(Complete) When Tim Burke meets Julie at a party, she isn't impressed. When they see each other again, Julie decides to give him a chance. As Julie faces burdens and sorrow in her own life, Tim and his family provide the support and love she needs...
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Cover Photo courtesy of Kiwihug on Unsplashed
This story can be read either before or after Unexpected.
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Their neighbors would be angry. The boombox was turned up and the two girls were singing to Madonna. Kate liked her new album. Julie preferred her old stuff, Borderline over Like A Prayer.
Kate held up a sweater with bright geometric prints. Julie nodded her approval, as she selected an emerald sweater for herself to complement her eyes and it covered up her butt which looked too big in her leggings. Kate insisted it wasn't true. She left her blond hair down the way she liked it. She wasn't one for fashion and could never do the big hair like Kate. Even Kate was going conservative, since she was dating Arthur, a future doctor.
Julie would rather stay home and curl up with Danielle Steel. Instead, she had agreed to go with her best friend and roommate, Kate, to a party at one of Arthur's friends. She didn't believe a room full of medical residents would be any different from the men she worked for. She was a secretary at an engineering firm where the young engineers acted like overgrown frat boys and she should know.
A few years before Kate had dated Dave, who was an engineering major at WPI. Julie went to a few frat parties with her. She hoped the house where the party was being held wasn't disgusting and smelly like the Phi Kappa Theta house.
Kate and Dave didn't last and there were a few guys Kate had dated afterward, but she hadn't been excited about any of them like she was about Arthur. She had met Arthur when she was back home for Yom Kippur last fall. Arthur's family moved from the conservative to the reform temple, because his brother was marrying a non-Jew, and they wanted a Jewish wedding. Only Kate could meet a guy on a high holy day while everyone was fasting. She hadn't been with anyone for a while, so she gave a new meaning to breaking fast.
They started out slow, because Arthur was very busy as a resident. By Hanukkah, Kate was showing off her boyfriend, the future doctor and making her father very proud.
Mr. Bloom asked Julie, "Do you think she can hold on to this one?"
Julie whispered. "None of the others deserved her."
The girls who had been best friends since freshman year of high school couldn't have been more different. Kate's family was definitely middle class and lived in a neighborhood where the homes had beautiful lawns, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and garages. Julie lived in a three-bedroom house with crabgrass and weeds leading to the front stoop. The cars were parked in the driveway and weren't protected from the snow. Her neighborhood was full of other small houses.
Kate went to Bentley College for a management degree and managed people at a mutual fund company in downtown Boston. Julie went to work straight out of high school. She had taken typing and was quite good. She had three job changes while Kate was in college. Eventually, she landed a job as a real secretary at the firm in Watertown.
Julie finally left home when the girls moved into an apartment. They may have come from different worlds, but they got along great. Their apartment had a tiny kitchen, but they each had a bedroom which was a good thing since Arthur often stayed over.
They were waiting for Arthur when Kate announced. "He has a friend who wants to meet you."
Julie didn't want to meet anyone. She had enough of men all week at work. She was in no hurry to get married.
"What did Arthur tell his friend?" She was smart enough not to argue with Kate, because what Kate wanted she got.
"Nothing, except you were coming along. No pressure, if you like Jim great, if not then no big deal. Although there's nothing not to like about him."
When Arthur knocked they quickly slipped on their coats and met him at the door. By the curb was a shiny red sports car. It was the kind where the headlights popped up when turned on and looked like eyeballs. In her head, she could hear her father's opinion of the foreign car.
Arthur opened the door and Kate climbed into the backseat. Julie tried to follow. "Sit up front with Jim. Jim, this is Julie."
She had no choice but to slip into the front seat. The car was warm and the music was loud. Julie liked Bon Jovi but not so loud. She reached over and turned down the volume.
Arthur's friend looked at her and she smiled. "Isn't loud music bad for the ears?"
Arthur laughed. "Busted!"
Jim smiled but didn't respond. Julie glanced at his side view as he drove. He had a nice profile. The car was too dark to decide if he was good looking. Looks weren't everything.
She felt the need to break the silence, since she knew her friend was too busy in the back seat to make conversation. Julie didn't even need to look to know they were making out.
"Nice car," she said
"Thanks, it was my Christmas present from my parents."
Julie had no response. Her parents had given her some CDs, a couple pair of socks and a new hat. By parents, she meant her mother, because her father didn't shop. Even with her three brothers, presents never piled high under the tree. Obviously, a car wouldn't fit under the tree.
"Did they put a big bow on it?" She sounded sarcastic and realized she meant to keep her thought inside her head.
He laughed. "No, the key was wrapped up in a box and put under the tree with my other gifts."
Julie didn't speak, if she had she would have croaked the words 'other gifts'. A rich man like Jim might impress some girls, but he intimidated her.
She hadn't paid attention to where they were driving and was surprised when the car pulled into a driveway. They definitely weren't at a frat house. The house was bigger than any she'd been in. It was in a neighborhood like the one in her town where Roger Clemens lived but he was a pitcher for the Red Sox.
She turned to Jim. "Is this your house?"
"No." He smiled. "Mine might be bigger."
Arthur called out from the back seat. "You're definitely talking about houses."
"You're not funny, Levine."
Arthur laughed and Julie wanted to be any other place than entering a huge house. Jim took her arm as the four walked to the door.
He whispered in her ear. "My friends will be jealous of my girl."
'His girl', she wasn't anyone's girl. Under the ornate lights, she saw he was a redhead. She definitely wasn't his girl.
