Chapter 8
Sienna was delighted to meet Rita and most of everyone’s energy seemed to be focused on the introduction of Rochelle’s wife, making Sienna’s greeting of Justine feel furtive and a little weird—like they hadn’t spent the previous night together. It was supposed to be a secret, of course, and Sienna had no problem with that.
In fact, over the course of the morning, she had decided that it would be for the best to move on as quickly as possible. Not to pretend it hadn’t happened—there was no need for that. It had been good fun and unexpectedly thrilling and Justine was interesting to be around, but Sienna didn’t want anything to jeopardize her performance in this movie. And the real work had yet to begin. Besides, she had to focus on Rochelle.
Like the day before, Rochelle took Sienna onto the porch so they could have a face-to-face conversation. Rita sat with them for the first half hour, but then gave them privacy.
“I’m sorry,” Rochelle said as soon as Rita had left. “I hate to be indiscreet, but I have to say something.” She pinned her dark gaze on Sienna. “Justine told me, about you and her. About last night. I know it’s none of my business, but I can’t ignore something like that. I’m just a little bemused by it, if I’m being honest.”
Justine had already told Rochelle? These two really were the epitome of ex-lovers turned best of friends.
“Why?” Sienna asked, because the last thing she had to do was explain herself.
“You don’t have to tell me what Justine is like. I’ve known her forever.”
“What does that mean?” Sienna was intrigued. Was Rochelle judging her best friend? Or was she trying to tell Sienna something about her?
“The woman is a force of nature. She is unlike anyone I’ve ever met. She seems to have no off button when it comes to work—to her cause. But then she crashes and she has a beer and she forgets to eat again and… sometimes, she can get a little inappropriate.”
“Inappropriate?” Sienna shook her head. “There was nothing inappropriate about it. Um, hello. I’m a grown woman and I was totally into her.” Sienna scoffed—if anything was inappropriate, it was this conversation. “Why are you so upset about this?”
“I’m not upset, I’m just so excited about this movie. I think it’s an important one and I’m sorry if that makes me sound self-important. I’m really not. At its core, it’s not about me, even if it does focus on my relationship with Justine. It’s not even about us. It’s about systemic homophobia and the hurt it causes to so many people.” Rochelle took a breath. “I’m sorry if I made you feel judged or uncomfortable. I’ve worked in the industry for my entire career and I know how hard it is to make a movie. I know what it costs in money, time, and energy. And talent, for that matter. You sleeping with Justine is just a bit weird. I guess it has thrown me. She told me minutes before you arrived. I’m still processing. But I do apologize for my too strong reaction.”
“Are you always like this when it comes to Justine?” Sienna thought it a good idea to rise above this—for now—and take the chance to get to know Rochelle better. That was the reason she was here, after all. And this was telling her a lot.
“Justine is important to me. She’s family and you know what family can be like. Relentlessly critical one moment, falling into each other’s arms the next. In the end, I only want what’s best for her, which is not something she always wants for herself.”
“Can you delve a little deeper into that?” Sienna wondered if she had to share this conversation with Alexis—or with Justine. “If you don’t mind.” Sienna put on her most encouraging smile—a bit like the one she’d let loose on Justine last night.
“It has become second nature for me to look out for her and, sometimes, that includes the people she gets involved with.”
“Why? What does she do to them?” Justine had been nothing but respectful of Sienna’s boundaries.
Rochelle chuckled. “I feel like we’re perhaps getting a little off topic.”
“Not really. Your relationship with Justine is at the heart of this movie.”
“My relationship with her thirty years ago, sure. But that was a long time ago. Neither one of us is still the same.”
“Can I ask why you broke up?” The Gimme Shelter script may have a romantic happy ending, but clearly Justine and Rochelle’s relationship hadn’t lasted.
Rochelle slowly expelled the air from her lungs, as though Sienna had asked her to answer a hyper-complex question.
“Quite a few reasons, but I guess the biggest one was that I wanted kids and she absolutely didn’t.” She scrunched her lips together. “Justine was also a lot younger than me and at that time in our lives, that really did matter. My clock was ticking, you know? But it wasn’t just that, believe me.”
Sienna was aware of the privileged position she was in to gather all this information on the woman she’d slept with. It was hardly fair, but that didn’t make it any less interesting.
“I know Justine loved me, but I wasn’t the love of her life. Her work is. She is the perfect example of someone married to her job. She lives for the shelter. It consumes her. Maybe not as much as back in the day, when we started it, but still. Take yesterday. She got a call and off she went, even though we were meeting with you and Alexis. That’s what she’s always been like, but even more so in her twenties and thirties.” Rochelle paused. “And then there’s also… what happened to her, with her parents and after, but that’s really not for me to divulge. She would hate it if she knew I told you about that. I’d tell you to ask her, but she won’t talk about it so I’m actually advising you not to ask her about that specifically. But that’s another reason why our relationship didn’t work out in the end.” Rochelle squared her shoulders and sat up a bit. “Do you want to see her again?”
“I don’t know,” Sienna said. “Has she said anything about that?” She was beginning to feel very unprofessional—so much for not letting her night with Justine affect her work.
“No, but…” Rochelle paused, took a breath, then stopped talking altogether.
“But what?” Sienna couldn’t stop herself from pushing.
“Nothing.” Rochelle grinned. “I know this movie is about Justine, but last time I checked, you’re not the one playing Justine.”
