Sweet Reunion

by Melanie Shawn

  “I do know one thing. People who were raised like your father was, that kind of progress doesn't come easy. It's hard won. To make the kind of improvements he's made, he's had to fight for every victory tooth and nail.”

  Henry sighed, “I don't know, son. Maybe you'll never be able to forgive him, maybe your wounds are too deep. Only you can say that for sure. But I just thought this was information that you should have.”

  And with that, he turned and walked out the front door of the bunkhouse and up toward the main house. As Justin watched him walk away down the path, he did something that surprised him even as he felt himself doing it. He picked up the phone extension and dialed the number which he had memorized more than twenty years ago, on first grade safety day, hoping it was still the number of his childhood home.

  When he heard his father's voice answer the phone, he said, “Pop? It's Justin. We need to talk.” and realized, as he heard the gratitude that tinged his father's voice when he agreed to meet, that this was the first exchange he had had with his father since coming back to town that wasn't colored by anger. He didn't feel angry anymore. He still felt sadness, he still felt disappointment, and he knew there was a long way to go before he and his father could have any interactions that Justin would classify as “positive.” But the anger? That was gone.

  It wasn't everything, but it was a step in the right direction.

  Chapter 27

  Amanda looked around her living room and saw a sight that warmed her heart: everyone she loved, gathered in one room. Henry was here, Justin was here – and of course, the rest of the Fabulous Four – Karina, Lauren, and Sam.

  They were all together, in a stunning change of pace compared to recent events, to celebrate a joyous occasion this time: Amanda's birthday.

  She could hardly believe how much her life had changed in the past two weeks. Yes, she marveled, it had only been two weeks, almost to the day, since the reading of her father's will. That fateful day when Justin had walked back into her life.

  In the week that had passed since Justin had moved his things into Amanda's house, officially making it “their” house, their life had already started to settle into a blissful routine which felt like it had been in place for years.

  Justin was an early riser like she was, and so he had begun to join her in her previously solitary morning routine, the one in which she thought she would never be able to find the joy again. Now they spent the dawn sipping coffee together on the porch swing, snuggled up in each other's arms and wrapped inside her mother's afghan, while watching the world come alive together each day. In that way, as well as so many others, Justin was bringing joy back to parts of her life that she thought were forever dead.

  And, she thought with a slight blush heating her face, that wasn't the only new “morning routine” that they had instigated. Justin was an early riser in more ways than one.

  Their days had been filled with work at Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures, frantically paced work, as they and the staff all worked in concert to ready the park for the winter season opening day, a mere four weeks away. The task seemed daunting, but with Justin by her side, she felt confident that they would be ready. Somehow, with Justin by her side, she felt that she could handle anything!

  The doorbell rang, startling her out of her reverie. “Who is that? Who else is coming?” she asked Justin.

  “I invited my father and Noah,” he grinned. She smiled right back. She loved seeing him light up the way he did when he spoke about Noah, and now she was going to get an opportunity, her first opportunity, to see them around each other. She couldn't wait.

  Justin opened the front door and ushered in his father and a very excited Noah. Justin knelt in front of the boy, grinning widely.

  “Hey, buddy,” he said, giving Noah a big hug and then standing up and taking him by the hand and leading him over to where Amanda stood, “I want you meet a really good friend of mine. This is Amanda.”

  “I know her!” Noah exclaimed excitedly, looking up at Justin, “She came to my school! She talked about hiking safety tips!”

  Amanda smiled, “That's right, I did. Wow! That was over a year ago. You must be really smart to remember that! I'm impressed!”

  Noah looked proud, and Rick and Justin both smiled down at him, although Amanda noticed that they didn't look at each other. Amanda smiled down at Noah. “Hey, Noah, do you want to come in the kitchen with me and pick out a soda? I think we have, like, five or six kinds!”

  “Yeah!” Noah exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air in the way he liked to do. He grabbed Amanda's hand as they walked off together to the kitchen.

