Sweet Reunion (11 page)

She sighed. Still. No reason
not to accept a ride from him. She was exhausted, utterly drained in fact, and
it would feel heavenly to sit back and relax while he sat in the driver's seat,
both literally and metaphorically. That couldn't hurt anything. Could it?

Justin drove them to
Amanda's house, and helped her make trip after trip between the kitchen and the
car, carrying tightly sealed dishes containing appetizers, casseroles, and
desserts.

When they pulled up outside
the Riverside Recreation Area and saw a bustling crowd milling around and
talking, Amanda sighed and turned to Justin. “I had kind of hoped that people
wouldn't bother taking my advice. I was nursing this fantasy where we would
drive up to find the parking lot totally empty, and I could just drop off this
food at the soup kitchen and go home and climb into a hot bubble bath.
Selfish?”

Justin opened his mouth to
answer, but could only shake his head. He had been rendered speechless by the
image of her naked body, slipping down slowly into the hot water, luxuriating
in the fragrant bubbles.

Amanda looked at him
strangely. “You OK?” she asked, the look on her face telling him that she
thought he might be losing it a little.

Justin did his best to laugh
it off, although the laugh sounded husky and thin, even to his own ears. “Nah,
I'm good, I think that the whole emotion of the day must have gotten to me as
well. I don't blame you for wishing you could just relax, I wish you could,
too. So let's do this. Let's have a signal. We can go with a classic, the ear
tug. If I see you tug your ear, at any time, even if we've only been here for
ten minutes, I will make an excuse and hustle you on out of here. Deal?”

Amanda nodded gratefully.
“You bet that's a deal. That sounds amazing.”

Justin gave her a cocky half
smile, and she recognized it as his Trademark Smile #321, the
I-Can-Conquer-the-World-if-I-Put-My-Mind-To-It smile. She felt her confidence
grow. As much as she was trying to avoid leaning on Justin emotionally, she
could feel herself becoming stronger in Justin's presence. It was happening
without her permission, but she honestly didn't have the strength to fight it.
Consequences be damned, she was just going to sit back and enjoy the results.

Hey, she reasoned, since it
seemed like her best efforts were not going to be enough to control it anyway,
she may as well just revel in the fact that taking strength from Justin's
presence was helping her make it through one of the most difficult days of her
life.

She gave him a small half
smile that almost mirrored his own. “Let's do this,” she said, and the two of
them got out of the car together and started unloading the food.

It felt good to have a task
for her hands to focus on, something concrete and mindless to be doing,
something that felt almost automatic – making trips back and forth between the
car and the tables, unpacking the food – it fit perfectly into her nature,
taking care of people, nurturing them through food. She actually found herself
starting to enjoy the event, in a way. Her father had been so important to
these people, and giving them a place where they could talk to each other about
him, and where they could talk to her, tell her their stories, begin to heal –
it felt significant. It felt real. And Justin being right by her side through
all of it? Well, that just felt right. There was no other word for it. It felt
perfect, and natural...and 100% right.

Amanda looked up and saw Sue
Ann Perkins, the owner of Hope Falls' most popular eating establishment, coming
toward her. Sue Ann was dressed in the same basic outfit she had worn every day
of Amanda's life – a long floral skirt with a button down shirt and matching
cardigan sweater. Today's ensemble was in muted tones of black and grey. Sue
Ann gave her a hug and then began helping her unpack and lay out various food
items.

Sue Ann looked at Amanda
sympathetically. “How are you holdin' up, sweet girl?” she asked.

Amanda smiled, “Oh, about as
well as can be expected, I guess. It's hard. But everyone in town has been so
supportive.”

Sue Ann winked
conspiratorially and inclined her head toward Justin, who was standing across
the plaza talking to a group of his friends from high school. “And how is that
situation shaping up?” she inquired.

Amanda laughed, “I see your
plan, lady. You didn't come over here to help me. You came to dish the dirt!”

Sue Ann looked at Amanda,
her expression of innocence comically exaggerated, “Dirt? Who? Me?”

Amanda bumped her shoulder
into Sue Ann's companionably. “That's OK, if I were on the outside looking into
my crazy situation, I'd be dying to know what was going on as well. Heck, I'm
on the inside of the situation, and I'd love to have the slightest clue.”

“Well,” Sue Ann said,
leaning her head towards Amanda in full on gossip mode, “I will tell you what
folks are saying, if you'd like to know.”

Amanda's head whipped around
to look at Sue Ann. “Are people talking about us?' she asked, shocked.

Sue Ann chuckled, “Oh,
honey, this is a small town. There's nothing that happens here, no matter how
tiny, that doesn't get discussed to death. And, baby girl, this is about as far
from a tiny happening as you can get!”

Amanda shook her head to
clear it, “Well, yes, I guess so. What are people saying?”

“Well,” Sue Ann began, “you
know I hear what most folks say on pretty much all subjects, because they talk
to me when they come into the cafe, so I have a pretty good idea of the variety
of takes on the situation that most people have, and here's the breakdown.

“First of all, some people
are saying that Justin just came down here for the will reading, to find out if
Parker left him any money, and that before you know it, he'll be up and gone
again.”

“That's not a concept
without precedent,” Amanda said regretfully.

“Well, that's the minority
opinion, to tell you the truth,” Sue Ann continued firmly, “to hear most folks
tell it, they think Justin will be around a good long time. They think he's
come home where he belongs, and that it's for good.”

She put her arm around
Amanda's shoulder and said quietly in her ear, as if to keep the juicy
observation just between the two of them, “And I'm sure their convictions were
more than strengthened after watching the way he's been looking at you all day.
Heavens, I'm certainly convinced he's sticking around for good after watching
him moon after you for the past couple of hours.”

