Sweet Reunion (14 page)

When Justin stepped forward and began speaking,
however, he was able to communicate exactly what she had intended to get
across. She realized with some reluctance that it was hard to deny the fact
that they made a damn good team.

Justin continued his inspirational talk, pointing out
how this was all of their opportunity to honor Parker's memory by approaching
the work needing to be done the way that he would have wanted it done, and the
way that he himself would have done it – with gusto.

By the end of Justin's speech, each of the workers was
ready, if not eager, to accept their assignments and rush off to get started on
them. Amanda opened up her day planner and distributed the task lists that she
had printed out in the office for each of the staffers, including a list for
herself and one for Justin.

Amanda turned to Justin and said, “That was amazing.
Seriously. Credit where credit is due. I was falling flat on my face, and you
completely and totally turned it around.”

“Well, we make a great team,” Justin said, echoing her
earlier thoughts, the ones she hadn't wanted to dwell on, hadn't wanted to
consider the truth of.

“Yes,” she admitted with a small smile, “We really
do.”

--- ~ ---

A few hours later, as Amanda was driving out to a far
edge of the property where Justin was making his way along the fence line and
repairing spots where weather or animals had made their mark, she reflected on
how the morning had gone. It had really felt like old times in a lot of ways.
They had their old rhythm back, their old unspoken communication, moving
completely in sync, completely simpatico, each one picking up where the other
fell short.

Their individual strengths and weaknesses fit together
seamlessly, which was one of the things that Amanda had always taken as
evidence of their perfect fit with each other.

Amanda sighed. It would be so easy – SO easy – for her
feelings for him to start resurfacing in a major way, if she allowed that to
happen. For her to lull herself into believing that she could depend on his
steady presence. How she wished that she could just relax and allow that to
happen.

But it was so dangerous.

Still, she also needed to take into account the fact
that keeping him at such a strict arm's length, she might actually be passing
up something that could be, as Karina had pointed out, the greatest thing that
had ever happened to her – the direction, in fact, that her life was actually
meant to go in.

She wished that she had a sign, any kind of sign that
would tell her what the right thing to do was where Justin was concerned.
Something that would let her know if his sojourn here was destined to be
temporary, or if fate had decided that this was truly the place where he
belonged.

Her truck bumped and bounced down the rutted dirt path
to the edge of the property, and she reached out a hand to steady the Thermos
of cold lemonade she was bringing to Justin. She determined that, as much as
she was type of person who liked a quiet, predictable life – one that she could
wrap her head around easily – she was going to have to resign herself to the
fact that she needed to remain open to whatever fate was going to bring her in
this instance, not over-analyze or bend everything that was going to happen to
her will.

After all, that was how she had messed things up with
Justin before, by trying to make things happen on her time table. That action
on her part, that rushing of things between them, had been the impetus for
their ten-year-long separation, a separation which had almost killed her.

In this case, she knew she needed to learn from that
mistake, to sit back and let whatever was going to happen, happen.

Still, she thought, it
would
be great to have
some kind of sign.

As Amanda's truck rounded the final bend and Justin
came into sight, she got what she thought might be the sign she was looking
for. There he was, off in the distance, his shirt off, prominently displaying
the magnificent musculature of his chest, glistening with sweat.

His shoulders rippled with exertion as he swung his
hammer into the fence post that he was working on, securing the wiring that he
was attaching to that post.

Her breath caught in her throat looking at the figure
he cut, which was so familiar, in both his silhouette and the way that he
moved. She flashed back to the hundreds of times that she had brought him
lemonade in the past, while he had been performing these exact same types of
maintenance activities around the property, and suddenly, it just felt like
home. It felt like family. It felt absolutely 100% right.

Further cementing her belief in this realization was,
at Justin's feet, the other portion of the tableau which had always been
present in the past when she had performed this lemonade-bringing ritual. Yes,
there was Teddy, who had clearly been following Justin around all morning just
like he used to do. He was curled up and lying contentedly at Justin's feet
while he worked. It really was just like old times.

