He mentioned beds because he figured he might get some kind of a reaction from Statler, but other than a grunt, the man blew across his coffee and sipped, ignoring him.
Julian persevered. “The kitchen is also fully stocked with everything needed to cook, and the bathrooms are set to go, too.” He had three of those, which was overkill right now, but if he had kids someday…
Pictures of little redheaded girls popped into Julian’s head, and his heart beat a little faster.
Yeah. If he had children, he was one-hundred percent certain he wanted them to look like Petula.
“What I’m saying,” Julian pressed on, tamping down that fantasy, “is that my house is ready for your sister, and I think we should make the move, today.”
“Not happening,” Statler growled, clearly having had enough coffee to kick-start his brain and prime his mouth. “Petula is right where she needs to be. Where we can all keep an eye on her.”
Julian didn’t want to fight, at least not right off the bat, so he tried reasoning. “Jefferson knows where she is, too,” he argued. “But if we’re careful, which I have been, going to and from my new house, he’ll have no clue where she is when we spirit her away.”
When, not if.
Statler’s face turned stony. “Did you miss the part where Jefferson is a computer genius? If he hasn’t already found out you bought a house, he soon will.”
Julian wassoglad he had that worry covered.
“Which is why,” Julian told him, “with Tex’s help, I put the house in a trust. There’s no overt connection to my last name anywhere to be found. Jefferson would have to do an awful lot of digging to uncover my move from my parents’ house, which, by the way, is where I’ve been leaving my truck when I’m not openly following Petula on her route or coming here. Tex rented me a car under his name. We stashed it in my parents’ barn, and I’ve already been using it when doing anything connected to my new house.”
Statler only glowered.
Damn. It seemed like the more sense Julian made, the more entrenched Stat became in his insistence on Petula staying put.
“Statler. Be reasonable,” Julian wrangled, running low on patience. “I get where you’re coming from. You’re having a hard time letting go. But there’s brotherlylove, then there’s brotherlystubbornness.”
“Which Statler is full of,” Petula threw out, entering the kitchen fully dressed and looking completely alert for the first time since her accident. “But it doesn’t matter in the long run. I don’t care how bullheaded he is, he’s not winning this one.”
“The hell I’m not,” Statler smoldered. “This is the best place for you. End of discussion.”
She raised a brow. “Oh really? What are you going to do, chain me to the couch?”
“If I have to,” he snapped.
She laughed. “And as soon as your back is turned, I guarantee one of your crew will let me loose. They’re all on my side, you know.”
Julian didn’t know that, and clearly Statler didn’t either, but it sounded like Petula must have been working on her brother’s bunch while Julian and Stat had been toiling in the shed the previous day.
Smart woman.
“Then I’ll fire them all,” Statler returned grumpily, but he’d turned his ire-volume down a smidge. It looked like he was slowly coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t going to win this one.
“And if you get rid of them, what will you do about your upcoming job?” Petula responded smartly. “If you fire your crew, you won’t be able to fulfill your contract.”
Statler made a sound of frustration, then glared up at the ceiling. “You two think you have all the answers, don’t you?”
Petula softened her tone, walked over to Statler, and placed a hand on his arm. “Not all of them, Stat. I still need you for lot of things. I just think that Julian has this one right. It will be harder for me to be found at his new house, and if you were being at all reasonable about this, you’d see it, too.”
Petula turned and gave Julian a wink, which looked…promising to him.
He wasn’t going to open his big mouth right now and possibly screw up the groundwork she was laying.
A whine entered Statler’s voice. “But, Pet… It’s always been the two of us. You and me…” he managed, not looking at either one of them.
Ah.Now Julian was beginning to understand. He’d clearly been blind to the real problem since Julian had grown up surrounded by family. Now he felt remorse that he hadn’t approached this more compassionately.
“I know that, Stat,” Petula said gently. “And nobody will ever replace you. You’re my brother, and you mean the world to me. But I…really like the idea of living with Julian. Figuring things out between us. I think that we…might have a future together.” She glanced Julian’s way and he easily nodded his assent, urging her to continue.
