“Oh.” Petula didn’t look particularly thrilled with that. “That’s good. I suppose it will come in handy when you do…things.” Clearly Petula was also struggling to come up with conversation.
Julian needed to step up his game.
“For sure. It’ll be helpful to have it as part of our rescue package. In conjunction with our diving skills, our submarine, and our airplane, we’ve now got just about everything covered.”
Petula blinked. “You have a sub and a plane?” Her voice rose incredulously.
Julian sensed real interest now, and clarified. “Well, Tabitha owns the sub, and the aircraft belongs to Jett, but we’re getting the titles transferred to the business so they can be written off.”
Geeze.What was he, a geek or something? That sounded so…colorless.
“Smart,” Petula replied, then glanced at her watch.
Julian wanted to groan. Was she just being polite, but itching to leave?
“I’m sorry. I must be holding you up,” Julian apologized, figuring he’d lost out on his opportunity to talk by being a goddamned bore.
“No. No. Not at all,” she demurred. “I’m just checking to make sure, but I’m actually ahead of schedule today, so I can spend a couple more minutes before I have to get back to my route.”
Julian’s smile was spontaneous, and when he glanced over her head at the shop, he saw four curious faces in the window. His excitement faltered. Tabbi and Jett, but also Spence and Trask were like kids with their noses practically pressed up against the glass of a toy store.Great.Now he’d be answering a shitload of questions; ones to which he probably had no answers.
The minute they saw him looking, of course, they all scrambled backward, pretending to be busy rearranging displays, but Julian knew better. The instant his attention was back on Petula, they’d be rubber-necking again.
“Siblings can be the best, but they can also be extremely annoying,” Petula grunted.
Of course she’d noticed they had an audience.
Siblings… Ah.There was a question he could safely ask.
“You have siblings?” Julian queried.
A dark cloud passed over her face, but she quickly shook it off and forced a smile. “I do. My brother, Statler and I live together. He’s an industrial contractor.”
There was clearly something Petula wasn’t saying, but Julian wasn’t going to dig deeper, at least for now. If he had a chance to get to know her better, he’d get answers to any questions he might have.
“Industrial contractor, huh? Warehouses and malls?” Julian questioned, sticking to the safe territory Petula had offered up.
“Yup. Both. And smaller jobs,” she told him. “He actually helped Spencer with the reno on your shop before it opened.”
Julian hadn’t known that.
Petula seemed to relax a little. “Right now, he’s hoping to win this huge contract for a big factory-build up north.” Her mouth twisted up. “I’m not looking forward to him getting it because it means he’ll be gone for several months.”
So the pairwereclose. That was good to know. Family was important.
Julian wanted to immediately assure her that if she needed help with anything while her brother was absent, he’d be happy to come to her aid. But considering how little they knew each other, it seemed a bit presumptuous.
Perhaps if he worded it differently…
“If you need any extra hands around your place while he’s gone, or if you just get lonely and want to hang out, the Sothard clan is always available. All of us. And it’s not just my seven brothers I’m talking about. There are actual females in the family now besides Tabbi, Jett, and my mother, for which our matriarch is supremely grateful.”
“Your motherispretty wonderful,” Petula concurred.
She knew Ellen Sothard?
“You’ve met my mom?” he asked.
“Yeah. I see her out at the camp in the summer when I make deliveries there.”
