Page 15 of Nothing Heals Me Like You Do

“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?” TheGimme Shelterscript 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.”

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