Surrender to Love Read online

  “Where else?” Charles jokingly asked, never taking his eyes off the approaching sunset.

  It had always been this way with his father. He cherished every sunrise and sunset. Carson recalled his father telling him that after he’d returned from the war, he’d vowed he would cherish everything most people usually took for granted.

  It was true. A lot of people, Carson knew, never took the time to see the beauty that surrounded them. It was something that Carson had taken to heart as well, which was why he could honestly look back on his life with Karen with little regret. They had, after all, treasured every moment they had together.

  It was as if they’d known from the beginning that they were meant for each other. Since their initial meeting in grade school, the only time they’d been apart was when Carson had left for college. The years apart had been hard, and on the same evening of his college graduation, he was on a plane heading back home.

  Of course, he had received a heavy berating by his father, who claimed that he’d spent all that money on his education only for Carson to be a simple mechanic. However, Carson enjoyed the job. He considered it a good, honest living. What more could a man ask for?

  “An interesting woman you found there,” his father said out of the blue.

  Carson felt an odd mixture of pride and pleasure in his father’s remark. “Yes, she is.”

  “Not to mention beautiful.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” He bobbed his head and kept his eyes glued to the disappearing sun.

  “I can see why your sister and mother are trying to play matchmakers.”

  “Don’t you start in on me, too, Pop.” He noted his father’s careless shrug from the corners of his eyes. However, through the expanding silence that followed, Carson found that he wanted to talk more about the mysterious Julia.

  “I get the feeling that she’s hiding something.”

  Charles stopped rocking in his chair. “Do you, now? What makes you say that?”

  It was Carson’s turn to shrug. “Other than that she refuses to give her last name, or that on the night I met her she wore a wedding ring and now she doesn’t, and in her eyes…”

  Another silence enveloped the men before Charles prompted, “Yes?”

  “Nothing.” Carson shook off the thought and drew in a deep breath. It was more likely that he imagined the vulnerability he read in Julia’s eyes.

  “According to your mother, Julia admitted that she was separated from her husband,” Charles offered as an excuse.

  “Which explains why she’s made no attempt to call him since she’s been here.”

  Charles began rocking in his chair again, and for a spell the men allowed themselves to be lost in their thoughts.

  Then Charles sprang another question. “So what’s really wrong with her car?”

  Carson chanced a glance in his father’s direction, only to see him pretending to still be interested in the skyline.

  “Most likely the alternator,” Carson admitted.

  Charles chuckled under his breath. “Hardly sounds like the kind of thing that would keep a woman stranded, don’t you think?”

  “Exactly why I haven’t bothered to tell her the truth.”

  “Smart boy.”

  The men shared a conspiratorial smile before bursting into laughter.

  Throughout dinner, Julia sneaked more than her fair share of peeks at Carson. A few times, when Lilly caught her covert glances, Julia was singed with embarrassment. Still, she couldn’t help but remain intrigued by the man.

  She also noticed that whenever he spoke to someone, he made sure he gave that person his undivided attention. And at the moment that someone was Sheri Higginbotham.

  To Julia’s horror, even Sheri had caught a few of her cursory glances at Carson.

  The twelve guests seated at the table fell into easy conversation with one another, including Robin and Bobbi, while Julia felt alienated. Of course, she’d placed herself in this predicament by refusing to share any information about herself. But what other choice did she have?

  “So, Julia.” Rick straightened in his chair to address her from the other end of the table. “What do you think of our fair town so far?”

  The rest of the table abandoned their conversations to tune in to hear what her response would be, including Robin.

  “I think it’s a wonderful place. It’s small and peaceful.” She glanced at Carson again. “And the people seem to be a part of one big family.”

  Carson met her gaze and smiled.

  Everyone else bobbed their heads in agreement.

  “I hear that you’ll be staying with us a little longer than you’d intended,” Sheri inquired with a note of disdain.

  “According to my mechanic,” Julia said simply, and reached for her glass of tea.

  “And what does your husband have to say about this unexpected delay in our ‘wonderful’ town?”

  The woman might as well have punched her, for all the pain her words caused Julia. What should she do? What should she say?

  “We haven’t called him yet,” Robin took it upon herself to answer.

  Julia laid her hand atop her daughter’s and hoped she’d pick up her cue not to divulge further information—especially that Julia was divorced.

  It worked. Robin lowered her head, then continued to eat.

  “Oh, that’s right. Lilly said that you and your husband are separated at the moment. How unfortunate.”

  Julia glared at the woman with clenched teeth.

  “Sheri, that’s enough,” Carson admonished with a fierce look of disapproval.

  “What?” She feigned innocence.

  Robin pushed her plate away, then whispered to her mother, “I’m full. Can I be excused?”

  “Yes, you may.” Julia removed the linen napkin from her lap, wiped the corners of her mouth, and tossed it onto her half-eaten dinner. “In fact, I think I’ll join you.”

  The other guests begged Julia to reconsider, but she could not be dissuaded. Instead, she bade everyone good night and disappeared from the room.