“Fair enough.” Sienna nodded. Rochelle was right. “I’m taking advantage of the situation. I’m well aware.” She followed up with an innocent chuckle. “Thank you for sharing.”
“I know I’m far less interesting than Justine, and you and I haven’t spent the night together, but is there anything else you’d like to know about me?” Rochelle’s smirk said it all.
Justine tried to keep her focus on Alexis and her questions, but she was tired and her exhausted brain kept wondering what Rochelle and Sienna were talking about on the porch. Knowing Rochelle, she’d probably already told Sienna that Justine had informed her about their night together—and she was probably grilling her. She’d need a thorough debrief with Rochelle after this.
“This must be hard for you to talk about, and I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it necessary for my performance, but, um, what was it like to live on the street?”
“Dehumanizing. Utterly undignified. Really hard and very fucking dangerous.” Justine held up her hand. “I get that you wanted to ask the question, but I’m not going to tell you more about that time. For that, you’ll have to use your imagination.”
“Okay.”
Justine appreciated that Alexis didn’t break out into a flurry of useless apologies.
“I will say that it was so harrowing that I’ve dedicated my life to keeping as many kids as I can from the same fate.” Justine regarded Alexis. “How did it make you feel to visit the shelter yesterday?”
“It was so interesting. Also to meet Darrel. I’ve already texted them. We’re meeting up for drinks this weekend.”
“So they can spill the beans on me?” Justine had no secrets when it came to running the shelter. “That’s smart.” Alexis had already left when Justine came out of her intake so she wasn’t able to gauge her immediate reaction. She might ask Darrel about that later, to inquire whether she seemed shaken at all by the change in environment.
Justine was so tired, she had to do her best to suppress a yawn.
Alexis held her hand in front of her mouth as well. “I’m sorry. I swear you’re not boring me, it’s just seeing you yawn.”
Justine chuckled. “You’re not boring me either, but I didn’t get enough sleep last night.”
Alexis checked her watch. “It’s about time to call it a day, either way.”
“I hope this conversation was helpful.”
“Every minute I spend with you is helpful.” Alexis scrunched her lips together. “I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind about me shadowing you for a day? I find observation really key to nailing a character based on an actual person.”
Justine huffed out some air. The prospect of having a movie star hot on her heels all day didn’t exactly fill her with joy, on top of it being highly impractical in her job. She had many meetings of all kinds—although mostly about money—and the occasional intake conversation and none of those accommodated strangers listening in.
“I’ll look at my calendar and I’ll see when we can maybe spend an afternoon together at the shelter, but I can’t make you any promises.”
“I can volunteer if that helps,” Alexis offered, surprising Justine.
“Let’s see.” Alexis and Sienna’s presence at the shelter hadn’t gone unnoticed. A few of the residents would give the little they had for a few hours with two movie stars—it was ridiculous, but it was simply how it was. “But yeah, I think you could make a few young people’s day with that.”
“Thank you.” Alexis shot out of her chair, as though she suddenly had somewhere urgent to be—she probably had. Justine knew the feeling. Despite her fatigue, she wanted to go back to the shelter and check on the girl—Ashleigh—they had welcomed yesterday. When Justine had arrived at the shelter earlier today, Ashleigh had left, and Justine hoped she would return. She hoped to have another conversation with her.
“You’re welcome, and have fun with Darrel.” Justine rose as well. She should try for a quick nap before she went anywhere else, but she knew she wouldn’t. She’d just try to go to bed early tonight.
“You’ll let me know about volunteering?” Alexis asked.
“I will.” Maybe she should drop Alexis Dalton’s name if she got to speak to Ashleigh again—maybe she could get through to her like that.
As if on cue, Rochelle and Sienna emerged from the porch.
“Do you want a ride?” Alexis asked Sienna.
“No. You go ahead. I’ll make my own way home.” Sienna looked at Justine. “I’d like to ask Justine some more questions before I go. Is that okay?”
Justine could hardly say no in front of everyone, even though she’d had enough of answering questions.
“Sure.” Justine noticed how Rochelle’s face strained.
Rita walked into the living room and hearty goodbyes were exchanged.
“Can I catch a ride with you?” Sienna asked Justine as they stood outside Rochelle’s house.
“Depends where you’re going.” An inadvertent smile tugged at her lips. “I hope Rochelle didn’t, um, I don’t know, say something inappropriate to you. I told her about last night just before you arrived and she was freaking out.”
“We had a very illuminating conversation.” Sienna grinned.
“Meaning?”
“I could tell you all about it over dinner tonight.”
“Over… dinner?”
“Or just a beer.” Sienna’s grin didn’t disappear—on the contrary.
“I don’t want to dismiss you, but I need to go back to the shelter. If you want to talk, I understand, but I’m not sure I’ll have the energy for that tonight.”
“How about tomorrow? It’s Saturday. Maybe you’ll be more rested.” Weekends were always busy at the shelter and Justine rarely took a day off—only when she felt she really needed it, which was definitely not often enough according to Rochelle.
“Maybe you could come to my place? I’ll show you my Raffo Shahs,” Sienna insisted. “I’m also a pretty decent cook, even if I say so myself.”
“Okay. Let’s do that.” Justine couldn’t think of a good enough reason to decline this invitation from Sienna Bright.