Gotta open up the store. I neglected to get anyone to fill in for me this morning. I just have time for a cup of coffee and something to eat--if I hurry. I hate to open up late."

  "Guess I'd better get up too," she said as she threw back the covers. It delighted her that Cody stopped dressing to stare at her naked body as she walked across the room. "Be right back." In the bathroom she smiled at herself in the mirror and found her bag with jeans and a New York Giants sweatshirt and got dressed.

  When she arrived in the kitchen, Cody was pulling cinnamon rolls out of the microwave. "Those smell delicious."

  Cody turned to look at her. His surprised face had her puzzled. Then he said, "You're a Giants fan?"

  "When I have time to be, which isn't often. A holdover from when I was a kid and used to watch games with my father."