  Sheri squirmed beneath everyone’s accusing glares. “What did I do?”

  Carson removed his own napkin and tossed it onto his plate, then stood from the table.

  “Where are you going?” she asked with a look of alarm.

  He smote her with a burning glare. “I’m going to go and apologize for your behavior,” he said, then excused himself from the room.

  With long, purposeful strides, Carson caught up with Julia just before she ascended the staircase. “Julia, may I talk with you for a moment?”

  Both she and her daughter stopped and turned to look at him.

  “Alone,” he added.

  Julia gave him a long, evaluating stare before turning to Robin. “Go on upstairs and get ready for bed. I’ll be up in a minute.”

  Robin hesitated.

  “Go on,” Julia urged.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Robin said, then raced up the stairs.

  Carson moved over to the banister. “Please accept my apology for Sheri’s behavior back there.”

  “Why?” she asked, crossing her arms defensively across her chest.

  “Why?”

  “Yes, why?” Julia insisted. “Shouldn’t she be the one apologizing—or do you always speak for her?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Then I don’t accept the apology.” She turned and started up the stairs.

  “Wait,” he called after her, and smiled when she faced him again. “You’re something else. Do you know that?”

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  “Uh…” He scratched at his temple. “Would it be too forward of me if I asked you to join me for a walk?”

  “What would your girlfriend say?” she challenged.

  “Sheri is definitely not my girlfriend.”

  “You might want to tell her that,” she said, then allowed herself to smile at his obvious discomfort.

  “All right. I’ll go and do that right now. Wait r
ight here.” He turned.

  “I was just joking,” Julia confessed, descending the staircase.

  Carson faced her again with his eternal smile. “So how about that walk?” He offered his arm.

  She studied him for a moment with a list of reasons for why she shouldn’t go. Instead she slid her arm through his and said, “How can I refuse an offer like that?”

  Chapter 15

  Julia walked arm in arm with Carson as she marveled at the moonlit sky, while the heady combination of honeysuckle and roses hung wondrously on the night air. Why did it seem as though the stars were brighter here in this small corner of the world? Even the crickets’ songs sounded more like complicated scales of compositions than annoying chirps.

  Carson leaned toward her. “A penny for your thoughts.”

  She shook her head against his arm. “Don’t waste your change.”

  “Come on. It can’t be all that bad.”

  She looked up into his midnight eyes and grew uncomfortable with his close scrutiny. “It’s nothing.” She released his arm and slid her hands into the pockets of her jeans.

  To his credit, Carson dropped the subject.

  “I can see why you love this place. The peacefulness alone is priceless,” she appraised.

  “Yeah. I learned that when I left for college at UCLA.”

  “In California?”

  He nodded, then smirked at her look of surprise. “Bet you didn’t know there’s more to being a mechanic than knowing how to wield a socket wrench.”

  “No clue.”

  “Where did you go to med school?” he asked.

  Julia hesitated, then answered truthfully. “Emory University.”

  “Impressive,” he complimented.

  “Thank you.”

  Silence once again stretched between them, and minutes later they stood in front of what looked like the only place of business still open for the evening.

  “‘Harry’s Pool Hall,’” she read the sign above the door before looking over at Carson. “Do you play?”

  He shrugged. “A little.”

  Julia lifted a disbelieving brow. “Said the spider to the fly.”

  He hung his head for being caught in a lie. “What about you?”

  “A little,” she mimicked his reply.

  “Then let’s rack them up,” Carson said, slapping and rubbing his hands together.

  Inside, the place was almost deserted, which, according to Carson, was normal on a Sunday night. She glanced around and noticed a couple of young girls crooning over the karaoke machine. A small crowd of men was gathered around the suspended television set, watching a ball game.

  “Are you a fan?” Carson asked as he racked the balls.

  “No, but David was.” Julia jerked at her own careless remark and peered over her shoulder at Carson.

  “David. You’ve never told me his name before.”

  She swallowed in the hope of stopping the warning bells ringing in her ears. “If it’s all the same to you, I don’t want to talk about him.”

  He held her gaze, then nodded. “If that’s what you want.”

  “Thank you.” She expelled a long breath and selected a cue from the wall. All the while she felt the weight of his stare on her back, but when she turned to face him, he was busy waving the waitress over.

  “What would you like?” he asked Julia.

  “A Coke on the rocks.”

  “Make that two, Sandy,” he said, then turned back to Julia. “You’re not a drinker?”

  “Well, I am walking tonight,” she sassed. “You want to break?”

  “Nah. Ladies first.”

  “Aren’t you the gentleman?” She leaned over the table and practiced sliding the cue through the bridge of her fingers when a thought occurred to her. “Are you a betting man?”

  Carson’s brows shot up at the inquiry. “How much are we talking about?”

  “My car.”

  He laughed good-naturedly. “Come again?”

  “If I win, you fix my car for free.”

  He blinked at the bold proposal. “And if I win?”

  “You won’t.” She stood with an air of confidence she hadn’t felt in a long time.

