by KG MacGregor
"Calm down, Justine," she told herself, grateful to be getting a break from the usual stream of patient complaints. At least that part of her day was going okay…but there was still that balance thing, and that meant she'd probably get slammed as soon as the snow let up.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the phone.
"Good morning, Patient Services. This is Justine Hall. May I help you?"
"Hey, Mom."
"Emmy? Is everything alright?" It was highly unusual to be getting a call from her daughter in the middle of a school day.
"Yeah…well, mostly."
"What is it? Are you at school?"
"No, they canceled school on account of the snow. I'm at home with Alex."
"Just the two of you?" Emmy was about the only one other than J2 who could handle the little girl's special demands.
"Yeah, J2 had to run out and get some medicine for Alex's hand. That's why I'm calling.
She should've been back by now. Dad's in court." Both Emmy and her brother had taken to using the moniker their mother had coined. Their stepmother took it in stride, except for a time or two when it slipped out of JT's mouth.
"Well, honey, I'm sure she probably just stopped to run a few errands. Are you and Alexandra okay?"
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"She's really agitated. I think her hand hurts a lot. She got to it last night and it was bleeding all over the place this morning."
"Did you get the bleeding stopped?"
"Yeah, and it's wrapped up nice and tight. But I think it hurts her. She's crying and waving it around. I just wish J2 would get home with the medicine."
Justine heard the worry in her daughter's voice. It wasn't fair to ask a sixteen-year-old to take that on without some help. She didn't fault J2, though; it wasn't like her at all just to dump this on her stepdaughter. There had to be an explanation. "Alright, honey, here's what I want you to do. Call down to the drugstore and see if J2 picked up the medicine.
Then call me back on my cell phone. If she hasn't gotten it, I'll go by and pick it up and bring it on over."
"Thanks, Mom. I knew I could count on you."
That simple statement brought an unwelcome rush of tears to Justine's still-red eyes.
"You can always count on me, honey."
Justine left a message for Dr. Henderson that she had an emergency and posted a sign on the door directing inquiries to the administration offices on the second floor. She reached the parking lot to find another inch and a half of snow on the ground, with it still coming down. They were going to get socked with this early winter storm.
Her Acura handled well in the snow, but just to be safe, she pulled off the road right away when her cell phone chirped. "Hello?"
"Mom? I did what you said. Trudy said J2 picked up the medicine over an hour ago, and that she was in a hurry to get it and get home."
Justine heard the shake in her daughter's voice. "Don't worry, Emmy. The roads are a mess out here…she may have gotten stuck or something. I'm going to head over to the drugstore and see if I see her car somewhere. You keep this phone on, you hear?"
"Okay. Call me if you find her."
"How's Alexandra?"
"I can't get her to stop crying."
"Okay, honey. If I don't find J2, I'll come on over and sit with you until she gets home.
Either way, it won't be much longer, okay?"
"Okay. Thanks, Mom."
"You're welcome. You're always welcome."
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The redhead reached the drugstore and looked about for J2's white minivan. Only a few cars were parked on the street in front, none familiar. Heading out of downtown in the direction of Lakeside, Justine maneuvered carefully to avoid a minor accident, noting with relief that neither of the cars involved was someone she knew. As she drove further from downtown, the roads got slicker from lack of traffic; and sure enough, she finally came upon the vehicle she'd been searching for. From the looks of things, J2 had slipped off the shoulder while rounding a curve. The van was hopelessly stuck in the ditch.
Justine activated her emergency flashers and pulled to the edge of the road, careful not to go over too far, lest she wind up in the ditch herself. With a quick peek inside, she determined that J2 had abandoned the vehicle, probably to continue homeward on foot.
Returning to her car, she resumed her search.
Around the next curve, she saw a small figure plodding in the snow up ahead. Justine tooted the horn as she began to slow down, realizing for certain that this woman was J2, and that she wasn't at all dressed to be out walking in this kind of weather.
"Get in," she said through the now-open passenger window, pulling alongside the shivering woman.
J2 didn't have to be asked twice. Hurriedly, she opened the door and slid into the bucket seat.
Justine rolled up the window and turned the heater on full blast.
"What in the world are you doing out in this weather in that flimsy jacket? And where are your gloves?"
J2 wanted to be irritated at the motherly questions, but the woman had a point. "I hadn't planned on being gone that long. I was just running to the drugstore and back."
"Are you alright? You weren't hurt or anything, were you?"
J2 shook her head. "No, I'm fine. I appreciate you stopping. What are you doing out this way?"
"Emmy called me at work. She was worried, and she said Alexandra was crying."
"Poor little thing." J2 looked as if she was going to cry, too. "Thanks for coming all the way out here, Justine. That was a nice thing to do."
"It was nothing. I know you'd have done the same thing if Emmy had called you and needed something."
