Home Is Where the Heart Is (9 page)

*****

Julie was not sure what happened, but by the time they
were done with breakfast, Steven already knew that she always had
Sunday dinner with her father. And somehow, he was invited to Sunday
dinner that week. She hated how much his charm seemed to sway her but
then again, he was all British and hot too. There was no denying
that.

On Sunday afternoon, Julie spent the better part of it
in the kitchen, stuffing, marinating and chopping. When she told her
father that they would be having a guest for Sunday dinner, she
couldn’t help but notice the smile on his father’s lips
especially when she mentioned Steven. It had been a while since she
had gotten serious with anyone and the fact that she was willing to
bring a man home was definitely a good sign to her father. But there
was one problem. Julie had always been daddy’s little girl and
every guy who ever met him would leave with his head bowed in
disappointment. As Meg once said, there was no pleasing Michael
Parker as far as dating his daughter was concerned. Julie pushed this
thought to the back of her head. She would deal with the disaster
when it happened. At that point all she wanted to do was get it over
with. At around five thirty, Meg arrived with the dessert: cheese
cake.

“
It sure smells good in here,”
she said when she walked into the kitchen.

“
It had better. I have been
here for most of the day,” Julie groaned as she took the cake
from Meg.

“
Need any help?” Meg
offered. Julie looked around and then shrugged.

“
I’m pretty much done.
You could help me set the table though,” she said smiling. Meg
walked to the dining room and began setting the table just as Julie’s
dad walked into the house through the kitchen door.

“
There is a reason why Sunday
is my favorite day,” he said with a smile. Julie smiled and
poured him some iced tea. “Seeing you hard at work to feed me
just warms my heart.” He walked round the counter to give her a
hug.

“
Hi daddy,” she said when
she pulled away. She then handed him the glass. “I’m
going up to my room to change. Steven should be here any time.”

She untied her apron and made her way up the stairs.
“Meg’s in the dining room by the way,” she called
out from the hallway as she walked to her room. When she got to her
room, she splashed some water on her face and then changed out of the
jeans and t-shirt she had on. She put on a strapless floral maxi
dress. She held her hair up in a bun and then put on a pair of silver
looped earrings and a pair of sandals before she touched up her
makeup ever so lightly. She then looked into the mirror and smiled
before she walked back to the kitchen. She could hear her father and
Meg talking in the living room. She took the chicken out of the oven
and then took it out to the table. She then took the mashed potatoes,
gravy and assorted vegetables to the table before she heard the
doorbell. She walked to the door and took a long, deep breath before
she opened it. She smiled at a casually dressed Steven who was
holding flowers and a shopping bag in one hand, and a bottle of
scotch in the other. “No Terrence today?” she asked as
she looked out into the driveway expecting to see the town car.
Instead was a sleek black Mercedes.

“
I thought I’d drive
myself. Give him the time off,” he grinned. “This is for
you,” he said as he handed her the bag. She looked inside and
smiled.

“
You remembered,” she
sighed happily, as she lifted the Swiss chocolate box out of the bag

“
Of course I did,” he
said as he gave her a hug and a quick kiss.

“
Come on in,” she said,
stepping aside. “You remember Meg, and this is my father
Michael. Dad this is Steven Davenport,” she said when they
walked into the living room.

“
Lovely to meet you, son,”
Michael said as they shook hands.

“
This is for you,” Steven
replied as he handed the bottle to Michael.

“
Good year,” Michael said
when he saw just how old the scotch was. Steven turned to look at Meg
and then handed her the flowers.

“
And these are for you,”
he told Meg as smiled and took the bouquet from him.

“
You are making it really hard
for me to hate you,” she admitted smiling.

“
I really try to avoid people
hating me,” Steven laughed. Meg looked at Julie and gave her
one of those ‘this a keeper’ looks before Julie asked
everyone to head to the dining room.

All through dinner, Julie watched as her father and best
friend got to know Steven. At the end of the evening, she was sure of
one thing. Steven did not only charm her, but he also managed to get
two of the most difficult people she knew in his good books. As the
four had dessert, her father looked at her and smiled. He mouthed an
‘I approve’ to her making her laugh. The hardest part was
over. Now the only thing left was for her to realize that she was as
serious about this guy as he was about her. And it was a great
feeling too.

1. Chapter
   7
   

After the dinner, Julie didn’t really have any
other reason to avoid him. She had only known for him for less than
two month,s but she somehow felt like she trusted him, almost fully.
The two were almost inseparable. They would meet at least thrice a
week, mostly after work, but she was still in charge of getting him
more properties around the city.

On one of the days the two were looking at a house,
Steven suggested that she should visit him. Julie looked at him
almost surprised.

“
That’s the only property
you didn’t show me. You should come over,” he offered.
She smiled and looked into his eyes.

“
Are we talking lunch or
something?” she asked.

“
Actually, I was thinking
dinner. And then maybe breakfast,” he said. She kissed him and
shrugged.

“
Don’t you have something
a little less traditional?” Julie asked Steven.

“
You don’t want dinner
and breakfast?” he asked.

“
No, breakfast sounds great.
But maybe we can do a non-conventional dinner. We’ve already
done all that,” she claimed. Steven smiled at her and nodded.

“
You know, I know just the
thing,” he replied softly. Julie raised an eyebrow at him.

