Gabriel squeezed Julia’s hand under the table, but her hand had gone limp. She remained focused on her pie and chewed thoughtfully. No one noticed that her eyes had become watery. She didn’t dare look in Gabriel’s direction.
After dinner, the kitchen was crowded as everyone helped clean and put things away. Gabriel tried to speak to Julia alone, but they were constantly interrupted. Finally, he gave up and accompanied Richard out to the back porch while the rest of the family piled onto the couches in the living room to listen to very bad eighties music.
It had been Scott’s choice. And when he stood up to dance to Tainted Love by Soft Cell, Rachel and Julia mocked him mercilessly. Aaron didn’t understand the attraction to eighties music or the humor in Scott’s slightly eclectic dance routine, but he smiled politely as he sipped his beer.
When the song was replaced by Don’t You (Forget About Me), Julia knew it was time to get another drink. She floated into the kitchen and found herself looking out the window at Gabriel and Richard, who were wearing their winter coats and sitting in two Adirondack chairs on the back porch.
“Hey, Julia.” Aaron came up behind her and pulled another beer from the refrigerator. “Corona?”
“Thanks.” Julia took the bottle gratefully.
“Lime?” He pointed to a series of lime sections in a bowl on the counter.
After watching her struggle to force the lime into the narrow opening of the bottle, he took pity on her. “Want me to do that?”
“Please.”
Aaron was a Corona specialist. He pushed the lime into the bottle, and capping the opening with his thumb, proceeded to tip the bottle upside down, sending the lime to the very bottom. When he righted the bottle, he carefully let the air pressure out at a snail’s pace and with a smug look, handed the bottle back to Julia.
“That’s the correct way to do it,” he said, grinning at her.
She took a quick pull from the bottle and smiled. He was right. It was good. “You’re a good man, Aaron.” Julia surprised herself by speaking the words aloud.
He reddened but returned her smile. “How are you doing?”
She shrugged. “I’m fine. Grad school is a lot of work, but I seem to be doing well. I’m applying to different doctoral programs for next year. I hope I get in somewhere.”
Aaron nodded, and he fixed her with a serious but sympathetic look. “Rachel told me that Simon called. I don’t want to upset you, but we’re both really worried. Are you okay?”
Julia blinked slightly as she worked through what he’d said, realizing that Gabriel must have told Rachel about the phone call.
“I was scared. Even though I was so far away, he still found me. He wasn’t exactly happy with our conversation.”
Aaron gently patted her arm. “You’re with us. You’re part of our family, and we stick together. If he shows up, I’ll take care of him. Hell, I’ve been itching for a fight. What better way to work out your frustration than by teaching someone like him a lesson?” He grinned and took a swig of his beer.
Julia nodded but did not smile. “What’s happening with the wedding? Rachel said that you picked a date, but when I asked her about it tonight she clammed up on me.”
He shook his head. “Don’t say anything to anyone, but we were planning to get married in July. That is, until Rachel saw her dad break down during grace. She pulled me aside after dinner and said that there was no way she could bring up the topic of a wedding now. So we’re back to where we were before—engaged with no fixed wedding date.” Aaron hung his head a little and wiped at his eyes with the back of one of his hands.
Julia felt sorry for him. “She loves you. She’ll marry you. She just wants a happy family and a big, happy wedding. You’ll get there.”
“What about a happy Aaron?” he muttered, his eyes momentarily hard. He sighed and shook his head. “I didn’t mean that. I really didn’t mean that. But I love her. I’ve loved her for years. I never wanted to live together—I wanted to marry her as soon as we graduated high school. But she always wanted to wait. The waiting is killing me, Jules.”
“Some people think that marriage is just a piece of paper. Rachel is lucky you think differently.”
“It’s not just a piece of paper. I want to stand up in front of her and God, and all our friends and make promises to her. I want her to be mine. Not as my girlfriend, but as my wife. I want what Richard and Grace had, but some days I wonder if that’s ever going to happen.”
Julia shyly put her arm around Aaron’s shoulder and gave him a sideways, one-armed hug. “It’s going to happen. Don’t give up. Once Richard is out of the house and settled in his new life, Rachel will see that it’s okay for all of you to be happy again. Being in this house without Grace is hurting everyone. It’s so empty here without her.”