by Linz, Cathie
He just nodded as if he already knew that before suddenly turning around as if to walk away.
“Wait! You haven’t told me your name. Who are you?”
“Nobody you need to know.” And then he was gone.
“Julia, dear, I hate to bother you, but did you know that there are wild animals in your backyard?”
“They’re not wild. They’re llamas. And yes, Mrs. Selznick. I know they’re there. But thanks for checking on me.”
“I was going to call the police, but thought I should call you first.”
“And I appreciate that.”
“I’m not sure we’re allowed to keep llamas in our back-yards here in Serenity Falls,” Mrs. Selznick hesitantly pointed out.
“I’m looking into making alternative arrangements for them.”
“Mr. Perkins runs a dairy farm outside of town. Maybe he could help you out. He’s a second cousin of mine. Would you like me to give him a call?”
“Thank you. I’d appreciate it.” She prayed that Mrs. Selznick hadn’t seen Luke carrying her home last night, half-naked.
Ten minutes later, the mayor showed up on her doorstep. “I hear you’ve got llamas. Are you thinking of using them as prognosticators instead of a ground hog or woolly worms?”
“Possibly.” Any excuse was welcome at this point.
Walt frowned. “They’re not really indigenous to these parts.”
“True.”
“Well, keep me posted on the situation.” Walt was studying the clipboard he often carried with him, his thoughts clearly already on the next item on his agenda.
“I’ll do that,” Julia promised.
“And find another home for them,” he added. “I’m sure there’s an ordinance against keeping livestock in a residential area.”
“I’m working on it.”
Luke was walking down Cherry Lane to Julia’s house to retrieve his leather jacket and steal more kisses when he spotted Walt with a ruler in his hand. The middle-aged mayor had some kind of Mr. Rogers thing going on today, complete with baggy cardigan and khakis. He was even humming “Welcome to the Neighborhood” under his breath while he . . . it looked as if Walt was measuring the height of the grass in someone’s front yard.
“Do you have a permit to carry that ruler?” Luke demanded in a mocking voice.
Walt frowned at him, clearly not appreciating his attempt at humor. “There is no regulation requiring me to have a permit.”
“So what are you doing?”
“Official business.”
“Since when does the mayor go around measuring peoples’ lawns?”
“Since we passed an ordinance limiting the height of the grass.”
“You’re joking.”
“I wouldn’t joke about something this serious.”
“Of course not. What about the number of leaves on the ground? Do you have an ordinance on that, too?”
“Not that lists specific numbers, no. I tried to pass one, but the other members of the town council preferred more general language.”
“Well, Walt, don’t let me keep you from your official totalitarian duties.”
Walt frowned at him. “Are you calling me a Communist?”
“No, I’m calling you an idiot.”
As Luke walked away, he wondered how he was going to survive the next six months stuck here in this obsessive smallville. Then he got some news that made him smile. Julia Bo Peep was minding a flock of wildlife.
He found Julia in her backyard. “Your neighbor told me you were out here with your llamas.”
“They’re not my llamas.”
“They’re in your backyard.”
“They belong to my mother. Meet Lucy and Ricky. Be careful. I read somewhere that llamas can spit if they get angry.”
“Sounds like some of the customers at Maguire’s.”
“Really? I’ve never seen any spitting there. The place has been very tidy, and they have an excellent cheese-burger. The décor is a little dark, however. And the menu could use sprucing up.”
“What? You want to turn the pub into one of those trendy tofu places?”
“Who said anything about tofu?”
“You keep llamas in your backyard. Don’t tell me you’re not some health-food addict.”
She was actually addicted to Pop-Tarts and had a stash of them hidden in the cabinet above the stove, but she wasn’t about to share that info with him. That reminded her that she needed to be sure her mother didn’t find them. She’d throw them out for sure.
Note to self: Hide Pop-Tarts elsewhere.
“The fact that my mother has a pair of llamas does not indicate anything about me.”
A lie, but he brought that out in her. The need to deviate from the truth. And the need to just stare at him. Luke looked even better in daylight than he had the night before. He was wearing black jeans and a T-shirt again.
“What about the fact that you like yellow daisies on your underwear?” Luke inquired with a wickedly slow smile. “Does that indicate anything about you?”
“No, but the fact that you brought it up indicates that you are deliberately trying to embarrass me,” Julia retorted.
She met his stare head-on, refusing to look away from the blatant sexual heat he was aiming her way.
Note to self: You are immune.
Sure, there was something going on here, but it took more than physical chemistry to impress her these days.
She narrowed her eyes in a female warning to back off.
Luke responded by slowly undressing her with his deep, Dylan Thomas eyes.
Their visual duel was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Toni, who proudly declared, “Girls have vaginas!”
