Forbidden Boy Read online

  Chapter Thirteen

  Julianne excitedly pushed her small cart over the bright purple carpeting lining the aisles of Palisades Design. Other than the beach, there was no place she’d rather be on a beautiful day than stocking up on art supplies—especially with no supervision and a company credit card. That morning, Bill had called her aside and told her that the owners of the eco-house had asked for another new design concept. Apparently, they wanted a local artist to hand paint ivy in the courtyard. Julianne was still beaming that Bill had suggested her.

  As Jules cruised through the aisles of Palisades Design, she was beside herself. What could be better than an entire store devoted to art supplies? She tossed a few different colors of green paint for the ivy walls into her cart, and was checking out a terra cotta stain when she noticed a familiar ponytail bouncing across the aisle in front of her.

  “Lucy! Hey!” Julianne said, tossing the stain into her cart for further consideration and dashing down the aisle to greet her friend. Even though Lucy’s back was turned as she made her way up the scrapbooking aisle, Julianne instantly recognized her by her red hair, freckled arms, compact frame, and regulation Mean Bean work T-shirt. Julianne hadn’t seen her in ages. During the school year, they ran into each other all the time. Lucy worked at the Mean Bean, Julianne’s favorite Palisades coffee shop, and occasionally contributed a comic strip to the Cliffview, the school arts magazine that Jules co-edited. Since Julianne’s failed attempt to track Lucy down at the Malibu beach party where she’d met Remi, though, they hadn’t seen each other once this summer.

  “Oh my God, Jules! Long time no see!” Lucy squealed, running over to hug her friend. “Have you been in hibernation, or what? It’s been forever! Ohmygod, how’s Kat? Has she run with the bulls yet?” Lucy looked great. Her summer tan brought out the sparkle in her green eyes, and she had paired her black work T-shirt (which Julianne actually loved for its logo of two dueling coffee beans) with a pair of skinny gray jeans and slip-on Vans printed with hearts, stars, rainbows, and skulls. Lucy took a step back to appraise Julianne. “You look awesome, babe.”

  “Thanks! You too.” Julianne laughed. “Kat’s doing great. She’s in Madrid, though, not Pamplona. And I’m pretty sure she’d stay inside if she did see a bull, but it sounds like she’s having the time of her life. How’s your summer going?”

  “Oh, it’s been great.” Lucy grinned. “Some work, some surfing, some partying. It’s a nice combo. It would be better, though”—she paused dramatically and affected a stern look—“if we ever saw you. You need to come out sometime. You haven’t been by the Bean once, and I haven’t seen you at Fishtail, either.” Fishtail was one of Pacific Palisades’ many outdoor cafés, but it was a favorite among Julianne’s friends because of its boardwalk seating, live music, and notoriously lax carding policies. “Lady, we’ve missed you!”

  “I know! I’ve missed you guys, too. The summer has just been really…intense so far,” Julianne finished thoughtfully.

  “Well, good intense or bad intense?” Lucy queried, leaning against a shelf full of glitter letters as she awaited Julianne’s answer.

  “I mean, mainly good,” Julianne decided as she said it. “I have this awesome job—I’m doing building and design stuff for this cool new eco-friendly house being built near downtown,” she explained. “I’m actually doing a huge mural for the courtyard, starting today,” she explained, gesturing toward her cart of art supplies. “I get to hang outside, paint, and”—she paused for dramatic effect, the way Chloe did whenever she referred to Julianne’s job—“I’m the only girl on an entire crew of guys!”

  “Sweet!” Lucy giggled. “The Bean could use a serious infusion of testosterone. We’re, like, seventy-five percent female this summer. It’s crazy. I mean, everyone’s great, but it isn’t exactly a breeding ground for love.” Lucy rolled her green eyes playfully. “Speaking of love…spill, Kahn. Tell me everything.”

  “Sorry to disappoint, Luce, but there really isn’t much to tell.” Julianne shrugged.

  “Fibber!” Lucy practically shrieked. “We don’t see you all summer and there’s no guy involved? There’s no way.”

  “Fine.” Julianne laughed grudgingly. “There may kind of be someone. I mean, sort of. A little.”

  “That’s more like it. Details, please,” Lucy prodded.

  “Okay, so I met this guy, and he seemed really great,” Jules started.

  “At work?” Lucy asked.

  “Well, sort of. I mean, I didn’t meet him at work, but it turns out he’s at work.” Julianne chewed her lower lip ever so slightly as she spoke.

  “That sounds complicated.” Lucy pulled a tube of cherry ChapStick out of the pocket of her jeans and applied it liberally.

  “Yeah, that’s the whole thing. And there’s stuff going on with his family, and with my family, and who knows if it can even work…” Julianne could feel her voice rising with each word.

  “But you like him, right?” Lucy gave Julianne a knowing grin.

  “Oh my God, Luce, he’s amazing. He’s beyond fantastic. He’s into architecture, so he’s kind of artistic. And he just totally gets what I love so much about my art. And he’s funny and thoughtful and, oh man, so, so hot.” Julianne felt the corners of her mouth creeping up into a smile as she reached into her bag for her Nalgene and took a drink.

