Chapter 27

27

Julie

Ten missed calls, three voicemails, and two text messages from her mom over a four-hour period. It was a new record.

Call number eleven started ringing while Camille brewed a second pot of tea for the girls' night movie marathon. They'd already had dinner, not that Julie had had much appetite between everything she'd eaten at her parents that afternoon, then how things had been left between her and Connor.

Freddy had taken one look at Julie when she and Camille had come in the door and immediately made himself scarce, so it was just the two of them, which she appreciated.

"Are you ever going to answer that?" Camille asked as Julie's phone continued to ring.

"Wasn't planning on it," Julie answered, though she did tap the button to turn the ringing to silent. She could not deal with her mom right now. Even though putting her off was probably just going to make things worse in the long run.

She was self-aware enough to know this was a desperate attempt to regain control in one of the few ways she currently could, but at the same time, she didn't care enough to try to stop herself. Besides, if she had to listen to her mom spout off about how amazing Connor was and how dare Julie treat him like that, she was literally going to explode.

"It's not Connor calling, is it?" Camille asked, her tone totally devoid of judgment.

"No, it's my mom." Connor hadn't called. Which was good. She appreciated being given the space, even as she worried about how he was doing. But she couldn't talk to him when she was still so raw, still sorting through her feelings… there was too much of a chance she'd end up blowing up all over him. And she didn't think he deserved that.

Granted, she felt pretty righteous in some of her anger, but when she talked to him, she wanted to be able to do just that—talk. Not explode. Some of her anger was also at her parents, she realized, and he didn't deserve to take the brunt of that anger, too.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Camille asked.

Julie shook her head.

"Okay," Camille said, putting a mug down on the coffee table in front of Julie. The scent of chamomile and honey wafted through the air. "Wanna watch another movie?"

"Yes, please."

Settling down on the couch next to her, Camille picked up the remote and hit the next movie on the comfort movie list, The Princess Bride. A classic.

She was so thankful for Camille, who knew what Julie needed and gave it to her without pushing. She needed time and space. She needed to decompress. And then she needed to think.

It was probably why Connor's pushing had set her off so badly. John had never given her time to think. She had almost forgotten about that. Everything always had to be resolved ‘immediately,' and he would push and push and push at her and demand that she talk it out right then. But when she did that, they only ever touched on surface stuff, not the underlying issue, because she hadn't been given a chance to figure out what was really wrong.

Then, once she did, a few days later and tried to bring it up again, John would accuse her of bringing up ‘old shit.' Of trying to start a fight about something they'd resolved. Then he'd accuse her of gaslighting him when she insisted they needed to discuss what the real problem was or even of flat-out lying because she ‘hadn't brought that up when they talked about it.'

The fact she hadn't because it hadn't occurred to her until later— after she'd had time to think—didn't matter to him.

God, no wonder she'd blown up at Connor tonight. While she did think he shouldn't have pushed her after she'd explicitly asked him not to, after she'd requested the space, she could see that some of her reaction—specifically the desire to call Camille and get out of there as soon as possible—wasn't necessarily all about him. Which was something she wouldn't have been able to recognize in the moment when emotions were high.

She was only able to put the dots together now because she'd had time to settle, time to start turning things over in her mind and examining the interaction from every angle. Whether or not Connor would understand that better than John…

If he doesn't, he's not the right guy for me.

As much as it hurt to think about that. Despite her anger, despite how frustrated she'd been, deep down, she knew she didn't want it to end. She might not trust her judgment when it came to men anymore, but her emotions had still gotten entangled. She'd started falling for him. Harder and faster than she could have believed.

The urge to call him and go to him and cuddle up in his arms and just tell herself it was no big deal was high. But how many times had she done that with John?

What would she tell a client if they came in and told her the story of today?

She would tell them that they needed to figure out what they wanted. She would tell them that problems couldn't be brushed under the rug; they needed to be faced. She would tell them that they needed to have a conversation and see what their partner said, how they reacted, and make decisions from there.

Then she would say, ‘Now let's talk through what's going on with your parents.'

Yeah, she was going to need to call her therapist this week. Connor meeting her family had brought up a lot more issues than just her past romantic relationship baggage. Even with John showing up, there was something that was still bugging her about Connor and her family, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Connor

It had been a long night with no call from Julie. No text. Though he'd gotten a few from his friends, wondering how meeting her family had gone, he didn't answer. How could he? He thought it had gone really well… right up until it hadn't.

He'd called out sick from work.

His energy batteries didn't just need recharging. He was pretty sure they needed to be replaced. If things hadn't ended the way they had yesterday, he would have been able to go in. He would have made himself go in. But after a night of not sleeping on top of all the socializing… well, he just couldn't face it. Especially since Sandra would be there.

