Worth Waiting For Read online

  Fortunately, the transition hadn’t been difficult for him. He had a few friends who lived in the area, and Julia had plenty of room in her four bedroom house to accommodate him. As the only one of her siblings who wasn’t married, she became the default choice for housing their father.

  “Morning,” he mumbled, engrossed in the paper. She wondered why he even bothered to wear his glasses since he always looked over them instead of through them.

  “What do you have there? The classifieds?” Julia reached for the canister of coffee. If only someone would invent a way to administer it intravenously, she wouldn’t have to bother with this morning ritual.

  “Mhmm. I’m trying to see if I can find an apartment.”

  Julia’s hand halted mid-scoop. “Find an apartment?” She stared at her father’s bent head. His short afro was peppered with gray hairs. “What for?”

  “To move into, of course.” He looked up at her, frowning as if she overlooked the obvious.

  “But why would you need an apartment? You live here with me.”

  “I know. But I can’t live here forever. You’re a young woman. You need your privacy.” He lowered his head again and then circled one of the ads.

  Julia grew silent. She dropped in the grounds, added water, and then turned on the coffee maker.

  She’d had no idea her father intended to move out. “I don’t know why you would want to leave. There’s plenty of space for the two of us. You practically have the second floor to yourself.”

  Randolph set the paper aside and took a bite of his sandwich. He chewed slowly and swallowed, watching Julia, who leaned against the edge of the counter.

  “You’re thirty-five and unmarried. Do you think having your father living with you will increase your chances of getting a husband? I don’t think so.”

  Julia sighed heavily. Not this conversation again. “I can’t believe you’re moving out because you think it’s going to prevent me from getting a husband. I told you already, I’m busy with work, and I don’t need a husband. I can take care of myself. This isn’t the 1940’s. Women don’t have to get married to have a secure financial future. We get that for ourselves nowadays.”

  “You’re busy with work because you don’t have a husband,” Randolph said. “Once you get a man in your life, it’ll change your whole perspective.”

  “Why don’t you let me worry about that?”

  “You’re obviously not worried about it. Someone needs to, or you’ll end up an old maid.”

  Randolph took another bite of his sandwich, oblivious to the shaft of pain slicing through Julia at his carelessly spoken words. Being thirty-five and single in a family of five children wasn’t easy—not when everyone else had a spouse and kids.

  She turned her back on her father, finding relief in the comforting aroma of the percolating coffee. “Marriage isn’t for everyone,” she said in a flat tone.

  “Is that your way of telling me it’s not for you?” her father asked. “Because that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, and you’re a bright girl.”

  Her father’s brutal honesty was legendary among the Newman family members. Without his wife around to tame his tongue, his frankness was downright lethal. Julia knew better than to be offended. He spoke his mind, like he always did.

  She retrieved two cups from the cabinet. “All I’m saying is, you don’t have to move out in order for me to find a husband, okay?” She poured the coffee and took one cup to her father. She sat down on the stool in front of him with the other cup cradled in both hands. Fortunately, a mouthful of sandwich kept him silent a little longer. “I want you here,” she told him, looking into his eyes.

  Randolph shook his head. “No can do. You need your privacy, and so do I.”

  Julia’s head snapped back. “What do you need privacy for?”

  “What do you mean, what do I need privacy for?” Randolph sat up straight and puffed out his chest. “I’m a man. I have needs.”

  “Oh, no, don’t. I don’t want to hear this.”

  “I’m in my sixties. I’m not dead.”

  Julia lifted her hand, palm out, to halt further discussion on the topic. “Got it. Got it.” Few children would be comfortable having this type of conversation with a parent, and she was not one of them.

  “You young people think you’re the only ones who want to have sexual relations? Well, you’re not. Old folks like sex, too. It’s not like we can’t remember what it’s like, and as long as the organs still function, we want to use ’em.”

  “Dad, I don’t want to know anything about your—” Julia shook her head, “—sex life.”

  “I don’t see why not. How do you think the five of you came to be? There’s no stork, you know. Your mom and I had sex. Sex, Julia. It’s not a dirty word.”

  Since he persisted in this line of conversation, Julia decided to put a stop to it. She leaned toward her father and looked him in the eye. “Dad,” she began in a soft voice, “if you don’t stop talking about sex, I’m going to take the rest of your Egg McMuffin, and the bag it came in, and stuff it in your mouth.”

  Silence pervaded the room as they stared at each other. Long seconds passed before they both erupted into laughter.

  “I can’t believe you’d threaten your old man like that,” Randolph said, laughing so hard he brushed a tear from the corner of his eye.

