She sat down at the edge of the ocean as the night sky deepened, her feet tucked under her and her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Almost imperceptibly, she began to whisper. She couldn’t even hear the words forming. She felt ridiculous, but Julianne needed her mother right now, and the beach had always been their special place.
“Mom, please. I don’t know what to do. I can’t let them take us away from you. I don’t know what to do.” 140
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Fat tears started to slip down Julianne’s face and she knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t stop calling out to her mother. “Mom, I don’t know how to make it better. I don’t know how to keep us together without you here to show me. What do I do?” Julianne put her head in her hands and just sat there, listening to the tide pumping in and out like a heartbeat. She wasn’t expecting to hear from her mother, but breathing in and out in time to the pulse of the tides, she knew she wasn’t alone.
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Chapter Fourteen
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Julianne snapped awake when the weight of a hand touched her shoulder. She looked up to find the tousled brown hair and concerned face of Remi Moore. Silently, Remi sat down next to Julianne.
Keeping her gaze on the ocean, she told him flatly, “I don’t want to see you right now.”
“So don’t look at me. But you shouldn’t be alone.
It’s almost midnight. You’ve obviously been crying.
You’re a total wreck. Someone should be here with you.” Concern poured out of every syllable Remi spoke.
“I came looking for you as soon as I heard about the papers.”
“I don’t need you trying to take care of me right now.” Julianne’s tone remained completely flat. She was 142
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shocked to hear her own voice sound so dull. “You’ve done enough already,” she finished.
“Julianne, I . . . I don’t even know what to say.” Remi’s voice was tinged with regret.
All of a sudden, Julianne’s voice came coursing back into her body. She turned to him. “I don’t want to hear how bad you feel, how sorry you are. I don’t want to hear any of it. I am just so tired of this. I’m done. I can’t walk around with all of this negativity and worry all of the time—it’s going to consume me. I can’t care anymore. I just can’t.”
The sand looked blue-gray, spilling out under the night sky. Julianne stared absently out at the ocean.
“I hate this.” Remi’s voice sounded like it was choking in his throat. “I . . . I hate this.”
“What?” Julianne finally turned her head toward him and stared at his profile.
“I hate this. I hate everything about this situation,” Remi repeated. He was tracing tiny circles in the sand.
“There is nothing about this that feels okay to me right now. I mean, I love my dad. I know how important these plans are to him. He’s a great architect and I hope I can be as successful as he is some day. But I don’t want it to happen like this. It’s not right. I hate looking out the window of my bedroom and seeing the landscape being chipped away every day. I hate that I can already see that, and I haven’t even lived here three months. I hate what 143
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it’s doing to you and your family. I hate that every time I see my parents, I think about what they’re doing to you. I know it’s not enough, and I know it probably doesn’t matter, but Julianne, I am so, so sorry.” They sat there for a while, staring alternately at the ocean and the sand. Julianne didn’t know what to say, but somehow, hearing Remi apologize made everything feel a little bit better. She knew it wasn’t his fault—he was just as powerless as she was. Nonetheless, hearing him say the words meant something. It felt like there was possibility buried in there somewhere, like she had been right when she defended him to Chloe. She turned and looked at him, silent tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Julianne, I . . .” This time Remi was the one to stop himself. Starting again, haltingly, he looked down at the sand. “I wanted to give you something that wouldn’t change. That you could have forever and no one could take away.” She looked up at him, not understanding.
“That’s why—” He cleared his throat and tried again.
“That’s why I talked to the owners about commissioning you for the mural. I wanted you to have something perfect, and I couldn’t think of anything more perfect than your art.” He reached out and brushed a tear off of Julianne’s cheek with the side of his hand. Julianne’s eyes widened and the slightest hint of a smile flashed across her face. He rested his hand on the nape of her neck, buried under her hair, and pulled her close to him 144
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for a kiss. It was slower and sadder than their other beach kisses had been, but Julianne still felt the same electricity crackling between them.
“Remi, I . . .” Julianne put her hand on his chest, pushing him back. “Thank you. That’s the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. It’s amazing. But . . .” Her voice faltered and threatened to break. “Remi, I can’t. I can’t be with you. Not with the house and with work. I can’t do this to Chloe and my dad. I can’t lie to them. I mean, I won’t. Why does it have to be so complicated?”
Before Julianne could finish her sentence, Remi leaned over and kissed her again. For just a second, his warm lips on hers made the entire world dissolve into nothing more than the lapping of the ocean. And this time, Julianne didn’t push him away.
“Julianne, you have no idea how special you are,” Remi said, gazing at her adoringly as she settled into his arms. “You’re smart; you’re funny. You’re more talented than you think you are. I’ve never met someone who just . . .”
“You get me.” They finished the thought together.
“I know. You understand me like no one ever has before . . .” Julianne trailed off.
“It’s like we’re meant to be together,” Remi offered, his shining eyes fixing her gaze. Julianne leaned in and kissed him again.
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Lucy’s advice in the art store came rushing back to Julianne . If you’re meant for each other, all the pieces will come together somehow. And Julianne knew it was true. She was meant for Remi, and he was meant for her. Really, truly, and absolutely.
“Remi,” Jules said with renewed determination.
“Everything that’s going on with the building and the beach—it sucks, but it’s not about us. It may be our families, but it’s not us.” She looked over at him and knew he understood. She leaned her head against his strong shoulder, shut her eyes, and listened to the ocean’s heartbeat mixing with his.
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Chapter Fifteen
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Julianne popped her head around the corner, checking to see if the coast was clear. Turning her head so quickly that she was whipped in the face by her own curls, she decided she was good to go and shimmied up the ladder. Halfway up, she heard a low wolf whistle from below and looked down.
Beau and Randy, two of the guys she worked with, were standing at the base of the ladder, smirking.
“Now, where would you be going in such a hurry, Jules?” Randy teased as Beau sang, “Jules and Remi, sitting in a tree . . .” under his breath.
“Very mature, you guys.” Julianne grinned. “So glad to have such evolved, professional role models to look up to around here.”
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Ever since Mitch had spotted Remi kissing Jules outside the trailer a few days earlier, the news that they were a couple had spread like wildfire. Now it seemed like their relationship suddenly included two dozen construction workers. The “little sister” dynamic Julianne shared with them was now extending to Remi, who couldn’t walk by a member of the crew without a friendly punch to the shoulder or tousle of his hair.