Don't Ever Give Up Ch. 09

Julia hugged him back just as firmly. He imagined she felt something similar.

"It must just be a misunderstanding," Tim said when they dropped the embrace. "You must have told Sheila something, and she told him, and he got it wrong."

"I don't know," she said. "I mean, I told Sheila that..."

"You told Sheila what?"

"That... wait," Julia said. "It said you had three voicemails."

"Yeah," Tim said. He'd completely forgotten about those. "Yeah, there are. So?"

"Did you check the others yet?"

"No, Julia," Tim said. "I'm sorry, but that first one kinda knocked me over."

"I understand that," Julia said. "I'm sure it would have done the same thing to me. But maybe he left another one. There was a loud noise at the end, so maybe he had something else to say."

It made sense. Things Julia said usually did.

"OK," he said, pressing the speaker button on the phone. "We'll listen together."

They listened to the first voicemail again, and Julia instinctively grabbed his hand again, her grip growing tighter as J.T. went on. Tim pressed the button to save it, and the next message began. As it ran on, Tim's heart soared -- while his brain plotted ways to kill his best friend.

"Holy fuck," J.T.'s voice started. "I'm sorry about that, man. I really hope Julia's already told you, or at least I hope you listen to all these messages in a row, or you're going to kill me. I was just fucking around, and all these people -- Sheila, my parents, some of our family -- are in on the joke. Somebody was laughing so hard, they bumped into my arm and the phone hit the ground. The call dropped."

His best friend stopped to breathe.

"Anyway, like I said, I hope she already told you, because you'll already get the joke. I don't want to steal her thunder if she didn't, but after that message, I guess I kinda have to. She --"

Julia pressed the disconnect button, drawing an incredulous look from Tim.

"What the -- why did you do that?" Tim asked. "He was about to explain it! He was about to tell me why he left that message, so I could fully justify beating him to a bloody fucking pulp when he gets back!"

"I know what he was going to say," she said. The timer Tim set for the pizza suddenly went off, startling them both. Julia turned abruptly and went to get the pizza out of the oven. When she bent over to open the oven door, Tim got an answer to his panties question. It was a good answer.

"This is not the way I wanted to do this, but... he's kind of forcing me," Julia said, just softly enough for Tim to hear her on the other side of the kitchen.

"The way you wanted to do what?"

She set the pizza down on the counter, and with her back still toward him, she answered.

"Tim... I want to move in here with you."

He was momentarily stunned silent. Momentarily.

"Say what?"

"You heard me." She spun to face him now, but saw him looking at the ground instead.

"He was joking about..." Tim suddenly got it. His friend was joking about Julia wanting to move in, about the loss of bachelorhood, and how it had to happen eventually. It was stereotypically a sad time in every single man's life.

"If you listen to the rest of it, I guarantee you, that's his explanation."

Tim dialed his voicemail yet again and raised the phone to his ear. He listened carefully.

"... after that message, I guess I kinda have to," J.T.'s voice said. "She's going to ask to move in with you. She was supposed to have done it on Friday night, so like I said, I hope this is just an unfortunate screwed up joke. Anyway, I just figured it would be a good thing because..."

Tim visibly exhaled as he listened to the rest of the message. He played the third message, too, which was from Sheila. It was another apology for J.T.'s botched joke.

He gingerly sat his phone down on the kitchen counter. "I," Tim started, gathering his breath back, "am going to fucking KILL THAT FUCKER!!!"

He slammed his fists into the countertop and saw red for a minute.

"Why would he do that to me, huh?" Tim asked. "I understand playing a joke, and crying over lost bachelorhood, but... that was the worst day of my life. Why would he make me replay that?"

Tim walked over to the window, and seconds later, he felt Julia slide up behind him. She put her arms around him and rubbed his chest through his shirt.

"Like he said, baby," she answered. "He thought I was going to tell you earlier this weekend, so he didn't think he'd be scaring you."

"Yeah, I get that part, but still," Tim said. "He was there after all that. He knows how much damage that phone call did."

Julia moved around to Tim's front side and leaned back against the window. The lake was nice, but this view was much better.

"I'm sure he wouldn't be able to explain it to you this way," Julia said, "but I think his heart was in the right place."

"What?" Tim retorted. "How?"

