AllFreeNovel
Share Us
10
Juliet hada shift early Friday which meant we were free to plan a date that night. I made sure the necklace was safe in the center console before making my way to her house, growling with irritation when my phone rang on the way there.
The blocked calls had been coming in all week and though my curiosity was killing me, I had managed to follow my gut instinct not to answer.
“Leave a message or stop fucking calling,” I muttered as I turned the phone off.
I’d be with Juliet soon enough which meant the phone didn’t need to be on. The only person I cared to talk to tonight was her.
Since both of us were pretty beat from work and Jamie was going to be out all night with his boyfriend, Juliet offered to cook dinner for me at her place. I accepted without hesitation, excited for the chance to see more of her house.
More specifically—her bedroom. All in good time.
I tucked the necklace box into my coat and made my way to her door, frowning when she opened the door looking slightly frazzled.
“Dinner’s almost ready. We’ll have to eat in the living room.”
I pouted when she turned away and rushed to the kitchen, but understood the lack of a proper greeting when the oven timer dinged a moment later. I hid the box containing her gift behind a pillow on her couch before following her path to the kitchen.
“Why do we have to eat in the—oh. Shit.”
I told Martha bigger and had seen the images myself, but they apparently hadn’t scaled quite right in my mind. Her kitchen table was lost beneath the multi-colored blooms. There hadn’t even been enough room for today’s delivery of three dozen red roses. It explained why they were sitting on the coffee table in the living room.
“I love them. I really, really love every single one. But we’ve been eating in the living room for two days. I have the sunflowers in my room, but there just isn’t enough space in there for all of them,” Juliet said, laughing as she pulled something out of the oven. “Jamie says I must be really good in bed.”
“You are, but I hope you know that’s not why I sent them.”
She rushed over to kiss my lips before gracing me with a smile worth more to me than the flowers and the jewelry combined.
“I know.” After her assurance, she gave me one more peck on the lips. “I hope you’re hungry.”
I spared a glance toward the kitchen counter and cocked an eyebrow. I was so busy looking at the flowers that I didn’t even notice the fact that every inch of the countertop was covered with different types of food.
“Jesus. How many people were you cooking for?”
Juliet blushed. “I started cooking way too early, and in an effort to keep myself busy, I went a little overboard.”
“I can see that.”
“It’ll all get eaten. I’d bet that Jamie will hit the leftovers as soon as he gets home. In the meantime, help yourself.”
She handed me a plate and we served ourselves like we were at a buffet before moving into the living room. We sat at opposite ends of the coffee table thanks to the massive bouquet of roses while a cooking show played softly on the television.
“Watching that probably didn’t help any,” Juliet said with a chuckle as she switched it off. “It just gave me more ideas.”
I swallowed the bite and said, “It’s fucking delicious. Seriously—better than anything I’ve eaten at the restaurants we’ve been to together.”
“Really? Thank you so much.”
The happy note in her voice and the look in her eye told me that my compliment meant more to her than she was letting on. After I finished chewing and washed down the latest bite with a swallow of wine, I set down my utensils.
“This is it, isn’t it? What you wanted to go to school for?”
She never admitted to me what she wanted to do with her life, but she had hinted that working at Edelman’s was teaching her plenty. I hadn’t understood it at the time but when she nodded and confirmed my suspicions, it all suddenly made sense.
“You need to pursue this,” I said solemnly, crawling on my knees until I was closer to her. “If this is what you want to do, you have to do it. You can do it.”
“But if I don’t work—”