Amanda chuckled slightly,
“From your lips to God's ears, Sue Ann.”

“Honey, I'll pray for Justin
to stay around with you all day long if you want me to, but mark my words –
those would be wasted breaths. That boy is out of his head for you, and there's
no bringing him back down from that. That boy loves you.”

Amanda smiled to herself.
Maybe Sue Ann was right. And, hey, maybe Sue Ann was wrong. But there was one
thing Amanda knew for sure, and that was that the words “that boy loves you”
sounded oh so very sweet to her ears.

Chapter 10

Karina walked up to Justin
at the food table, where he was loading a plate with a towering pile of food.
She smiled and said, “I was going to give you my usual shoulder-to-shoulder
bump greeting, but I'm afraid if I jostle your arm even a tiny bit, enough
roast beef to feed a small nation will come cascading off your plate.”

Justin laughed, “I know. I'd
blame it on the mountain air, but I've been living in the mountains, so that
would be BS. I don't know what to tell you. I'm a pig.”

Karina barked out a short
laugh, “Nice segue, and you didn't even know it.”

Justin furrowed his brow in
a puzzled expression, “Segue?”

“Yes,” Karina smiled, “I
wanted to talk to you about something, and it's actually about the possibility
of you being a pig, or possibly not, although in a different sense than you just
meant.”

Justin groaned. “Lemme
guess. Is this the 'don't hurt Amanda' speech?”

Karina nodded, “You bet your
ass it is.”

Justin sighed, “OK, go
ahead.”

Karina looked at him
sharply, “Hey, Justin, I know we kid around a lot, but I'm serious about this.
Amanda's one of my best friends. I love her to death. I'm not joking right
now.”

He nodded, “You're right.
Come on, let's sit.”  They moved over to one of the park benches and sat,
putting their plates down between them.

Justin began, “Look, Kar, I
know you're serious about protecting Amanda. I want to protect her too. I take
that seriously. I only groaned because it seems like you're the thousandth
person to come up and warn me about the exact same thing tonight. 'Don't hurt
Amanda!'   It's like the theme of the day.”

“Good, I stand behind that
theme one hundred percent,” Karina affirmed.

“And, believe me, it's not
like I want to hurt her. My God! That's the last thing I want. I just don't get
it.”

“What don't you get?”

Justin shrugged, “Well, I
mean...I know that the town loves Amanda. Like how they say so-and-so is
'America's Sweetheart' – Amanda is Hope Falls' Sweetheart. So they're
protective of her, I get that.

“I also get that her Dad
just died, so everyone knows she's feeling vulnerable, so they would be extra
eager to protect her, and warn me off if they thought I might hurt her.
Again...I get that.

“What I
don't
get is
that she's an adult. She's not a child, she's not incapable of making her own
decisions. And it's not like I'm some sort of manipulative predator. I would
never set out to hurt her. So why does everyone feel like I'm such a danger to
her?”

Karina looked slightly
surprised, “Well, it's not like they feel like you are a dangerous person, per
se. It's nothing personal. It's because you broke her heart before.”

Justin scoffed, “When we
were kids? Seriously? She had a crush on me! When we didn't get together, she
was pissed off at me, I think, more than anything. Yes, it must have sucked
that I left after that, believe me, I've missed her too. But a broken heart? I
highly doubt it was that deep.”

Karina looked at him in
amazement, “Wow. You have no idea the depth of feeling that you engender in
her,” she stopped and sighed, “Look, if I didn't have so much faith in you as a
truly good guy, I would never tell you this. This information, in the wrong
hands, could be used to really hurt her...but I don't think you'll use it that
way.

“When you left ten years
ago, she wasn't pissed. She was devastated. Destroyed. Utterly bereft. She
cried for days. She wouldn't – or maybe couldn't – eat or drink. She got so
sick that her Dad almost had to check her into the hospital. Not to mention,
she was so broken up about it that she wouldn't even tell me or Sam or Lauren
what had happened to you! It hurt her too much even to talk about it.”

Justin was visibly paling as
Karina told this story.

“It took her almost a year
to work her way out of the grief caused by missing you...and I know she still
feels it, even all these later.

“Honestly, if you break her
heart now, I don't know if she'd survive a second go-round. She's a strong
girl, but she has a blind spot in her heart for you.

“If you're going to lead her
down a path, Justin, damn it you had better be ready to stay. That's all I'm
saying.”

Justin nodded slowly, processing
this information.

Karina put her hand on his
shoulder, and said gently, “Look, it's nothing against you. I really like you,
you know that. We're friends. In fact, I'm rooting for the two of you to get
together, I think you belong together. And taking the keys from her and making
her let you drive was a good start. Lauren and I were on our way over to her,
but you beat us to it. I think even Lauren was a little impressed.

“So it’s not like no one
recognizes that you’re making an effort. All I'm saying is...take it seriously.
Don't play games with her.”

Justin nodded again. “I
won't,” he promised, “Thanks for telling me all of this. I have a lot to think
about.”

--- ~ ---

As Justin pulled up to
Amanda's house that evening, turned off the car, and glanced over at her
peacefully sleeping form in the passenger seat. He shook his head, considering
his options, none of them good.

He definitely didn't want to
wake her. She had had such a long day, and she deserved every single minute of
peace and sleep that she could get. She had stayed in the park until every last
person that wanted to speak with her had had the opportunity, hours after the
majority of people had left. Even the Fabulous Four had headed home when Justin
assured them that he would stay with her until the bitter end.

The consequence of her
caring actions, however, was that now she was utterly exhausted. Justin
certainly didn't want to disturb her peaceful slumber for something as mundane
as just getting up and going into the house.

By the same token, they
obviously couldn't sit out here in the car all night, so something needed to be
done.