"He knows that, Tim," she said. "He knows that was a terrible day for you. And I'm guessing you've told him how things are going with us, and he probably figured you'd happy about me moving in."

Tim said nothing.

"He was just trying to replace a memory from one of your worst days with a memory from a better one, babe."

She leaned forward and put her head on his chest. "And while he definitely scared the shit out of me, too... I hope it worked."

Tim finally came up with something to say.

"J.T. owes you a great deal of gratitude," Tim said.

"Why?"

"Because without you, I'm pretty sure I'd have flown to Cancun right now and beat the ever-living shit out of him."

She giggled, and Tim walked over to the stool and sat back down. "Holy fuck. I didn't need to have a heart attack today."

Julia took the chair next to him.

"You know," she started, tracing her fingers across his forearm. "I'm very happy with you."

"Yeah?" Tim asked. "While just knowing that is good enough for me, is there any particular reason?"

"Well, you did give me about 30 orgasms today," she said, making them both laugh. "But... you didn't freak out just now."

"Yeah I did," he said. "Julia, I went nuts."

"No," she retorted. "You wanted answers, sure. Based on the voicemail, you thought I could give them to you, so you asked me. But, Tim... the night you stormed out of my apartment, and that night at the football party... you didn't return my calls for three or four days. You completely shut me out while you dealt with what had happened, instead of letting me be there for you."

"Yeah," he said. "Not moments that will make the Tim Fetters highlight reel."

"Don't worry," she said laughing. "You had a bunch of those today."

Tim laughed softly.

"I can only imagine what you thought when you first heard that voicemail today, Tim. You probably thought you were losing me, or even worse, that I was doing something like Leira did to you."

"I don't know what I thought," Tim said. "You've worked so hard to get me to trust you, that there was no way I could picture you doing that to me. But yeah, the thought of losing you ran through my mind a couple times."

"If I can be arrogant for a second, I'm sure that hurt you. A lot."

Tim wasn't even going to make a joke about it. "It did," he said.

"But instead of flipping out, throwing me out of the house and grabbing a week-long charter to California or something, you trusted me."

Tim looked up at her, realizing she was right.

"I had to," Tim said. "You know, you should have been careful what you wished for, Julia."

"Oh?" she asked. "How so?"

"Back when I was still acting like we were just friends trying to break all existing world screwing records, you had an out," Tim said. "Before I was willing to admit how I really felt about you, you could have left, and I wouldn't have had the right to stop you. But now, you've made me trust you. Wasn't sure I'd ever do that again."

Julia waited. Tim tried to see if he could roll this over into what he really wanted to do this afternoon, into what he really needed to say. He needed a little more momentum first.

"Basically, what I'm saying," he said, "is you're screwed."

She looked a little disappointed, but Tim wasn't too worried about that, because he was pretty sure she wouldn't be soon. She did laugh heartily, though.

"No, I was that earlier," Julia said. "This, I'm totally okay with."

Tim sat there at the bar, looking at the pizza getting cold on the other side of the kitchen. Suddenly, he wasn't hungry anymore. He was going to wait until after they'd eaten, but to hell with that. This was happening now.

He was just about to open his mouth, but Julia beat him to it.

"Um, Tim?" Julia asked.

"Yeah?"

"So... can I?"

"Can you what?"

"The whole reason for this mix-up," Julia answered. "Can I move in?"

Tim spun around to look at her. Like a jackass, he had completely forgotten about that. The fact that she wanted to move in had been totally drowned out by the way he'd found out about it. He wasn't really sure what to tell her, and apparently, his silence scared Julia.

"Look, I'm sorry," she said. "I told Sheila I was going to tell you Friday, but ever since we got here we've been either having sex or sleeping. I was just waiting for the right time."

Tim understood, and nodded. He was still trying to form a response when she kept going.

"I was actually going to ask you last year," she said. "My plan was to go to the party with you, dazzle all your co-workers with how beautiful I was, make all the players jealous, tease you relentlessly, then take you home, give you the best blowjob of your life, then ask you if I could move in."

"Weaken my defenses first, huh?" Tim snickered.

"Of course," she said. "But then everything happened, and..." she trailed off. "I was just waiting till things calmed down and got a little more stable before I thought of asking again."