  Rick turned to Justin, although he did still struggle to meet his eye. “Thanks for inviting me,” he said haltingly, “You could have just asked me to drop off Noah. I really appreciate it.”

  “I want you here, Pop.” Justin said sincerely, “I want us to get to know each other.”

  Rick looked Justin full in the face, relieved and hopeful, “I would like that, Justin. I would really like that.”

  Justin nodded, “I can't promise a total clean slate. I'm still dealing with a lot. But that's what I want to try for. That's my goal. Fair enough?”

  Rick Barnes nodded but didn't answer. Justin was surprised to see that it was because he was too choked up to speak. The father that Justin had known as a child was not the type of guy to get emotional. Maybe he really was changing.

  Justin put his arm around his father's shoulders. “Let's go join the party,” he said, and led his father toward the kitchen to join Amanda and Noah.

  Just then, however, the doorbell rang again. Justin turned toward the door and Amanda and Noah came back in from the kitchen.

  “Who is that now?” Amanda asked Justin, but Justin merely shrugged, indicating his ignorance.

  Lauren, however, stepped toward the door. “That would be my guest,” she said with a self-satisfied smile.

  With that, she opened the door and ushered Geoffrey inside.

  Amanda gasped. “Geoffrey!” she exclaimed, “Where have you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you for over a week, you haven't been returning my calls.”

  Lauren smirked, “Well, Amanda, you haven't been using the right bait.”

  Geoffrey looked puzzled, “Right bait? My word, what are you talking about?”

  Lauren positioned herself between Geoffrey and the front door in case he got it into his head to turn around and leave after she started speaking. She wanted him to have to stand there and face the music, right in front of Amanda.

  “I used Amanda's phone,” she said sweetly, “To text you, Geoffrey, and tell you to come to the party because I had decided to sell Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures. The truth is, Amanda has no such intentions. She didn't even know I swiped her phone.”

  Geoffrey paled. Whether it was from anger or desperation was unclear.

  “Here's the thing,” Lauren explained, looking at Amanda and completely ignoring Geoffrey, “I knew from the first minute I met this slimy guy that he was up to no good.”

  “Excuse me?” Geoffrey said haughtily, doing his best to sound supremely offended.

  “He was just so obsessed with you selling Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures. It didn't add up. Like Henry said, he didn't have a horse in that race. It should never have mattered that much to him.

  “So, Henry and I combed through Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures' books, but we couldn't find anything amiss.”

  “Of course you couldn't!” Geoffrey huffed indignantly.

  “And, yes, at first after coming up empty-handed, I was disappointed. A little depressed, even. But I knew I couldn't let it go.

  “It was my own situation, funnily enough, that gave me the idea of how to proceed. I was able to settle the score with my sexual harassment poster boy ex because of the fact that I was close enough to him to know a few secrets. I knew his weak spots. I knew where he had left himself vulnerable.

  “So I started thinking – who knows Geof
frey well enough to be able to know what kinds of shady dealings he's into? Who can expose his seamy underbelly?”

  “Seamy underbelly, for heaven sake!” Geoffrey mumbled.

  “So, I asked my lawyer to run a check on him – background check, financials, the whole thing.”

  Geoffrey became even paler, if that were possible.

  “So, the upshot is, I did manage to find just one person close enough to know his dirty little secrets, and who I thought might be interested in what was going on out here.”

  “Who?” Amanda asked weakly.

  “Her name is Helen,” Lauren continued, “And, oh boy, was I right! She did know so many of his secrets! Of course, the one thing that she didn't know was anything about his relationship with you. She was pretty angry when I explained that part.”

  “You talked to my wife?!” Geoffrey roared furiously.

  “Your what?!” Amanda demanded, eyes wide.

  “Oh, yes!” Lauren continued, delighted, “He's been married for almost fifteen years. He has two boys in private school in Boston. What he also has, I found out, is a neat little Ponzi scheme operation that's about to fall apart.”

