She didn’t say anything for a moment, as if weighing her words. “Incredible as you are, and you are totally incredible, doesn’t this attraction between us seem a little…odd to you? It’s all kind of sudden. We just met.”
He grinned. “You think I’m incredible?”
“We just proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. So, why me? Why now?”
Five
“My attraction to you is not just lust, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Marc said as he gazed down at her, stroking her cheek. “Last night I was ready to walk away from that…painfully walk away, but walk all the same.”
He smiled and kissed her eyes. “But then I got to know you. You’re no wimp. You’re not shallow or uncomplicated. You’re interesting as hell and always have something going, and you make me laugh. Until now I thought uncomplicated girls were the types of women I liked. But I was wrong. God, was I wrong!”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re what I like in bed and out of bed…or settee or boathouse or wherever the hell else we wind up.”
He combed his hands through her curls, loving the silky feel of them sliding over his fingers. I don’t know where we’re going from here, Julia, but we’re going together. And not just when we leave the boathouse.”
She pulled in a ragged breath.
“You don’t believe me?”
“Of course. I do.” She kissed him. “But right now we better get out of here. Someone may see the car and go snooping for me.”
“I think snooping’s the pastime of choice around here.”
“It comes with knowing everyone and everyone knowing you. The good part is if you’ve got a problem, everyone helps. The bad part is if you’ve got a problem, everyone talks. There’s no place to hide in a small town. Not even in a boathouse for very long.”
Marc stood. He wrapped the condom in paper from the desk and threw it in the trashcan. “Next time we’re doing this in a real bed where there are no gossips or snooping people hovering about and where we have facilities.”
“Yes,” she said, staring at him through the dim light. “Next time.”
He detected a touch of sadness in Julia’s eyes. After a wonderful night of making love what caused that?
But the look left as quickly as it came, or maybe he just imagined it in the first place. She stood and reclaimed her clothes, the moonlight glistening off her delectable skin as she moved about the boathouse. “You’re a goddess, Julia. I couldn’t wish for more.”
“Wish!” She sounded less than thrilled. She faced the window, hands on hips, the heavenly light pooling around her naked body. “I hate wishes. Why does anyone make them without considering just what they’re getting themselves into? Wishing on stars and at birthdays and at wells is stupid. People should put their money in the bank, not a puddle of water in the ground.”
He came to her side and turned her to face him. “What’s wrong with wishing? It’s just for fun.”
“Fun? Did you say fun?” she ground out, then stepped back from him and kicked one of the pillows where they’d made love. “Let’s just forget wishes. Let’s go have apple pie at Mom and Pop’s.”
“I could do with a piece of pie.”
“Piece? I was thinking the whole thing. I’ll eat with a spatula; I’m in the mood.”
“You’re getting a little irrational here, babe.”
“I know, that’s the problem, nothing makes sense.” She yanked on her clothes.
“With a little luck Bridget will be at Mom and Pop’s, without her fiancé. I don’t think I’m up to dealing with Jerry Price tonight.”
“You don’t approve of him?” Marc asked, thinking a change of subject was a really, really good idea and wondering how Julia could eat a whole pie. The divorce had obviously stressed her to the brink. He snagged his shirt from the rowboat and found his jock strap in a canoe. It was like a damn scavenger hunt.
“Jerry Price is out for Jerry Price. A little too slick, too many answers that don’t answer anything at all, and Bridget is much too good for him.”
“Does Bridget know how you feel?”
“What am I going to say, ‘You’re dating Jerry-the-Jerk’?”
“That bad?” Marc pulled on his shirt, then folded the blanket.
“Let’s just say never in a million years would I wish Bridget to fall head-over-heels in love with Jerry Price. Or…” Her eyes covered half her face, and she slapped her hands to her cheeks. “Ohmygod! Ohmygod!”
“What?”
“I wished Bridget would fall in love with Jerry!”
“So?” He went back to straightening things up. “It’s just a wish, Julia, a verbal token of good karma, or in this case not so good karma. You’re obsessing.”
