I let out a whoosh of breath at what is possibly that mosthonest thing I have ever said, and it’s not lost on me that Asher is the one I said it to.
He just smiles at me and nods, “Then that’s all that matters.”
Then he slides his arm around my waist, pulling me close.
“Come on, Juliette. Let’s go see some ecosystems.”
Chapter Sixteen
Asher
“The Amazon Rainforest biome was for sure the coolest.”
We’re sitting in a Mexican restaurant with a table full of tacos. Hallie gave me a list of Julie’s favorite foods, and I spent some time seeking out restaurants in all the cities that we’re passing through on our way to Boulder. The way Julie’s eyes lit up when we walked into the run-down restaurant on a forgotten side street in Columbus told me Hallie was spot on, and we are sitting in front of a truly impressive array of tacos that we’re plowing our way through.
“No way.” Julie gestures at me with her taco. “It has to be the Himalayan Mountain one. All those plants that have adapted to such harsh conditions and thrived? Now that’s cool.”
That those would be her favorite plants makes me want to slide in next to her and cuddle her right up. I wonder if that’s what she’s thinking about herself. That she thrived despite the harsh conditions of the anxiety and mile-wide perfectionist streak she clearly struggles with. I wonder if it’s been this wayher whole life. I wonder if her parents or anyone she’s close to suspects that while she is frighteningly competent, organizes everyone and everything, and rarely puts a foot wrong on the outside, Julie Parker is oceans deep beneath the surface.
“Okay, I see where you’re coming from, and I can concede that all those mountain vines were fascinating. But that canopy bridge? Definitely my favorite. Makes me want to go visit a rainforest.”
“We’re just going to have to agree to disagree on this, Hot Shot.” She gives me a considering look. “Do you ever travel during the offseason?”
I gesture around us. “We’re traveling right now.”
She makes a face. “Not like this. Driving to see your family doesn’t count. I mean to somewhere exotic or tropical or interesting.”
“First of all, driving to see my family absolutely does count. And honestly, it never really occurred to me to do anything but this in the offseason.” I shrug, picking up my glass and taking a sip of water.
“I’m close to my family, and it’s harder than I expected to live so far away from them. Whenever I have the chance to see them, I take it. My first couple years in the league we would take a big trip all together every winter, but then my sisters started having babies, which made travel harder and very not vacation-like for them. So, for the past six years I’ve gone home for a few weeks once the season is over. I get to cuddle the babies and torture all my sisters and let my mom hover since she’s never happy unless she’s hovering over one of us.”
“Wait, all your sisters? How many do you have? More than the two who just had babies?”
I love that she remembers two of my sisters just had babies. She may play aloof, but Julie is paying attention, and I love that for me.
“Four.”
Julie chokes on the sip of water she was taking, and it takes her a second to pull herself together.
“You have four sisters?”
“Yep. Charlie is the oldest and the baby she just had is her fourth. Annie is next, and she just had her third. Kyla is just thirteen months younger than I am, and we were basically raised as twins, so I’m closest to her. She’s pregnant with her first baby and due next week.”
Excitement shimmers through me at the thought of being there when Kyla has her baby. I’ve missed a lot of births with my job, so I really hope that baby waits to be born until we get to Boulder. “Lucy is the youngest; she got married last winter.”
Julie starts laughing then. Like, tears rolling down her cheeks, hysterical laughter. The way it lights up her entire face punches me right in the heart. I’m mesmerized by this grinning, carefree, cackles in a taco joint side of her. There is so much of her to learn. I want to know everything.
“What’s so funny?”
“You’re the middle child with four sisters. That makes you, like, the most middle child ever. You make so much more sense to me now.”
“I might make even more sense when I tell you Charlie and Annie have seven kids between them, and they’re all girls. Kyla didn’t want to find out what she’s having, but it’ll obviously be a girl.”
“Jesus, that’s a shitload of female energy.”
“Bet your beautiful ass it is. You’ll fit right in.”
Julie takes the last bite of her taco and sits back in her seat. For the first time since we sat down, her face takes on an uncertain expression.