The pair drove on in awkward silence until they reached the big house on Lakeside Drive.
Justine pulled into the drive, expecting just to drop her passenger and head back to work.
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"Do you want…to come in for coffee or something?"
"I don't want to be any trouble. It sounds like you've already got your hands full today without having to play hostess too. But I wouldn't mind saying hi to Emmy."
J2 nodded. "Sure."
Justine was no stranger to her ex-husband's home. She'd been here lots of times before Trey started driving to drop the kids off to visit their dad…and then later to pick them up to come visit her. For the most part, the adults involved got along pretty well. There weren't any childish jealousies to deal with, despite J2's involvement with JT while he and Justine were still living together as man and wife. Justine herself had admitted that she didn't understand JT at all; so if that was the line he was feeding his mistress, who was she to argue?
"Look who's here, Alex! Who's that?" Emmy met them at the front door with her sister in her arms. She was clearly relieved to see the reinforcements arrive.
J2 scooped her small daughter up and disappeared into the bathroom to apply the medicine.
"Thanks, Mom." The teenager gave her mother a welcome hug.
"It was no problem. You did the right thing to call." She explained how she had found the van on the side of the road and its driver walking home.
"So what'd you do last night?"
The question startled Justine so much that she couldn't answer.
"I called about ten-thirty to tell you to look outside at the snow, but nobody answered."
"I…I must have been in the shower or something." Now she remembered. The ringing phone had awakened them and they'd stumbled into the bedroom to finish their night of sleep.
"I thought you always showered in the morning."
"Yes, I meant bath…sometimes I take a bath at night to relax…you know, after running."
"But…you have a phone in the bedroom. Didn't you hear it ring?"
"Obviously not." Justine's voice was sharper than she'd intended. "I guess it was when I was running the water or something. I had the door closed to keep
the bathroom warm."
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"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Boy, it sure is tough trying to keep up with all you grownups. I tell myself I have to cut the apron strings, but I worry every time you guys go out there on your own."
"You're such a nut, Emmy Sharpe." Justine pulled her daughter into another hug and kissed her forehead. "So where's your brother today?"
"He took off early. As soon as they announced that school was closed, he headed over to Josh's to play video games. He said he didn't want to wait too late to go in case the roads got worse."
"Josh…?"
"Josh Roberts. You know, he lives about six houses down from yours."
The implications of that little tidbit washed over Justine and her hands started to shake.
"Do you know what time he left?"
"It was a little before seven, I think."
Oh, god, that was close. Carly left about seven-thirty. That meant Trey hadn't seen her; nor had he seen the footprints.
"I was going to ask him to drop me off at your house, but when Alex got up crying, I decided to stick around here in case J2 needed any help. Good thing, huh?"
"Yeah…that worked out really well." Justine considered fainting. Had it not been for that poor little girl in there with the bleeding hand, her daughter would have walked in on her and Carly. That possibility was almost more than she could stand. "Listen, I've gotta go.
Love you."
"Love you too, Mom."
Justine backed out of the driveway and barreled down the street, the Acura fishtailing across a slick patch of ice. When she reached the entrance to the subdivision, she pulled over onto the shoulder and groped in her bag for her cell phone. Hands shaking furiously, she dialed the number.
"Valerie Thomas," the voice answered.
"I need to see you."
"Justine?"
"Yes. Valerie, please let me come."
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"Justine, we're supposed to get eight to ten inches of snow today. I don't think you should be out driving to Lexington in that."
"Valerie, I don't care. I just…I have to talk."
"Okay, we can talk. But I don't want you driving. Are you in your car right now?"
"Yes."
"Then I want you to go home. When you get there, fix yourself some hot cider or tea, and get a fire going. Then I want you to call me."
That was better than nothing, Justine conceded. Besides, it really was stupid to be out driving in this stuff if you didn't have to be. "Okay, about a half hour from now?"
"I'll be waiting. Be careful, Justine. No matter what's going on, you need to concentrate on the road."
"Right." Justine made a quick check in the vanity mirror to see how much she'd aged in the last ten minutes.
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Chapter 7
Carly fumbled in her pocket for her lighter, glad for the chance to get out of the house. It had been almost a week since she'd seen Justine, the promised "I'll call you" never materializing. Stopping in the street, she cupped her hand and lit the Dunhill, drawing the smoke deeply into her lungs.
As if on automatic pilot, she trudged to the top of the hill to look for signs of life at the house on Sandstone. Over the weekend, the Volkswagen had been there, and Carly had glimpsed Justine going in and out a couple of times with both of her kids. That was as good a reason as any for Justine not calling, but she had to admit she was growing a little anxious about it all.
