“They all travel at light speed like you?”
That got a laugh out of her. She had a great laugh. It rolled up from her belly, rising a register along the way. Too bad she hoarded it like gold.
“I’m serious,” he said. “You’d be arrested for speeding in Texas. Mowing innocent folks down on the sidewalk.”
She laughed again, and his chest swelled. He liked to make people laugh, but he’d never felt proud of it before. He caught her hand, hooked it through his arm. “This’ll slow you down,” he said. When she shied, he clamped it to his side. “Might speed me up too,” he offered. “You never know.”
“There’s not far to go.” She pointed at a brick house across the street. Red shutters, lace curtains, and candles in the windows.
“Their dream house?”
“Nope. That’s in Natick. They’re moving in after New Year’s.”
Amelia met them at the door, apron over her jeans. Now that he was awake, Cody saw she was as pretty as Julie, but more petite. Otherwise, they might almost have been twins if not for the hair. Amelia’s was an eye-catching blonde, usually his favorite. But Julie’s glossy chestnut was something special. It suited her, lush and fiery.
Amelia kissed his cheek like he was already family, raised her brows at the wine, then steered him into the living room where a Christmas tree glittered, a fire crackled on the hearth, and a very fine-looking woman who could only be Julie’s mother came at him like a dog at a bone.
“You’re Cody,” she said, latching onto his large hand with both of her small ones. “I’m Ellen, and I’m so glad to meet you.”
“Pleased to meet you too, ma’am,” he said, and her eyes widened two sizes.
Amelia laughed. “I warned you, Mom. That drawl’s deadly.” She winked at Cody. “Come on out to the kitchen and you can open the wine. I’m dying to try it. It’s ten points up from our usual.”
Julie had disappeared toward the back of the house. Now he followed Amelia in that direction, Ellen tagging along. “So, Cody, Amelia says Julie’s helping you find a place. She usually works with couples, you know. She must like you.”
“I sure do hate to disagree with you, Ellen. But I think if you asked her, she’d tell you I roped her into it.”
He smiled at her. She stumbled over the doorjamb.
Julie was already in the kitchen. Steadying her mother, she aimed a look at Cody that said to be careful where he pointed that thing. He fired one at her too. She sniffed, but her cheeks went rosy.
“Cody.” Amelia pulled him toward the stove where a man half his size was lifting a tray of lasagna out of the oven. “This is Ray, my fiancé.”
Ray threw him a grin as he maneuvered the tray onto a trivet. “I hear you’re from Texas. My Dad’s from out in the Hill Country.”
“No kidding.” Cody grinned too. “I grew up out there. My brother still runs the ranch.”
Ray shed the potholders, stuck out his hand. “I bet my Dad could pin it down within five miles if he heard your drawl.”
“Any real Texan could,” Cody agreed.
Amelia pressed a bottle and corkscrew into his hand. Ellen set out six glasses. “My boyfriend’s coming,” she said, smiling up at him. “It’s so nice that Julie won’t be the odd man out again.”
“Mom!” Julie hissed.
Cody popped the cork. Poured a swallow in one glass and passed it to Julie, smiling slyly. “She didn’t approve of my choice,” he whispered loudly to Ellen.
“I didn’t not approve,” Julie sputtered.
“Don’t use double negatives, dear,” Ellen said, then gave Cody an apologetic smile. “I’m a teacher for thirty years now, and still my children mangle the language.”
Julie slugged the wine. “It’s delicious, okay?” She held out her glass. Cody filled it. She guzzled half of it down.
“Jules,” Amelia laughed, “you should savor that. You won’t be getting it again unless Cody comes back.” She gave Cody a wink that said he was welcome any time.
Ray clapped him on the shoulder. He had to reach up to do it. He couldn’t be more than five foot six. “Amelia got me a new TV,” he said. “My wedding gift. Come check it out.”
They went down a short hall, into a small room that was all flat screen. Cody let out a whistle. “Sixty inches?”
“Sixty-five.” Ray hit the power. The Patriots charged into the room, every pore on Tom Brady’s face an inch wide. Ray waved him into a leather recliner with a built-in cup holder, took the other, and kicked out the leg rest. “Let’s give the girls a minute to get you out of their systems.”