Tim knew what he had to do here. Julia had been forced to ask Tim what she wanted because of J.T.'s phone call, and Tim had envisioned a different situation for telling Julia about this, too. But there wasn't ever going to be a better moment than this one.

"I'd like that," he said. Her face lit up with a glow normally reserved for post-orgasmic bliss. "I'd love that, actually. Just not in this house."

She was still beaming, but she was confused now. Tim didn't wait for her to ask the question.

"Come with me," he said, getting up and heading for the staircase. "I want to show you something."

Without waiting for her to answer, he climbed the stairs to the second floor and entered his office. She followed soon after.

"In the top drawer, there's a black folder," Tim said. "Pull it out, open it, and look at what's inside."

Julia looked at Tim inquisitively, but he wouldn't budge. So, she crossed the room and pulled out the folder, spreading its contents out across the desk. She rifled through papers for a moment, moving things around into different piles as she tried to solve the puzzle. Tim patiently waited, and after a good five minutes of silence, Julia finally looked at him.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Well, that depends," Tim said. "What do you think it is?"

"Tim, please," Julia pleaded. "Just tell me."

So he did.

"Do you remember when we went down to Charleston for a party at J.T.'s uncle's house, just a couple months after we started getting together?"

"Yeah," she said. "It was our first trip."

"Yeah," Tim replied. "That first night we were in town, we all went out to that bar to meet up with one of the guys J.T. and I served with in Afghanistan."

"Yeah," she answered. "Brian, maybe?"

"Brad," he replied. "Brad Carver."

"That's right," she said. "Brad. Didn't he end up playing wingman for one of J.T.'s cousins?"

"Yep, that's him," Tim answered. "Did a good job of it, too. He took the really loud girl, the main one trying to cockblock J.T.'s cousin, up to his hotel room."

"Yeah!" Julia said, clearly remembering it all now. "And then because she was loud, that thing with the cops!"

"Dude always leaves an impression on everyone he meets," Tim said. "Anyway, he's a younger guy, but he's one of the most business-savvy guys I know. Even then, he was putting money away to start a business, and he happens to share my passion for aviation."

"OK," she said. "So..."

"This," Tim said, picking up a contract from the pile, "is one of the many dozens of documents I've signed over the past couple of months. J.T.'s father is opening a new charter company, called Mile High West. It was pretty much all Brad's idea. He's put together an investment group, including a few of his parents' rich friends and a couple of his own rich friends, including one of the players for the Texas Rangers."

"Ok," Julia said, her business brain turning on. "Obviously J.T.'s dad will have a bigger share in the company."

"A much bigger share, at least at first," Tim said. "There's a plan in place for Brad's group to slowly buy more and more of the company until they own a 33.3 percent share."

"Just 33.3 percent? There's two partners, right?"

"Right now," Tim said. "There will be three."

"Three?" Julia said.

"Yeah," Tim answered. "J.T. and myself have worked out a deal to slowly buy Howard Lancaster's side of the business, in equal portions. It's complicated, and I'm sure you'll understand it better than I do when you read everything. The short version is: In 10 years, J.T., Brad Carver, and myself will all be equal partners and have complete ownership in Mile High West. That's right about the time Howard will give J.T. full control of the original Mile High."

"Wow," Julia said. "I knew you guys were working on something, but I had no idea it was this big."

"Yeah, we've tried to keep the rumors to a minimum while we were working out the details. Anyway, the company will be based in Dallas."

Julia's jaw dropped. "That's why you said, 'Not in this house.'"

"It is," Tim admitted. "This packet," he said, picking up another stack of papers, "is a slide show of some preliminary plans I've had drawn up for a house on a lake east of Dallas. It'll look a lot like this one, but the plans are still very preliminary. I've got a rental property nearby I'm looking at to live in while the house is built; all that's left to do is sign the lease."

"What's holding you up?"

"Well... if you say you'll come with me," Tim said, taking her hand, "nothing."

"Of course I'll come with you!" she blurted out, not even hesitating or thinking about it. "I've always known you wanted to move closer to your parents, and there's nothing really here for me, either. We had this discussion in November, about my job offer. I want to be with you; I don't really care where we are."

"That's..." Tim said. "Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear. That's why the plans are preliminary -- it'll be your house, too, so I want you to have input."

