Chapter 24

24

Julie

Her parents had invited John.

Again.

She wanted to scream into the void.

Actually, she wanted to scream at her parents, but truthfully, that was about as useful as screaming into the void, and at least the void didn't scream back.

"We should go." Dammit.

"What? No. Don't let him chase you off." Connor gave her hand a squeeze. "This is your parents' house. This is your family. And we came here today so I could meet them and help get them off your back. If we leave now, he not only wins, but we don't get to show your family how much better off you are without him."

Emotions were tumbling through her, making her stomach churn like a washing machine. The problem was none of them were coming out clean. None of them were coming out clear. The waters were full of mud, and as much as she wanted to leave and hold the boundary that she'd set down with her parents, Connor had a point.

This was her family. This was her parents' house. Why should she have to be the one to leave?

Because the second my parents get an inch, they'll take a mile.

Dammit. She didn't know what to do. She needed a minute to think.

She needed John to disappear.

It wasn't like she wanted him to get hit by a bus or anything (probably), but a transfer to a hospital on the other side of the country would be nice.

"Come on, we've got this." Connor smiled at her and stepped forward, and since her hand was still in his, she found herself being pulled along with him. And because she wasn't sure she should leave, she found herself going… even though she wasn't sure that was what she wanted to do.

The blow of having her parents invite John, knowing she was bringing Connor to meet the family today, had rocked her off her axis. And Connor wasn't giving her time to regain her equilibrium. They were outside and back in the middle of her family before she realized she really did not want to be there.

"Hello. I'm so sorry about the mix-up with your name," Aunt Ji-woo said, coming up to Connor with an apologetic look on her face. Julie was pretty sure she even meant it. Sandra's mom was a lot more relaxed than her own mother. Who was currently over-talking and laughing with her ex-husband, showing him a lot more welcome than she had Connor.

Dammit.

They should have left.

But she couldn't pull away from the conversation without being rude, and if she could get Aunt Ji-woo on her side, she didn't want to ruin that by being rude to her.

"No problem." Connor smiled his most charming smile at her aunt, who automatically smiled back at him. He was on in a way she hadn't really seen before. "I'm grateful, actually, since it let us tell everyone on our own terms. And I missed out at least on several days of being hassled by Sandra at work about the fact that I'm dating her cousin."

"That is quite a coincidence," Aunt Ji-woo said, smiling at him. "I'm sure Sandra will make up for it now. She's talked about you before, but I had forgotten your name because she calls you ‘work hubby' all the time."

Okay, well, now was definitely not the time to get jealous. Julie realized that she'd heard Sandra mention her ‘work hubby' before, too. There was no harm in it. Sandra and Terry were utterly devoted to each other, and she knew it. Sandra had never talked about her work hubby in anything but friendly terms.

It was probably only bothering her a little because she was already out of sorts, knowing John was less than ten feet away, talking to her parents. No, less than less than ten feet away because, for some reason, her mom was bringing him over.

Are you fucking kidding me?

If it wasn't for Connor standing there holding his ground, she would have walked out. And she wasn't sure she would have come back again. Ever. There had to be an end to this. Even though she knew it was likely her parents wouldn't have invited John today if she hadn't been bringing Connor, the fact they were willing to do so at all made her want to scream. It had been one thing having to hear updates about his life and a whole other thing to have her mom invite him over when she knew Julie was going to be there, but this was too far.

They should have left, and she was starting to get pretty peeved that Connor had taken that decision away from her.

The only joy she got out of this moment was the slightly stunned expression on John's face as he realized exactly how tall Connor was. Not just tall but muscular. John had always prided himself on his physique, but Connor was taller, his shoulders were wider, and his body was packed with twice as much bulky muscle as John's.

Not the kind of thing that mattered to Julie, but it suddenly struck her that it was very much the kind of thing that would matter to John. His insecurities ran wide and deep.

"There you are," her mother said, as if Julie had been gone for a lot longer than the five minutes they had been inside. "This is John. John, this is Connor."

"I'm Julie's ex-husband," John said, seemingly recovered from his shock. He gave his widest, most charming smile as he held out his hand for Connor to shake. "I hope that's not too awkward. When you become part of the family, it can be hard to leave that."

"Not awkward at all," Connor said, sounding completely sincere, despite the fact that this was incredibly awkward. "It's nice to meet you. I've heard about you, of course. Julie said you're a surgeon?" She couldn't believe that the first thing her mom had done was to introduce her current boyfriend to her ex-husband.

No, wait, scratch that. She totally believed it.

Which was why they should have left.

It was all she could do to stand there seething instead of exploding all over everyone. She was just so damn mad at all of them.

Her mom for inviting John.

John for showing up.

The rest of her family for acting like this was somehow normal.

Connor for deciding they were coming outside.

Herself for feeling like she had to stay here just because Connor wanted to.

At least her dad had had the good sense to make himself scarce once John appeared. Unlike her mom, who had decided to force the issue. Why couldn't she just turn around and walk away right now? Yes, Connor was holding onto her hand, but he would let go if she pulled away.

But then her whole family would see her walk out, abandoning her boyfriend there.

It would be clear they weren't working as a unit.

Her mom would see the crack between them and work even harder to push at them.

Which, if she and Connor broke up over this, she did not want it to be because of her parents. It would be because she'd decided that was the best thing to do. And she wasn't sure yet that she wanted to break up with him over this… but was that because she truly didn't or because she didn't want her mom to win?

She couldn't think. Not with everyone standing right there around her.