“
And you think I will like it?”
she asked.

“
I know you will,” he
said. She shrugged and smiled. “Tomorrow?”

“
Sure. But right now, we need
to finish looking at this. We have a few more listings I would like
you to see before the end of the day,” she told Steven as they
walked out of the big house.

When she got together with Meg for coffee later that
day, she told her about Steven’s sleepover invite and Meg was
ecstatic to say the least.

“
It’s about damn time,”
she exclaimed.

“
What the hell are you talking
about?” Julie shrilled, almost offended. “You make it
sound like we got married and are yet to consummate our union in the
Middle Ages no less,” she added. Meg laughed and shook her
head.

“
It’s nothing like that.
It’s just that judging by the way he is, you know, British,
sexy and all, I am just wondering how the hell you sleep alone every
night with all that in the same city,” Meg questioned.

“
Well, I have excellent
self-control thank you very much,” Julie said. “Speaking
of our love lives, what’s happening with you? How is the long
distance relationship working out for you?” she asked. Meg’s
husband had been given a promotion to head his insurance firm’s
New York office and it was the first time the two spent time apart
ever since they had gotten married. Meg sighed.

“
Well, it’s not so bad.
We talk twice a day and at least I get to see him during the
weekends. But I sometimes feel like it’s not enough, you know?”
she said.

“
That’s because you are a
nympho,” Julie said jokingly before smiling.

“
Hey, if the man’s
bedroom skills are excellent, you can’t really blame me. I’m
just doing what comes naturally to me,” Meg said
matter-of-factly. Julie laughed and looked at her watch.

“
I have to get going. I have a
few errands to run before I get home,” she told Meg.

“
Yeah, and I better go home and
put on something sexy for my husband,” Meg winked. Julie looked
at her and frowned.

“
But today’s Thursday.
Did he come home early?” she wondered confused. Meg smiled and
shook her head.

“
Well, he will be home tomorrow
evening, but I need to show him what he is looking forward to,”
she answered. Julie shook her head as she pushed her chair from the
table.

“
You need prayers. Lots and
lots of prayers,” she chortled as she leaned forward to give
Meg a hug.

“
Drive safe. I’ll talk to
you tomorrow,” Meg said as she hugged Julie.

“
You too,” Julie said
before she walked out of the coffee shop. She was smiling as she
thought of the next day. She didn’t know why but she was
already looking forward to it.

*****

After work on Friday, she drove to the address Steven
had given her. She realized that she really loved driving in the
suburbs. It was a perfect drive, without traffic and the properties
on that side of town were just to die for. When she got to his house,
she was not surprised to find that it was one of those picture
perfect homes that would normally be found in property magazines. She
entered the code Steven had given her at the gate and waited for it
to open.

“
Oh holy fuck,”
she
thought when she drove into the compound. There were four cars in
there: the black town car, the Mercedes, a metallic brown Hummer and
a red Lamborghini. She suddenly felt like her car was an insult to
the property. She had just gotten out of the car when Steven walked
out of the front door to meet her. He slipped an arm around her waist
and pulled her close for a kiss that almost made her knees weak.

“
Hi,” he whispered.

“
Hi,” she whispered back
smiling at him.

“
Come on in to my humble
abode,” he offered trying his best to do an American accent.

“
Please don’t. I love the
British accent. It makes you get away with a lot. Don’t spoil
it,” she said as they walked to the house. When they got into
the house, she was simply in awe. It was not only tastefully
furnished, but it was also just perfect. The whole house was a brown
haven. There was almost every shade of brown in there and it was just
beautiful. The walls were lined with the best artwork and the
lighting was just right.

“
Since you didn’t want
the conventional dinner, I got us some Chinese. I hope you like moo
shoo pork,” he said as he walked into the living room carrying
a bottle of wine and two glasses.

“
I love moo shoo pork,”
Julie said smiling. The two sat on the floor and ate together while
watching music on TV. When they were done, Steven poured them more
wine and then looked into her eyes.

“
Now, for the surprise of the
evening,” he replied. He stood up and helped her up before they
walked into another room adjoining the living room. If she was
showing this property to a couple, Julie would have called it the TV
room.

“
What’s going on?”
she asked, confused when she spotted a karaoke machine hooked up to
the huge TV in the room.

“
We are going to have the
evening of our lives,” he said. Julie smiled at him and shook
her head. She knew that she didn’t have a horrible voice, but
singing was not her thing.

“
I am not singing,” she
shrieked as she sat down.

“
That’s not how karaoke
works,” he explained. She shrugged and stood up and then walked
over to the machine. She looked at the collection and then smiled
when she saw that he had Britney Spears Oops I did it again
programmed in there.

“
I hope you have sound proofed
walls. I don’t want the neighborhood dogs barking and howling,”
she said as she started the song. Julie couldn’t remember the
last time she went to a karaoke bar but the truth was that she was
having a lot of fun. She went from being the one who didn’t
want to sing to the one who simply couldn’t sit down. After
almost an hour, she was just too tired and too tipsy to keep
standing. She looked at Steven who was now putting his glass down. He
walked over to the machine and looked at the selection. “Your
turn Davenport. Serenade me,” Julie demanded as she sat down.
Steven looked at her and smiled.