He thought he’d convinced her to only look out for herself and the baby, and she was! But she was also letting her heart tiptoe into the realm of love, the kind she’d never experienced before. The problem was, she couldn’t let her champion paramedic know or he’d run. So the question remained, was she being the world’s biggest fool or the wisest of wise women?
Only time would tell.
The nursing recruiter spent the entire first day on the new job orienting Carey and preparing her for the transition to the floor. From this day forward she’d remember July the first as her personal almost-Independence Day in California. But first she had to get through the holiday weekend, which included meeting Joe’s family at their annual barbecue celebration. Why? Because he was the kind of guy who would never retract an invitation once made. Hadn’t he proved that already by continuing with the prenatal classes?
Man, he irked her…in a good way.
Another reason was that purely out of curiosity she wanted to meet the family that had spawned such a unique guy as Joe. If she played her cards right, she might find out a lot more about him. As she’d predicted, so far he’d yet to renege on the invitation, but she thought she’d test the waters anyway.
“Listen,” she said, on the night of July third, “I think I’ll skip the barbecue tomorrow.” Her heart wasn’t into the excuse by a long shot. After his incredibly lame but amazingly touching reason for continuing with the parenting classes, she was curious to see how compelling he could be over Independence Day.
“But you’ve got to come. Mom will hound me for weeks if I back out now.”
“You don’t have to back out. I’m just not sure I’ll go.”
“If you don’t go, I won’t either.”
“You can’t play me like that.”
“Play you? I just gave us both a way out. I’ll tell her you don’t want to come.”
“So I get blamed? Oh, no. It’s not that I don’t want to go, it’s our weird relationship I’m worried about. How would we hide that?”
“By acting like friends. We are still friends, right?”
“In some crazy bizarro-universe sort of way, yes, I guess we are. Besides, your mother would be horribly disappointed if you didn’t go.”
“Exactly my point.”
Darn it, his logic had outsmarted hers once again. “You are so frustrating!”
“So you’re saying you want to spend your first Fourth of July in California by yourself? Really?”
She couldn’t argue with that line of thinking. He’d invited her into his family, an honor for sure but one that wouldn’t come without questions. Probably most of the questions would come from his mother. Did she want to open herself up to that? And, more importantly, why did he? But, on the other hand, did she really want to spend the holiday by herself? “Honestly, I’d rather not be alone, but I don’t want to feel on the spot either.”
“Trust me, I know how to handle my family, and I promise you’ll have a good time. You’ll like them.”
That’s what she was afraid of.
*
“My parents live close enough to the Hollywood Bowl to see the fireworks there,” he said, driving to his boyhood home. “When I was a kid I used to lie flat on my back in the yard so I wouldn’t miss a thing.”
Carey wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle anything about today, but she smiled and pretended to be interested in his story and happy he felt like talking about it. No way would she let on to Joe how tough each and every minute spent with him was for her. She did it to hold out for a bigger reward, but so far he wasn’t showing any signs of opening up or changing. Holiday Joe was still By-the-Book Joe.
Carey sat in the car, wearing red board shorts with a string-tie waist to accommodate her growing tummy, a white collared extra-long polo shirt and a blue bandana in her hair. Joe wore khaki shorts and a dark gray T-shirt with an American flag on the chest in shades of gray instead of in color. Still, the point was made. They were celebrating the Fourth of July. With his big family. Oh, joy. Cue butterflies in stomach.
Although they’d made love and had opened up to each other that one night, Carey hadn’t learned one bit more about Joe’s broken marriage. Evidently he was determined not to ever let her know the whole story. Because of that, she felt stuck in a holding pattern, unable to be a real friend even though he’d insisted they were, definitely not a lover but merely a person who needed a place to stay, biding her time until she could move out. Every agonizing day, since things hadn’t changed, it became more evident it was time to make her break.
In the back of her mind she kept assuring herself that with her new RN salary she should be able to save up enough fairly soon to rent a small but decent apartment somewhere and then get out of Joe’s hair once and for all. Yet the thought of not seeing him every day sent a deep ache straight through her chest. Because she still cared for him.
He glanced at her, taking his eyes off the road briefly and giving a friendly yet empty smile. If only she could read his mind. She returned the favor with a wan smile of her own. What a pitiful pair they’d become. They’d both taken to wearing full mental armor since the morning after their one perfect night. Politeness was killing them. And it hurt like hell.
*
Joe’s parents’ home turned out to be in the Hollywood Hills area, not far from Joe’s house. He explained while they snaked up the narrow street that he’d grown up in a neighborhood called Hollywood Heights. She could see the Hollywood Bowl to the north and some huge and gorgeous estates to the west, wondering if he might have grown up there and was secretly rich. The thought amused her. Hey, the guy had owned his own business since he’d been in his early twenties. Hadn’t he said his father owned a car rental franchise? Maybe his dad was a CEO of one of the major chains. But then they turned into a long-standing middle-class neighborhood instead, and, to be honest, Carey was relieved.
