Authors: Susan Lewis
“No, of course not,” Maggie sympathized, “but these issues, if there are any, would be from a long time ago. It wouldn’t be the same. I mean, they surely couldn’t hurt you now, after all these years.”
Sometimes it was hard to think of
anything
that wouldn’t hurt her. “No, I suppose not,” Justine agreed.
“What about a job?” Maggie probed gently after a while. “Any progress on that front?”
“Not exactly, but there are a few empty shops in town. I’ve been trying to imagine what I might do with one of them, apart from turning it into a deli.”
“You did very well with the last one.”
“I can’t go there again.”
Maggie’s silence conveyed her understanding. “Tell me,” she said softly, “have you been in touch with Matt?”
Justine swallowed hard, but the tightness in her throat, her heart, didn’t move, only lodged more deeply. “No,” she answered. “Have you?”
“Rob went to see him a couple of days ago.”
By now Justine was finding it hard to breathe. “How—how was he?” she managed to ask.
“Fine, I think. Or as well as could be expected. He’s still in the same place.”
“Of course.”
“You should be in touch with him. Rob thinks so too.”
“What does Matt think?”
“I don’t know, but the two of you having no contact…” She went no further. Justine knew she didn’t like to criticize, but it was clear she didn’t agree with the decision.
“I’m starting to question it myself,” Justine admitted. “Sometimes I feel so desperate to speak to him that it’s like I’m going out of my mind, but I’m afraid that if I do, it’ll just make things worse.”
“It’s very hard to know what to do for the best,” Maggie conceded. “I wish I could advise you better.”
“You’re there for me, and you have been throughout,” Justine reminded her. “That’s what really matters.”
After a pause, Maggie said, “Do you still feel Culver’s the right place?”
“Insofar as anywhere is right, yes, I guess I do. I kind of have roots here, tenuous though they might be, but they seem to help. And it’s very pretty; the lake has a special quality that I know Matt would find as fascinating as I do.” Her voice faltered as she added, “It feels strange to say that, when he was so against me coming.”
Clearly connecting with the despair in Justine’s heart, Maggie said, very gently, “Be in touch with him. I think he needs it. I think you both do.”
Justine didn’t argue; she was too close to tears. How wonderful it was to hear Maggie speak the words she so longed to act on, even if she wasn’t going to.
They’d known this initial period was never going to be easy, but it had to be got through.
“I should let you get some sleep,” she told Maggie. “Thanks for the chat. I needed to hear your voice.”
“It was good to hear yours too. I’ll tell Rob you rang. I’m sure he’ll call at the weekend.”
After ringing off, Justine went to pour herself a glass of wine. It was her first tonight, which was good, since she was often on her third or fourth by now. It didn’t help, not even with sleeping, so she had no idea why she did it. A kind of Pavlov’s dog reaction, she supposed.
When something goes wrong, reach for the bottle.
Maybe she was already an alcoholic, and she just hadn’t realized it yet.
—
By the following evening both she and Lula were in much better spirits. Hazel was with them, and was staying until Sallie Jo returned from a meeting in Plymouth around seven. And, biggest boost of all, David was due to turn up at any minute with the new puppy. Justine hadn’t meant him to go and collect it for them. When she’d called to say they wanted the dog she’d fully intended to go and fetch it herself, but he had insisted.
“Delong isn’t far,” he’d said, “and I’m going to be over that way later anyways, so I’ll call to let you know when I’m on my way back.”
To have refused the kindness would have seemed horribly ungrateful, perhaps even hurtful, so after quickly confirming that the only reason the current owners were letting the dog go was because their son had developed an allergy, she’d thanked him and gone to break the news to Lula.
The last time she’d seen so much excitement was the day Matt had brought Rosie home for Abby and Ben.
Rosie. Oh dear God.
Rosie, the retriever who’d ended up attaching herself so loyally to Lula that Justine couldn’t understand now why she’d waited so long to get another dog. At least that was something she could do for Lula to make her feel happy and more settled.
“We’ve got a name for her,” Lula cried, dashing across the porch into the kitchen. “It’s a really good name. Hazel helped me choose it.”
Crossing her fingers that it wasn’t going to be Rosie, Justine said, “OK, let’s hear it.”