And so it went . . . just another Sunday morning in Julia’s now totally-out-of-whack world.
Chapter Four
Having completed her emphatic vagina monologue, Toni the Biter marched back inside, leaving Luke and Julia alone with the llamas.
Julia restrained from rolling her eyes, or tearing her hair out, or any of the many things she was tempted to do—including giving in to that hottie-biker-thing Luke had going on.
No, she maintained her decorum, her control, her cool.
She did allow herself one tiny sigh of relief that her niece was back inside, but that quickly evaporated when Luke said, “Your sister thinks we had sex.”
Julia blinked. “You had sex with my sister?”
“No, she thinks you and I had sex.”
Julia looked around, wanting to be sure they weren’t overheard before replying. The llamas appeared to be eavesdropping, their ears inclined in her direction, but otherwise the coast seemed to be clear. She really didn’t want any witnesses to a discussion about sex with Luke.
Julia kept her voice low and calm. “How do you know she thinks . . . that?”
“She told me so.”
That sounded like something Skye would do. “What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Her voice rose. “Why didn’t you deny it?”
“I figured that was your job.”
“You could have told her that we only met yesterday.”
“That doesn’t mean we couldn’t have had sex.”
“Yes, it does. I don’t have sex with men I just met.”
“So how long do you have to know them then? Two days? A week? A month?”
“I am not answering that question.”
“Why not? Afraid the answer will ruin your reputation?”
“No.” Julia was infinitely more afraid her family’s wackiness would ruin her sterling reputation, one she’d worked so hard to create. “Look, I’m sorry my sister said anything to you. She won’t be bothering you again.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Will you be bothering me again?”
“I never bothered you in the first place. You’re the one who approached me.”
“I told you. I have a thing for wom
en in Bo Peep costumes.”
“I am no longer wearing that costume.”
“Yeah, I noticed that.” He’d been trained to notice a lot of things, like the tension on Julia’s face at the mention of her sister. Definitely something going on there. Given his own family history, he could relate to having what the navel-gazers called “family issues.” Not that he dwelled on stuff like that.
“Did you come here for a reason?” Julia asked.
“Absolutely.”
“Care to tell me what that reason is?”
Instead of answering, he asked a question of his own. “How long have you lived here?”
“Three years,” she automatically replied and then wanted to kick herself for responding to his bossy tone of voice.
“That explains it then.”
“Explains what?”
“Why you still think this place is so great.”
Julia looked up at the back of her house. “I realize it needs new gutters, but . . .”
“I wasn’t talking about your house. I was talking about this town.”
“If you dislike it so much, why are you here?”
“I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. This is the rock.”
She didn’t want to know where the hard place was. Her mental image was naughty enough. She had no idea if he meant to trigger such a response from her or if it was entirely her own fault. Either way, she felt herself getting all hot and bothered inside.
He’d had that effect on her from the first instant. Physical chemistry. Nothing more than that.
“Why are you here?” he asked
“I live here.”
“I mean this town. What made you come here?”
“A job at the library. I fell in love with Serenity Falls the first time I saw it when I came for my interview.”
“So you’re one of those.”
“One of what?”
“The rose-colored-glasses crowd. The ones who always see the best in people, who always think the glass is half-full.”
“And what are you?”
“A realist.”
“Who always sees the glass half-empty?”
“Who knows there’s nothing really in the glass.”
“That’s a pretty cynical way of looking at things.”
“There’s nothing cynical about the truth.”
“There’s a difference between your opinion and the truth.”
“No, there’s not. I see things as they are. You see them as you want them to be.”
“And you learned all this about me after spending just a few minutes in my company. Amazing.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Amazing and totally inaccurate. You’re the one who has the distorted view of things.”
“By things you mean this town?”
“You’ve been gone for what . . . ten years?”
“Twelve. I see the gossips have been busy at work filling you in.”
“Someone mentioned who you were.”
“And did they also tell you all about my evil-doings?”
“They may have related one or two highlights.”
“And probably warned you to stay away from me.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Sure, it was.” He shrugged, but there was something in his eyes, the flicker of a shadow that was there and gone. “Town bad boy. Trouble. Evil seed. I’ve heard it all before.”
So had she, about her own family . . . but that was another matter and certainly not one she ever intended to share with him.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Luke demanded.
“About what?”
“About their warnings.”
“I don’t plan on doing anything. What about you? What do you plan on doing?”
“Raising some hell. Isn’t that was hell-raisers do?” Luke considered hauling her in his arms and kissing her, but one of the llamas was eyeing him the way a con artist eyed an easy mark. Llamas spit, and the big brown one looked aggravated.
So did Julia.
“If you came into town to make trouble, that’s your business,” she said.