  Julia rested her palm against her father’s leathery cheek. “You’re a horrible, horrible man,” she said with a smile, “but I don’t want you to leave. We didn’t fly you all the way down here only to force you to move out after a few months. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”

  Randolph lifted his hand and flattened his daughter’s palm against his face. His smile drifted away. “I know, Sugar Plum, but you do need your privacy. And it breaks my heart to see you let that—”

  “Don’t!” Julia pulled back, jerking away from her father. She definitely would not have that conversation with him. For some reason her family couldn’t accept she had moved on. Sure, the past hurt scarred her, but it didn’t define who she was today. It only made her stronger.

  She slid off the stool and set her cup on the counter. She stared out the window down the street and watched the neighbors’ son get dragged behind his collie. It looked like the dog was taking the child for a walk instead of the other way around.

  Any other time, the sight would have been enough to make her laugh. Despite cutting off her father’s words, the heart-wrenching agony of painful memories filled her chest. She swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth. Why did he have to bring up the past?

  “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  She didn’t want to think about the past hurt, but her father brought the memory to the forefront. She always did her best not to think about what had happened. “You didn’t. I’m fine,” she lied.

  Another child from the neighborhood ran over to pet the collie. The two children began to jump and run around, playing with the energetic dog. It hurt to think she was destined to always watch other people’s children playing and running. Never her own.

  “I’m not so sure. In the three years since your breakup, I’ve never heard you mention you’re dating anyone else. I even asked Simone about it a few times, and she said there’s no one.”

  Julia poured her coffee down the drain. Her sister never mentioned that he’d inquired about her love life. “You’re worried about nothing. Yes, it was hard at first. Eight years is a long time to be with someone and then find out…” Her voice faltered. She swallowed down the pain that posed a threat to her composure. “Find out he got a nineteen-year-old girl pregnant. In the future, you don’t have to grill Simone about my private life. If you have questions, I’ll tell you the truth, and the truth is I don’t have time to date.” She doubted her father believed the words any more than she did.

  Work distracted her and kept the pain and disappointment at bay. On a self-imposed “sabbatical” from men, she had decided she wanted to be alone for awh
ile because she needed to heal. She needed to get tougher so she wouldn’t ever get hurt again like she had been in her last relationship.

  No one was allowed to mention the name of her ex-fiancé. All her friends and family knew to refer to him simply as “he” or “him.” It was ridiculous to still feel so much pain but sometimes, when she was all alone, it was like a wound that wouldn’t heal, no matter how much salve was put on it.

  Her father’s gravelly voice grew even rougher and lowered to a whisper. “You’re letting him win, you know.”

  “I’m the winner.” Julia tore her gaze from the scene outside the window and turned to face her father. “He did me a favor. Without a relationship to distract me, I worked harder and dedicated myself to my job in a way I hadn’t before. Look at me now.” She spread her arms wide to indicate all she owned and had accomplished. “Three years later, I have everything I could ever want. I have a beautiful home, a Mercedes sitting in the driveway, and a great career. I’ll be making partner soon. Partner, Dad, at one of the top fifty venture capitalist firms in the country. That’s quite an accomplishment for a thirty-five-year-old woman. And I did it all by myself. Without a man.”

  Randolph nodded. He wouldn’t look her in the eye. “I’m very proud of you,” he said. Then he picked up his paper and started looking at the classifieds again.

  ****

  Julia fell heavily into the chair in the corner of her bedroom which served as a makeshift office. She sat there, staring blindly at the computer screen. She had work to do, but she couldn’t concentrate. The brief conversation with her father preyed on her mind.

  After the humiliating end to her last relationship, she’d been so crushed and disillusioned, she’d lost interest in dating. Well, she dated, but never seriously. She was only serious about work. She held every man at arm’s length, and they knew right up front that next to her family, work was the most important thing in her life. Period.

  The time and energy put into her career had paid off—unlike putting her time and energy into a dead-end relationship.

  Julia turned on the computer and the screen flickered to life. She should thank her ex for helping her to focus on her career. Sure it hurt. Spending eight years with a man, only to have the relationship die because of infidelity, was a bitter pill to swallow.

  Looking at it objectively, she got off lucky. What if she’d married the jerk, had kids, and ended up having her life intertwined with his, only to find out later he was a liar and a cheater?

  “Calm down, Julia,” she said to herself.

  He actually did her a favor. Maybe one day she would look him up and send him a thank-you card.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Sunday morning Julia had an epiphany as she neared the third mile on her treadmill. In all honesty, she didn’t need the office downstairs. Instead of working out of a corner of the master bedroom, she could turn one of the spare bedrooms into an office. When her nieces and nephews visited, they could continue to watch television in the great room. She could improve the sound system in there and maybe even install a screen for watching movies.