Amanda took a deep breath as she slowly approached
Justin in the truck. Even though her perspective had shifted somewhat, it would
be dangerous to let that through too transparently in her manner. In other
words, she needed to play it cool. Not her strongest trick.

She parked the truck and climbed down, holding the
frosty thermos in her hand as she leaped to the ground. Justin looked over and
greeted her with a huge grin, pulling a bandana from his back pocket and wiping
the sweat from his face.

“Wow, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!” he called out
happily as she crossed the remaining space between them.

“I know, I brought you lemonade,” she replied
cheerfully, holding up the Thermos.

Justin grinned playfully and looked her up and down,
“Oh, that's not what I meant,” he teased, and Teddy thumped his tail
appreciatively, as if in support of Justin's playful flirting.

Amanda pulled Teddy's head towards her and scratched
his ears affectionately as she handed Justin his Thermos of lemonade. “So, I
see your shadow hasn't forgotten the old routine over the past ten years,” she
said companionably.

“Oh, he's been a great help. Teddy's my right hand
man. Isn't that right, mister?” he asked the dog, putting out his palm face up.
Teddy obediently swiped Justin's palm with his paw, the doggie equivalent of
slapping Justin five.

“That's right, my little buddy. That's my boy,” Justin
cooed, and Teddy's tail cut a fast swath back and forth in the air.

The scene felt so normal, and – because of that very
normalcy – so unbearably poignant that Amanda was suddenly overwhelmed with
emotion and couldn't stay there one moment longer.

Trying to cover her intense feelings, she turned
quickly and started back towards the truck. “Well, gotta get back to work,” she
said, trying to keep her tone as even as possible through the sudden rush of
feelings choking her vocal chords.

“Amanda,” Justin said, surprised, “why don't you stay
and hang out for a few minutes? At least wait for me to finish the lemonade,
you can take the Thermos back with you.”

“Keep it!” she said lightly, reaching up a hand to
wave her fingers behind her in a friendly gesture, but without turning around.
She didn't want Justin to see the tears that were beginning to form in her
eyes. She didn't want him to see how affected she was by the realization that
this precious everyday domestic scene represented what could have been a daily
occurrence in their lives, had he stayed and had they ended up together.

This could have been their life, a life that she
wanted so desperately that sometimes it paralyzed her. This small exchange
represented to her what could have been, and, even more torturously, what could
possibly be. She wanted it so badly, and she had absolutely no control over
whether or not it was actually going to come to pass.

God, how was she going to do this? She didn't know if
she could take it.

Chapter 13

As Amanda got dressed in her room that evening,
getting ready to go out to dinner with Karina, Lauren, and Sam, she struggled
to concentrate on the clothes that she was pulling on her body while the very
distracting sound of the shower running across the hall did it's best to
intrude on her thoughts.

Normally the simple sound of a shower running wouldn't
be incredibly distracting – it was, after all, almost like white noise – but in
this case, the distracting part was the occupant of said shower. Justin. It was
Justin in the shower.

As soon as Justin and Amanda had walked into the house
that evening, after a long day of working at Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures,
Amanda's three friends had been sitting on the couch waiting for them.

“It's about time you guys got home!” Karina exploded
in a cheerful huff, “We've been waiting forever!”

“About twenty minutes,” Lauren amended.

“Whatever,” Karina said with a wave of her hand,
“We're bored. We've been sitting around this house all day. We want to go out
to dinner. You guys go get ready.”

Amanda readily agreed, but Justin declined. He said,
“Thanks for the invite, but I already have plans. I'm getting together with
some of the guys from the team. In fact,” he continued, glancing at his watch,
“I should probably get a move on.”

With that, he had bounded up the stairs, taking the
steps two at a time. Amanda had heard the bathroom door slam and the shower
turn on. She had walked up the stairs to her bedroom, taking the steps at a
more sedate pace, and started to get dressed for dinner.