“You have no idea what I’ve done. This is a catastrophe!”
“You haven’t done anything, unless you’re referring to what we did here, and that was pretty damn good in my book.” He put his arm around her.
She wiggled out of his embrace. “This is awful. Now Bridget will be more in love with Jerry than ever. Me and my big mouth.”
He wagged his head. “You’re going ballistic over nothing, Julia. It’s the stress of the divorce talking. Listen to me. Wishing is a figure of speech…right? Besides, you prefaced with never in a million years. That made it a negative wish.”
Her expression turned frantic. “It doesn’t work that way, Marc.”
“What doesn’t?”
She spread her arms wide. “The wishes, dammit. The wishes!”
Marc took Julia’s hand and led her out the door, then closed it quietly behind them. “Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. You need fresh air, lots and lots of fresh air. Maybe a glass of wine…or three. Your divorce has really done a number on you, babe. You can’t let it get to you like this.”
He put her in the passenger side of her car. “Where are your keys?”
“In the ignition.”
“Good grief.” In Cleveland her car would have been stripped and camera equipment stolen all in about five minutes. Guess that’s why she lived in Delicious. Smart girl, though at the moment she could do with a little therapy.
He turned the ignition, and his cell phone chirped. He snagged it from the dash and listened to Cal give info on the case they’d been working on. Julia stared out the window bug-eyed, her brain somewhere else besides the car. Marc disconnected and turned to her.
She still stared straight ahead. “How could I do this to Bridget?” she muttered. “She’s my best friend, has been since freshman year in high school when we fought over the same boy, then realized he wasn’t worth it.”
Marc took Julia’s chin and turned her face to his. “I’m working on a case with Cal, and I have to go. I’m going to drop you off at Mom and Pop’s for pie. Are they still serving at this hour?”
“If I go to the back door and beg.”
“Good. Eat, then go to bed. You need sleep.”
“I can’t sleep. What about Bridget?” She gasped, her eyes covering half her face. “Oh, crap. She’s out with Jerry tonight. What if she does something…stupid. What if they elope?”
“Bridget can take care of Bridget.”
“No, she can’t.” Julia banged her head against the dashboard.
“Julia, get a grip. Until she asks for your help she’s not going to listen to you no matter what you do or say. People in love are like that.”
But Bridget has to listen, Julia thought as she watched Marc jog off after leaving her parked in front of the diner. She’s the one who messed this up. She had to get to Bridget and confess all. Or if that didn’t work, lock her in a closet till the wish lost its power…whenever the heck that was.
Julia slid into the driver’s side and headed down Jonathan to Bridget’s house, saying little prayers she was home and not with Jerry. Julia parked the car at the curb behind Bridget’s. Lights blazed inside the white frame bungalow. Good. Bridget was there, but now what?
Bridget loved Jerry already, and th
is wish would make the devotion more intense. What to say? Hi, Bridge, I’m the dumbass who wished for you to love the biggest louse on earth…besides Frank.
Not coming up with anything better, Julia headed for the house. She’d just spill her guts and hope it made sense. She walked up the path lined with red hibiscus plants, orange and yellow daylilies, and zinnias. She clambered across the wood porch as the wicker swing and hanging baskets swayed gently in the humid evening breeze. She knocked, wondering how things could look so peaceful when, thanks to her, all hell was breaking loose. Bridget answered, a big sappy smile covering her face, a dreamy look in her eyes, and knitting in hand.
“Is Jerry here? Kick him out. What in the world are you doing with the knitting stuff?”
“Jerry, my dear darling man, isn’t here.” A forlorn look replaced the sappy one for a moment, then disappeared. “But I’m knitting him socks. Isn’t that a great idea?”
“You don’t know how to knit. And why socks?”