  “Oh...my...God.” Amanda breathed.

  “Yep. He viewed Parker's death as just about the most fortuitous event that could have happened to him. He knew Parker didn't carry any debt on the resort. A sale would have netted millions of dollars in pure profit. His plan was to convince you to sell and then somehow steal the money from you, thereby propping up his Ponzi scheme and helping him to evade detection for at least a while longer.”

  Geoffrey bent over and put his hands on his knees, breathing deeply, looking like he was about to either faint or vomit. Everyone in the room stood in shocked silence, staring at him.

  After about 30 seconds, Karina broke the silence, “Side note,” she said conversationally, “I don't know if you've thought about this yet, Amanda and Justin, but since you own an operation and property worth millions of dollars free and clear, that technically makes you millionaires. Food for thought.” Sam hit her on the back of the head with a couch pillow.

  Geoffrey straightened and strode purposefully toward the front door, pushing Lauren aside. “I don't have to take this from you,” he said forcefully, flinging the door open.

  “Oh, but you do have to take this from me,” said the waiting SEC commission officer waiting on the other side of the front door, as he spun Geoffrey around, snapped handcuffs onto his wrists, and read him his rights.

  “See you later, Go Free!” Karina called cheerfully, “Except that you can't...you know...actually GO FREE.” This earned her another whack on the back of the head with the decorative pillow that Sam was holding.

  As the agents took Geoffrey away in handcuffs, Amanda sat down on the couch, pale and unsteady. Justin sat down next to her. “Are you OK?” he asked quietly, “That was some pretty big stuff that just happened here.”

  “That was awesome!” came Noah's small voice from the window where he was watching Geoffrey being driven away, and Amanda laughed.

  “I'm with you, kid!” said Karina, “That was pretty much the awesomest thing I've ever seen.” Amanda looked at Justin, “That was bizarre!” she said, “I just can't wrap my mind around it. He was married. He had kids, for God's sake. I was a mistress. Look at me. Do I look like the kind of person that would be a mistress?”

  Justin shook his head, “You weren't. You didn't knowingly put yourself in that situation. And think of it this way. We should be grateful to Geoffrey. If he hadn't kept you wrapped up in a do nothing, go nowhere sham of a relationship for two whole years before I came back into your life, you may have actually been involved with someone for real when I got here!” He flashed her his lopsided grin, “How awkward would that have been?”

  She laughed shakily, “OK, true enough...”

  Noah ran over and flopped onto the couch beside Justin. “This is the best party I have EVER been to!” he enthused, “Is there going to be cake?”

  --- ~ ---

  The air was crisp and quiet about an hour later as Justin led Noah on a leisurely stroll through the woods. In fact, to Justin, it seemed even quieter than normal. No birds chirping, no wind rustling. Just the screaming of his own thoughts in his head.

  He had told Noah that he wanted to go on a walk with him, so they could talk about what Noah had witnessed at his house the other night, but now that they were out here, Justin couldn't seem to find the words.

  He knew he had to get the conversation started. He was the adult, for God’s sake. Well, Amanda might argue with that assessment at times. But he was at least trying to be the adult.

  Justin could not believe how strong the urge inside him was to run away. He knew he could justify it to himself. There was no one in his life that he could not convince himself would be better off without him. He was so used to telling himself that running away from facing the emotional consequences of his actions was really what was best for the other person, and not for himself. That it was a noble thing. You know. And not the chickenshit thing.

  He was so used to telling himself that, in fact, that he had almost indoctrinated himself into completely believing it. Almost.

  Deep down, he had always known it was wrong and cowardly. Very deep down, in a little quiet corner of his soul that he never let himself acknowledge, let alone visit.

  And that had been possible in Alaska, if not easy. He was surrounded by rough and tumble men. Men whose priority was to work hard and sometimes play hard. But not...not under any circumstances....to talk through their Goddamn feelings. And Justin had liked that just fine.

