Given the circumstances surrounding her nephew’s birth, she hadn’t met Scott’s son until he was over a month old. It wasn’t going to be the case this time. “I’ll see you there.”
Chapter 18
Tuesday afternoon, Aaron walked back up toward his house for the second time that day. Hoping to catch her before she headed over to the dance school or went out to take care of some other errand, he’d walked down to Juliette’s cottage around nine o’clock. When he didn’t see her car, Aaron assumed he would see her when she
came back, and he returned home to work—or try to work. His mind had other ideas, much like it had ever since Juliette left his hotel suite. Regardless, he stayed in his office. And while he hadn’t accomplished much, it’d allowed him to avoid his sister, which he’d been doing as much as possible since coming home from Boston.
Either his expression had given him away or Candace had developed mind-reading abilities because she’d known something was wrong when he walked in the kitchen early Sunday afternoon. To her credit, she’d let him share that not only had he put his and Juliette’s relationship on hold but his reason for doing so. Once he finished, though, she held nothing back.
She’d been giving him dirty looks or reminding him what an idiot he was every time she saw him since then. Tonight over dinner wouldn’t be any different. Maybe instead of joining Candace and Tiegan, he should sit on Juliette’s steps and wait for her to come home.
If he didn’t eat for several hours, it wasn’t like he’d starve. And if he hung around down there, he’d be guaranteed to see Juliette tonight. Aaron stopped in the driveway and considered the two options.
Mother nature made the decision for him. Lightning streaked across the sky, and the dark clouds that had hovered all day opened up.
“I thought you were still in your office,” Candace said as she put a bowl of salad in the middle of the table. “As soon as Mom gets here, we can eat.” With the entire campground open for the season, his mom spent a lot more time over in the office and less time here.
Sitting down on a barstool, he grabbed a slice of garlic bread. His sister wasn’t Juliette’s keeper. They were friends, though, and soon they’d be coworkers, so she might know Juliette’s plans for the day and, more importantly, when she’d be back. Then again, if he mentioned Juliette, he risked another lecture where Candace told him what a jerk he was.
Right now, he’d sit through her lecture if it got him the information he wanted.
“I’ve gone down to the cottage twice today, but Juliette hasn’t been there. Did she spend the day at the dance school?” She wanted to get it open as soon as possible. Maybe she’d spent the day setting up her office or something.
“Nope.” Candace took a slice of garlic bread from the basket as well.
“Do you know what she was up to today?” Maybe she’d gone furniture shopping. She closed on her new house next week, and she didn’t plan to keep the furnishings the home came with.
“Nope,” she answered and then proceeded to tear the crust off her bread so she could eat it first—something she’d done for as long as he could remember.
Candace knew more than she was letting on. “Is there anything useful you can tell me?”
“She never came back after you dumped her.”
A two-hundred-pound heavyweight boxer punched him the chest.
She is buying a house here. The reminder did nothing to help ease the pain. Most people would be hurt financially if they purchased a home and never moved in. Not Juliette. The same was true about the dance school. She could never return to Avon and not suffer any repercussions.
“I… never mind.” There was no point in telling Candace he hadn’t dumped Juliette. “Do you know where she went?”
“Maybe.”
Strangling his sister wouldn’t help, but man, he wanted to right now. “C’mon, Candace. I need to talk to her, and it’s not a conversation I want to have over the phone. If you know where she went, please tell me.”
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“Will the conversation include you telling Juliette you’re a first-class moron and getting on your knees and asking her to give you another chance? Or are you going to tell her you don’t want anything to do with her?”
He’d get on his knees and beg if he had to, but he hoped it didn’t come to that. “What do you think?”
Instead of answering, she crossed her arms and studied him. “She went to New York. I’m sure she gave Mom her home address when she reserved the cottage.”
Yeah, his mom more than likely had it on the computer, but he wasn’t comfortable getting the address that way. He didn’t want Candace calling Juliette and asking for it either, because she’d want to know why she wanted it. He’d prefer not to have Juliette tell Candace she didn’t want to see him and refuse to give it to her. Although, even if she did, it wouldn’t stop him from asking his mom for the address and trying to see her anyway.
“Do you have either Holly or Mrs. Lambert’s numbers?”
“Yeah.”