Joe had never mentioned much about his family before, beyond the sister who’d loaned some clothes. Carey thought about that as they pulled into the driveway of a beautifully kept older Spanish Revival home. The front of the one-story, red-tile-roofed house was covered in ivy with cutouts where the living-room windows were and a well-maintained hedge lined the sprawling green yard in front of two classic arches on the porch. The fact that rows of palm trees stood guard on each side of the house made her smile. So Californian.
She had no idea how long his family had lived there, but he’d just said he’d been a kid here. That made her wonder what it would be like to always have a family home where you went for holiday celebrations.
Joe introduced Carey to his parents, who clearly adored him, and she could see that he’d gotten his soft brown eyes from his mother, Martha, and his broad shoulders and dark hair from his dad, Doug. They both grinned and immediately made Carey feel welcome, though there were questions in their gazes. She wondered if they assumed she and Joe were a couple.
The sister who’d loaned Carey clothes turned out to be named Lori, and she made a point to put it out there right off—Joe was the nice guy he was only because she’d been his middle sister by two years and had often insisted he play dress up and dolls instead of cowboys and Indians. Carey laughed and watched Joe blush, something she’d never seen before. She’d bet a fortune he’d always looked out for his kid sister and younger siblings, too.
Being an only child herself, she’d never experienced the power of a sibling, in this case to put a macho guy like Joe in his place in front of his mysterious new woman friend—who’d once been so desperate as to need to borrow Lori’s clothes. Now she was dying to find out who they thought she was and, more importantly, what they thought she was to Joe.
Andrew—Drew to his family and friends—was the taller but younger brother to Joe by four years, and was a fairer version of Joe but had the narrower build of his mother. Where Joe was a muscled boxer, Drew looked more like a long-distance runner. Both looked fit but in different ways.
“We’re waiting for
Tammy and Todd to arrive before we begin making ice cream,” Martha said, as she gave Carey a quick tour of the house.
Carey soon found out they were the babies of the family at twenty-two, fraternal twins who still seemed to hang out with each other all the time and therefore would be arriving together. Interesting. This family believed in togetherness. Another foreign idea to Carey. Maybe that had something to do with Joe insisting they continue the parenting classes together?
The rest of the four-bedroom house gave the appearance of being lived in but with obvious recent upgrades, like a state-of-the-art kitchen and a family-friendly brick patio and neatly manicured lawn, complete with a small vegetable garden. Now she understood where Joe had probably gotten his idea for his own inviting patio and backyard. He hadn’t fallen far from his family tree.
Being in this home, sensing the good people who inhabited it, caused nostalgia for something Carey would never have to sweep through her, pure bittersweet longing. She’d be all the family her baby would ever have. Their home would be each other, small but loving. She vowed her child would always feel loved, no matter where they lived. Seeing good people like Joe’s parents with such love in their eyes when they looked at their adult kids gave her hope for her and the baby. She wanted it more than anything for herself, that parent-child relationship.
The moment the twins walked in with a couple of bags of groceries, everything stopped and it was clear they were the wonder kids. The light of their mother’s life. Martha made over them as if they were still in their teens, and Joe raised his brows and half rolled his eyes over her ongoing indulgences. Wow, would you look at that, the babies have just managed to go to the market all by themselves, he seemed to communicate with that look. Since she and Joe had a strong history of nonverbal communication, she was willing to bet on it. Come to think of it, Lori and Drew had exactly the same expression, and it made Carey smile inwardly. Nothing like a little friendly sibling rivalry, something she couldn’t relate to. She also found it interesting that Tammy had dark hair like her father and Todd was nearly a blond—the only one in the family.
“Let’s get that ice cream going,” Doug said, clapping his hands, reminding Carey of Joe. He grabbed Todd, since his shopping bag contained the essential ingredients, putting him immediately on ice-cream duty. Joe was assigned to grill the burgers on the gorgeous built-in gas stainless-steel barbecue on the patio, and Lori enlisted Carey to help put together some guacamole dip and chips to go along with cold sodas and beers for those partaking, as an appetizer. Except, coming from Illinois, Carey didn’t have a clue how to make guacamole, so all she actually wound up doing was mashing the avocados and letting Lori take over from there. With Martha overseeing the condiments and side dishes, already made and waiting in the refrigerator, the early dinner preparation seemed to run like a well-oiled machine.
Carey felt swept up, like a part of the family, and she cautioned herself about enjoying it too much. These were Joe’s people, she’d never be a part of them. Today was simply a gathering she’d been invited to take part in rather than be left alone on a huge national holiday. If there was one thing to be sure of in these otherwise confusing days, Joe was way too nice a guy to let that happen. Yet, curiously, no one else had brought a date.
His mother loved to tell tales about her kids, embarrassing or not, she didn’t care. It was clearly her privilege to share as their mother. Carey learned a whole history of childhood mess-ups and adventures for all five of the Matthews kids as the afternoon went on. Then Lori took her aside and asked her a dozen questions about what it was like to be unconscious for three days. They wound up having a long conversation, just the two of them, and Carey could see herself making friends with Lori if given the chance. It made her feel special to be taken in so easily, and closer to everyone—a sad thing since she understood there would never be a chance to really be close to any of them beyond today. Unless Joe came to his senses.
