Acting Up (49 page)

As they turned the corner she spotted an ice cream truck. A real one, that played a tune. She hadn't known those existed anymore. Grace used to give Julia and Sarah fifty cents to buy a treat. Sarah had always taken forever to make up her mind, which had driven Julia crazy. A skill her former stepsister still possessed in abundance. The knowledge made her chuckle.

At the sound, Eric turned his head. "You look tired. Beautiful, but anxious," he was quick to add.

"You're so diplomatic," Julia said, a grin pulling up the corner of her mouth. "I feel like I spent a week in the car with two bratty kids."

Eric's voice remained gentle, as if he didn't want to spook her. "Why so anxious?"

"Being here. It's hard."

"Why?" Again, he was extremely gentle.

"I don't know. Lots of ghosts."

"What kind of ghosts?"

"The ghost of stepmothers past," she said, scowling at him. "I can see why you set out to help troubled kids. You're pretty good at getting people to spill their guts without them realizing it."

He chuckled. "Guilty. I only got the briefest of sketches about your history from Sarah. I can imagine it is unsettling being back in a place where you spent some pretty turbulent years."

"The years
here
were fairly calm. All the other years surrounding them were turbulent."

"Yes, but your emotions weren't as engaged as they were here, with this family. With Grace and Sarah."

Julia folded her arms over her chest. "Nice trick, reading people's minds. Do you see dead people, too?"

He laughed again. "No, I'm just observant."

Eric's eyes crinkled up when he laughed. Julia liked him
.
She was coming to realize Sarah had done well for herself in the husband department, even if he was a terrible financial planner. In fact, she thought Eric was much too good for Sarah, the evil little manipulator.

"I can tell you care about Grace and Sarah," he said. "Maybe more than you want to, or think you should, but it's there."

Julia looked out the window at the passing trees again. "The first time I met Grace, I remember thinking she was what a mother was supposed to be like. She even smelled like a mother. I spent the whole time here loving her, and hating her."

"What did you love?"

"I loved that she gave me chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven," Julia said, with a smile. "I loved that she sang while she cooked. I loved that she asked me about my day and actually listened when I told her, and she never let a day go by without giving me a hug, even though I never responded."

"And the hate part?"

"I hated her because she wasn't my mother, and because by then, I already knew how the story would end. I knew my father would end up leaving her, and then I would lose her, too."

"Is he why you never came back?"

She nodded. "Because they're not mine."

Yes, she was whining, but she couldn't help it.

Eric's tone got sharper. "I've got news for you, Julia. They most certainly are yours. You may not be related by blood or have been in the same room with them in fifteen years, but you share a connection with them. The sooner you accept it, and embrace it, the happier you'll be."

There was nothing she could say, so they drove the rest of the way in silence. Once at the park, Julia quickly put distance between Eric and herself. Sure, she might have decided she liked him, but he'd come unbearably close to hitting the truth, and she had no desire to deal with more self-awareness on no sleep.

The park was indeed crowded. There were kids all over the place, as well as adult volunteers, and from the looks of it, a good number of observers. The kids spotted Eric right away, and they swarmed around him like ants to a drop of honey, until they saw Julia. The younger ones looked at her with suspicion, while the older ones took on all the finer characteristics of your average construction workers. The whistles, 'yeah baby's', and outright leers were nothing Julia hadn't seen or heard since she'd started wearing a bra in the fourth grade.

"Young men do not make catcalls at a lady," Eric said.

"
Sorry, ma
'
am!
"
erupted all around.

"The only thing worse than whistling at a woman is calling her 'ma'am'," she said, matching Eric's stern tone. "It's Julia."

"Come on, Seth is around here somewhere," Eric said. "Let me introduce you. Oh, wait… I forgot. You two know each other, don't you?"

"Yeah, but we weren't exactly friends."

Julia followed Eric, and in the distance she spotted a group of men helping to set up the field. She searched for a geeky-looking beanpole, but her eyes stopped on a beautifully built, dark-haired man. All she could see was the back of him. He was tall, with shoulders a mile wide, and long, powerful legs.

Who knew they grew such delicious specimens down here in Covington Falls?

"Hey, Seth!" Eric called out. "Look who I found."

All the men turned, including the delicious one. Oh, yeah. Mr. Tall Guy was wonderful from the front, too. Nicely crafted masculine features. Julia couldn't quite make out the eye color, but she had a feeling they were spectacular as well. Their eyes met, and she felt a little jolt.
"
This one,
"
a voice reflected in her head. His eyes widened, and Julia knew he felt it, too. If they were in a movie this would be the moment when violins swept into a chorus and drums started pounding.

Then he frowned, and his expression became shuttered. He broke away from the group and started over in her direction. That's when it dawned on her exactly who she'd been drooling over.

The drums turned to clanging bells.

Oh… my…

The breath lodged in her throat. There was no way the geeky boy she'd known had grown into… him! But somehow he had. She stiffened even more when she recalled this gorgeous man was also a minister.

Can you get struck by lightning for thinking impure thoughts about a minister? Isn
'
t lust one of the seven deadly sins?

