page10 (1/2)

Oh, God, she prayed again, please don’t let this selfish decision hurt Ben

“They only want to get to know you now because Mitch is dead,” Beth said and Julia flinched, sing the taste of copper and bile It had been five months since the accident and she still felt raw

“What’s wrong with that?” Julia asked, pushing aside her own doubt “So they’re two years late? Should I punish them forever?”

“Well, I don’t think you should go running into their open ar but terrible to you”

“They weren’t terrible,” Julia muttered “They just weren’t nice”

But they are here and they are solid and they aren’t going anywhere They aren’t going to fight in any wars or o so deep that maybe Ben and I can stand close and pretend those roots are ours

“Oh, sweetheart, you are too nice for your own good,” Beth said, her voice soft like a hug She was prickly and stubborn to the point of blindness, but Julia never doubted that her mother loved her

“Probably,” Julia laughed

“So, how are they? Is that woman civil?” Julia sularly rejected Julia, Beth referred to her as “that woman”

The petty parts of Julia that were still wounded by the things Agnes had said sort of liked it

“They’ve been really nice tobut sweet to Ben”

“But don’t you go forgiving that wo mother, you don’t need their help”

Julia clapped a hand over her hter Beth, as usual, had no clue what Julia needed

Julia was a twenty-four-year-oldShe had a two-year-old son who only knew his father froh loving and involved in Julia’s life, was still an active engineer in the army And when the United States wasn’t at war, Moton, DC, for only about half the year For the past three years, Beth had spent eleven months out of twelve in Iraq

No one had ever truly been there for Julia and Ben And she needed that to change Ben needed family, people in his life on a daily basis Not twice a year for a feeeks