“I’m learning because I love Jerry so much I can hardly stand it,” she said on a deep sigh that made Julia think damn, damn, damn. “I never knew I loved him this much till tonight. I was just sitting here on the sofa after he dropped me off, watching Survivor, and bam, I fell more in love with him than ever. Even though we had another fight over setting a wedding date. In books they knit their man socks when they’re in love. So I am, borrowed stuff from Ms. Greeley next door. She’s always knitting something.”
Julia took Bridget’s hand and led her inside and closed the door. “You’ve been reading those Regency romances again, haven’t you? Those are old books, women don’t knit socks anymore, and you don’t love Jerry, least not as much as you think you do.”
Bridget’s expression turned pouty. “Of course I love him. I love him to death. How can you say such a thing?” She grinned hugely. “But since you mentioned books, I have big news to tell you.”
Julia slapped her hand to her forehead. “Dear God, you’re pregnant.”
Bridget looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “What’s that got to do with books?”
“I don’t know. It just seemed like the next logical catastrophe, though right now I don’t think logical exists.”
Bridget patted Julia’s shoulder. “Well, I’m not pregnant yet, but I’m going to get my big stallion”—she growled deep in her throat and wiggled her brows—“to work on that.” She giggled.
“Forget pregnant. I could do with some good news right now. What is it?”
Bridget tapped a history book on her coffee table. “Yesterday when I was tutoring I came across something that got me thinking.” She brought her hands to her breasts and let out a deep sigh. “Yesterday I could think about things; now all I can think about is my beef-cake.”
Julia spread her hands wide. “Bridge, get a grip.”
“I’ll try, but it’s hard, let’s see now. Oh, yeah, history. The ancients had calendars pretty much like ours and planned their whole civilization around the sun and the moon, especially the phases of the moon. When it’s full, usually once a month, they had rituals and sacrifices and did a bunch of other stuff—”
“Just get to the point.”
“Two nights ago the moon was full.”
“And this all means…”
“A double whammy, because this month there are two full moons, a blue moon.” She exhaled noisily. “Jerry loves full moons. Once he—”
“Bridget!”
“You don’t have a romantic bone in your body, I swear.” She swept her head back, for a moment looking like Ms. Piggy does drama queen. “Two full moons a month don’t happen very often and ancients believed it made them able to do things they normally couldn’t do, make things they did special. Yesterday you got divorced.”
She held out her hands in surrender. “I don’t get it.”
“You took off your ring, kissed it, and threw it over your shoulder into the water exactly at noon, directly opposite midnight which is when the full moon is most powerful. After the toss, you immediately started wishing about Frank, then the snort, then the picture, and then hot sex with Marc. I love hot sex with my honey-bun.” She blushed, then continued, “Just think of all the wishes you made and how they came true. Something caused that, Julia. It doesn’t just happen for no reason.”
Julia dropped onto Bridget’s sofa, remembering making love to Marc at midnight in the coatroom and it being the most astounding sexual experience on earth. “My wishes coming true is because of the moon?”
“It’s too much of a coincidence. And, that makes for good news and not so good news. Tomorrow the moon passes into the next phase, taking its influence right along with it.”
She looked into Bridget’s eyes. “Do you believe in this?”
“I teach ancient history. There’s a lot there we don’t understand today. They lived closer to the earth and understood it better than we do.”
She rested her hand gently on the book. “I just know if my Jerry lived then, he’d be a god.”
“Holy cow.”
She nearly swooned. “I agree.”
That meant Marc would come to his senses tomorrow at midnight. Her heart dropped to her knees. She knew it was coming, that her wish for him couldn’t last forever, but now she knew when it would end, and she wasn’t ready for that at all. Well, she’d deal with that later; right now she had to keep Bridget away from Jerry till midnight tomorrow.
She tugged Bridget down beside her, then knelt on the floor so they’d be eye to eye. “Bridge, you got to listen to me. This is important. I did a really stupid thing. I wished for you to love Jerry. Actually, I wished you didn’t love him, but that’s not the way it worked out. But you understand now because you just told me all about the moon and the wishes and how it all works, right? That’s why you love Jerry. You don’t really and truly love him you just think you do. Do you understand me?”
