22. No Answers For Him
22
NO ANSWERS FOR HIM
“H ow does it feel to be back here?” Garrett asked Justine when they drove off the ferry Friday afternoon.
She shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t lived here long enough to know how it feels to be back.”
Garrett was going through the docks to get to Boston. She’d never be able to remember how to do this and on a Friday afternoon with more traffic would have made her anxious.
She had today and this weekend off. She knew it was hard to get time off with the shortage, but she was entitled to the time and put in for it over a month ago.
Garrett wanted her to go to this event with him and she wanted to be there with him.
It was a charity event for his department that the hospital was putting on. Each year, the hospital selects different departments to receive the funds; this year, it chose the oncology department.
There would be a lot of the Mills family here tonight. She’d get to meet more of Garrett’s cousins and see his sister again.
“I guess I didn’t think of that,” he said. “You’ve only returned that once, right?”
“Yes,” she said. “I got picked up at the docks and driven around and brought back. I know this takes getting used to.” They ran into the traffic now and were just stopped. “But I’m missing the island.”
He laughed. “Living here for so long I never thought much of it. I’d go to the island on the weekends and notice how nice it was not to deal with traffic but never stayed long enough for it to take effect. Now it does.”
“Does that mean you’re thinking of staying on the island?” she asked.
He still had a lot of time to decide and it wasn’t as if he couldn’t change his mind.
She knew he wanted to bring it up and hadn’t. Or she tried to change the subject when he hinted.
It felt like that was wrong on her part, but most times she couldn’t stop herself from avoiding it when she knew she had no answers for him.
“I haven’t decided,” he said. “Nothing is off the table. Plenty of time to decide. You?”
“The same,” she said, grinning. “Though my boss checked in with me to see if I was losing my mind yet.”
“She said it that way?” he asked, frowning.
She patted his leg. “No. But it was implied. She’s not fond of the island. I can see where it’s not for everyone.”
“What do you see?” he asked.
“Come on now, Garrett. You know it’s not for everyone. You haven’t even lived on the island for years other than visiting.”
“You’re right,” he said. “Not sure what I was thinking.”
She thought he wanted answers she didn’t have, but he was being nice enough to not say that.
“Let’s just enjoy our time here. We can spend it doing something tomorrow and you can give me a taste of Boston. I’d only been here a few months and I didn’t do all that much. It’d be nice to see some things or shop. I don’t know. Just to do something. I can’t wait to see your place too.”
He turned to look at her. “Really?” he asked. “You haven’t said anything on the island about seeing my house.”
She laughed. “I didn’t know I had to ask to see your house. Is that why you haven’t asked me over? Or were you hiding something from me?”
“Nothing to hide,” he said, laughing. “I promise. I guess I always pick you up and we end up back at your place. But I do have a much bigger bed so I’m looking forward to that.”
She pushed at his leg. “You’re silly. I can’t believe it never occurred to you I’d want to see your place.”
“I promise you,” he said, “it didn’t. But you’ll see my condo. They are much different. My condo is smaller and more modern. My house isn’t huge by most standards in my family.”
“Because it was a weekend home?” she asked.
“Yes. But I’ve had work done to it. I’ll bring you over when we go back to the island on Sunday.”
She smiled. “Thanks. I can’t wait to see it. I wish I could show you my apartment while we are here, but it’s subleased. I’d like to check in on it since all my furniture and stuff is there, but I can’t.”
“I want to see it,” he said. “When you’re able to show me.”
“Look at us,” she said. “Being all open and accommodating.”
He laughed at her. “I hear sarcasm in there and I like it.”
“I don’t normally do that and am not sure where it came from.”
“I like you feel as if you can be yourself with me,” he said. “And you’re going to see my sister tonight. No issues there, right?”
“I told you I was fine with her. Are we sitting with most of your family?”
“We’ll sit with my parents and Gabriela. I think there will be some others from my department at the table, but my cousins will all be there with their spouses so I bet they are close by.”
“That will be nice,” she said. “I wonder if anyone will be here that I know. I think my boss.”
Justine hadn’t said she was attending, just that she wanted the weekend off. There would be talk if she saw coworkers and she had to get used to that.
“Is that going to be an issue?” he asked, looking at her. They were moving through traffic faster now.
“No. I’ll introduce you. Don’t worry.”
He laughed. “I expected you would.”
It didn’t take long to get to his condo building. He pulled under it to park and they got out, her grabbing her dress in the bag in the back while Garrett pulled out her overnight bag.
He didn’t have a suit with him, but she expected he had more than a few at his condo and didn’t need to worry.
“I can’t wait to see you in a suit,” she said. “And then to get you out of it later.”
“I might have been thinking the same thing about you in that dress. Are you going to tell me what it looks like?”
“No,” she said. “We’ve got time before you see it. I’m not used to dressing up so if I’m acting awkward in it, I’m sorry.”
“There isn’t anything awkward about you,” he said.
They took the elevator to his floor and got out, then went to his door and he punched the code in.
A few steps in, she noticed how modern the place was.
“It’s bright in here,” she said. “You’ve got a lot of pictures. I didn’t expect that.”
“Why?” he asked. “Did you think I had bare walls?”
“Maybe,” she said. “That vase is stunning.”
“Did I tell you that Carson’s wife is artist Laine Connors? The one painting over there is hers and there are two vases too.”
“No,” she said. “You didn’t tell me that.”
She wasn’t sure why she didn’t hear that news at work. It seemed people gossiped about so much, but maybe they thought she knew.
“Sorry,” he said. “I don’t think much about it. She’s very talented. That’s a painting of the island. It just drew me in and I had to have it.”
“To have a piece of the relaxation here even when you weren’t there?” she asked.
“I guess that is true,” he said. “I never thought of that, but I did find myself walking by and looking at it a lot before I moved there.”
“Do you have more of her pieces at your house on the island?”
“Just a bowl,” he said. “She’s got a studio on the island. My mother is the one who gave me the vases and bowl. She knows I like these things and don’t think to shop for them myself. They were gifts. I bought the painting.”
“I find that very sweet,” she said.
“Let’s go to my room and you can hang up your dress,” he said.
They moved down a small hall and she went to his room, saw the big bed and laughed. “I can’t wait to roll around on that tonight.”
“I can’t wait for you to do that either,” he said. “We could try it out now if you want?”
“We only have three hours before it starts,” she said. “You said it will take time to go across town to get there and you’ll want to be early. I need to shower and get ready. You know I’ve got to look the part to be with one of the Mills doctors.”
He closed one eye at her. “Fine,” he said. “Maybe we can shower together and get a teasing session in there for later?”
“Now that I’ll agree to,” she said. “Starting right now.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the bathroom, laughing the whole way.
When was the last time she felt this happy?
Maybe never.