“Actually, my business is Maguire’s Pub.”
“Where you plan on raising hell?”
“Raising hell and the price of the burger on the menu. It’s been the same for more than a decade.”
“Sounds like an astute business decision.”
“You say it as if you don’t expect me to make many of those.”
“No, I just meant that takes a lot of thought.”
“What does? Raising prices?”
“Running a business.”
“And you’d know this because . . . ?”
“My mother has run a number of businesses.” Not that Angel put a lot of thought into her endeavors, instead relying on the runes, or fate, or karma, or a blind belief that everything would somehow work out.
“What kind of businesses?”
“The details aren’t important. However, if you’re interested in checking out some books on business administration, you can do so at the library.”
Luke wanted to check her out, see if her lips were as smooth as they looked, her breasts as firm. He felt kind of weird having these thoughts about a librarian. Bookworms had never been his type before.
But there was always a first time for everything. And he was definitely looking forward to his first time with Julia.
“Are you crazy?” Julia confronted her sister in the kitchen a few minutes later. She’d somehow managed to evade Luke and send him on his way so she could come inside and set Skye straight.
“I can’t believe you said something like that to him.”
“And I can’t believe you’ve got matching red towels in your downtairs bathroom.” Skye frowned at her while dipping a tea bag into Julia’s Smart Chick ceramic mug. “Don’t you know that unbleached cotton is the most environmentally friendly?”
Julia waved her hands. “That has nothing to do with what we’re talking about. Stop changing the subject, and answer my question.”
“So you’re saying that the welfare of the entire planet is of no interest to you?”
“I’m saying that I want to know why you said what you did to Luke.”
Skye took her time wrapping the tea bag around a teaspoon before replying. “It’s obvious.”
“What is?”
“That you two are hot for each other.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. I just met the man yesterday.”
“So what? Time is irrelevant. I refuse to live in the world of time. It’s too restrictive.”
“Are you saying you’d have sex with someone you just met?”
“If I wanted to, yes.”
“Well, I wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t what? Want to?”
“Wouldn’t do anything like that.”
Skye shook her head, making her spiky hair stand even more on end. “You are such a prude. I can’t believe we’re sisters.”
“Ditto.”
“So how did you get this way?”
“What way?”
“All puritanical.” Skye took a sip of her tea. “Is it from living here?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Has living in this town brainwashed you into believing their propaganda?”
“No one has brainwashed me. And there’s nothing wrong with Serenity Falls.”
“Not if you’re into cloning. The houses all look the same.”
“That’s not true.”
“They all have green doors.”
“Walt thought it made them look more uniform, so it was part of a neighborhood improvement effort last year.”
“You’re living in a town that tells you what color to paint your doors. Come on. You don’t think that’s strange?”
“No, I don’t. Having llamas in my backyard is strange. Having a four-year-old tell me about her vagina is strange.”
Skye grinned. “Toni is v
ery proud of her female power.”
“Good for her. But she doesn’t have to go bragging about it in front of everyone.”
“Define everyone.”
“Luke.”
“I’m sure he’s heard the word vagina before. And had intimate contact with a number of them, I’ll bet.”
Julia put her hands over her ears. “I am so not having this conversation with you.”
Skye shrugged. “Hey, you’re the one who started it.”
Julia lowered her hands and gave her younger sister a firm look. “Just don’t speak to anyone else about me.”
“Why not?”
“Because I said so.”
Skye just laughed.
“I mean it. Don’t speak to anyone about me.”
“Get over yourself.” Skye took her mug and walked away.
“Wait a minute. Angel didn’t say how long you planned on staying with me.”
“Because we don’t know. You know how Angel is.”
“There’s not enough grass in my backyard to feed llamas. Not to mention the fact that it’s illegal to have them there.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Everything in this town is illegal.”
Too bad housing family from out of town wasn’t illegal, Julia couldn’t help thinking to herself. She did love her mother and sister. She just loved them more when they were on the opposite side of the country.
“Trust me, we wouldn’t have come here if there was any other option,” Skye noted. “You were definitely our last choice.”
Julia should have been pleased with this news, but somehow it ended up making her feel totally inadequate. But then Skye had been doing that since she was old enough to talk—making Julia feel incompetent. You’d think as an older sister, Julia would be the one who’d be more in control, more confident.
Au contraire.
Skye was always the one who marched right in and did whatever she wanted.
Julia was always the one who tried to clean up the mess afterward.
It stopped here.
Okay, maybe not right here right now at this very second, but in the extremely near future.
Julia would help out her family this one last time and then they’d have to take responsibility for themselves.
What a concept.
“I hear you were visiting the librarian with the llamas,” Adele noted upon his return to Maguire’s.