  “Well then, that’s the important part.” Lucy was full-on smiling now. “If you’re meant for each other, all the pieces will come together somehow. That’s all. That’s just how it is. No worries.” She squeezed Julianne’s hand. Julianne smiled back at her, feeling relieved and thrilled that someone had finally given her the green light to like Remi. “Anyway, I should probably head out,” Lucy said, looking at her old-school oversize Swatch watch. “It’s free-smoothie-sample day at the Bean, and they need all the help they can get.” She hugged Julianne goodbye, grabbed some scrapbooking pages off the wall hooks, and headed back down the aisle before turning and calling back, “Hey, you should bring this mystery guy out with us sometime. Or, you know, at least bring yourself. Call me!”

  Julianne decided to stop at home before heading back to the site, just to pick up her camera and her favorite paintbrushes. She preferred working with brushes that she already liked the feel of, plus she wanted her camera to document her progress on the mural for her portfolio. Julianne burst through the door of her house like a husband in a ’50s sitcom.

  “Oh, honey, I’m hoooome!” She could hear Chloe and her father murmuring in another room, but neither of them called back to her. “Hey!” she called out again. “I’m home!” Again, there was no response. Julianne wandered into the dining room and found Chloe and her dad sitting at opposite ends of their oval dining table, both looking like they’d just been through a natural disaster. Chloe’s cheeks were tearstained, and Dad’s eyes looked pale and empty. They were both staring in the general direction of a pile of papers that had been tossed into the center of the table. Julianne hadn’t seen either of them look this lost since the doctors had told them that Mom’s cancer was malignant. Her throat started to close up at the memory. She walked around the table and placed a hand on Chloe’s shoulder, careful not to muss the lace of her sister’s puff-sleeve shirt. “Hey,” she murmured. “What’s going on?” Chloe just shook her head.

  Finally, their father spoke. “Court papers, Jules.” Julianne felt all the blood drain from her body and she slumped against the arm of Chloe’s chair. “The Moores’ lawyer served us with papers today. They’re suing us over our property rights.”

  “They can’t do that!” Julianne burst out. “I’m sure they can’t. They haven’t even been here two months. Mom bought this house thirty years ago. The mortgage is paid off. They can’t do that. There’s no way.”

  “Jules, I’m not sure we can do anything,” Chloe whispered. Julianne felt her heart plummet from her chest. They couldn’t possibly have to leave the house where their parents were married, and where Julianne and Chloe were born. Th
e house where their mom had died.

  “No. Absolutely not,” Julianne said, rising to her feet. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This couldn’t be happening. “No, they can’t do this. This is ridiculous!”

  “Girls, I am so sorry,” their father whispered. “I don’t know if there’s a case here or not, but, either way, we don’t have the money to fight it. I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry.” Dad buried his head in his hands. Slowly, Chloe pushed her chair back from the table and went over to wrap her arms around her father.

  “Daddy, it’ll be okay,” she whispered. “It’ll all be okay.”

  Julianne felt like someone had poured gasoline down her throat and dropped in a match. Her entire body was twitching, burning. She couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t just stand there and watch her family hurting. She raced out of the house—not even bothering to shut the door behind her—and ran down to the beach. The wind off the ocean was cold and sharp, and the sand felt unstable under her feet. She ran all the way down the beach, her feet rolling under her with every step, until she reached the edge of the water. She thought, vaguely, that the Moores would probably try to have her arrested if they found her down here. Silently, she dared them to try it. Just go ahead, she thought. Julianne stood there until what was left of the day had slipped by and night had begun to roll down onto the beach. She stared out at the ocean, a mass of darkening ripples against the rising moonlight. The reflection of the moon was tossed off the waves, like someone had drizzled the water with liquid gold.

  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.” 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.

  Chapter Fourteen

  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 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 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 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.

  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.

  Chapter Fifteen

  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.”

  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. Julianne had never heard someone called “champ” or “pal” by so many people in such a short span of time.

  “Eh, we do what we can.” Randy winked at her playfully before lowering his voice conspiratorially, “Just so you know, Bill’s not in until after lunch today. Just sayin’.”

  Beau shook his head at Randy and then turned to Jules. “We should get back to, um, building something. But you have a great morning, kiddo. If you happen to run into our favorite project manager, do give him our best.” He tipped an imaginary hat at Julianne, then strode off with Randy, chuckling.

  Julianne laughed as they walked away, then took one last look around and scooted back up the ladder. She pushed the flat wood panel that separated the crawl space from the rest of the house aside and pulled her body up through the trap-door slat, into the makeshift attic. The wood and plaster for the walls had been filled in over the past few weeks, and Jules was glad to use the space to its full advantage. After a moment of panic, where Julianne’s legs seemed to want to stay downstairs, acting completely independent of the rest of her body, she half-tumbled into the space. Wiping away sawdust, she turned to Remi and smiled. “Good morning.”