“Daisy!” Lula announced proudly.
Justine’s eyes widened. Not bad. In fact, she could think of lots worse, and not many better. Actually, none better.
“It’s a flower, like Rosie,” Lula explained, “but a different one because it’s a different dog.”
“He’s here! David’s here,” Hazel squealed from outside.
Following Lula’s dash out to the porch, Justine watched the girls race to David’s car as he drove into the front yard, beside themselves with eagerness to get their first glimpse of his precious cargo.
Bringing a small cardboard box out to the lawn, David set it down gently, and Justine clasped her hands to her face as the most adorable bundle of white fur with two huge black eyes and a little button of a black nose poked her head out to say hello.
“Oh Mummy! Mummy!” Lula gasped, not quite knowing what to do.
“Do you want to hold her?” David offered, lifting her up in one hand. “She’s yours now.”
Lula immediately put out her hands, and to her astonishment and delight the little dog leapt onto her shoulder.
“Look, Mummy, look!” Lula cried, turning round for Justine to see. “She’s licking me.”
“She certainly is,” Justine laughed. “She’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said to David.
“And more or less house-trained,” he gladly informed her. “They gave me food, a leash, bowls, a bed, and some toys,” he added, going to fetch them from the trunk.
“We got all that today, didn’t we, Mum?” Lula said, doing her best to hold on to a wriggling Daisy.
“It won’t hurt to have more,” Justine assured her. “Why don’t you let Hazel hold her now.”
Clearly anxious not to leave her friend out, Lula immediately handed the puppy over, and both girls started to giggle as Daisy treated Hazel to a healthy licking too.
“She’s had all her vaccines?” Justine checked with David.
“Certificates are here, so you’ll see you’re free to take her anywhere and everywhere just as soon as you like.”
“I have a feeling that’s exactly how it’s going to be, anywhere and everywhere.” Justine smiled, watching Daisy bounding about the grass and wondering if she’d ever seen anything cuter. “Would you like a drink?” she asked David as he set the dog’s belongings down on the porch.
“If you have a cold beer,” he responded, tossing a tiny ball to the girls to throw for Daisy.
“I’m sure there are some left from when my brother was here,” Justine replied. Going into the kitchen, she found a Coors and an already opened bottle of wine.
“I don’t know if there’s anything more guaranteed to make a person smile,” he remarked as they sat down on the rocking chairs to watch the proceedings, “than a couple of kids with a puppy.”
“She’s been longing for one ever since we arrived,” Justine told him.
Even longer.
“I should have done it sooner—but maybe we should look at it this way—if I had, we’d have missed out on Daisy. What was her name before, by the way?”
“I believe it was Kayley, so not too different.”
Justine raised her glass. “Here’s to Daisy. May she be as happy here as we are.”
As he tipped the beer, David eyed her quizzically.
“It’s home,” she assured him. “We love the house, the people, the lake…When did you first start coming here?”
Going with the abrupt change of focus, though she could tell he’d noted it, he said, “It was with my folks, back in ’87, ’88, when they bought the place in town, where I live now. I guess it was ’88, because it was the year I graduated from high school.”
Nineteen eighty-eight, the year she and Matt met. “Where did you go to school?” she asked, feeling faintly light-headed at the bizarreness—wrongness—of the fate that had washed her up here with another man all these years later.
“Indianapolis,” he replied.
“And after graduating, you went where?”
“To college in North Carolina, where I got my master’s in political science and modern philosophy. After that, I landed an internship with the
Seattle Times—
my grandfather knew someone—and from there I had a series of jobs before I landed a position at the Pentagon press office.”
Justine blinked. “I had no idea,” she admitted. “You actually worked at the Pentagon?”
“It wasn’t such a big deal,” he said modestly, “but it was kind of interesting for a while.”
“Were you there for 9/11?”
He shook his head. “Before my time. I only held the job for a couple of years before my wife got sick, and frankly, she needed me more than they did, so that was what I did when we knew it was terminal. I took care of her until—well, until she didn’t need me anymore.”
Justine said softly, “I’m so sorry. It must have been a terrible time for you.”