  “But if I do?”

  She thought for a long moment and realized that she had nothing to bargain with.

  “How about,” Carson said suddenly, “if I win, you tell me your full name and where you’re from?”

  Julia’s heart plunged to her stomach. “I—I—”

  “What’s the matter? Are the stakes too high?” he taunted like a preschooler.

  She studied him with doubt. This wasn’t something that she should make a game out of, she knew, but she was tempted.

  He shrugged. “Then I guess we don’t have a bet, Julia.”

  “You’re on,” she surprised herself by saying.

  “And I want the truth,” he emphasized by holding her gaze.

  Julia leaned back over the pool table and forced a smile onto her face. “Prepare to be humiliated,” she warned, then broke the balls with a resonating whack.

  From her break, three striped balls raced into the side pockets. She looked up and reveled in Carson’s surprised look.

  “So how good a player are you?” he finally thought to ask.

  “I was state champion ninety-two to ninety-six.”

  “You don’t think that’s something that you should have shared with me?”

  She took another shot and the number two ball flew into a corner pocket. “Not if you don’t think it’s something you should have asked first.”

  Laughing, he propped himself against a wall and waited for her to miss a shot.

  The waitress returned with their drinks, and they moaned when she asked if they’d like to order anything to eat.

  “My waist is expanding as we talk,” Julia remarked before following through on the next shot. Another one of her balls deserted the table.

  “Am I ever going to get a chance to shoot?” he asked with fake irritation.

  “Not if I have anything to do about it.”

  And true to her promise, Julia won the game without Carson’s so much as stepping up to the table.

  “I was hustled,” he said, frowning.

  She laughed as she reached for her Coke. “A deal is a deal,” she singsonged.

  “So it is.” He stood. “How about another one?”

  “Sure.”

  “Any bets?” he asked with hopeful eyes.

  “None that I can think of.”

  “That’s so wrong.”

  “How come I get the feeling that you wouldn’t have complained if I’d lost?”

  “I would have taken it easy on you.”

  “Right.”

  Carson gathered the balls from the pockets to rack them. “I guess I’ll have to wait until you trust me to share your full name.”

  “I’m afraid you’re in for a long wait.”

  “Just in case I haven’t told you, patience is my middle name.”

  “Somehow I don’t doubt that.” She walked back to the table.

  Carson stopped her. “If it’s all the same with you, I think I’ll break this time. I would like to actually participate in a game tonight.”

  She laughed as she gestured to the table. “Be my guest.”

  As it turned out, she was lucky that she had started the last game, because Carson proved to be as good a player as she—missing only on the final shot for the eight ball.

  Julia cleared her balls from the table with the grace of a champion, then sank the eight ball to declare another victory.

  “You’re no fun,” Carson complained, but started racking the balls again.

  “You’re just a sore loser.”

  “True. This is true.”

  They shared a laugh, and their fragile camaraderie deepened. By the fourth game Julia’s luck had faded a bit, and she started missing shots and scratched more than she cared to.

  “I knew I’d wear you down sooner or la
ter,” Carson boasted. To his dismay, his own game went downhill. In the end, he lost when he scratched on the eight ball.

  “Aaagh!” He dropped to his knees and pretended to weep.

  Julia drew her head back with a burst of laughter. His shenanigans made it easy for her to forget her troubles; his smile made it easy for her to forget herself.

  Paul roamed the aisles at Blockbuster, searching for something that halfway appealed to him. Romantic comedies were out of the question; they’d only remind him of Sarah. Action-adventure films were usually too loud and unrealistic. In the end, he decided against renting a movie and for picking up some Chinese food.

  Exiting the video store with his hands buried deep in his pockets, he hardly noticed the woman sliding tapes into the drop box.

  “Regis?”

  He turned toward the hauntingly familiar voice and was pleasantly surprised to see agent Virginia Jacobson smiling back at him. “Well, well. Funny running into you here,” he said.

  “I’ll say. A movie buff, are you?”

  “Not really. I thought it would be a nice change, but I couldn’t decide on anything.” Was he babbling? He couldn’t tell.

  She nodded, then looked across the parking lot.

  Paul followed her gaze to an emerald green Honda Civic, where a cute, young girl sat in the passenger seat. “Your daughter?”

  “I wish. Actually, she’s my niece,” Virginia said with a butterfly smile.

  He nodded. “She looks a lot like you,” he complimented, sensing that it would please her.

  Virginia’s smile grew brighter. “You think so?”

  “Definitely.”

  They stood smiling at each other before Virginia gathered the courage to say, “I wanted to thank you for putting me on the Newman-Mercer case. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.”

  Paul started to answer, but then took in his surroundings and stepped out of the way of a woman who wanted to enter the video store. “You’re more than welcome.”

  She nodded in understanding, but looked disappointed.

  “Would you like to have lunch sometime?” Where had that question come from?

  She hesitated, seemingly taken aback by the proposal. “I think I would like that very much,” she said.

  He smiled. “How about tomorrow at one?” he asked.