Chapter 18
Xavier wanted badly to offer comfort, but Justine held herself distant, hugging herself while trying to scrub away her tears.
Looking at her sadness tore his heart out, but he did his best to offer what she—not he—needed. “Talk to me, Justine. What happened?”
She sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her arm. “Sorry. Bad day at work.”
“Want to talk about it? I swear, I’ll just sit here and listen.”
She wiped her eyes, and even with lids lined with red and her face splotchy, she looked lovely. “I, well, I feel like an absolute loser.”
He just nodded, turning his entire body to face her, and waited.
Justine let out a breath. “God, I’m so sorry. I feel like a pathetic asshole.” The swearing only emphasized how frazzled she must truly be. “I just had my yearly review at work.”
Ah, professional and not personal issues. He felt better about possibly being able to offer comfort without seeming like he was shoving advice at her. The poor woman already had enough on her plate with her sister’s upcoming wedding.
“And?” he prompted.
She let it all out, a deluge of opinions and a recap of her conversation with her pathetic team manager. Her boss sounded like a horse’s ass, using Justine all the time without offering the pay for her hard work.
“And you know, he would have been demoted so many times if I hadn’t helped out.
All when he needed to take personal time or just schmooze it up with the bosses while I did all the work.
” She sniffed. “Well, not just me. But a lot of it was me. I had to help my own clients in addition to Frank’s work.
And now, not only do I get a subpar raise, which to be honest, is just keeping up with inflation.
It’s not what I’m worth at all. Then he has the gall to dump Laura’s job on me without pay!
Sure, her gig was part-time, but that’s not the point!
I’ll be working two jobs for less than what one of them should be.
” She tugged at her hair. “He’s such a fuckhead. ”
He nodded. “A dickwad.”
“A real shit for brains.” She added several other insults.
Then a younger voice added, “How about a fart-knocker?”
She and Xavier paused as Sam joined them.
Justine’s face turned bright red.
“Hi, Justine. You look pretty today.” Sam flirted for all he was worth and managed to squeeze between her and Xavier on the bench. “I’m sorry you had a bad day.”
“Sorry I cursed. I didn’t know you were around.”
“It’s okay.” Sam patted her knee. “I hear a lot worse at school.”
“When’s your last day?” Xavier asked, amused at how Sam tried to cut him away from Justine.
The boy turned to him, subtly sliding closer to Justine. “This Friday, actually. Uncle Adam and Rylan and me are going on vacation for a week in Hawaii.”
“Wow. That’s awesome.” Justine gave him a smile. “I bet you’ll have a great time.”
“You should come,” Sam said.
“Ah, that sounds more like a family vacation. Plus, I have work.”
“You should quit. That Frank guy sounds like a real dickass.”
Justine covered her face.
“That’s pretty good,” Xavier said, doing his best not to laugh. “What else you do you have?”
“Douchenoggin is pretty popular at school. Or deadshit. Then there’s assclown.”
“What grade are you in again?”
“Ninth. Almost. In two more days, actually.” Sam puffed up his chest. “If you want, Justine, I can talk to the dickass for you.”
“Um, no, that’s okay.” She patted him on the shoulder, and the kid looked like he’d been knighted by the queen. “For being such a nice guy, how about the next time I go for ice cream, I grab you a cone? Xavier, you too.”
Sam shot him a dirty look but was all smiles at Justine. “Sounds good. I like chocolate with sprinkles.”
“Vanilla with sherbet,” Xavier said. “Though if you wanted to be fancy, rainbow jimmies are the best.”
“What’s a jimmie?” Sam had to know.
Xavier explained the difference between jimmies and sprinkles. They were different names for the same thing, but it gave Sam something over which to argue.
“Sam, where...” Adam sighed as he walked over. “Boy, did I not tell you to at least leave a note if you go out?”
“Hey, Uncle Adam.” Sam nodded to his uncle, who was still dressed in his uniform and looked beyond tired. “Can you believe this douchnozzle calls sprinkles jimmies?”
Xavier noticed that Justine seemed much happier than she’d been when he joined her, and he had to hand it to Sam for distracting her from her terrible day.
But after the boy left with his uncle, Justine’s expression drooped.
“Hey, tell you what.” He shouldn’t. He’d been doing his best to give her space, to let her come to him on her terms. It had been a hellish two days.
Three counting today, but she needed a distraction.
“Why don’t you go clean up and come on down to my place?
We can watch whatever you want, and I’ll make you dinner or snacks if you already ate. ”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
She gave him a slow smile. “I’d like that.” Her stomach rumbled. “And I guess I’m hungry after all.”
“Fish okay?”
“Perfect.” She leaned close and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Xavier.”
“Don’t thank me yet. The last time I baked fish, Auggie said I overcooked it.”
She laughed and walked away. “I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”
“Bring it, Ferrera.”
