Why Romeo Hates Juliet (29 page)

The next morning, Sara, Romeo and Tommy all arrived at the hospital to pick Juliet up. The pack of paparazzi had stationed themselves outside the entrance, waiting patiently for the quartet to appear. It had been decided that Sara and Tommy would do the same trick with the two Escalades as they had that day Romeo had been released, with Sara driving the first one with the couple in the backseat, and Tommy driving his truck behind them to shield them somewhat from the photographers.

When Romeo and Juliet had had to walk through the frenzied throng towards Sara’s waiting truck, Romeo had wrapped his good arm around her and had tried to shield her as much as he could from the flashbulbs, cradling her head into the crook of his sleeve. Questions had been shouted at them along with a few obscenities, but the couple had remained stoic and calm on their march to the truck with Romeo taking the lead and Juliet still too shaken up from her ordeal to do anything more than will her feet to keep walking forward. In that moment, she needed him and he was there for her - as he had been when he’d saved her life the day before, something she would remember for as long as she lived, no matter what eventually happened between them.

On the drive home, Juliet had stayed nestled in his strong arm, feeling his powerful body heat cocooning her in the luxurious backseat. She felt safe and loved, and even if it was really all based on a lie, she closed her eyes and let herself believe it for just a while… just a little while, please.

When the two Escalades had finally pulled into Romeo’s driveway, Tommy had helped Juliet get out, since Romeo couldn’t do very much with one arm in a sling, but just as she was about to walk towards the front door of the house, Romeo grabbed her hand and started tugging her towards the backyard.

“Come on, I wanna show you something,” he said to her.

“What?”

“The pool.”

Juliet stopped in mid-stride, firmly planting both feet on the ground as if they were encased in cement. “Are you crazy?” she shouted, as a wave of fear griped her. “I’m not going anywhere near that thing!”

“Juliet, it’s…”

“No way, Romeo.” Suddenly, her eyes began to water as she looked up at him. “Please don’t make me,” she whispered tremulously. “I - I can’t go there, you have to understand.”

Romeo brought his good hand up and wiped the tears away from her cheek. “It’ll be okay; just come with me,” he asked softly.

Sara came up behind the couple. “Go with him, Juliet. Just go,” she encouraged.

Juliet’s gaze went from him to her sister and back again, before reluctantly acceding to their silent point that she would have to face her fear one day soon and it might as well be now.

allowing Romeo to hold her hand again, she followed him as he led her in the direction of the pool. But as she approached it, her palms began to sweat and she started feeling dizzy as the memories of her almost dying there yesterday gripped her again. Suddenly, she felt Romeo’s hand squeezing hers as if to say ‘I’m here for you’, and as he did so, she sensed his own powerful strength course through her, giving her courage.

Hadn’t he saved her once already? What was there to fear, as long as she was with him?

Pulling herself up and holding her head high, she bravely walked with him towards the pool, but suddenly she stopped in mid-stride as she gawked at what was before her eyes. The pool was empty! There’s wasn’t a drop of water left in the gigantic ceramic hole.

She gasped before turning to Romeo, whose eyes were focused on her. “What did you do?” she asked him, dumbfounded.

Romeo’s mouth turned down at the corners, as anger emanated from him. “I had the goddamn thing drained this morning. And this afternoon, I’ve got another crew coming in to smash it to pieces and fill the hole in. I’m planting grass. I swear Juliet you’ll never have to be afraid of that thing again!” He was adamant as his eyes swiveled back to the now gaping hole, his thoughts reliving yesterday’s traumatic events.

Juliet was moved, not believing what was before her eyes. “You did this for me?” He turned back to her and his blue eyes impaled her. “Don’t you know? I’d do anything for you!” he affirmed passionately.

Juliet’s heart began to tattoo its beat inside her chest. “There is one more thing you can do for me.”

“Name it.”

“Kiss me, right here on this spot, where I almost…” Juliet couldn’t even say the words, but he knew what she meant. She continued, “Let’s make a new memory right here, now, together, and erase the old.”

Romeo’s mouth slanted into a smile. “You mean like a new beginning?” He liked that.

“Yes - a new beginning, a second chance, a do-over; after all, it’s a new day, right?” Romeo’s eyes filled with poignant tenderness as his heart overflowed with his secret love for her. “Yes, ma’am, it is.” As his gaze dropped to her soft, inviting lips, an electrical jolt of desire coursed through his system enlivening every nerve ending in his body.

Just to be this close to her was a heady experience for him, let alone getting to touch her again.

