Julie turned back around, eyebrows lifting expectantly. “Yes?”
“How are you with…strong personalities?”
Unsure whether she was referring to the baby or someone else, she said a little cautiously, “I do all right…”
“Good,” he replied brightly, then—without explanation—he continued on his way.
Julie watched until they were gone, offering a wave at Anna, who watched her with a pleasant smile.
Only when they were out of sight did she remember she should probably gather her stuff and head to class.
Chapter Two-
Thursday was Julie's last midterm, and she was glad to be done with it.
Just as she was unlocking her apartment door, she felt her cell phone vibrating in her pocket. She dug it out and read a phone number she didn’t recognize, but she answered it as she kicked open the door.
"Julie?" a male voice asked.
"Yes?”
"Hi, this is Matt Turner, we met yesterday."
After the necessary niceties were exchanged, Matt asked Julie if she would be able to come over the following day at 6:45. She said that she could and she jotted down the address of the apartment.
"Who was that?" Jack asked before she even ended the call.
Julie hadn't told him about what happened at the river. When she came home he wasn't there, so she took advantage of the rare alone time to study. Within an hour Jacob and Jack returned, and Jack made it very clear that he wanted to go straight to bed.
So she finally relayed the story.
His eyebrows shot upward. "Some guy just accosted you by the river and pawned his kid off on you?"
"He didn't accost me. I know it’s kind of random, but hey, as long as he doesn’t turn out to be a serial killer, this would be a much better job than the one I have."
"True," he acknowledged, taking her hand and pulling her into his lap, smiling. "Hi."
She chuckled a little. "Hi."
"How was school?"
"Well, today was my midterm, as you may remember. I was totally nervous, especially—”
"Mm hmm," he murmured before she had finished, his lips finding her neck.
Taking the hint that he didn't care about the details, she summed it up before he could cut her off again. "But I actually did surprisingly well, I think."
"That's good," he murmured, peeling her zip up sweater off of her.
"Perhaps we shouldn't do this right here on the couch where anyone could walk in and see," she suggested, but he was already smothering her words, pulling himself above her.
She released a little sigh of annoyance, then guiltily hoped he hadn't heard her.
Apparently he either didn't hear, or didn't pay attention.
---
Julie got the job.