Twenty minutes later on the dot, as Xavier put together a nice medley of veggies to go with the fish, a knock came at the door. “It’s open.”
Justine entered, her hair damp and long, wearing shorts and a cropped sweatshirt. She still looked tired but not as downtrodden.
“I have wine, beer, water, and lemonade. Pick your poison. Glasses are to the left of the sink.” He nodded to the cabinet. “Once you have what you want, just sit pretty and compliment me.”
She helped herself to a glass of wine and sat at the kitchen island, watching him. “Nice ass.”
He couldn’t help laughing. “Thanks. By compliment me, I meant about my cooking. Though I’ll take a ‘nice ass’ any day of the week.”
She snickered and drank her wine. “Thanks for letting me vent. I swear, I wanted to punch my boss the minute he mentioned my ‘raise.’ He was so nice about what a great worker I am, only to smash my soul under his Paul Stuart knockoffs.”
“Should I know what those are?”
“They’re nice shoes. My dad owns a few pair. The Giordano dress shoe is a thousand bucks. I doubt Frank can afford the real thing. Although, he does kiss up a lot. Maybe he did buy Paul Stuarts. Who knows?” After a pause, she lifted her head to sniff. “That smells fantastic.”
“Fresh caught salmon in a teriyaki glaze. We’ll also have rice pilaf, a Caesar salad, and some veggies.”
“I’m drooling already.”
He smiled. “How have you been since Sunday...not counting today?”
“I saw the latest horror-comedy at the movies with Katie. It was really funny.” She mentioned one of his favorite actors, and they discussed the guy’s films while he finished putting dinner together.
The conversation felt so effortless. He laughed and bantered, plated their meals and watched her set the table without being asked. They worked well together.
He kept telling himself not to make more out of their relationship, a weird mix of friendship, lust, and companionship he wanted more of. Breaking out of bad patterns—rushing affection—could only help him grow as a person.
But it was difficult, sitting across from a beautiful woman he didn’t want to leave. Stop being a tool. Cherish your time together and don’t be so damned weird about the future. He pledged to do better and made a conscious effort to only focus on making her feel better.
After dinner, he convinced her to sit with him on the couch and watch some TV. She chose a dark show about a vigilante killing people in all manner of ways.
“Should I be worried about this bloodthirsty streak of yours?”
She snuggled into his side, and he let his arm fall over her shoulders, saying nothing, not wanting to jinx the moment. She poked him in his ribs. “Yes, be very worried. If you even think about giving me someone else’s job without pay, I’ll find a way to blow up your brain.”
He chuckled. “Hell, all you have to do for that is to get me in a room with clients who keep repeating the same mistakes and refuse to change because they know better.”
“Yet they keep coming to you for advice.”
“Which they don’t ever take. I typically have to ask what they want out of our therapy sessions and eventually refer them to other people. Because I’m obviously not helping them and I feel guilty about taking their money.”
“Aw, a nice guy.” She snuggled deeper into him, and he swallowed a sigh of contentment.
“I really am. Super nice.” He hovered his hand over her head, then said screw it and stroked her hair. The caress soothed him as well, despite the swearing and decapitations on the screen.
After a brief silence between them, Justine asked, “Is it weird how relaxing this is? Even though our hero just cut through another dozen people?”
He laughed. “I was just thinking that.” He let himself fully unwind and sank into the sofa. “I’m feeling pretty mellow as well.”
Two hours later, he blinked his eyes open and realized they’d both fallen asleep.
“Xavier?”
He glanced down at Justine. “I think we fell asleep.”
“I know. Sorry.” She mumbled something as she pushed up to a sitting position next to him.
“What’s that?”
She blushed. “I just said I hoped I didn’t drool on you.”
“Hey, what’s a little drool between friends?”
She chuckled and stood. Then she stretched, and he did his damnedest not to stare at her flat, toned stomach. “Guess I’d better get home.”
“I’ll walk you up.”
They left without any of the awkwardness he kept waiting to settle. At her door, she turned and gave him a brief kiss on the mouth.
“Come over tomorrow,” he blurted as she entered her apartment.
“Tomorrow?”
He nodded. “Auggie’s coming over. We’re heading to Benji’s for a game night.”
“You sure Benji won’t mind me coming over?”
“Nah. He likes you. You converted him with all that gaga talk about Arrow Sins & Siege.”
She grinned. “Sounds like a plan. And thanks for listening to me.”
He wanted to know what she had planned in regards to her job. But she seemed so relaxed now, he didn’t want to ruin her mood. “Anytime. I mean that.”
“Thanks.” She looked as if she wanted to invite him inside, but she didn’t.
He took a step back and waved. “Tomorrow night at seven, work? I’ll text you.”
“Sounds good. Bye.” She closed the door.
He walked back downstairs and went to bed early.
He slept soundly, though his bed felt empty without Justine next to him.