  Or so he had thought. So why was he still here? That was the real question. And, looking down at the tiny, hopeful form of his brother walking beside him, he saw the real answer.

  Family. Connection. Love. That’s why he was here. That was the real meaning of life, he was learning.

  No. Not learning. Being taught. Being taught by Amanda, and being taught by Noah. The people in his life who loved him enough to be patient with him while he figured out how to love them back the way that they deserved to be loved. And that was a lot of patience! He was a lucky man. Now he needed to figure out how to be worthy of that incredible good fortune.

  He owed it to Noah to be the best big brother in the world. Noah was an incredible kid - arguably, the best little brother in the world - and he deserved that.

  Of course, feeling grand, sweeping sentiments like that had always been easy. What needed to be done here was more difficult, to flourish where the rubber meets the road, in the little moments like this. In figuring out how to start this conversation.

  I can do it, Justin told himself, if I can just figure out the right way to start! The perfect first words. A joke, maybe, to break the ice. Or, maybe a commentary on the weather. That was always good neutral territory! Do eight year olds respond to weather openers?

  “So, yeah, this is some nice weather we’re having, huh? Warm for this time of year,” Justin attempted.

  Noah stared up at him in bewilderment.

  OK, Justin thought, so that’s a “No” on the weather talk, then. Time to start thinking of a joke?

  But his dilemma was cut short when Noah grabbed his hand desperately and stopped walking.

  “I’m sorry,” Noah sniffled, and when Justin looked down at him, he was shocked to see tears streaming down Noah’s face.

  “You're sorry?” Justin managed to ask through his shock.

  “You got mad at Dad because I made you mad,” Noah continued through his tears, “I’m sorry I made you mad.”

  “Oh my God, kid, that’s not true. Come here, let’s talk.” Justin gestured toward a fallen log, and they both settled on it.

  “Here’s the thing,” Justin earnestly told his little brother, “Sometimes grownups get mad at each other. Kids do, too, right? You fight with your friends sometimes?”

  Noah nodded thoughtfully and continued to listen.

  “Well, it’s the sam
e with adults. I was fighting with your dad...I mean, our dad...” Justin took a deep breath, “I was fighting with Dad because of things that happened a long time ago, before you were even born. It wasn’t because of you. You didn’t make me mad. You could never make me mad.”

  Noah looked at the ground. “I heard you yelling at him about me, though.”

  Justin sighed. Man, this whole talking about feelings and being honest thing was difficult! But he owed it to Noah to push through.

  “That’s true. Part of what I was mad at Dad about did have to do with you, but not because you made me mad. It was because I felt like Dad wasn’t being fair to you, by talking about me all the time. I felt like he was hurting your feelings, or making you feel like you weren’t as important to him as I was. And that’s not right, so it made me mad, and I yelled at him. But that wasn’t the right thing to do. I should have talked about it calmly. And I certainly never meant for you to hear it.

  “You’re such a great kid, Noah. And I love you. You’re my brother! So, if I feel like anyone is hurting you, even if it’s Dad, that makes me really, really mad.”

  Noah’s face registered amazement. “But, you’re, like...the best! You’re like....a superhero. You’re the best at everything! That’s why Dad talks about you. I’m just a regular kid. I’m not good at stuff, not like you!”

  Justin shook his head, “See, that’s not true. You are a special person. You’re every bit as good as I am, and in many ways, you’re a lot better!”

  Noah looked incredulous.

  Justin nodded, “It’s true! In fact, just today, you taught me how to do something that I’ve been struggling to be good at my entire life.”

  Noah’s expression turned from incredulous to flat-out disbelieving.

  "I'm serious!" Justin insisted. "I was walking along here with you, trying to figure out how to start talking with you, how to explain what I was feeling, and most of all - how to tell you I was sorry for the other night. But I couldn’t get the words out. I couldn’t figure out the right way to start. Then you showed me how to do it. You just taught me that just telling someone how I feel is the best way to be.”