She couldn’t get upset.
“What did you find?” she questioned.
Her heart sped up a bit. Petula couldn’t imagine the man had any skeletons in his closet, but what if he did?
Statler, off the hook for prying, gave her a relieved nod. “He’s exactly who he says he is. An Air Force Guardian Angel who was in for eighteen years, and had zero infractions in all that time. He’s earned a chest full of medals, and his accolades go on and on as long as my arm.”
“Why do I hear a ‘but’ coming?” Petula asked pointedly.
Statler sighed. “Because there’s one puzzle I can’t wrap my head around. There are lots of pictures of Julian available on-line. Lots. In and out of uniform, doing charitable works with local groups, that kind of thing. But the only people who are ever around him in those photos are his family and fellow airmen.”
“Meaning?” Petula wasn’t dense, but she couldn’t see what her brother was getting at.
“Petula,” Statler said patiently. “He’s a good-looking guy. There are never any women on his arm. Never. Not at any officer’s functions, not at any pompous balls. It looks like the man doesn’t date. There’s not one picture of him in a social setting with any lady other than his mother. Don’t you find that strange?”
Was he being serious? Petula frowned.
“What are you saying, Stat? That he’s gay?”
That was the farthest thing from reality, Petula knew. The way Julian had looked at her over coffee spoke of a completely different agenda.
“I don’t know,” Statler replied sheepishly.
“Well, he’s not,” she told him definitively. “And besides, who areyouto talk about dating?” Petula’s back was up now. “When was the last time you went out with a woman?”
Statler’s face darkened. “That’s different, and you know it.”
“Do I?” she questioned.
This was something they rarely discussed, but every time they stumbled upon it, Statler shut her down.
Not this time.
She plowed forward. “All I know is that in all the years we’ve lived together, I’ve never seen you make a single effort to date. Why is that Stat? Areyougay? Do you have a deep, dark, secret agenda of which I’m not aware?”
Statler growled. “You know that’s bullshit.”
“Okay. I do. So tell me, then. Why is it that you’ve been flying solo for so many years. Why is it okay for you to eschew the social scene, but not Julian?”
Statler turned his back to her, then exploded, throwing down a pan he’d been washing.
“Because Julian doesn’t have a little sister who needs protecting, and I do.”
CHAPTER 9
Julian layin bed that night, still pondering. To say he’d been shocked at what Tex had revealed was an understatement.
Julian wasn’t normally or easily blindsided.
Petula… She’d been guarded, yes, but once she’d let her barriers drop, there was nothing that had even hinted at a traumatic past or a scarred psyche. Maybe.
Therehadbeen a few signs. The reticence she’d shown when asked about siblings. The sadness that had been prevalent when they’d talked about his family. And now that he was thinking about it, hadn’t she shown an odd shakiness when she’d inquired about learning to dive? It had struck him at the time that there’d been no excitement over the prospect; more like…dread.
Then, of course, there was his sister-in-law’s assertion that Petula hadn’t made friends with anyone in town. Thatcouldbe put down to shyness, but he knew there had to be more to it.
His mind went back to the conversation with Tex.
The man had continued. “You still there, Julian?”
