Page 119 of Masters of Secrets

The resentment she’d felt about being pulled away from Connor vanished. She was glad she could come over and be the dutiful daughter. As much as they drove her crazy sometimes, she did love her parents and didn’t want them struggling with anything she could help with.

“Does it work so far?”

“I think so.” He turned to look out the window, tilting his head as he studied it. “I haven’t seen any squirrels make it to the feeder, but I want to watch just to be sure.”

“That’s why the television is in here,” her mom said, not exactly interrupting but interjecting fast enough that no one else would have been able to get a word in edgewise. “I can watch my shows, and your father can watch the birds. And squirrels.”

Shorthand for, her father had been watching the birdfeeder, anyway, and her mom didn’t like being alone on the other side of the house to watch her shows. Which was pretty cute. The cats would enjoy it, too, since they liked to be around her parents but also liked to watch the birds.

Before she could get too caught up in how cute her parents could be, the doorbell rang. Julie was turning to go to get it when she heard the door open, and she froze. While she could just walk into the house without compunction, there was only one other person who had ever done that. Even her parents’ siblings waited for the door to be answered.

“Sun?” John’s voice called out her mother’s name, pronounced more like ‘soon.’ Her freaking ex was here. “Daniel?”

Julie whirled back around to face her parents. Her father at least had the grace to look guilty before averting his gaze back to the backyard, but her mother’s face had lit up.

“We’re back in the sunroom!” she called, then she caught sight of the glare Julie was giving her. “What? I wasn’t sure if you would be able to come help, so I called John just in case.”

And, of course, her ex came running. Her parents conveniently forgot how unreliable he’d been when she was actually married to him. It was only since their divorce that he’d suddenly been far more available to make time for her family. They ate it up, as if the past had never happened.

Then again, John had always been more about appearances than substance.

“Julie, I didn’t know you were going to be here,” her ex-husband said from behind her.

Julie’s back went ramrod straight, and she tugged on her emotions, pulling them within before turning to face him, leaving absolutely nothing showing on her face.

Tilting her head back, she looked her ex square in his handsome, smug face. She suspected he was his hospital’s Dr. Dreamy, no matter which building he was working in. Tall, striking features, dark hair, and grey eyes that could change from a tempest to a clear sky blue depending on what he was wearing. Today, they were more grey than blue, thanks to the green polo shirt he had on.

“I was just stopping by to help out. I only had a minute, though, so I’ll be going now.”

“No, you should stay!” Her mother interjected, stepping to Julie’s side and putting her free hand on her arm—which, of course, drew attention to her sling. “Stay and let us feed you as a thank you. You too, John, even though we turned out not to need you. You can stay for lunch, can’t you?”

“Of course,” he said, flashing her mom a smile as Julie’s chest tightened. Yeah, of course, he could. Somehow, her mom had managed to get him on his one day off during the month. More likely, Mom knows his schedule and planned this for today. Dammit.

Suckered in again.

So much for being the dutiful daughter. It was a total trap, and she’d walked right into it. What she would never understand was why John didn’t put a stop to it.

No, she knew why. She got out from under his emotional control. While she’d been in charge in the bedroom, he’d felt the need to run everything outside of it, and when she’d left him, that had all fallen apart. Sometimes, she also thought he was afraid she would go around telling everyone that he liked to be submissive in bed and that he really liked being pegged… It had taken her a long time to recognize how much shame he had about that.

The fact she would never, ever reveal their private business had apparently not occurred to him, which made her wonder what he might be telling people about her. Not that she cared what he said to his friends. She had her own friends now. But she did sometimes wonder what he told her parents.

Probably all sorts of dirty laundry she’d rather not have aired. People weren’t usually paranoid about people talking about them unless they were the kind of person who did that.

Both John and her mother looked expectantly at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that her dad had gone to the window. Possibly avoiding the conversation, possibly there was just a bird out there that he wanted to watch. Or a squirrel.

“I can’t.” She kept her voice clipped and short as she stepped around John, eluding the hand he reached out for her, as if he was going to try to get hold of her arm to stop her. Asshole. “Bye.”

“Julie!”

“Julie—”

She walked away at a fast clip. Sure, they could catch her, but at this point, they should know to let her go. This was a boundary that she had laid down again and again… and again…

“Julie!”

Crap, her mom was still following her right out the front door. Normally, she was safe once she made it outside because her mom didn’t approve of putting on a ‘show’ for the neighbors. Hmm. Maybe her mom and John had more in common than Julie thought when it came to appearances. No wonder they got along so well.

“Julie Kim, you stop walking right now!”