Candace and the Frat Boys Ch. 03

"A sweetheart!" Julie exclaimed incredulously. "I've never known anyone to call her a sweetheart! Not even my dad!"

"Look, she has a tough exterior, maybe, but she's really quite tender—and even vulnerable—underneath. Believe me, I know."

Julie gazed at him as if he had suddenly invented a cure for cancer. "You know, you might be right about that."

"Anyway, I wanted to get back to your situation. You must still have a lot of stuff back at that rooming house."

"Yes, I do."

"I thought maybe I could help you bring it over here. I mean, you need to get it out of the place, right? I have a car, so it shouldn't take too long."

Julie seemed lost in thought. Her opinion of Josh seemed to be changing by the second, and his obviously sincere offer of help touched her. And, although she hated to admit it, there was another advantage in his proposal. Her ex-boyfriend, Brandon, could be pretty mercurial, and there was no telling what he would do once Julie made a definitive break by taking all her stuff away. Much as her innate feminism rebelled at the thought, she had to admit that having a man with her might lessen the possibility of any unpleasant encounter with the guy.

"That—that's very nice of you, Josh. I'll need to give Brandon a call, to make sure he clears out of the place for a couple of hours so that we can pack up my stuff undisturbed. I'll call him now, and maybe we can head over there this afternoon."

That's exactly what happened. The rooming house was a pretty rundown affair, and Julie was embarrassed at having Josh even look at where she had been living; but he didn't seem to pass any judgment on it, or on her. And he was quite helpful in loading up heavy items to bring over to Candace's house.

Candace, standing in the living room with hands on hips while looking at the substantial amount of belongings that her daughter was schlepping back to the house (it took two trips), couldn't help making a crack.

"See, Julie? Men are good for something, aren't they?"

Neither Julie nor Josh deigned to reply to that.

In a surprisingly short time, Julie became more comfortable having Josh around. Of course, there was the awkwardness of seeing him drift into her mom's room every night—and, even more so, the sounds that emerged nearly every night from that room. When, the next morning, she found herself sharing the breakfast table with him (Candace, usually having to get up earlier than the two young folks, had already left for work), Julie almost always blushed as she peered at him over her coffee. Once, after what seemed a particularly long and energetic session the night before, Julie addressed the issue.

"Had a good time with Mom?" she said acidly.

It was Josh who turned crimson. "She's pretty . . . energetic."

"So are you, by the sound of things."

"Hey!" Josh said, suddenly angry. "That's not all we do. I mean, I'm not here just for that."

"No?" Julie said pointedly.

"No. Not by a long shot! I—I really care for your mother."

Now Julie's dander was up. "What are you saying—that you love her?"

"Sure I do! And she loves me!"

"She's said that?"

"Yes, she has."

Julie seemed about to explode. "But—but what are you going to do with her? You can't possibly think of marrying her!" And there's no way you're going to be my stepfather.

"Why not? Plenty of guys have married older women."

"A woman who's twenty-three years older than you? Come on, Josh!"

"Okay, well, maybe marriage isn't in the cards. But we're not thinking about anything like that. We—we just like being together, so what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that, after the sex stops being quite so spectacular, you may find that my dear mother is rather hard to live with."

"I think we get along real well."

"My dad didn't find that to be the case. In fact, he once called her a ballbreaker."

"He said that to you?"

"Well, no. I overheard them having a fight, and he said it to her."

"That's a really mean thing to say. Candace—she's a sweetheart!"

"Yeah, you've said that before."

"Well, she is!"

Julie paused contemplatively. "You know something? Maybe you're right. I'm not saying she's Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, but she does seem to have mellowed a bit since the last time I saw her. So maybe that's your influence—and if it is, good for you."

Josh didn't know how to respond to the unexpected compliment. "Thanks, Julie. I think you're sweet too."

Julie was now covered with embarrassment. "Oh, come on, Josh, you don't even know me."

"I can sense these things."

"Oh, so you have this great insight into women now?"

"I know what I know."

"Okay, fine. That's very nice of you. But maybe I'm a little more like my mom than you realize."