“We looked at the website together when we were signing the divorce papers. I told her about you. She was really impressed.”
Julia’s face went blank. She turned away from him and stared out of the window.
Max swore. “Jules, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. And I know it sounds like Bonnie and I were sitting around gossiping about you but we weren’t. It wasn’t like that.”
Julia said nothing. He hadn’t considered how Julia would feel knowing he’d stepped in and engineered part of her success. He’d been selfish and clueless. Again. Julia’s chin trembled and Max wished he could touch her but he was too afraid to try.
“Baby, I’m so sorry…”
She curled up in her seat. “Take me home, Max.”
Chapter 24
JULIArefused to leave her bed. She huddled down in her sheets, unwilling to engage with the non-blanketed world. Ash had a shift at the hospital so there was no one to see her lapse into hermitage. Which suited her just fine.
Max Connor knew she scrawled fan-girl pictures of him, he was the reason DMX had noticed Scarlet Woman, and a little digging into theiranonymousdonation proved he was the one who’d invested a thousand bucks in their game. The thought of all that money made her stomach crawl. When he’d dropped her off at her house, Max hadn’t begged her to stay. Instead he’d opened the door for her and told her he loved her and that he hoped she could forgive him. Julia hadn’t replied as she ran up the garden path, hadn’t even looked back. He’d texted her a couple of times since then. Sweet things like “thinking about you” and “wish we were still locked in a room together so you’d have to talk to me.” Later he sent her a gif of blue-eyed tiger cubs wrestling, which was so adorable it somehow made Julia feel worse.
At five o’clock, Tiff rang and Julia explained her new stance on bed-living. Her partner was shockingly blasé about Max’s hand in their success. “I thought something was up when Jeremy asked to see all your print designs for Eli,” she said thoughtfully.
Julia spat out a mouthful of toast. “Did you send them?”
“Yeah, of course I did. Jeremy thought they were brilliant, although he was kind of laughing on the phone.”
“Laughing, like maybe it’s funny to see someone he knows turned into a sexy cartoon?”
“Well, yeah…but you have to admit itispretty funny.”
Julia scowled. “I admit nothing. Except that I’m never leaving this bed again.”
“You’re being completely ridiculous.”
“Or am I being exactly the right amount of ridiculous?”
“Are you eating cheese toasties in bed?”
Julia let dignified silence be her answer.
Tiff groaned. “For fuck’s sake, Jules, get over it. Your boyfriend swung us some cash and teamed us up with a major company. It’s so bloody romantic and amazing you’re acting like he’s a fucking serial killer.”
Julia wormed deeper beneath her covers. “So you don’t think it’s at all embarrassing that he knows I’ve been fangirling out on him for years? That his ex-wife knows?”
Tiff laughed. “Maybe it’s a little embarrassing but come on, Bennett, that’s what love is about. Looking like a dick.”
“I don’t claim to know a lot about love, Tiffany, but I’m pretty sure it’s not about looking like a dick.”
Tiff snapped her nicotine gum. “Jules, I love you but you have weird privacy issues. And romance issues. And possibly daddy issues.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Just because you lived in a caravan park when you were a kid—”
“It was government housing. There were no wheels involved.”
“Whatever, your childhood was a bit crap but you need to stop freaking out that everyone you know is secretly trying to betray you.”
Deep within her crumb-covered sheets, Julia frowned. “When have I ever done that?”
“Remember when that voice actress was using our photocopier and you thought she was trying to steal our designs and she was uploading nude photos to her boyfriend?”