“Uh-huh.” Cody tipped back, crossed his boots at the ankle. “They’re a good-looking bunch.”
Ray nodded. “Uh-huh.”
Then both of them groaned. Brady stalked off the field, disgusted. Cody tsked as the camera panned to Gisele. “Ol’ Tom won’t be getting any tonight.”
They watched companionably while the Pats punted and the Giants ran it back to the thirty, then the fifty, then fumbled spectacularly.
Brady had just taken the field again when Amelia appeared in the doorway, hand on her hip. Both men dropped their leg rests in unison.
Ray was first on his feet. “Hi, honey. Just showing Cody the amazing, incredible, wonderful gift my beautiful, thoughtful, generous wife-to-be gave me.” He planted a loud kiss on her cheek.
“Mmm-hmm.” She tapped his chest. “The deal was that you’d DVR the game so we can watch it together.”
“Oh, I am. It’s recording. And I didn’t look at the score. Honest.”
Their affection was written all over them. Cody pushed past his envy. “You’re a lucky man, Ray, marrying a fan.”
“Julie’s a fan too,” Amelia said brightly. “She loves the Pats. She goes to a couple games every season.”
Cody grinned. Himself, he wouldn’t set foot in Gillette Stadium unless the Cowboys were playing, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her.
The kitchen was aswirl, Ellen slicing bread, Julie making salad. Cody popped the cork on the other wine bottle, wishing he’d bought a case. He was completely at ease in this home, with these people. He liked them, and they seemed to like him too. Even Julie must feel how naturally he fit in, because she smiled at him when he topped off her glass. Didn’t pull back when he laid a kiss on her cherry-red lips.
The doorbell chimed. Ellen ran for the door, came back a minute later with a guy who wouldn’t see fifty for another ten years. Blond and built, his arm was locked around her waist.
“Cody, this is Jess. He’s a personal trainer. My personal trainer.” She gave Jess’s biceps a squeeze. Then she paused. “Cody, Julie never mentioned what it is that you do.”
“I’m a doctor,” he said.
It fell like a brick.
Julie kept chopping, but the rest of them froze.
Everyone but Jess, who was oblivious to the chill in the room. “A doctor. Cool. What’s your specialty?”
That brought Ellen to life. “For heaven’s sake, we don’t have to grill the poor man!” She shoved her wineglass into Jess’s hand. “Drink this.” He sipped obediently.
Amelia had gone whiter than chalk. “Oh, Jules,” she said, brokenly. “I’m so sorry—”
“It’s fine,” Julie cut in, her tone closing the subject. She scraped cukes into the salad, set the knife in the sink. “I’m starving. Can we eat?”
Everyone sat down, but nobody ate. They passed the lasagna, then pushed it around with their forks. No one looked up. No one said a word.
Cody didn’t know what to make of it. Sure, he knew Julie wasn’t crazy about doctors. But this felt like a funeral. What the fuck?
Jess blundered cluelessly into the pall. “My cousin’s a brain surgeon,” he said. “Bzzzzzz”—he did a buzz saw—“right through the skull and into the old brainpan.” He chortled a laugh. “Don’t ask me how he does it, man. If I saw a brain, I’d faint like a sissy.” He reached for the bread in the deafening silence. “How ’bout you, Cody? W
hat’s your gig?”
Cody glanced around the table, registered the speechless horror. Beside him, Julie’s fingers twisted in her lap. And suddenly it all came together: the ring, the dead fiancé, the doctor phobia. Maybe malpractice had killed David. It wasn’t unheard of.
He’d get the details later. For now he said to Jess, “I’m thinking about doing the marathon. Got any advice?”
It was exactly the right thing to distract him. Jess pointed a crust at him. “Got a deal going right now—a three-month training session geared for the marathon. We’re a couple weeks into it, but I can prorate it for you.” He gave Cody a once-over. “You look fit. Free weights or machines?”
Cody humored him with some details until Julie quit fiddling with her ring and took a bite of lasagna. That broke the ice. Everyone took a breath. The salad moved around the table, the wine too. Cody filled Julie’s glass. She thanked him politely.