Carly had been beating herself up all week about things getting so far out of hand last Wednesday. Justine had probably had some time to think about it, and maybe she was angry at her for bringing over that bottle of cognac, and then taking advantage of the situation. And the worst part was that Carly kept asking herself if indeed that's what she'd done. But Justine's the one who started it. She said she'd wanted to do that for nearly thirty years. Maybe it was Justine who took advantage.
On and on she went with her circular arguments. Maybe Justine was just self-conscious about it. Maybe she thought Carly would think less of her or something. If that were the case, all she needed was some reassurance.
The snow was gone. In fact, the temperatures had reached the upper sixties over the weekend, though the town of Leland was now completely decorated for Christmas. In the big house on Sandstone, a tree stood in the front window, its lights twinkling in celebration. That had gone up sometime on Saturday when the kids were visiting.
Carly ground out her cigarette with the heel of her brand new Diggers and started down the hill toward the footbridge.
You have to stop stalking this woman, Carly. And she would, just as soon as she went down there and delivered the gift she'd wrapped. It was one of the ornaments she'd bought in Bethlehem just before she came home. She knew at the time that they'd make nice Christmas gifts. They also made a great excuse for getting yourself invited in.
Stepping onto the porch, Carly pulled the wrapped box from her pocket and held it in front of her, thinking it would be best if Justine saw it right away. Nervously, she rang the bell and stepped back to wait. As she expected, the light came on several seconds before the door was opened, robbing her of the chance to witness Justine's initial reaction to her presence.
"Hi. Yeah, it's me." Awkward, huh? "I, uh, waited until it got dark."
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"Carly…come on in." Justine stepped back to allow her guest to enter.
"I brought you a present." Carly gestured behind her. "I sometimes walk through that park at night when I sneak off to smoke, and I noticed you have a tree up. It's really pretty from up there."
"Thank you." The redhead led her guest into the living room to get a close up view of the enormous evergreen. "The kids helped me put it up over the weekend."
"You did a great job. This is an ornament, by the way. I didn't want to spoil the surprise, but that's why I came down…on account of you having your tree up. Go ahead and open it."
Justine pulled off the ribbon and carefully broke the taped seal.
"Yeah, I didn't figure you for a ripper, so I was careful to get it just so." That earned her the first smile from Justine, but it was a small one.
"Oh, Carly…it's beautiful!" She held it out and studied the unfamiliar script. "What does it say?"
"It's in Hebrew. It says Bethlehem. That's where I got it."
"You're kidding! So now I have a Christmas ornament from the birthplace of Christ.
That's just so…."
"Corny. I know. But I thought it was pretty."
"It is pretty. And it's not corny, it's…very nice. Thank you for thinking of me. This is such a special gift." Justine cleared a prominent position on the tree at eye level to display the ornament. "There."
Both women stood for a minute, looking silently at the shimmering tree.
"So Justine…can we talk?" If either of them got any more nervous, somebody was going to wet their pants. "You know, about last week…and this week…and next week?"
The redhead nodded nervously and gestured toward the sofa.
It's so formal in here. This was the rarely used living room, and while not as elegantly appointed as J2's, it was far less inviting than the den they had been in the other night.
"So how are you feeling about…last week?"
"I'm alright." Her grim tone didn't convince anybody.
"Yeah, me neither."
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Justine looked at her in confusion.
"I'm feeling kind of embarrassed about it all too."
The redhead nodded and looked at her folded hands. "I feel like a…slut."
"No, Justine." Carly scooted over on the couch, a move that prompted the redhead to lean back ever so slightly. "You're not a slut. Please don't feel that way. It was just the alcohol, taking away our inhibitions." She wanted to tell Justine that it was more than
that for her, but the other woman didn't seem to share that sentiment. "I think maybe we both just needed…to be with somebody."
The blonde waited for a signal that her argument was getting through, but Justine continued to stare at her lap. When she did finally lift her eyes, the look was tentative.
"Maybe so, but it still wasn't right, Carly…at least not for me."
Carly sighed in agreement. "I know. It's not the way I would have chosen for it all to happen…but I won't lie to you. You've always been special to me, Justine. Being close to you like that…it was nice…kind of amazing, actually. I just wish I could remember it all a little better." That was meant to lighten the mood, but when Carly saw the reddening face, she worried that she was only making things worse. "Justine, don't you see? We're all grown up now, and we know who we are. There's nothing to be afraid of anymore. I know we may have rushed things a little, but–"
Justine snorted. "You don't know anything about my fears, Carly. This is Leland, Kentucky we're talking about. We aren't free to choose things like that here."
"So what if it's Leland? I've been all over the world, Justine, and there are lots of places that are tougher than Leland. Hell, I told you, in Shanghai, they would throw you in jail for that kind of thing. But in places like this, all it takes is standing up to people, showing them that you're not afraid of their bigotry. Live your life the way you want to."