She rang the doorbell again. She knocked a few times for good measure. Tae’s car was in the driveway. She knew he was home. It was cold. She was getting grouchy. She turned to go down the porch steps and try the side door by the garage when the front door opened.
“Tae Kim, what took you so long—” She stopped with her mouth wide open, nostrils midflare.
Tae stood in his front doorway in sweatpants and an old T-shirt, one that looked so worn and washed and soft she wanted to put her face up against it and rub, maybe even purr.His hair was ruffled and his expression so unguarded Julia had to clench her jaw together to keep her teeth from chattering.
“Hey,” he said lazily.
Hey. Jesus Christ, she was going to pass out.
Nothing came out. “H-h...” she tried again. What was wrong with her? She cleared her throat. “Hi,” she managed to croak finally.
He smiled, his eyes scanning Julia from head to toe. She felt it, his assessment, his stare, on every inch of her body. She looked up at him with his tousled hair and wanted to tell him right there everything she thought she might be feeling in her heart but had been too afraid, and too damn polite, to say. The one time Julia couldn’t say anything and everything on her mind.
Julia shivered. She was standing there in the black sleeveless sheath she wore to work, the matching jacket left in the car. She was either freezing or the downer from her frustration-induced adrenaline rush was taking over.
“Julia, you’re shaking.” He stepped out and wrapped an arm around her, and she immediately sank into the embrace. “Come inside, you bozo.”
Romantic.
Julia followed Tae into his house and bent down to take her too-high, too-tight, too-uncomfortable heels off. “Oh thank God,” she moaned.
Tae’s eyes widened for a brief moment. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. But then he just shook his head and took hold of her hand. “C’mon, let’s get you something warm to wear.”
They went down the hall into his old childhood bedroom. In all the years that Julia had known the Kim family, and the hundreds of times she’d been over at their house, she had never been in this room. They’d spent most of their time hanging out downstairs or in the backyard.
“More likely to find something in here that will fit you,” Tae said as he went to the closet.
Julia looked around in fascination. A window into a younger Tae that she knew in memories but couldn’t quite figure out. Baseball posters and tae kwon do awards. A small desk in the corner. And along the far wall...
“A race car bed?” Julia asked. The twin bed was tiny: she couldn’t imagine Tae fitting in the bed past the age of ten. It was shaped like a red racing car with a comforter and pillow covered in matching NASCAR bedding.
Tae laughed. “Yeah, my parents never changed out this room. It’s been this way since I was a kid. I begged for new furniture when I hit middle school. But we just never had the money. So I crashed downstairs starting in eighth grade.”
Julia suddenly wondered if he’d ever had a girl in that bed. The thought sent a jealous zinger up her spine, and she was ready to hurt someone, whoever she was.
“Arms up,” Tae said, holding a gray hoodie in his hand with their high-school mascot on it. She raised her arms as instructed, and he pulled the sweatshirt down over her head.
“This is from high school when I was a little stick, and it’s still way too big on you,” he said and laughed. He pulled the hood down off her head and bopped her on the nose. “Warm?”
Julia nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”
“Tae?” Julia had to get the question that had been sitting in her head for days out there.
“Yeah, Jules?”
“I didn’t get to ask you earlier, but how’d things go with Kari? Did she get what she needed by flying out here unannounced?” Julia’s intention was to be very mature about this line of conversation, but the bite in her words pretty much squashed that.
“Depends on who you ask,” he said. “What I hope she got was some closure so she can move on.”
Julia let out a sigh of relief.
Tae reached out and held her hand in his. “I’m sorry if you were worried or uncertain. I wanted to apologize for her showing up like that. I wanted to talk to you about what was happening between us before she interrupted. I wanted to tell you a lot of things...” He looked down at their hands connected, mesmerized, almost as if in awe of what he saw. “But I didn’t get to earlier, not with the date and everything.”
A fire of rage brewed in Julia as she thought about Dr. Park. How dare he? How could he try and embarrass Tae and just...
Tae gave Julia’s hand a squeeze to bring her back. She hadn’t realized she’d balled her other one into a fist. She looked up at him, into his warm, expressive eyes. “It’s okay, Tiger. Really, I’m okay.” He wrapped an arm around her and placed a small kiss on top of her head before letting her go.
She released a long breath and nodded. She was glad. Tae was always okay. But in the back of her mind, Julia wondered if that was really the case.
