Back to Where We Started From (Miracle)

Chapter Sixty-Four

Julia pulled her bedroom door closed behind her, heading downstairs with her purse in hand. She bee-lined it to the kitchen, grateful to see her aunt preparing dinner alone.

"Hey, sweetie," Patti greeted when she saw Julia enter the kitchen. She looked down at the spaghetti she was cooking, before looking back up at Julia. "Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Me? Oh, I'm fine," Julia assured her aunt with a nod. Julia wasn't sure why she wasn't sharing the conversation with Jim with her aunt, but something inside of her wanted to keep it to herself for now.

"You look a little peaky," Patti said, one brow arched in suspicion.

"I'm cool," Julia promised, leaning up against the counter. "Where's Uncle Herb?"

"In his office. Where else?" Patti laughed, although Julia could tell she was less than amused with her husband's habit to bring work home with him. "Where are you headed?"

"I'm going over to have dinner with the boys," Julia said, before she sighed, plopping her purse down on the counter. "Ya know, Aunt Patti, your husband is really driving me nuts."

Patti gave a genuine laugh, turning her attention back to dinner.

"If I had a dollar for everytime I heard that," she giggled quietly. "What did he do?"

"He brought another boy onto the team today. He's not even down to the final twenty and he brought in Tim Harrer from the U," Julia huffed. If anyone had told Julia a year ago that she would be so disgruntled over a hockey team, she would've laughed in their face. Oh, how times changed.

"Ah," Patti said, nodding. "He mentioned something about that. I'm guessing the boys aren't too happy."

"No," Julia sighed. "And I feel bad. They're always there for me, ya know? And I don't know how to cheer them up. I'm not sure there's a way that I can."

"You just need to support them, and try to keep them calm. This is a really big deal to them, and I'm sure with the Olympics just around the corner, reality is starting to set in for a lot of them. And maybe try to keep them from beating up the new kid," Patti told her. Julia nodded, her mind racing. Patti waited for her to speak again, obviously noticing that there was more on Julia's mind.

"Robbie and Jack fought once at practice. Before I got here," Julia informed her aunt, staring down at the counter top with a blank face.

"Yeah, I heard. Your uncle was pretty pissed about that one," Patti remembered with a look of disdain. Julia looked up at her aunt, her forehead creased and a frown on her face.

"So everyone knew that they fought? I only found out like a month ago, and it was from Kathy. She just assumed I knew," Julia scowled.

"Well, I didn't think it was a secret that they weren't very fond of each other. Besides, it was months ago. Don't you think they've moved past it?" Patti said gently. Julia thought for a moment, before nodding. Patti peaked over at Julia, a small smile on her lips.

"And speaking of, what's going on with you and Jack?" Patti asked quietly. She looked away from Julia, keeping her body language casual. Julia looked down at the counter, her face turning a bright red.

"I thought you might have known something was up," Julia mumbled. Patti grinned, taking Julia's words as a confession.

"Herb was totally oblivious," Patti told her, setting her mind at ease. Julia hesitated for a second, not sure how to ask her next question. If she never asked if Herb cared about her dating Jack, she never had to face the possibility of him not allowing it. However, after everything her uncle had done for her, Julia felt terrible going behind his back.