He lowered his desperate lips to hers, and the instant they touched he felt as if their bodies had fused together. Wrapping his good arm around her narrow waist, he pulled her closer into him just as his lips began to move gently against her pliant ones. A sweet feeling enveloped him, one he’d never felt with any other woman before, and for the first time in his life, he knew what it meant to give a love that was true and real and good instead of just taking. He was reborn and it was definitely a new day for him.

Juliet felt his lips moving gently back and forth over hers and it was her undoing. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned into him even more and heard him moan with pleasure against her mouth. He felt so sweet and delicious against her body and those thousands of tiny stars had again begun twinkling on her swol en lips the second he’d touched her.

Opening her mouth even more, she allowed him to plunge into her softness with his seeking tongue and felt his arm tightening around her in response. Kissing him back as she was now, she was silently telegraphing that she loved him, even if she could never tell him with words. She wasn’t a fool and she wasn’t going to kid herself. She knew that he didn’t really love her, and once he regained his memory, he would go back to hating her. This was all a surreal dream, but for today, for right now, she needed him to blot out the ugliness of what had happened here yesterday and only he could give her that.

She felt him deepen the kiss and as his arm tightened even more around her, she instinctively molded herself perfectly into his hardened contours. He moaned again at the sheer pleasure of it, encouraging her onwards. It was obvious he wanted her, there was no denying that, and a primitive desire for him traveled through her body at lightning speed. Yes, she wanted him too -
desperately
- but she knew that to make love to him now was a mistake, no matter how badly she craved it. He didn’t love her, and her love alone could only sustain the fantasy a little while before reality would intrude with the truth. And truth was really all that lasted in the end. Everything else would eventually crumble and be destroyed. It had to. It was the law of the universe.

Sensing his demanding mouth slanting even more over hers, Juliet knew she had one second to put a stop to this immediately, otherwise she would soon be on the verge of losing all control herself and the truth be damned.

Reluctantly pulling her swol en lips off of his, she gazed into his fevered eyes and smiled. “I think - we just made a new memory, Mr. Boyd.”

“We can make more of them upstairs if you want.” His teasing eyes glanced towards the upper floor bedroom windows overlooking the backyard.

She laughed, as she brought up her hand to gently push some of his wild hair off of his forehead. “I think I need to lie down - alone - for awhile.

I’m a bit tired.”

Romeo suddenly expelled a guilty sigh. “Oh God, Juliet, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Of course you’re tired after what you’ve been through.”

“Just a little.”

He gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. “You getting stronger again is all that matters now,” he said, as he started to lead her into the house.

Walking hand in hand, he led her upstairs to Tommy’s old room. Gently, he helped her get into bed, as best he could with his arm in the sling, covered her body with a quilt and then kissed her tenderly on the lips before pulling back, all the while intently staring at her as if he was trying to memorize every aspect of her beautiful face.

“Sleep for now, my Juliet,” he whispered, and with that Juliet closed her eyes and softly drifted off to a land of blue-eyed and wild hair dreams.

~ ~ ~

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Juliet woke up with a start to the sound of a truck backing up outside. Yawning, she glanced at the bedside clock which read 5:17. Was that a.m. or p.m., she wondered? Looking at the sunlight streaming through her bedroom blinds, she reasoned it was probably in the afternoon and that meant she’d been asleep for about four hours.

Hearing more noisy commotion coming from the backyard, she got up and padded to the windows. Glancing out, she watched as a dump truck full of dirt was unloading its contents into the now already half-filled huge hole which had once been the swimming pool.

“Good riddance,” Juliet mumbled to herself, as a shiver of fear ran down her spine as she remembered yesterday’s events.

And then she remembered that Romeo had done all this for her. What a sweetheart! Her heart skipped a beat as she next remembered their kiss earlier. God - why couldn’t they just be like a normal couple? Why did everything have to be so complicated with his amnesia? Why couldn’t it just all be so easy? ‘I like you. You like me. Let’s go to dinner and a movie and see where this is all going to lead?’ She sighed. Things were never easy for her and if she was honest with herself, she would have to admit that she caused a lot of her own problems. Who had been the one to shoot Romeo Boyd in the first place and cause his amnesia? It hadn’t been Sara or Tommy or Carrie Ann even. No - it had been her! And now she was paying the price.

Knock. Knock.

As Juliet turned, she saw her bedroom door opening and Sara walking in with a tray of food which she placed on the bedside table.

“I wasn’t sure you were up yet. How are you feeling?”

“Much better. I’m refreshed and stronger.” Juliet padded over to the tray and bent over it, inhaling the delicious aroma coming from the soup bowl. “Chicken soup for the recovering invalid?”

Sara laughed. “Something like that, and you’ll never guess who made it.”

Juliet gasped as her eyes grew wide with surprise. “Romeo Boyd?”

“No, but he tried.”

