Лиза Джонс - Dangerous Secrets

Chapter Eight

With the rehearsal dinner behind them, Julie and Lauren sat on Lauren’s sofa with a box of double-dutch chocolate cookies. Lauren brushed her hands together to wipe away the crumbs and gave Julie an astute, probing stare. “You seem bothered by something.”

Julie glanced at Lauren, the friend who’d become her sister, emotion welling inside her. “I’m fine.” She forced a smile. “I’m allowed to be nervous over the wedding, but you are not.”

Lauren shook her head. “It’s not the wedding. You’re not yourself.”

Julie shrugged. “Divorce is more depressing than usual with a spectacular wedding in the air.”

Lauren quirked a brow. “That’s a different point of view for you. You’ve always been very unemotional about what you do.”

“Yes, well, Judge Moore’s wife committing suicide really got to me.”

Lauren was quiet a long moment. “Yes, I image it would anyone. They run in our circles. It’s heartbreaking.”

Julie didn’t want to bother Lauren with her concerns over what she thought really happened to the judge’s wife, not the night before her wedding. She waved it off. “A conversation for later. Much later.”

Lauren didn’t look convinced. In fact, she shoved a lock of light brown hair behind her ear and studied Julie more intently. “Leaving the District Attorney’s office to go out on my own with a couple of friends was a huge decision for me. I thought I was fighting for what was right and wrong, but I was tied down by the politics of the office. You didn’t choose divorce. It just happened to you, and Julie, it’s not a good place for you. We both know it messes with your head, even when you pretend it doesn’t.” Julie started to object and Lauren held up a hand. “Don’t deny it, or you’ll make me mad on the eve of my wedding. Look, Julie, why not come with us, and choose what you want to do?”

Julie had already been through this in her head a million times. “The money is good where I’m at.”

“Money isn’t everything.”

“I have no one but me to take care of me,” Julie argued. “It has to be a consideration.”

“You have me, Julie. You will always have me.”

“I know,” Julie said, emotion clogging her throat. But Lauren would have her husband, kids, a future, and even though Lauren wouldn’t say that changed anything, it did. And Julie was happy for her. If anyone deserved a true fairy tale, it was Lauren. Julie smiled. “And I’ll borrow your big grumpy wonderful man to change a light bulb here and there, I promise.”

Julie’s cell phone buzzed with a text and she grabbed it off the table. It was from Luke. Elizabeth moved in with her sister in Jersey after the split. They’re close. Blake has one of our men checking her out and watching her. She’s safe.

Julie quickly typed, Thank you.

Lauren cocked her head. “Speaking of the restaurant and Royce’s family tree. Seems like you have a big Walker man of your own on your hands these days.” She pursed her lips. “Was that Luke texting you?”

Julie was so taken off-guard she just stared at Lauren. Lauren laughed. “It was. I knew it. And so we’re clear, I played along on the whole cake thing, but I didn’t buy it for a minute. You two were in the bathroom doing the–”

“No, we were not!” Julie exclaimed. They’d just come close. “Are you calling Luke a liar, Lauren? That’s rough stuff considering he’s about to be your brother-in-law.”

“Come on,” Lauren prodded, her voice softening. “For once, talk to me about Luke instead of shutting down when I try. Consider it a wedding present.”

Julie pulled her bare feet to the leather couch and rested her chin on her knees. “I can’t talk about what I don’t understand.”

“He matters to you,” Lauren said, and it wasn’t a question.

“He’s about to be your brother-in-law,” she said, avoiding a direct reply. “That’s trouble waiting to happen.”

“You’re both grown adults. You can be around each other if something doesn’t work out.”

Julie snorted. “Adults who break up rarely act like adults.”

“You’re making an excuse to avoid him when you don’t want to avoid him at all,” Lauren said. “And honey, I’ll tell you right now that since the first time you were with Luke, you’ve changed. He’s in your head and you can’t ignore that. Deal with it one way or the other.”

It was true. She’d changed in so many ways. “Since Luke…” Her words trailed off and she zipped her lips. This was not the Julie ‘boo-hoo’ show tonight. She sat up and grabbed a bag of cookies from the table, then smacked the box against the one Lauren had set on the couch. “Eat and let’s talk about your wedding, not me.”

Lauren started to object and Julie added, “Don’t make me go down the road and get Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.”

Lauren held up her hands in acceptance. “I’ll never fit in my dress if you go that far. I’ll eat cookies. Just don’t hide in the bathroom with the best man right before the ceremony, okay? At least wait until after.”

“Fine,” Julie laughed. “After.” And she tried to put Luke out of her mind. But couldn’t. Later, when she and Lauren had snuggled into their beds, with the wedding only hours away, she lay there thinking of him. Of the kisses, the touches, of how he’d said ‘if it’s important to you, then it’s important to me.’

She had no idea what got into her, but she grabbed her phone and typed a text to Luke. Thank you.

He texted back almost immediately. For what?

Still being the kind of man the world needs more of, she thought, but instead she typed, Everything.

And his reply, Anything for you, Sweetheart, gave her a funny feeling in her chest that she didn’t want to try to identify.

***

The wedding was held at Pier Sixty off New York’s Hudson River, the spectacular views enjoyed by all the guests. Julie, like four other girls, was dressed in a pale blue sheath, but only she was allowed in Lauren’s private room before the ceremony.

“What if I trip going down the aisle?” Lauren asked, wringing her hands. “I mean, my father has politicians from all over the country out there.”

Julie’s lips turned up in a smile. “I have no doubt Royce will catch you. And this day isn’t about your father. It’s about you and Royce.”

Lauren nodded. “I know. I know. And when I see him I’ll forget the rest.” She scrutinized her appearance in the mirror, “Are you sure my make-up isn’t too dark?”

Julie walked up to Lauren, carefully avoiding her long skirt, and put her arm over her shoulder. Lauren was a princess in a full, sleek figure-hugging skirt that flared mermaid style. “Look at you,” Julie whispered. “You’re stunning.”

Lauren made a weak effort at a smile. “You think?”

“I know,” she said, her gaze tracing the auburn ringlets around Lauren’s face. “Your hair is so beautiful like this. The diamond-studded headband and sheer veil will be as perfect as the dress.” Julie softened her voice. “He loves you like a man needs to love a woman to marry her. It’s special, Lauren. You two are special together.”

Lauren gave a sad smile. “I wish my mother was alive for today.”

Julie took Lauren’s hand in hers, thinking of how close Lauren had been to a mother stolen too young by cancer. “She’s here,” Julie said. “She’s here and she approves.”

Lauren turned to Julie and tried to hug her and Julie backed up, waving a finger. “Your hair and your makeup. We hug after pictures.” A knock sounded on the door.

“Five minute warning.”

Ten minutes later, Julie stepped into the foyer outside the wedding venue, slid her arm inside Luke’s in preparation to walk down the aisle. When their eyes connected, she felt it clear to her toes. She felt...something she’d never felt in her life, something unidentifiable.