AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Erin turned towards them but then walked farther down the picture lined hallway towards the bedrooms. Julia could see her in her peripheral vision. She fought to hide her mortification.
“You didn’t think that it would be hard enough working professionally with someone I met out? That I may not want them in my house?” Julia asked, her voice a deep glacier iceberg.
“Fair.” Keegan’s face was all composure as she tipped the wine into the glass.
“I could kill you right now.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m irreplaceable.” She looked up, an almost indiscernible smile pulling her cheekbones tighter. “Let’s play nice and just get to know each other a little more. Shall we?”
“I shouldn’t have told you anything,” Julia’s voice was taut with betrayal and regret.
Keegan just tilted her head and shook it as she strolled back towards Erin with the only thing that mattered to her on Sundays: wine.
“Thank you.” Erin reached for her glass, taking a sip as she looked around.
Embarrassment flushed across Julia’s face, fueled by a potent mixture of other emotions. It could’ve been her that night weeks ago on the sidewalk in front of the pizzeria, its raw intensity overwhelming her senses still. It could’ve been the fact that no one had ever seen her cry like that, not even Keegan. It could’ve been that her walls were still lined with Marin’s face, a shrine to a life once loved. It could have been the vulnerability of Erin now, knowing exactly what Julia lost.
“Any trouble finding the house?” Keegan asked, motioning to the couch, but no one moved.
“Not at all! It was such a lovely drive over the hills.”
“Yeah, it’s tucked really nicely away from the bustle,” agreed Julia, not yet able to let go of the taint in her voice.
There was a break in conversation, everyone unsure of where to go next. Julia took a not-so-graceful gulp of her wine.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Keegan chimed, already halfway down the hall as Julia tried to casually beckon her back. “I’ll be right back,” she called. Julia’s eyes shot the back of her head with daggers.
“Please come sit.” Julia motioned Erin towards the couch. She followed, sitting on opposite ends of the sofa.
“I’m going to guess that she didn’t tell you she invited me.” She grinned, breaking the tension. Julia let out a strained chuckle. “She told me it was your idea.”
“Well,” Julia replied, smiling because she simply can’t help it around this woman, “Keegan gets a lot of ideas.”
“I’m sorry if I’m imposing, I–”
“No, don’t worry about it. It’s just a football game and some good conversation.”
“That sounds perfect for a Sunday.”
“This is what friends do, right?” Julia gulped her wine again.
“We’re friends now?” Erin’s eyes glimmered with amusement.
Oh, shit.
“I didn’t mean to assum–”
“That was a joke.” Erin grinned and that satin chuckle wrapped Julia in such a lulling comfort.
“I wanted to apologize for the craziness of this week,” Julia began.
“What do you mean?”
“I had a lot of meetings come up and I know we didn’t get to touch base as much as we had before.” Did Erin even notice? Was it all in her head, the time they spent together before?
“Things come up. You’re a busy woman.” She looked around the room, taking in the lost life she stepped into. A wedding picture hung above the office desk to the left, just in eyesight, and her gaze lingered there. “She’s beautiful.”
Julia wished she was liquid–wished she could soak right through the couch and drip through the cracks in between the hardwood. There was something about talking about your not-wife’s beauty with a woman you’d kissed. Something about the way that no matter how many times they said professional, something lurked in the distance.
