Captured in Ink (Montgomery Ink Boulder #4.5) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,2

and I held back a curse.

Julia’s coworker and his two spouses were telling a story about one of their family members, and I was only half listening. Julia was laughing along, paying attention, and I knew I should, as well.

I liked Ethan Montgomery and his spouses, Holland and Lincoln. They were great people, and I got along with them. I even worked with their brother-in-law, Marcus, at the library. We were all one big tattooed family—and admittedly a little weird. And yet all I could think about was my wife.

I still couldn’t believe I had married the love of my life, and that she still wanted to be with me after all these years.

“Are you going to keep making swoony eyes at Julia over the table, or are you going to start paying attention to us?” Lincoln asked, and I cleared my throat as everyone at the table broke out into laughter.

“Sorry, it’s been a strange day.” I shook my head and took another sip of my wine.

“I vaguely remember Marcus saying you had book club today,” Holland said, her voice kind. She owned a touristy shop that sold art and other exclusive pieces down the street from the library. I had gotten Julia’s birthday gift from her, and I knew when the holidays came up, I’d probably be shopping there again. It didn’t hurt that Lincoln sold a couple of his art pieces through the store, although his work was so sought after these days, it was hard to keep them in the shop. With some of them going for thousands, if not more, it didn’t make sense security-wise to keep them in her small store.

I loved that my friends were all connected and settling down. The Montgomerys, in particular, had been through a lot recently, and it was good to see them happy for once. There was talk of babies and future plans and the like. I smiled over at Julia again as Ethan began talking about work and an upcoming trip, and I wondered when we would start that next phase of our relationship. We both wanted children and had talked about it in the past, but we were taking our time. We still had more to do in our lives before we took that next step, but it would probably be a good idea to at least bring it up so we were on the same page.

I had learned long ago from one disastrous relationship after another that without true communication, things could get fucked up faster than you could blink. And I would do everything in my power to never hurt Julia.

“You’re not going on this work trip?” I asked Ethan, trying to get my head back into the conversation.

Both Julia and Ethan were computational chemists, with Julia focused on data analysis. However, she worked with Ethan on most projects. Both of them were way above my pay grade when it came to understanding science, but I liked learning new things. Hence why, after I left the military, I became a librarian, something the exact opposite of what my initial career had been. Some people might not quite understand why, but it was books for me, and that’s all I needed. That, and Julia.

“No, they only need Julia and another member of our team. I offered to go in her place because I know you have an anniversary coming up, but she’s the one who spearheaded this, you know?” Ethan added.

Julia just shook her head. “We did it together, thank you very much. You were just as big a part of this project as I was. But you know Jeff, he wanted to go because the event is in Vegas, so it was either you or me and the guy in charge.”

I ground my teeth. “I don’t like this Jeff guy.”

Julia shrugged. “He’s not that bad. He’s brilliant, and he’s always quite nice. And he isn’t one of those guys who thinks that because I’m a woman, I don’t know how to do science or come up with my own proofs. But he’s also in a higher position than us, and if he wants to go on a trip where he will get his work done but also party? He’s going to go.”

“Yeah, he’s not a jerk,” Ethan put in. “And he did do work on the project. So, it’s not like there’s any bad blood.”

“I still don’t have to like him,” I said, lifting my chin.

Julia just snorted. “Of course not, honey. You can