23. See What He Saw
23
SEE WHAT HE SAW
G arrett turned and put his hand to his chest.
He actually gasped and then said, “I hope you know CPR. I think I’m having a heart attack. I sure the hell just forgot how to breathe.”
Justine laughed and moved toward him.
“Stop it,” she said.
“Seriously,” he said. “Justine. My God, you take my breath away.”
He did not think she could look any more beautiful, but there she was in a navy blue sleeveless dress showing how toned her arms were. The dress was high on her collarbone but had a keyhole opening teasing at the secrets underneath that he couldn’t wait to touch and taste again.
Though the top and chest area was almost blousy on her, there was a wide band of a floral print around her waist showing how tiny every part of her body was.
Past her hips, it was navy again and straight to her calves, a pair of killer nude heels on her feet held together by a bunch of crisscrossed straps.
“Thank you,” she said. “I took a risk with this dress. I ordered it online and had no idea how it’d fit. If it didn’t fit well, I had a black dress, but didn’t want to wear black if I could avoid it.”
“And blend in with everyone else,” he said. “No way. Turn around and let me see the back.”
She turned and he noticed that there was a big button holding the top together on the back of her neck with a thick strip of material. Her back was bare until the floral print started at probably the bottom of her ribs so nothing scandalous but sexy as hell on her.
“What do you think?” she said, turning back around.
“Again, stunning,” he said. “I can’t come up with any other words.”
Her hair had some big waves in the bottom and one side was tucked behind her ear. There was a thin coating of makeup on her face making her blue eyes sing out for anyone to stop and listen to the music within her.
If his heart could fall deep into love in a moment, it just had.
“I’m glad,” she said. “So I pass the inspection to be there tonight with you?”
She was laughing as if she knew how great she looked, but he doubted she could see what he saw.
“With flying colors,” he said. “Can I get a kiss or will you worry I’ll mess you up?”
“Just a light one,” she said, puckering her lips and pointing to them.
He bent to give it to her. “You smell good too. Jesus, I don’t want to go now.”
“We have to,” she said. “I spent way too long to look like this. Not sure when I’d have an opportunity to wear the dress again.”
“You could just put it on for me again to see if my heart does stop.”
“Cut it out,” she said, swatting at his arm. “You’re going to make me feel self-conscious.”
“Don’t,” he said. “I’m sorry. But you’re going to be the most stunning woman there tonight.”
“Then let’s see if you can match me. Finish getting dressed. I see you’ve got blue on too. One might think we planned this when we didn’t.”
“No,” he said. “But I couldn’t decide what shirt to wear with this suit. Help me look.”
She moved over to his walk-in closet and looked through the shirts hanging. “This peach one. It’s a nice contrast to the blue.”
“And matches you even more since you’ve got peach flowers on your dress.”
“I do,” she said. “But if you think we’ll match too much, any of these shirts will go well.”
“Nope,” he said. “This is the one.”
Anything for people to see them together and let them know she was taken.
She was his.
If only he could say those words, but he couldn’t.
She wasn’t ready to hear them any more than he was to say them.
No, that was wrong. He was ready to speak of it.
Only he wouldn’t.
He put his shirt on. “Do you know what tie you’re wearing or aren’t you? Few do anymore.”
“I hadn’t planned on it,” he said. “But I’ve got a pocket square that goes with this shirt.”
“Perfect,” she said. “Enough to tie it in. Where is it? I know how to fold it. I used to do it for my father all the time.”
“In that drawer over there, there are a few.”
She opened it and pulled it out and folded it, then saw his jacket hanging and tucked it in for him.
She pulled his jacket off the hanger and handed it over and he put it on.
“Okay, now I understand your reaction. Look at you.”
Her hand went to her chest and started to pat it.
“You like what you see?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Turn for me,” she said, laughing, her finger spinning in the air.
He did while putting his arms out to his side. “I love this playful side of you.”
“You know what? I love it too. Earlier when I was laughing I thought to myself, I couldn’t remember ever being this happy. I’ve never thought I had an awful life. Not that. I think I always thought I was a happy person, but not like how I was feeling when I was laughing.”
He held his hand out for her. “I like hearing that,” he said. “Truly. I hope it continues too.”
“Me too,” she said softly. “What about you? Are you happy?”
“Extremely,” he said. “Like you, it’s hard to think of a time I felt like this.”
And he didn’t want to either. He wanted to only feel it with her so that he knew it was real.
He pulled her into his arms and held her for a minute and she allowed him.
Maybe they both needed this moment to see what he hoped others would tonight too.
“Should we leave soon?” she asked.
“Let me just get my shoes on and we can go,” he said.
“I didn’t even notice that you weren’t wearing shoes,” she said, winking.
“You might not, but everyone else would and they’d think I’d lost my mind.”
Which half his colleagues had already thought when he said he was transferring to the island for the year.
But they also knew what he went through.
Maybe there was a part of him that ran too and it’d be nice to go back in there tonight and prove to everyone he was fine.
They left shortly after and it took almost forty minutes to get a few miles, which he’d expected on a Friday night in downtown Boston.
He handed his key fob over to the valet, knowing his car would be parked a few blocks over.
He put his hand on Justine’s lower back, then slid it down to thread their fingers together and walk in that way.
Maybe it was juvenile, but he didn’t care. It was how he felt.
He pulled the door open for her, as her other hand was holding her clutch which was green in color to go with some of the colors in the pattern on her dress.
“Garrett.”
He turned his head and saw his mother and father off to the side talking to several people when they’d made their way toward the ballroom. “Hi, Mom.”
“Don’t you two look stunning together? Justine, you’re just a vision.”
“Thank you, Selena,” she said. “You look beautiful.”
His mother laughed. “I rarely have a chance to dress up. It’s a nice feeling to know you’re looking your best. You two are going to have a lot of eyes on you.”
He saw Justine’s smile drop. “Not in a bad way,” he said.
“Is it because you normally come alone?” she asked.
“I have come with a date before and come alone,” he said. “It’s what I said before.”
She had to know how her looks just stood out, but he wouldn’t point that out anymore.
“Why don’t we find our table,” his mother said. She leaned in closer to his ear. “Your father is giving me the look to pull him away.”
He smirked. His father hated these events but knew he had to attend too.
“Dad,” he said. “Do you want to find our table so I can introduce Justine around?”
“Garrett,” Dr. Simonson said to him. He was on the board of directors. “It’s good to see you looking well.”
“Thank you,” he said. “Justine Keller, this is Dr. Stefan Simonson. Stefan, Justine is a pharmacist at the hospital. She’s covering on the island currently.”
“Nice to meet you,” Stefan said to Justine. “How do you like it there? It’s so hard to find people to stay.”
“It’s a beautiful location. Since I’m new to Boston, I’m learning all sorts of things.”
“Maybe you and Garrett will decide to both stay and make it a bit easier with the openings there.”
“My brother is waving us over,” his father said, interrupting quickly.
“Thanks,” Garrett said when they walked a few feet away. “I don’t need to hear that tonight.”
He’d spoken that quietly to his father, his mother and Justine walking ahead for the moment.
“I know,” his father said. “But you better get used to it. It might be on a lot of people’s minds. Just push it off.”
“I will,” he said, but his eyes landed on Justine.
“You have to make decisions for you and no one else,” his father said.
“I plan on it.”