Oh, this was not good. Not good at all.

****

It
'
s not good for a woman to loo
k so
amazing in a pair of denim shorts
, Seth Graham thought. Not good at all.

How was it possible? Fifteen years and she still made him feel like… well… like he was fifteen. He'd grown up, answered the call to the ministry, and married and buried a wife. Yet somehow prickly, bitter, keep-your-distance Julia Richardson still scared the life out of him. Because prickly, bitter, keep-your-distance Julia Richardson was also still the sexiest female he'd ever met. A sexy woman who was now his stepmother's ex-stepdaughter, making her his… well… he didn't quite know what it made her. He only knew it was bizarre and twisted.

His mouth went dry like he'd swallowed a box of chalk sticks, and he could swear drums were pounding somewhere. As he walked toward her, he concentrated on not tripping over his feet or otherwise reminding her he used to be a huge putz. Their eyes locked. The drumbeat intensified. He knew the moment she figured out who he was because her eyes suddenly widened, and she drew in a shocked breath.

Yeah, Julia, the putz you remember did grow into this.

He stopped in front of her.

Eric did the honors. "Julia, this is Seth Graham. John's son. Seth, you remember Julia, right?"

"Hey, Julia," he said, with almost no inflection. If he was careful and kept his tone even maybe she wouldn't notice his voice was shaking.

Her eyes made a visual track up and down again. "Hey yourself. You've changed a bit."

He had to admit, it was nice she seemed so rattled by his changed appearance. It made his mouth twitch as he fought back a smile. "A bit. How've you been?"

"Fine."

"Good."

"And you?"

"Fine."

"Wow, you two, don't go overboard on the effusive greetings," Eric teased.

At this, Seth and Julia both laughed, and it seemed to lighten the moment.

"Are we almost set up here?" Eric asked, gesturing to the field.

Seth swiveled his head around, grateful for any excuse to look away from Julia and try to regain his sanity. "Almost. We'll be ready to go in a few minutes."

"I'll go check with the guys."

Seth started to go after him, to escape, but Eric waved him off. "No, no, I can go. You two catch up. I'll be right back."

Seth fought back a surge of panic. Now what? Was he supposed to talk to Julia? Like they were long-lost friends? He barely knew her anymore. Plus, he couldn't look at her without swallowing his tongue, which made conversation pretty difficult.

Julia was the one who tried to break the ice. "I saw Sarah."

"Good. I'm sure she was thrilled to see you."

"Not half as thrilled as I was to see her."

The comment finally broke through the haze of attraction. He swiveled his head and stared in amazement. Julia was pretending to care about Sarah now? "Surprising, considering you haven't bothered to come back in fifteen years."

She reared back a little. "Well, I'm here now, and I'm going to be here awhile. I'm going to help Sarah with Marry Me."

The surprises kept coming. Seth would have laid odds the prospect of planning weddings would make Julia run away fast enough to leave skid marks. "She talked you into it?"

Julia's mouth pinched into a straight line. "I'm happy to do it."

"I thought you weren't a big believer in love and marriage."

"You barely know me," she said, through gritted teeth. "Where'd you get such an idea?"

"Remember when we had to read
Romeo & Juliet
in school? You said Juliet was an idiot for killing herself over Romeo. If she'd given it a few weeks the feelings would have gone away."

Julia didn't have anything to say.

Having made his point, Seth changed the subject. He didn't want to get into an argument with her. "I assume you saw Grace, too?"

"Of course," Julia said. "I didn't realize how much I'd missed her, until I saw her come out of the house."

Again, astonishment made him curt. "It would have been nice if you could have shown you missed her, by maybe coming to see her."

Julia turned on him, blue eyes flashing, her glorious red hair practically standing on end like the mutant who could control the weather. "Look, I'm having a hard enough time dealing with my own guilt about Grace and Sarah without you heaping on a big helping of it. So, why don't you back off? Aren't you supposed to be this compassionate minister? Isn't it in your job description to show mercy and forgiveness? If so, you missed a few classes."

Seth's jaw dropped.

She swiped a hand across her face and seemed to deflate before his eyes. "I'm sorry I lashed out. My only excuse is I drove all night, and I've been worried sick about Sarah and the baby. Plus, I haven't had any decent sleep since I lost my job."

Regret lanced through him. He cleared his throat. "No, I'm sorry. You're right. I am supposed to show mercy and forgiveness.
My
excuse is I've become protective of Grace and Sarah. I know your relationship with them is complicated, and it means a lot you would put your life on hold to help them."

You
'
re such a liar, Seth Graham. You lashed out because prickly, bitter, keep-your-distance Julia Richardson made you remember you
'
re still alive.

His apology seemed to knock the wind out of her sails. "All right then. Umm, I see Eric waving for you. It must be time to start."

Seth started to open his mouth and try to explain, but what could he say? I've lusted after you since the ninth grade, and it's made me insane? In the end, he gave her a weak smile and walked away, the image of mile-long legs stretching endlessly from body-hugging denim burned into his brain.

God? You know what? The testing? I think I
'
ve had enough now.