Page 3 of Nothing Heals Me Like You Do

I was young, furious, and helpless for a while, until I decided to change shit up.

Then I did.

In the end, I was one of the lucky ones.

“Look at me now,” Justine had said to Charlie. “I couldn’t care less about awards, but you have a couple on your mantel, and now you’re writing my story. How about that? How lucky am I?”

“I’m mainly here for the bit where you changed shit up,” Charlie had said. If that had not been the case, Justine would never have agreed to have this movie made. She wasn’t interested in a sob story about how her parents kicked her out. Rochelle knew that and she’d made sure Charlie knew it too.

Alexis fixed her light-blue eyes on Justine. “Can I ask about your parents?”

“Sure.” Justine shrugged. They were but a distant memory to her. Two people who might as well be dead. If they were, she didn’t know and it made no difference to her in any significant way.

“There hasn’t been a reunion?”

Justine shook her head.

“I’m really sorry that happened to you,” Alexis said. “I just want you to know.”

Justine waved off the remark. So many years had passed. Justine had lived so much life and helped so many kids along the way.

“The way I see it now, what happened to me did so because I was meant to do this.” She gave a small smile. “Not this movie, obviously, but founding the Rainbow Shelter. I would never have done that if my parents hadn’t put me out with the trash. I would never have found this strength inside me to turn my misery into something good and necessary. My parents aren’t the only ones whose so-called love is entirely conditional on the fact that their child was exactly who they wanted them to be. I shouldn’t be baffled by it anymore, but every time a kid tells me their story, it still surprises me that the people who are meant to love you the most can be so utterly cruel and selfish.”

Alexis nodded and made a few more notes in her phone.

“What are your parents like?” Justine asked, not to be glib, but because she was genuinely interested.

“My parents?” Alexis seemed taken aback by the question. “They’re, um, very nice and, like, completely regular.”

“Are they?” Justine studied Alexis’s face.

Eyebrows knotted together, she just nodded. “Is it important to you that I tell you about them?”

Clearly Alexis hadn’t come here to talk about herself, a fact Justine respected.

“Yes. I’d like to hear more,” she admitted. With all the horror stories she’d heard about abysmal parenting, sometimes she needed her faith restored that most mothers and fathers were responsible and willing to do their best for their children.

“Sure.” A soft smile melted Alexis’s face. “Mom’s a dentist, and dad’s an engineer. They live in New Hampshire. I’m their only child and we speak every day. They’re very supportive of my career, even though it’s so far removed from the professions they chose. They’ve always been supportive of everything I’ve done.”

“Good.” Justine replied with a smile of her own. “That’s good.” Alexis was twenty-five years old and a completely different generation to Justine. Her lovely-and-ordinary parents were probably the same age as Justine. “It’s obvious they raised a confident daughter.” Although Alexis was straight and Justine knew from decades of experience with queer kids that even parents who seemed very nice-and-ordinary could turn on their child when they came out. Apparently, there was a long and varied list of reasons to start hating your own flesh and blood simply because of who they loved.

Justine made a mental note to inquire about Sienna’s parents’ reaction to her coming out, although they were Hollywood types and Justine knew from Rochelle that, behind the scenes, half of Tinsel Town was run by queers. That was another reason to agree to this movie. Representation and the chance to tell a queer story on a large scale.

Justine’s phone rang. She didn’t have to check the screen to know it was the shelter, because it always was.

“I’m going to have to take this,” she said to Alexis.

“Of course.” She focused back on her phone, perhaps to jot down more details about Justine. She wouldn’t mind getting her hands on those notes later, just to know what a privileged young thing like Alexis made of the likes of her. Then she shrugged off the notion. If Justine cared one iota about what anyone else thought of her, she wouldn’t be able to do this job—her fundraising skills were not based on flattery and smarminess, but on facts and utter necessity.

“Someone’s come in asking for you specifically, Justine,” Darrel, Justine’s right-hand person at the shelter said. “I can set up a video call, if you want.”

“No need.” Justine looked at Alexis. “I’ll be there in ten minutes and I won’t be alone.”

Half an hour ago, Justine had rushed onto the porch where Sienna was having a private and illuminating conversation with Rochelle, stating matter-of-factly that the four of them were going to the Rainbow Shelter for a research field trip. Rochelle didn’t seem to mind and five minutes later, Sienna and Alexis were sitting in the back of a tatty old Subaru that Justine negotiated expertly through LA traffic. The shelter was only a ten-minute drive and as soon as they arrived both Justine and Rochelle were instantly accosted by people who worked there.

“How’s it going with Justine?” Sienna asked Alexis, as she looked around. She didn’t know what they were supposed to do with themselves. If anyone at the shelter had recognized them, they didn’t let on. Or they were too busy to notice or care.

“Good, I think. She’s more forthcoming than I had expected. Very frank and straightforward. You?”

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