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Julius set up the coffee maker then slid into a chair, still blissfully unaware of how hot he looked. The fact that he wasn’ttryingto look hot only made him hotter.
“We’re alone?” I asked.
“Yes. Liam and Duncan had to shoot up to the base today. Fort Drum.”
“Whoa,” I said. “I didn’t know you guys even went to the base anymore. I just kinda figured—”
“They do,” Julius interrupted me. “I don’t.”
There was something in the way he uttered the last sentence that told me not to ask why. Instead, I focused on mixing strained peas with pureed pears. So far, it was the only veggie/fruit combo that both Jace and Courtney seemed to like.
Apparently my silence was enough to warrant further explanation. As the coffee began to drip, Julius took the towel from his shoulders and mopped his brow with it.
“They’re technically non-commissioned officers,” he said. “They consult remotely, but every once in a while they get called in. When they do it’s usually a four to five day trip, so it’ll be just you and me for the time being.” He jerked a thumb at the children. “And them, of course.”
Four to five days alone with just Julius and the twins? I looked him over again — all shirtless and glistening — and my stomach did a fun little somersault.
Yeah, I could live with that.
“And what about you?” I asked. “You don’t go to the base with them?”
“I… don’t get called in anymore.”
Again, I didn’t press. A half-minute later, my silence had somehow given him enough license to keep going.
“I don’t get called in,” Julius continued, “because I’m no longer in the military. In any capacity.”
I stopped and stared, trying not to look surprised. Peripherally I could sense his expression was stoic, but with an underlying disappointment. Or even something that might’ve been pain.
“Is it because you retired?” I asked, though I somehow already knew the answer.
“No.”
“I just figured since you’re the one primarily running the Shop, that maybe you quit to focus on doing—”
“I didn’t quit at all,” said Julius. “I actually got…” he stopped and looked back at me, scrutinizing me carefully. “Duncan didn’t tell you about this?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Honest.”
“Liam either?”
I’d been teaching the twins to feed themselves, and so far it had been a messy endeavor. Locking the little cups of mixed fruit and vegetable into the corresponding holders on their high chairs, I handed them each a plastic spoon. Their little eyes lit up like Christmas trees.
“Go to town,” I told them gently.
I turned around without looking back at the ensuing mess I knew I’d have to clean up. And that’s because I wanted to devote all of my attention to Julius.
“Nobody said anything,” I told him truthfully. “So please. Tell me.”