Though if he'd gone, he could have asked her some questions about Julie and her parents.

Julie had told him some things, but it felt like he had missed something, or there were things she hadn't told him. Maybe things she hadn't realized she should tell him. He was pretty sure she wouldn't have deliberately kept him in the dark about something that would upset her.

We should go.

What? No.

Her voice and his echoed in his mind, the same way they had all night last night.

Because he was pretty sure that's where everything had started to go wrong.

Because God forbid I get a minute to think or get to make a decision about what I need, just so that you can make sure my parents like you.

He'd just wanted to help. But she hadn't asked him to. She hadn't indicated she wanted him to. He'd been so sure what she really needed was to go out and face her family and show them that her new boyfriend was just as good—if not better, than her ex-husband—he'd ignored what she'd said.

She'd told him how she handled her mom, how she hung up when her mom brought her ex up. How she'd immediately left the last time her mom had sprung her ex on her in person.

Not that he had any issues close to what she had with her parents, but how would he feel if she got in the middle of how he wanted to handle an issue with them? How would he feel if she flat-out ignored what he said he wanted to do?

That was the other reason he'd been up all night. He kept trying to think of how to apologize. What to say. What to do. How to make it up to her. And he kept coming up short. He didn't know what to do or say.

The urge to text her, to call her, to at least try was strong, but after ignoring what she'd said she wanted yesterday, the least he could do was give her the space she'd requested now. No matter how much it strained him.

She'd said they would talk later.

While it was technically later, that didn't mean she was ready. She would reach out when she was. He firmly believed she was not ghosting him. He was pretty sure. It would be hard to ghost someone who was a member of the same kink club unless she decided to stop being a member and stop teaching. There was no way she would be willing to take things that far, even if she was incredibly upset with him.

He hoped she wasn't too upset with him.

Dammit.

He hoped he got a chance to apologize.

Knocking on the door made him jump to his feet before his brain had even fully registered the sound, heart pounding in his chest.

Julie?

Connor rushed to the door… only to look through the window beside it and feel his heart sink at the familiar, brown, bald head he spotted in front of it. Not Julie. Law. For a moment, he imagined the worst—Julie had sent Law to break up with him for her.

Then he shook off that thought. There was no way Julie would do that. First, she would handle her own breakups. Second, if she was going to send someone to break up with him for some odd reason, it wouldn't be Law.

New worry rushed through him. If Law wasn't here at Julie's behest, why the hell was he knocking on Connor's door in the middle of the day? What was wrong? Why hadn't anyone called him?

He yanked the door open and found himself looking down at both Law and Iris, who he hadn't realized was on Law's other side. They both stared up at him, as though they were surprised.

"What?" he asked, blinking back at them. "What's going on?"

"That's supposed to be my question to you," Law replied. "Can we come in?"

Baffled, Connor nodded, stepping back to let them pass by. Iris paused to hug him, which he sorely needed, and he hugged her back, though he kept his emotions in check. The last thing she needed was him melting down all over her just because she'd hugged him.

"So… what?" he asked again as he closed the door behind them, turning to face them.

Law crossed his arms over her chest and raised his eyebrows.

"That's what I want to know. You haven't answered any texts since last night or the call I made this morning, then when I called you at work just to check in and make sure you were okay, they said you hadn't come in. You never call out sick." Law's gaze sharpened. "So, now I'm here to find out why you're not at work and why you aren't answering your texts."

"I'm here for moral support and because Law and I were supposed to meet up for lunch," Iris chirped, smiling at him, though he could see the concern in her expression as well. She was just as worried as Law, though she showed it differently.

Oh.

Oh.

They weren't here to tell him something bad had happened to someone else. They were here because they thought something bad had happened to him. And it was lunchtime. They were supposed to be on a lunch date but had come to check on him instead.

His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since Julie's parents' house yesterday. No dinner, no breakfast.

"Right, um, can I get you guys something to eat?" he started moving toward the kitchen.

"Connor!" Law practically shouted his name, and Connor stopped in his tracks as his friend glared at him, flinging his hands in the air. "I don't want lunch. I want to know what's going on! What happened? What's wrong?"

Oh. Right.

"Well, we can eat lunch at the same time," Connor pointed out. It would be easier to talk if he had something else to focus on.

That's what they did. He made them sandwiches and told them about meeting Julie's family, and they listened. When they had to go, Iris gave him another hug, and Law assured him everything would be okay. Which was nice to hear, even though it wasn't as if Law could make that come true for him. But considering how cynical Law often was, knowing he thought there was a chance made Connor feel better.

It didn't occur to him until later that Law might have said that because he was going to try to make it true.