Later, as they ate, Carey found out that Drew’s lady friend was in the navy and was currently deployed in Hawaii. Poor thing, he’d said with a grin, and just as quickly notified his parents he was planning to take a trip to see her in August if his dad would be willing to give him the time off. Hmm. Carey wondered if anyone else worked for their dad.
Just as Carey prepared to take a bite of her thick and delicious-looking home-grilled cheeseburger, which required both hands to hold the overfilled bun, a gust of wind blew a clump of hair across her face. Before she could put down the burger to fix it, Joe swept in and pulled the hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear, a kind but cautious glint in his eyes. The simple gesture was enough to give her shivers and make her once again long for that dream she’d had to tuck away. Fact was, the guy couldn’t resist coming to her rescue. Plus at his parents’ house they couldn’t very well hide out in their separate bedrooms, avoiding each other.
Why did things have to be the way they were? Why couldn’t they just go for it? She took the bite of seriously delicious burger, Joe having cooked them to perfection, her mind filled with more secret wishes. But even as she wished it she knew that between the two of them, with all the baggage they held on to, the fantasy of being Joe’s woman would probably never be.
Lori, a yoga instructor, soon explained that her significant other was a resident at County Hospital and couldn’t get the day off. Martha mentioned that Todd and Tammy would be seniors at the University of Arizona and were living at home for the summer. It made Carey feel like a special person to have the entire family to herself. And they all truly seemed to enjoy having her there.
“This is the most delicious peach ice cream I’ve ever tasted,” she said later to Todd when the homemade dessert was served.
“It’s my dad’s secret recipe. He wants to make sure I carry on the family tradition.”
It made Carey wonder if only the men got to learn the peach ice-cream recipe and she glanced at Joe, her unspoken question being, Do you know how to make it, too?
Incredibly, he gave a nod. She looked at Lori, who shook her head. Then she glanced at Drew, who’d made eye contact with her and nodded. Cripes, this intuitive communication business must run in the family, and evidently only the guys got the ice-cream recipe.
“Before you call me sexist.” Doug spoke up, obviously noticing all of the subtle communication going on. The mental telepathy gift was beginning to creep Carey out! “I have my reasons,” Doug continued. “It’s to make sure that once a lady tastes this ice cream, she’ll love it so much she’ll never be able to leave one of my boys.” He gave a huge, self-satisfied grin over the explanation that Carey couldn’t argue with. Obviously it had worked with Martha. And from the taste of it, she understood perfectly well why. It was also very apparent Joe had never thought to make any for her.
Then it hit her that Joe’s wife had left him, peach ice cream or not, and putting her own feelings aside she worried that Doug had inadvertently brought up a touchy subject for Joe. She glanced at him as he studied his bowl of dessert, though he’d stopped eating it. Martha seemed uncomfortable, too, and sent those unhappy feelings Doug’s way through a terse look.
The family was well aware of Joe’s heartache, and that was probably why they’d been so delighted he’d brought her over today. Oh, if they only knew how disappointed they’d soon be, but that would be nothing near what she already felt. If only…
As the afternoon wore on into evening one by one the siblings made excuses to leave, and soon it was only Joe and Carey hanging out with Doug and Martha.
“Over the years the trees in the neighborhood have grown so high they block out a lot of the view of the Bowl fireworks.” Martha seemed compelled to give Carey a reason.
“I thought you said you could watch the fireworks from your backyard?” she said when she had Joe alone at one point.
“The really big ones we still can, but everyone has plans, you know how that goes.”
She guessed she understood, but the thought of families, like trees, ou
tgrowing themselves made her feel a little sad. It didn’t seem to faze Martha and Doug, though. After all, the twins would be home for the entire summer.
It amazed Carey that after spending only one afternoon with the Matthews clan she already felt she knew more about their open-book world than she did about Joe, having lived with him for over a month.
“We’re staying, though, right?” To be honest, Carey looked forward to seeing those famous Hollywood Bowl fireworks from his family’s backyard.
“We sure are.” His beeper went off and he checked it. “Excuse me.” He got up, walked toward some bushes and made a return call.
She figured it was work related and suspected she might not get to see any fireworks at all today. Her sudden disappointment quickly dissipated when Joe smiled at her.
“Guess what? I’ve just received a special invitation.”
“To what?”
Joe winked. “I must be doing really well at the clinic because James himself just invited me and a guest to his private fireworks viewing tonight.”
“At his house?” A flash of pride for Joe made the hair on Carey’s neck stand on end, further proving she was still far too invested in the guy. “Why so last minute?”
A satisfied smile stretched Joe’s lips, the ones Carey had secretly missed kissing. By the way she’d longingly glanced at them just now, she’d probably just given herself away. “Well, apparently someone cancelled, and I was the first person he thought of.”
“So you’re a replacement?”
“I’d rather not put it like that but, yeah, I guess I am.”
His Pregnant Sleeping Beauty (The Hollywood Hills Clinic) Page 11