Bridget nodded, looking a little spacey. “I think I’m going to get him to elope tonight.”
“No!”
“And I think I’ll lend him the money for his new business. That’s why he won’t set the wedding date. He doesn’t think I believe in him since I won’t lend him more money.”
“More!”
She batted her eyes. “Isn’t that sweet; he wants me to be a part of his life. Why didn’t I see this before? What was wrong with me?”
“You had a brain then. You can’t do this, Bridge. You’re under the influence of something I wished for. We just talked about all this. Your idea. I wished you to fall in love with Jerry; that’s why you’re feeling like you do.”
“I can use my teacher’s retirement fund. I can get the money tomorrow.”
“Listen-to-me!” She took Bridget’s shoulders in her hands. “Don’t do anything tonight or tomorrow. It’ll be a disaster. You have to wait. You have to trust me on this.”
Bridget gave Julia another dopey smile. “I’m so in love.”
Julia plopped down on the floor and leaned back against the couch as Bridget took up her knitting and hummed “The Wedding March.”
Things had gone from bad to much worse. Marc trying to jump her bones because of a stupid wish and her falling for him big time, and that had nothing to do with a wish at all, and now Bridget intended to ruin her life by marrying Jerry. How could she get herself and everyone else into such a mess?
A knock at the door made Julia’s hair nearly stand on end. Jerry? Bridget put down her knitting that looked more like a series of really strange knots and grinned. She straightened her blue skirt. “It’s my man, I just know it.” She put her hands to her cheeks and sighed, “I’m coming, lover-boy. Your hot mama’s all ready and waiting for you.”
Julia threw herself in front of the entrance ahead of Bridget, flattening herself against the door, arms and legs spread for maximum blockage. “You can’t do this. It’s a huge mistake!”
Bridget went to the window, undid the screen, and hitched one leg through the opening. A woman obsessed!
“Oh, hi, Marc,” Bridget said, retreating back into the living room, her face pulled into a deep frown. “I was hoping it was my Jerry, my man, my honey-stud.” She growled and wiggled her hips.
Bridget went back to the sofa and resumed knitting and humming. Julia unlocked the door and stepped onto the porch.
“We’ve got a problem,” Marc said and pulled her onto the swing.
“No more problems. I’m all problemed out.” He’d changed from his running shorts into khakis and a polo shirt. The man looked great wearing anything…or not wearing anything.
He gave her a hungry look. “I need a kiss.” He wrapped her in his arms and leaned her back into the swing, it creaking with the motion. He laid claim to her mouth, and for a second, she forgot about Bridget and Jerry and the moon…until she caught more strains of “The Wedding March” coming through the open window.
She pushed Marc away and sat upright. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Babe, the way I feel right now it won’t take much time. Something about midnight around here and you and being here with a full moon really turns me on. Like I have no control over myself.” He pulled her back into his arms, his tongue reacquainting with hers. “Maybe Bridget has a room we can borrow, just for a few—”
“Marc!” She gripped his shoulders and looked deep into his hungry eyes. She gave him a little shake. “You’ve got to snap out of it. We’ve got things to deal with here.”
He gave her a quick kiss. “I want you right now. I want your legs over my shoulders, and I want you open wide for me, and I want to bury myself deep—”
“Why are you here?” She slid under his arms and stood, taking calming breaths to get her heart rate back to normal. Fat chance that happening with Marc around. She peered down at him as he said, “I’m here because you’re here. Saw your car and I really want you. How about the backseat? We can do it in the backseat.”
He cupped her hips and brought her midsection opposite his lips. He inched up her blouse and kissed her navel, taking tiny bites at her waist.
“Marc!” she stage whispered and tried to step back, but he held her in place. At least the bushes blocked this front-porch seduction from the street. “As good as you feel, and you really feel good, by the way, we have a situation, and I’m not referring to your horny state…though I’d rather be thinking about that.” What am I saying? “Bridget wants to elope with Jerry tonight.”
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