However, she could not seem to focus on the task for
more than about two seconds straight. Mental images of Justin standing in the
shower, naked, water streaming over his body, soaping himself, leaning his head
back into the pulsing stream...she sighed. She couldn't take it. She felt as if
her every nerve ending were on fire. Every tiny noise anywhere in the house
made her jump.

This, of course, had been the same routine that she
had gone through as a teenager every time Justin had been in the shower. Hiding
in her room, listening to the water as it pummeled the stall floor, picturing
what he must be doing in there during any given moment, and what he must look
like doing it. Her body becoming flush from the heat that her thoughts generated.

But that had been when she was a hormone-riddled teen.
She was a grown woman now. Apparently the hormone-riddled part hadn't changed
much, though. She couldn't believe she was behaving this way.

She heard the shower turn off just as she finished
getting dressed, and fanned her flushed face. It's too bad I don't have a sink
in my room, she thought to herself wryly, I could definitely use a couple
splashes of cold water right about now.

Amanda straightened her clothing and opened her
bedroom door intending to head downstairs and meet the girls, and at that exact
same instant, Justin exited the bathroom, chest shining with steam and a towel
wrapped around his waist. Too bad about the towel, she thought ruefully before
she was able to catch herself and get her naughty thoughts in check.

Justin winked and joked, “Enjoying the show?”

Amanda drew back her shoulders in a way that she hoped
approached dignified. “I don't know what you're talking about,” she said
loftily.

Justin stepped closer to her until less than an inch
separated their bodies. He reached out and gently drew her hand to the edge of
his towel, at the juncture where it folded into itself at his waist.

“I think you
do
know what I'm talking about,”
he said in a low, husky tone, “I think you were timing your exit from the
bedroom to coincide with my exit from the bathroom. I think you wanted to catch
a glimpse of me in just my towel, and maybe try to de-towel-ify me, like you
were going to let me do to you this morning.”

“I wasn't...” she began to protest, but she was
betrayed by her voice, which had taken on a hoarse quality that belied her true
thoughts.

“You weren't what?” he leaned forward and whispered
seductively, “Going to let me take your towel off? Or trying to catch a glimpse
of me now?”

“Either,” she said, trying to be emphatic, but her
voice was weak and unconvincing.

“Amanda...” Justin said, his low voice conveying raw
sensual intensity. Amanda tilted her head up so that she was looking directly
into his eyes. He lowered his head until his lips were just barely brushing her
ear, and then he whispered huskily, “I...don't...believe...you.”

Amanda's breath caught in her throat and she yanked
her hand away. She turned and fled back into her room, flustered, slamming the
door behind her.

She pressed her back up against the closed door,
breathing heavily, trying to collect her thoughts and drag her consciousness
back down to earth.

In the hallway, Karina stepped around the corner from
where she had been standing at the top of the stairs, listening to the entire
conversation. “One point, Justin!” she said, high-fiving him.

She walked over to Amanda's door and knocked solidly,
calling, with a teasing lilt to her voice, “Amanda! Are you almost ready? We're
waiting!”

“One minute!” Amanda replied

“Take all the time you need,” Karina laughed, flashing
a mischievous grin at Justin, and heading back down the stairs.

Chapter 14

Karina, Lauren, Sam, and Amanda settled happily into
the last open table at Sue Ann's cafe, surveying the rest of the bustling dining
room with interest. Sue Ann's looked just as it had for the past 30 years, or
maybe even more. Fifteen tables sat at comfortable angles around the room,
covered in eclectically mismatched tablecloths.

Shelves lined the back wall, displaying local crafts and
personal mementos of Sue Ann's, and photos dotted the rest of the walls,
depicting local happenings of note, and residents who were special to Sue Ann
or Hope Falls. Amanda spotted a candid pic of herself with both of her parents,
when she was about six years old. A few feet to the left of that shot, she saw
a picture of a much younger Karina and Renata.