Chasing Julia (Rhode Island Romance #2) Read Free

that
comment. His expression went flat. “It’ll be a tough choice for her, but
sometimes you have to sacrifice sentimentality for the sake of practical design.”
    The scene switched
to an interview with Willa. The drawing was on the table in front of her. “I was
very surprised when I opened the front door,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t
expecting the brothers to be so…young… They
seemed very competent. Tony asked some good questions. Joe seems to like old
furniture.”
    “It sounds like
keeping that wall unit intact is important to you,” the faceless interviewer
opined.
    “Yes. I didn’t
realize until that moment just how important it would be.” Willa’s voice was
shaky. “I’m not sure how they’ll be able to work around it. I’m really looking
forward to seeing the designs they come up with.”
    Cut to commercial.
    “How many times did
the camera zoom in on his face since the last commercial?” Hannah asked. “I got
distracted.”
    “Twice.”
    Hannah poured
another shot for both of them. “Bottom’s up.” They each threw one shot back and
then another in quick succession.
    Julia swiped her
hand across her mouth. She was beginning to feel slightly drunk. Maybe more
than slightly. Her head was buzzing. Her heart felt numb. But her heart had
felt numb since May. Nothing new there. She asked Hannah to pour another shot.
    The next few scenes
moved at a quicker pace. Willa and her friend Collette went to Joe and Tony’s
office to take a look at the designs. Julia’s hearing was a little fuzzy as she
watched Willa offer the guys a tin of cookies. A voiceover obscured whatever
conversation was taking place as the announcer mentioned in a jovial tone that
Willa had made cookies, but that she might take them back if she didn’t like
the designs the guys had come up with. Everyone sat down at a conference table.
Then the screen split, showing the 3-D designs on one half and Willa and
Collette’s reactions on the other.
    Hannah guffawed
when Collette said “Holy Crap” on camera. “That lady’s a riot.”
    “I’ve met her,”
Julia said, her voice sounding slurred to her own ears. “She and her friends
are all the same. A little nosy and loud. But nice.”
    The camera was now
focused on a conversation between Joe and Willa. He was promising her that he
would come up with some way to keep a part of the wall unit and Willa’s happy memories
of her aunt in the kitchen. A close-up of his solemn face as Willa agreed to
his plans faded to an interview with Willa: “It wasn’t an easy decision. But
Joe promised that he’d keep my aunt’s memory in that room. I believe him… I can
tell when someone is lying to me. Joe doesn’t lie.”
    Except to
himself , Julia thought, bitterness
showing its ugly claws.
    She must have
spoken the words out loud. Hannah flung her arm around Julia’s shoulders.
“We’re halfway through. You want to keep watching?”
    Julia nodded her
head before resting it on her friend’s shoulder.
    Now it was
demolition day. Hannah laughed at images of the petite and plump Collette in
her goggles helping Joe tear out some kitchen cabinets. And there was Willa
swinging a sledgehammer at the dining room wall. She looked angry. Tony
interrupted her work and asked her to come into the kitchen to see the progress
Joe and Collette had made.
    Julia lifted her
head from Hannah’s shoulder and perked up her ears. Something had changed
between Joe and Willa since the meeting in the office. There was a new kind of
tension in the air, so palpable Julia could almost feel it. Joe was explaining
that he’d been able to keep the wall unit intact and asking if Willa would like
to have it installed in her garage.
    “Why?” Willa asked,
her voice curt. “I don’t need a cabinet in the garage.”
    “Storage?”
    “This wood is too
pretty to be in a garage. You said you’d make something out of the material.”
    “Yes, I did. I just
wanted to check with you first.”
    “That’s