  She would finish the basement, but instead of an office suite, she would turn it into an apartment for her father. That way she could keep him close, but he would have the privacy he craved and thought she needed.

  Five minutes later, Julia stepped off the treadmill. It was still early, so she figured she would leave Freddie a message to call her back later to discuss the revision to her plans.

  “Hello?” Freddie surprised her when he answered. Filled with the fog of early morning sleep, his voice reminded her of the comfortable warmth of a thick down blanket.

  “Oh no, did I wake you?”

  “Ms. Newman?” he asked in a more alert voice.

  “Yes, it’s Julia,” she corrected. “I’m sorry I called so early, but I didn’t expect you to answer the phone. I was going to leave you a voicemail.”

  “That’s no problem.” She heard him yawn. “How can I help you?”

  She imagined lying next to him in bed. His rugged jaw shadowed with morning stubble, his bare chest just above the sheets, his curly hair free and rumpled, hanging loosely on his tan shoulders.

  Taking a steadying breath, she shoved aside the image and silently chided herself for the unclean thoughts. She barely knew the man.

  “I’ve changed my plans for the basement,” she said.

  “Oh?”

  Julia explained the changes she wanted to make.

  “Shouldn’t be a problem,” Freddie said. “Even with a full kitchen, the timeline will be the same.”

  “Actually, I’ll need you to speed up the renovations. My father’s birthday is in four weeks, and I want to give him the keys for his birthday. I also need this done quickly before he does something crazy like sign a lease at an apartment complex. I’ll have enough trouble as it is keeping this a surprise while at the same time trying to convince him not to sign anything.”

  “Four weeks . . . will be pushing it,” Freddie said hesitantly. “I’d have to start tomorrow, and we would have to work some nights to get it all done in time.”

  “Whatever it takes is fine,” Julia said, her voice brisk. “Money’s not an issue, so if you need to charge me a premium, I understand. What’s important to me is having the apartment ready in four weeks for my father. Is that doable?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Great! If you get me the estimate today, I’ll sign off on it, and you can start tomorrow.”

  ****

  Freddie and his crew of two showed up early the next morning. He introduced the men to Julia and her father and then disappeared down the stairs. She didn’t see Freddie again until the fourth night after the renovations started. Driving up, she saw his truck parked on the side of the house with him bent over the open hood. She climbed from the car after grabbing her briefcase and bottle of Coke.

  “Freddie?” She had a good view of his denim-clad bottom. Very nice.

  His head popped up and he looked over his shoulder. “Hi, Julia.” Motion sensor lights illuminated the front and back of the house, but the sloped yard on the side remained dark.

  “What’s wrong with your truck?”

  He shook his head in frustration. “Nothing that can’t be fixed. I’ll be out of your way in no time.”

  “You’re not in my way.” Julia eased toward him, the heels of her pumps sinking into the soft ground with each step.

  He frowned at her, using a black flashlight to guide her steps in the grass. “Be careful. You’ll get dirty.”

  Julia waved away his concern with the hand holding the soda. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong? Do you need a lift somewhere?”

  “She’s old and every now and again she acts up.”

  Julia peered at the dusty interior filled with tubes, machinery, and wires. “Have you thought about investing in a new truck?”

  His lips narrowed into a thin line, and she wished right away she hadn’t said the words. Only after the question left her mouth did she realize how it sounded. She could go out and buy a new car when she got tired of the old one, but not everyone had the same means. Her only excuse was that after a long day, she wasn’t thinking as clearly as she should.

  He shined the light on the battery. “I’m pretty sure this is the culprit this time.” She was glad he chose to ignore her faux pas.

  Gray matter clung to the battery. “Looks disgusting.” She wrinkled her nose.

  “Yeah, I haven’t been very attentive. Never let your battery corrode like this, or eventually you’ll have to do what I’m about to do so you can get it going again.”

  “What are you about to do?”

  “Clean off this ‘disgusting’ stuff.” He pulled a wrench from the open toolbox next to him.

  With the light in one hand, he reached toward the battery with the other that held the wrench.

  “If it’ll make things easier, I can hold the light for you.” Even though she was tired, she couldn’t imagi
ne leaving him out here, struggling to do a two-handed job with one hand. She placed her briefcase and bottle in the grass. When his gaze swung toward her, his frowning face prompted her to ask, “What’s wrong?”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “You’re not used to people being nice?” One of her brows hitched upward.

  “It’s not…” She continued to stare, forcing him to finish the thought. “I want you to be careful. I wouldn’t want you to chip a nail. I’m sure you spent a lot of money to have them done.”

  His words sounded more like an accusation than a statement. Maybe she deserved it after her thoughtless comment, but manicured nails didn’t make her a prima donna.