"What about your other job, though? I know you love working with the athletes at N.C. State and on the pro teams."

"Yeah, Howard Lancaster and Jerry Jones are pretty tight, apparently," Tim said. "I'm not going to work for the Cowboys - at least, not until I know I will have the time to put into it. Flying for MHC is one thing, but I'll have a hand in running it, too, so I'm not sure how that will go. But Jerry knows the president at TCU, and I'm going to come on board there and do pretty much what I do now for N.C. State. I might work a little with the Cowboys on a part-time basis, too."

"That's great, Tim."

"There will be a job for you at Mile High West, if you want it, probably along the lines of Chief Financial Officer. Haven't worked all that out yet. If not, I know Southwest is based there, as is American Airlines. I didn't think you'd have trouble finding a job, if you even want one. Because you certainly don't need one."

"Yeah, right," Julia said. "Tim, I'm so glad we're moving in together, but I'm just your girlfriend. I'm not living off your money and just sitting at home being lazy."

Tim grinned. He had to hold it in just a little while longer.

"Whatever you want," he said. "We can figure that out later. Of course, we'll also have the fleet of MH West at our disposal, so flying back here for J.T. and Sheila's wedding won't be a problem. Anytime you want to see your family, that won't be either."

"Wow," Julia said, nodding as she flipped through the slides again. "I can't believe we're going to move to Dallas!"

She was excited, like a little girl who just got a pony. Tim wanted to pick her up and twirl her around, but he resisted the urge -- only because there was one thing left to do.

"Listen," Tim said, getting Julia's attention. "This last hour or so has been very emotional. With J.T.'s little prank -- I'm still gonna kick his ass for that, by the way -- and this thing with Dallas, I'm a little wound up. I need to blow off a little steam."

"I think... I can help with that," she answered, and any other time -- literally -- he'd have taken her up on it, right then and there on his desk. But he had a plan.

"I'm sure you can," Tim agreed, "and I'm sure you will -- in a little bit. Right now, though, I think want to relax and play some video games."

Julia's face twisted into something sort of comical.

"Video games?"

"Yeah," Tim said. "I think I want to play Madden. After Carolina's humungous choke job against the Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game, I want to give them a little redemption."

"Are you serious? You know I'm still here, right?"

"I do know that," Tim said. "And trust me, I don't ever want you to leave. But I like my Madden. Just let me play a couple games. You can even watch if you want."

Julia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right." She turned to go, but Tim grabbed her arm to stop her. This next part was going to sound callous, but there was no avoiding it.

"Could you go grab the game for me from downstairs and bring it back up here?"

She looked at him like he'd sprouted antlers. "Are you out of your mind? You're going to ignore me to play your stupid game, and you want me to help by bringing it up here? That's funny."

"Please, baby?" he asked. "Talking about these plans reminded me that I need to make a phone call. I can take care of that in two seconds, and then it will be just you and me."

"And John Madden."

"Thank you, babe."

Julia half-smiled and turned to leave the room. Before she left, she turned around and said, "This is just like a man. We reach a huge moment in our relationship -- you finally trust me now, and we're going to move across the country -- and now you think I'll just wait on you, hand and foot."

"I'll make it up to you," Tim said, grabbing his office phone to start making his phantom phone call. "Tomorrow, I'll wait on you hand and foot, and whatever other body parts you want."

"Hmm," she said. "I'll hold you to that." She finally left then, and Tim hung up the phone. He heard her start walking down the stairs, and when that noise ceased, he made his way to the end of the hallway and took the other, less noisy staircase to the first floor. He crept to the other end of the hall as silently as he could, and stopped just outside the door to the game room.

He'd only been waiting a few seconds when he heard her shout. "Oh my God!" That was followed by something -- he assumed it was the video game -- hitting the ground. Tim peeked around the corner, and saw her holding a small, square, velvet-covered box in her right hand. Her left was holding the bag from the jewelry store and, probably unbeknownst to Julia, another box.

She was breathing rapidly as she stared at the box, willing herself not to open it. When it looked like she was going to explode, Tim turned the corner and went in.

"Hi," he said, and she spun quickly toward him displaying the classic deer-in-the-headlights look. To her credit, she didn't drop the bag or the box, but she looked like she'd been caught red-handed.