Ellen started talking about one of her problem students. Ray and Amelia chimed in, and the conversation flowed. Cody tuned it out, his attention all on Julie, her pale face and haunted eyes.
Taking the hand that still lay curled in her lap, he linked his fingers with hers and gave a light squeeze. For a long, quiet moment, she didn’t react. Then she took a sip of wine, swallowed like she had to push it past a sizeable lump, and offering him a tight-lipped smile, she gently but firmly extracted her hand.
He soldiered on through the meal, fielding questions about ranch life, asking some of his own, growing even fonder of Ellen and Amelia and the men they’d chosen. But all the while he was tuned to the quiet woman beside him, a ghost of the girl he’d made out with just hours before.
When it came time to clean up, he finagled his way into the kitchen with Amelia. Closing the door behind them, he cut to the chase. “What happened to David? How did he die?”
Amelia leaned a hip on the counter. “Brain cancer. A tumor the size of a lemon. Too involved to remove, too stubborn to radiate. Chemo didn’t work either, just ruined the last weeks of his life.”
Cody studied the floor tiles, played out the tragic scenario. Then, “She blames the docs, doesn’t she?”
“Oh yeah.” Amelia let out a sigh. “I know it’s not rational. On some level she probably knows that too. But Cody, it was so awful. So brutal and painful and awful.” Her throat caught. “I can’t fault her. She had to do something with her anger. So she turned it on the doctors. Blamed them for failing him. For offering hope and delivering nothing but more pain.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. She let it fall to the floor. “They were in love. Like Ray and me. They’d just bought their dream house.” She looked up at him. “Now she walks past it every day. Stares through the windows at the couple living inside.”
“You mean she can see it from her place?”
“It’s the house right out front.”
Cody’s heart turned over. “She’s torturing herself. Keeping the grief and the hate alive.”
“I begged her to get counseling, but she refused. No more doctors, she said.” Amelia huffed out a laugh. “I ended up going myself, trying to figure out how to help her.”
She shrugged sadly. “All I really learned is that nobody can help her until she’s ready to move on.”
IT WAS SPITTING snow when they left Amelia and Ray’s, icy little slivers that glinted in the lamplight. Cody tucked Julie’s hand under his arm. She didn’t fight it.
The truth was, she appreciated the effort he’d made with her family. Even after Jess dropped a nuke on dinner, Cody had salvaged the meal. He’d wowed her mom and Amelia. Ray wanted to be besties. And Jess had a total man-crush on him. Who could blame them? Cody was perfect in every way but one.
But that one way was a deal breaker.
Now he poked along at his usual pace, while the snow mixed with sleet, pinging off the sidewalk. “Shouldn’t Amelia be in a lather,” he asked, “what with her wedding around the corner?”
Julie shrugged. “It’s only twenty people. Just close family.” It still surprised her that Amelia hadn’t wanted a blowout. She claimed it was the marriage, not the wedding, that mattered, but more likely she was sparing Julie the pomp and circumstance so she wouldn’t dwell on the wedding David’s death had denied her.
“Your Mom said you grew up in Newton.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She knew he was trying to make conversation, but dinner had drained her.
“Why’d you move to Beacon Hill?”
She tensed up. “I like it here.”
“So do I,” he said agreeably. “But there’s nice places in Back Bay, closer to your office.”
Why was he pushing this? Annoyed, she tried to pull her hand away. He clamped it to his side. The thrill of bulging biceps only made her tug harder.
“Julie, sweetheart, these boots weren’t built for your Boston winter. I’m liable to land on my ass if you don’t hold on to me.”
“Oh.” She quit tugging, tried to ignore his biceps as they inched along the sidewalk.
They were almost to her house when she realized her mistake. “We should’ve cut down to Beacon to get you a cab.”
He kept moving down her driveway. “Not likely I’d let you walk home in the dark.”
They paused outside her door. The scene of the kiss.
She detached her hand. Rubbed her arms like she was cold. She wasn’t. She was never cold with Cody around.
What she was, was a mess. She needed time alone to wallow for a while. To dredge up her memories and nurse her grievances. Because—and she was ashamed to admit it—ever since Cody’d shown up in her life, David seemed to be slipping away. If she wasn’t careful, she might forget how he’d suffered. How both of them suffered. And she’d promised herself never to forget. Or forgive.