"Ah, yes," John cleared his throat, looking increasingly uncomfortable, which was the only joy she was getting out of the situation. Connor's obvious confidence in the face of meeting her ex had clearly thrown him. He'd probably expected Connor to react the way he would—with anger or insult. "Head of surgery, actually. I was just telling Sun that we might need to talk about her shoulder." He pushed his smile back onto his lips. "It's the least I can do for family."

"Hopefully, surgery won't be necessary, but I appreciate the concern," her mom said, beaming at John as though he'd just offered her the moon. Because, of course, she did. "I don't even know what's wrong with it. I didn't hit it or do anything; it just started hurting one day, and it keeps getting worse, no matter how much I rest it."

"You didn't injure it when that started?" Connor asked, frowning.

"No, nothing. I noticed it was sore one morning, so I started resting it, but it doesn't seem to have helped. I can't move it as much as I want to, but I don't know what else to do."

"Which is why we need to take a look and discuss surgical options," John said pompously. At least, it sounded pompous to Julie, but her mom didn't seem to notice, so maybe she was a little biased. Or maybe her mom was.

"Do you mind if I take a look at your range of motion?" Connor asked, leaning forward slightly, seeming to ignore John's remark.

Her mom blinked in surprise.

"Oh, well…"

Connor smiled at her easily, totally focused on her, though his grip on Julie's hand remained firm.

"We get a lot of shoulder injuries and other issues at the clinic. Did you have Sandra look at it?" he asked.

"No." Her mom was frowning, but not as if she was upset. "What do you need me to do?"

"Can you hold this?" Connor asked Julie, holding out his cup. Dropping his hand, she took it, allowing him to step forward. It was a good opportunity to run. She could leave John and Connor there competing to see who could impress her mom the most, but at the same time, she felt stuck in place. She didn't really want her mom to have to have surgery, and she was strangely fascinated by this other side of Connor.

It struck her that this was his work side. When he'd gone "on" for her family, that was probably the Connor his clients got to see. He was still "on" right now, handling her mom in a completely professional, firm, caring manner that seemed to have thrown John completely off.

Then again, John wasn't used to being ignored or questioned. And he could hardly try to physically intimidate Connor the way he might someone else. Did she get more joy than she should out of that? Yes, yes, she did, no matter how irritated she was at Connor.

Connor helped her mom out of the sling, murmuring soft instructions as he worked through her range of motion. It wasn't much, and Julie could see how much it distressed and worried her mom that she couldn't move the way she should be able to. It distressed Julie, too. Was this why her mom had been calling John lately? Because she was worried about her shoulder?

No, don't do that. Don't justify it. That way lies madness. If she was worried, she could make an appointment to see a doctor. One who isn't my ex-husband. And she was constantly giving me updates about him and pushing my boundaries long before her shoulder was an issue.

Julie took a deep breath.

"I think it's frozen shoulder," Connor said. "You shouldn't need surgery. Frozen shoulder even goes away on its own sometimes, but physical therapy can help you get back to normal faster."

Scoffing, John stepped forward, puffing up his chest. "You're hardly an expert on whether or not someone needs surgery."

"No, but I am an expert on when someone needs physical therapy," Connor said cheerfully, stepping back to take his place beside Julie again. He looked at her mom. "You should get a second opinion if you feel more comfortable with that, but I'm pretty confident that it's frozen shoulder."

"What is that?" Julie asked. "What causes it?"

"A number of things," Sandra said, pushing her way into their little circle and pulling Terry with her. Julie's cousin beamed at Connor. "Sometimes, it just happens to women over the age of thirty-five, and we don't really know why. Basically, your shoulder starts to hurt and becomes harder to move. Of course, most of us do exactly what your mom did and rest it, which actually makes it worse because it gets more frozen." She looked at Julie's mom. "I told Mom to tell you that it sounded like frozen shoulder. Did she not tell you?"

"She did." Julie's mom had the grace to look slightly abashed. "I just wanted to get a second opinion from John."

John looked like he had bitten into something sour.

He probably wanted to say something nasty to Connor about his competence, but he could hardly do that now without casting aspersions on Sandra, too. Regardless of her mom wanting his opinion, she wouldn't take him insulting her niece well.

It was kind of fun to watch him struggle with the dilemma.

"Oh, it looks like your dad could use some help," Connor said, giving her hand a squeeze. "I'll be right back."

Julie started. She didn't even know where her dad had gotten off to, but now that she looked in the direction Connor was headed, she could see her dad trying to get out the back door with a huge tray of meat in his hands. Normally, her mom would have been helping him with the door, but she'd been too busy talking to John.

Connor had both noticed and immediately gone to help.

It didn't sweep away her annoyance with him entirely, but it didn't hurt, either.

"Hmph. Well, if you want to come in for some x-rays, just let me know, Sun," John said.

"Thank you, John." But her mom wasn't looking at him. She was watching Connor as he intercepted Julie's dad, taking the whole tray of meat in one hand. Making a face, John turned away and walked over to where some of Julie's other cousins were talking. Annoyingly, they welcomed him immediately.

Sandra stepped up beside Julie. Terry was now making his way over to her dad and Connor, probably to see if he could help with anything.

"Aren't they great?" Sandra asked, sighing happily as Terry joined the other two. Now, all three of them were standing around the grill, talking about who knows what.

"Yeah," Julie echoed, wishing she felt it to her bones the way Sandra seemed to. The way she had before this afternoon. "Great."