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She slapped his shoulder hard. “You are ruining this blissful moment. But since you have already annoyed me, I’ll say this. Aside from the rule we agreed on against bringing hookups here, I’m not interested in anyone but you. Of course, I’ve had my share of dates and flings, but none of them were like you. None of them had the kind of X-ray vision you have to see right through to the real me. We connect on a whole different level, Noah. Don’t try to tell me you don’t see that.”
“Yeah, I do,” he said, amazed that she was saying everything as if he’d written the script himself. “But I didn’t know it was something you felt too.”
“Well, now you know. So let’s enjoy it and see where it goes. Deal?”
“Deal.”
They fell asleep in each other’s arms that night.
When Noah awoke the next morning with Julie still naked in his bed, looking more beautiful than ever, he could hardly believe how lucky he was. And when she opened her eyes and then reached out for him, it was like a dream come true.
They made love again and then Julie offered to make him some breakfast while he showered so he would not be late for class. None of the awkward feelings he’d worried about ever surfaced, except in his own mind because he knew he was nowhere good enough for her.
As if reading his thoughts, she grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him close when he was about to go out the door, and said, “Don’t you start manufacturing doubts and worries about what we’re doing with each other. I know that brain of yours never stops, so tell it to shut up about that subject and rememberthe promise you made last night about just enjoying what we have and letting it go where it will.”
How could he say no to that? Especially when she planted another juicy kiss on his mouth that he could taste and smile over as he rode the subway uptown.
On Thanksgiving they managed to find each other at a designated street corner during the parade, but after only a brief kiss and conversation, they each spent the rest of the day and weekend with their respective families.
When the Christmas season began, instead of gifts, Noah and Julie decided to make their own real life version of an advent calendar and take turns choosing an event or activity to share each day.
Julie took Noah to seeThe Nutcrackerat Lincoln Center. He had never seen a ballet before. Julie had never been to the Fire Museum on Spring Street, so he took her there. He knew there would be a party at his dad’s firehouse for the families and his sister would be bringing her boyfriend, but he could sense “meeting the parents” was a step too far, especially when they both had dads whose own issues might dismantle the joyous time he and Julie were having together.
They traipsed through midtown looking at all the spectacular holiday window displays of the big stores like Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s and Saks. He hoped all the online buying never shut these stores down the way it had most retail stores across the country.
They went to see the huge menorah in Grand Army Plaza in Central Park and the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, where Julie also coaxed Noah onto the skating rink there by making it one of her advent activities.
They baked holiday cookies in the big penthouse kitchen with Mariel. He watched her and Julie sew clothes for the needy and helped pack them up to ship.
Noah took Julie to a food bank where he was one of the regular volunteers; she took him to an animal shelter she supported, and then joined him and a group of med students who gave out toys at a children’s hospital ward.
Julie insisted they hit most of the craft fairs in the city looking for ornaments for the small tree they planned to set up in the apartment.
When he asked her if she would be decorating a big one with her father and brother, she laughed and said, “My dad has designers from his firm decorate both the penthouse here in the city and our house in Westport, including both Christmas trees. He has colleagues and clients from around the world who show up for parties and visits, so he would never want my unprofessional input. But Mariel always puts up a small fake tree in her private quarters and I give her an ornament for it every year.”
Once again Noah saw the loneliness that often snuck out past the cheerful disposition Julie showed to the outside world. “And you always set one up here in the apartment?”
“I never have before, because I’ve never had anyone to share it with.” Then she kissed him and added, “But this year I do.”
7
Present day…
Julieand her little girl walked into the foyer of a house on the North Fork that belonged to Jordan West, the buddy her brother, Bryce, had gone through boarding school with.
Jordan’s wife, Carter, who’d brought her dance company from California to the East Coast, was the reason the woman Bryce would marry had relocated to the North Fork. Tricia performed with Carter’s dance company and she’d been Carter’s maid of honor about a year ago when the best man had been none other than Bryce.
Jordan ran an exotic travel company and it was at his property in Costa Rica where Bryce married Tricia and Kaylee married Micah in a secret double wedding.
After all the disgruntled reactions of friends and family who’d been denied a chance to share in that special occasion, Jordan and Carter decided they needed to host a local wedding reception and that it would be their gift to the two couples. They held it in the afternoon since the guests would be a mix of North Fork and South Fork residents and the ferry between these twoskinny peninsulas that reached out into the Atlantic stopped running late at night.
“Molly, wait!” Julie called to her daughter who went running toward the two dogs loping their way.
“It’s okay,” said a lanky blonde teen. “They’re both harmless and they love kids.”
“This one is Snooper, and this is Deetz,” said a young boy who looked about ten.
“Are you Melody and Benji?” Julie asked. She knew Jordan had adopted his late brother’s daughter and son.
