Chapter 19 Justin
JUSTIN
Present Day
Staring at the photos was messing with his mind. The bruises, the cuts, and the tear-stained cheeks were still there in living color.
Abuse calls were the worst. Well, not the absolute worst, but sometimes it was easier for Justin to work the vehicle collisions. At least those wounds were usually accidental.
It was the mother that bothered him the most. She’d been beaten black and blue by the time she called for help. The young boy had finger-shaped bruises on his arms and a cigarette burn on his chest.
The entire afternoon was all too familiar.
Justin knew how the bruises would turn purple and yellow before slowly disappearing.
He knew how the burn would sting as it healed.
He knew the boy would remember the smell of seared flesh and the thud of a fist hitting the delicate bones of his mother’s face.
Justin focused on the report he was supposed to be typing, but the blank page only provided a canvas for his unwelcome memories. At least this time, the woman and her kids had a chance to make it out. She was getting medical attention and being transported to a safe house.
“You okay?” Cody walked to the desk with a steaming cup of coffee.
“Yeah. Just trying to process.” Justin clicked away from the photos on the screen and flipped through his notebook to where he’d written his notes about the domestic abuse call.
Cody rested the mug on the end of the desk. “I’m sorry, man.”
Justin tapped the end of his pen on the edge of the mug. The heat rising in his chest was justified in any case like it, but it seemed to burn hotter when the memories added fuel to the fire. “Thanks. I can handle it.”
“The good news is that no one has filed a report on Chuck in months.”
Justin looked up at his friend. Cody grew up in Redemption Ridge, and everyone knew Chuck’s tendency for violence. It wasn’t a secret that Justin used to come to school black and blue. Child services had visited a few times, but his dad had always flown just under their radar.
Justin hadn’t been anything more than a dependent on Chuck’s income taxes, but half the town was afraid to cross the man who had no boundaries. Laws were suggestions in Chuck’s world.
Now, Justin knew how to pick out people like that. He’d met one today—a man who’d looked Justin straight in the eye and told him his wife had deserved the hits she took.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing,” Justin confessed. “He likes to bide his time.”
Justin wouldn’t mistake his dad’s silence for surrender. Chuck had highs and lows like the Rocky Mountains. The fact that Justin hadn’t heard from his dad since moving back to town was disturbing. Chuck didn’t live next door to the Taylors anymore, but he’d be terrorizing someone else soon enough.
Cody scoffed. “Man, he’s a piece of work.” He slapped his hand on Justin’s shoulder. “You can’t save the world, but you’re doing a great job of helping people one call at a time. You know that, right? I’ll keep praying. ”
Justin nodded, turning away from the photos and focusing on his friend’s encouragement. “Thanks. That’s the best thing you can do, and I appreciate it.”
Neenah propped her hip on the desk next to Cody. Her usually controlled hair stuck out in all directions, and she had a black smudge under one eye. “Hey.” She poked Justin’s shoulder. “Are you joining us for a workout?”
“Not today. I need to run home and figure out what I’m cooking for dinner.”
Cody chuckled. “Sounds very domestic for a guy who lives alone. What’s the occasion?”
Justin leaned back in his chair, finally relaxing now that his thoughts were distracted from the awful call from earlier. “Caroline is coming over.”
Neenah gasped. “You did it? You two kissed and made up?”
Cody playfully shoved her shoulder. “Justin is a gentleman. He doesn’t kiss and tell.”
“I think we’ve made up, but I make no comment on the kissing.”
In fact, he’d been thinking too hard about the almost kiss at the bakery yesterday. He smiled, pretty happy with how things were going so far with Operation Christmas Romance. She’d agreed to give things a shot, even if she hadn’t opened up completely yet.
Neenah patted Cody’s arm. “Let’s go. Justin has better things to do than hanging out with us.”
As soon as Cody and Neenah left, Justin dug back into his notes and finished the report. Knowing an evening with Caroline waited really spurred him into action.
After rushing home, completing the most thorough house clean of his life, and showering, Justin’s phone dinged.
Caroline: Leaving the bakery. Do I need to bring anything?
Justin quickly messaged back.
Justin: Your appetite.
Half a second later, a little pink heart appeared beside her name in the text thread.
He busied himself lighting the grill and checking the marinade on the steaks.
For the next few minutes, he paused, backed up, and restarted a video on his phone of a woman with white hair who explained how much milk and butter to add to the boiled potatoes after mashing them with a fork.
Well, Justin was using a fork. She had some special tool that made the job way easier.
He’d paced the kitchen twelve times before she softly knocked.
This was it. Caroline was at his house. Half of the stress that had choked him all afternoon came from seeing Caroline, and the other half was worry over her seeing where he lived.
Justin wiped his hands on his jeans before opening the door. Caroline stood on the small front porch with a big, rectangular box with The Cakery logo on the top.
She held it up and smiled. “Hey. I brought dessert, and we have a lot to talk about.”