Chapter 12

12

Julie

"Hey, Mom, I'm here." Here and trying not to be grumpy about it. Julie took a deep breath as she closed her parents' front door behind her. The cats had a tendency to try to escape out the door if it was left open.

Having to say a rushed goodbye to Connor before leaving Marquis had not been on her agenda this morning. She'd wanted to spend more time with him. Have breakfast with him. See where his head was after last night.

Instead, her mom had called, and she'd had to hurry away because her mom needed her help right now. No, she couldn't explain over the phone. Just ‘get over here, Julie. I'm your parent, and I need you.'

Thankfully, Connor had been very understanding, although disappointed. He'd walked her to her car, and she'd gotten a very nice goodbye kiss before getting into it.

"Mom?" She raised her voice a little louder, walking down the hall. "Where are you?"

"We're back here," her father called from the sunroom.

Suppressing another sigh, Julie headed back. What did her mom need help with that her dad couldn't take care of? When her mom had demanded she come over, she'd assumed her dad was out of the house for some reason.

Walking into the sunroom, she came to a dead stop. Her dad was kneeling on the floor, assembling what looked like a new television and wall mount, while her mom was standing beside him, holding the instructions in one hand. One hand because the other one was in a sling.

"Mom!" Julie rushed forward, her gaze scanning over her mother. Other than the sling, she looked like she always did. Her hair was dyed black, so not a single strand of grey showed, but the wrinkles on her face gave away some of her age. She still looked years younger than the sixty-five she'd turned on her last birthday, which was how it was with most of Julie's family. Her mom liked to joke that Asians didn't age until all of the sudden, they did, usually overnight. With her long hair up in a bun, she was wearing neatly pressed beige pants and an orange silky blouse, even though it was a Saturday. No casual clothes for her mom. "What happened to your arm?"

"Nothing." Her mom huffed. "At least nothing I know of. My shoulder has been sore for a while, so I'm trying not to move it around and make it worse."

"How long is ‘a while'?" Julie demanded to know.

"Oh, I don't know. I don't keep track." Her mother waved the hand holding the instructions at her. "That's not why I called you over, though. Your dad needs help lifting the TV. I can't do it."

But she'd probably tried.

Gritting her teeth, Julie closed her eyes for a brief moment, sending up a prayer for patience. When she opened her eyes, her dad was looking up at her with a slightly guilty expression. Probably because he hadn't been able to stop her mom from trying.

"Right. Got it." Julie kept her sigh inside. Her parents were who they were, and they weren't going to change. All she could do was try to set reasonable boundaries with them, and convincing her mom not to overdo certain things wasn't within her power.

Plus, if she didn't help, her mom was likely to try again and injure herself.

Or, worse, call Julie's ex to come over and help.

Crouching, Julie helped her dad pick up the television. The good news was it was going where a picture of Julie and John's wedding had formerly hung. Part of her was happy to see it gone, but she was trying not to get too hopeful because there was always the chance her mom was just moving it to a more prominent position somewhere else in the house.

"Oh, careful… yes… right there…" Even though she couldn't be part of the actual lifting, her mom was determined to be involved. "Good! Ow." Her mom had tried to clap her hands together, apparently forgetting that her shoulder was sore.

Pressing her lips together in amusement—because it was better to be amused than annoyed when she could direct her emotions—Julie held the TV in place while her dad got it secured to the mount.

"I think that's good. Come look at it."

Julie and her dad dutifully moved over to stand beside her mom to take a look at their work. It looked good to Julie, but she wasn't going to be the one watching it.

"So, why a television in here?" she asked, hoping her mom would also tell her where the huge, framed wedding picture it was replacing was being moved to without having to ask directly.

"This way, we can watch TV and the bird feeders at the same time," her mom replied. "And your dad can keep an eye on the squirrels."

Ah. Her dad had a long-standing feud with the neighborhood squirrels. He liked birds. He didn't mind squirrels, as long as they weren't ‘stealing' food from the birds.

"I got a new birdfeeder, too," her dad said, stepping around to where Julie could see him and pointing out the window into the backyard. "This way, I'll be able to watch and see how well it works."

She looked out the window at the birdfeeder in question. It was in the middle of the yard on a post, what looked like a giant dish attached about four feet up from the ground.

"I take it that's an anti-squirrel birdfeeder?" she asked dryly.

"Exactly." Her father beamed at her, and she shook her head even as she smiled back. He looked so proud of himself. Only a few inches taller than her and her mother, he had embraced aging and let his hair start to go grey. He was also losing some of it on top of his head, but there was still enough that it couldn't be truly called a comb-over. When he grinned, the wrinkles around the corners of his eyes were far more pronounced.

Damn. Her parents were getting older.

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!"

Raised voice out in the front yard? Her mom really was serious.

Spinning on her heel, Julie crossed her arms over her chest. Her mom might be serious, but she was, too. She couldn't stop her parents from talking to her ex. She couldn't stop them from inviting him over. But she could damn well remove herself from the situation when they did.

"What, Mom?" She snapped the words out, the Domme voice popping up unexpectedly, and felt both satisfied and guilty when her mom pulled up short, eyes widening in surprise.

"I… I really didn't know if you'd be available, so I called you both. I left him a voicemail. I didn't know he was going to show up." Her mom's tone wheedled, but Julie wasn't having any of it.

"You also didn't call him back to let him know he was unneeded. And once he was here, you invited him to lunch."

Her mom huffed.

"Well, it would be rude to have him show up and send him away immediately. You can't expect me to be rude, Julie."

Expect? No. Want? Yes.

"He was our son for years, Julie. It wasn't our choice for that to change."

Ah, yes, here it came. The guilt trip. She'd deprived them of their perfect surgeon son. Never mind that she'd become incredibly unhappy married to him. Never mind that she'd been the only one putting any work into the relationship for years because she'd known how disappointed her parents would be when it ended. Nope, what mattered was that she'd chosen herself and her own happiness, and somehow, that wasn't what her parents wanted for her.

"You haven't found anyone since him. Maybe you two should?—"

"I'm seeing someone." She said it before she could really think through whether she should say it. But seeing the look on her mom's face was nearly as satisfying as her reaction to Julie's Domme voice. Her eyes bulged even more, and her mouth dropped open in pure shock.

"You are?" Her mom's voice was high and squeaky.

"I am," she said firmly. "So you'll understand why I certainly can't stay here and have lunch with my ex-husband."

Turning on her heel, she hurried to her car before her mom could recover from the shock of the announcement. Maybe her mom would stop trying to reconnect her and John now… or maybe she'd just made things worse.