He smiled. “Gonna invite me in for a drink?”
“I’m out of wine.” She’d polished it off after booting him out last night.
“Actually, I was thinking about coffee.”
“Oh.” She tried to stay strong, but his smile beguiled her. “I have coffee.”
He waited. Then, “Well? Can I have some?”
She wrestled the demon. Wanted to say yes. Struggled to say no.
She dragged her eyes away from his lips. Looked down at her mittens, and summoned the strength. “Listen, Cody. I can’t get involved with you.”
“Because I’m a doctor?”
“Yes.”
“And you hate all doctors.”
“Yes.” It sounded ridiculous. But it was true. She studied the stitching on her thumb. Waited for him to say something, or leave, or be beamed up by aliens.
None of those things happened. Instead, the silence stretched until she had to look up. His smile was gone. Sleet peppered his cheek, but he looked too pissed to care. “I was in Texas when David died.”
She bristled. “I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Try me.”
“Why? So you can defend your species?”
“So I can figure out how to un-fuck-up your head.”
It stung like a slap. She took a step back. Then fury leapt to her rescue, put a lash in her voice. “You arrogant ass. You’re just like the rest, so sure you know best. Until it all goes to shit.”
She whipped off a mitten, mimed a phone to her ear. “Sorry,” she did a snotty secretary’s nasal, “Dr. Know-It-All’s at a conference in Vienna. He’ll be back in March. Oh, you’ll be dead by then? Sorry to hear that. I’ll tell him you called.”
Cody’s eyes narrowed dangerously. His voice dropped to a growl. “I’m goddamned sick and tired of you and everybody else judging me by the degree on my wall. Back in the day, women used to want me—or not—for who I am. And mostly, they wanted me. Because I know how to have a good time. How to take things in stride. And except for politicians and serial killers, I don’t dislike a person based on their job.”
He was on a roll. “I got more going on than an MD, you know. I travel. I read. I play the bass. Hell, I rode the circ
uit for a year and got the buckle to prove it.” He raked his hair back with both hands, vibrating frustration. “I’m wasting my time. It wouldn’t matter to you if I won the Nobel Prize. You’ll never see past your fucked-up-pig-headed-dumb-ass prejudice against doctors.”
How dare he? How dare he belittle her feelings? How dare he judge her? She spiked a finger to his chest. “I don’t need you, Dr. Brown, telling me what I should think or how I should feel. You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know more than you think. You’re looking for someone to blame.” He throttled back his anger. His voice came out hoarse. “You want to believe the docs didn’t do everything they could, because otherwise you’re gonna look at yourself, wonder if you did something wrong, or didn’t do enough.”
“You think you’re so smart.” Tears put an infuriating quaver in her voice. Then rage rose up to rescue her once more. She shoved his chest with both hands. “You don’t know me! You don’t know anything! So take your stupid smile and your stupid drawl and your stupid arrogant psychobabble bullshit and go back to your hotel and leave me alone!”
She got her key in the lock and stumbled inside, slammed the door behind her, and leaned back against it, trembling. If Cody tore it off the hinges, it wouldn’t surprise her. After her last salvo, he looked pissed enough to do it one-handed.
But a minute passed and nothing happened. No thud on the door, no sound through the panel. She wiped her nose on her sleeve, made herself look out the window.
In the lamplight, the sleet sheeted down undisturbed.
Cody had taken her at her word. He was gone.
Chapter Eight
* * *
AMELIA HAD SAVED the best for last. Brad Ainsley, blind date number three, was definitely the class of the field.
The new history teacher at Amelia’s school, he was all of six feet, blond and blue. So blue, in fact, that Julie did a double take to check for colored contacts.
He’d picked the perfect dinner place too, a seafood joint up near Gloucester. They drove up in his hybrid, making the most of a sunny December Sunday, chatting comfortably all the way. They’d both grown up in Newton, graduated the same year from different high schools. He told her about his family, his friends, the master’s degree he was working on. He asked about her, seemed interested in her answers, and complimented her hair, her eyes, and her boots.
The Wedding Date: A Christmas Novella Page 6