“It wasn’t the best,” he conceded, “but I’m a firm believer that whatever life throws at us, we learn to handle it and find a way to move on. Culver’s been great for helping me to do that. No real pressures, lots of friendly faces, no complications unless you go looking for them…My folks have been pretty amazing too, letting me use the house, the car, never getting on my case about what I might do next.”
Surprised and worried for Sallie Jo, Justine said, “Does that mean you’re thinking of moving on at some point?”
He shrugged. “It’s hard to say. There’s plenty to keep me here, but maybe just as much to tempt me away.”
“Such as a more demanding job?”
“Sure, though I kind of enjoy the
Citizen.
It’s been a good friend to me these past couple of years.”
Searching out the sudden yelps of delight, Justine laughed to see the puppy rolling over and over, like a star performer. “It’s hard to imagine a happier little dog,” she remarked, thankful for the tremendous boost it was already clearly bringing to Lula.
“Some relationships are made in heaven,” he said with a smile, “and Lula’s with Daisy appears to be one of them.”
“Hazel’s being so sweet with them,” Justine observed, as Hazel passed the ball for Lula to throw. “She’s a very special little girl.”
“She certainly is,” he agreed.
They watched the puppy bounce after the ball, looking for all the world like a baby rabbit. The thought instantly sparked an alarm in Justine. “Lula,” she called out, “bring Daisy over here a minute.”
Quickly gathering up her new pet, Lula came rushing over, followed by Hazel. “Do you want to hold her?” she offered. “She’s really soft and she loves being stroked.”
Taking her, Justine snuggled the little bundle against her cheek and promptly received a vigorous licking. “We have to make sure Daisy doesn’t go into the woods after dark,” she told Lula.
Lula’s and Hazel’s eyes grew big with concern.
“Remember, Billy Jakes is around catching rabbits at night,” Justine explained, “and we don’t want him mistaking Daisy for one, do we?”
Lula and Hazel shook their heads. “She’s not a rabbit,” Lula said gravely, “but he might not be able to tell the difference in the dark.”
“Precisely,” Justine confirmed.
“What does he do with the rabbits?” Hazel asked.
“I’m not sure,” Justine replied.
“He keeps them in the barn next to his trailer,” David told her, “and when the time is right he kills them and eats them, or sells them to other people for them to eat.”
Lula looked horrified. “People don’t eat rabbits,” she objected.
“Some do,” Justine told her.
“But that’s horrible.” She looked at Hazel and, making all sorts of yuk and gagging noises, they took Daisy to the other side of the garden, well away from the woods.
“Maybe I’ll ask the landlords if I can put up a fence,” Justine said, reaching for her mobile as it pinged with a text. “Sallie Jo’s on her way,” she told David. “I’m hoping she might stay for dinner. You’re welcome to join—”
“No no, I really should be going,” he interrupted. “The
Citizen
goes to press tomorrow, so lots to do.”
Justine got up to walk him to his car. “It was really good of you to bring the puppy,” she told him. “You can see what an effect she’s already having.”
His kind eyes crinkled at the corners as he watched the boisterous play. “I wonder who’ll wear whom out first?”
Smiling, Justine put out a hand to shake, and felt herself color as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.
“Say hi to Sallie Jo for me,” he said, getting into the car. “And anything you need, you know where I am.”
It turned out Sallie Jo was too short of time to stay for dinner that night, though she made a huge fuss of the puppy and reminded Justine to keep the following Tuesday evening free for her birthday celebration.
“I’ll reserve a table at the Corndance Café,” she promised, “there’ll be five or six of us, so it should be fun. Or as fun as being forty-one can be. Oh, and my neighbor, Mandy Whitts, is happy to sit for the girls. I guess it’s OK with you for Lula to have a sleepover with us?”
Though Justine really didn’t want Lula to stay away for the night, she had no good reason to object, especially when Hazel had spent so many nights with them, so she simply thanked Sallie Jo for thinking of everything and including her in the invite.
“I’m sorry we won’t be able to get together before that,” Sallie Jo said distractedly, checking her watch as they waited for Hazel to tear herself from the puppy and get into the car. “It’s parents’ weekend at the Academies, so it’ll be crazy busy at the café. Let’s hope the weather stays good and all my staff decide to turn up. Hazel, honey, we have to go.”