“What do you mean?” Juliet sat down on the bed.

Sara sat beside her. “He insisted on cooking for you and said he was going to make the soup today. Only problem was, he didn’t know how and he wanted me to show him. So I did. Well, I don’t know what he did when my back was turned, but it was saltier than the Dead Sea, so we had to throw it out. By then, there wasn’t time to start over so Faith came to the rescue with her version from the store.” Juliet let out a giggle as Sara’s eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter. She continued, “I’ve never seen anyone so crestfal en over soup before, especially when he found out his was inedible. He was so upset because he really wanted to make it for you.”

“Where is he now?”

“Out back directing all the action. He wants the sod laid and the work finished within the hour. He’s paying the workmen double time to get it all done before you wake up from your nap; that’s what he told me. He said - and I quote - ‘I don’t want Juliet to be reminded of that goddamn thing ever again’, unquote.”

Juliet smiled. “Romeo Boyd - car salesman and husband - is so sweet.”

Sara’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Sweet? That’s not sweet, Juliet, that’s love. Romeo Boyd - not ‘car salesman and husband’ but actor and general all-around pain-in-the-ass party boy - is in love with you whether you care to believe it or not, and whether he remembers who he is or not.

He’s in love with you and I suspect you’re in love with him.”

Juliet gasped in shock. “What? You’re crazy, I’m not in…”

Sara stood up. “Save your breath to cool your chicken soup, big sis, because I don’t believe you.”

“Sara, I don’t know where you’re getting your ideas. I’m attracted to him - yes - but love?”

“I’m getting my ideas from what I see and what I feel. Admit to me the truth and not some bullshit lie that you think I want to hear.” A determined Sara put her hands on her hips. “Are you in love with Romeo Boyd?” she demanded, but when her sister remained silent, she raised her voice even more. “Juliet, are you in love with him? Answer me!”

Juliet’s eyes lowered in surrender. “Yes,” she whispered meekly.

Sara nodded. “I thought so.”

Juliet turned her face back up to her sister. “But you’re wrong about him. He doesn’t really love me, not the real him anyway; he hates me.”

“No, I think you’re the one who’s wrong. Those kind of feelings don’t just come and go like that. Mark my words, love is there whether he knows who he is or not…” She paused for a second before continuing, “…and that’s why my suitcase is packed and I’m moving back next door in about five minutes.”

Stunned, Juliet’s mouth dropped open as she jolted up off the bed. “What?”

“Life is too short, sis; look at what happened yesterday. It can all be over in an instant, like that,” she snapped her fingers to make her point before continuing, “And love is too precious a thing to waste.” Determined, Sara began walking towards the door.

“You can’t leave me here alone with him. Sara, please!” Like a puppy dog, Juliet followed her sister into the other bedroom where Sara’s suitcase was already packed and sitting on the bed ready to go.

“Juliet, you’re a big girl and the man is in love with you. Enough said.”

“You’re deserting me, that’s what you’re doing!”

Sara grabbed the suitcase handle and lugged it off the bed. “I am not deserting you. I am saving you - from your own stubbornness. You’re in love with him and it’s time to explore that and see where it can lead. Now granted, he’s still dealing with the amnesia, but maybe your love can help him overcome that. Love works miracles you know.” She smiled, as she winked at her big sister before marching to the door and down the stairs with case in hand.

Juliet trailed behind her. “But - but you were the one who said I shouldn’t ‘do’ anything with him because he couldn’t remember who he was and when he did, he’d dump my ass because he hated me!”

Sara reached the front door and yanked it open. “Yeah, I said that, but that was before I knew he was in love with you - and love changes all the rules.” Bending down, she gave her sister a quick hug and small peck on the cheek before pulling back. “Don’t worry, I’ll be checking up on you a lot and if you need me to do anything for you, I will. But in the meantime, get to know the man who loves you, Juliet. Give him a chance - please.”

“Sara, you can’t go!”

“Watch me. Oh and I almost forgot; give Romeo a message for me. Tell him that if he doesn’t treat you right, I’m gonna kick his ass.” Dumbfounded and feeling vulnerable, Juliet pouted as her sister marched outside. “You’re leaving? You’re really leaving?”

“Damn right!” Sara shouted. Suddenly, she stopped her determined march and turned back to Juliet who was silhouetted in the open doorway.

“And make sure you do everything I would do, especially on your date tonight,” she instructed with another wink before stoically continuing her walk across the driveway and onto their own property next door.

Date, what date… Juliet wondered, as she watched her sister opening their own front door and disappearing inside. Anger flashed through her system. How dare Sara leave her alone with this mess! What a deserter, she fumed, as she slammed her own door shut.

~ ~ ~