Page 47 of Nothing Heals Me Like You Do

Justine was glad that Sienna had finally fallen asleep, but she was wide awake. In the end, they hadn’t eaten—Mimi hadn’t had the opportunity to serve whatever feast she had prepared—and Eddy’s scotch sloshed in Justine’s empty stomach.

Although not very experienced with sleepovers, Justine had spent the night at Sienna’s penthouse plenty of times, but staying at her mother and stepdad’s house was entirely different. The scotch hadn’t helped with that either—nothing could help these wretched circumstances.

She maneuvered gently so Sienna slid off her. The bottle of water on the nightstand next to her was empty. Justine stayed perfectly still for a few moments, making sure Sienna was still asleep, then slipped out of bed, in search of some water and, if at all possible, something to eat.

She tiptoed to the kitchen, where she found Maxine in the low light of a dimmed lamp, crying over a bowl of soup.

“I’m so sorry to intrude,” Justine said when Maxine spotted her.

“You’re not. Please, sit with me.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I don’t even know why I’m crying. I divorced Bobby eons ago, and for very good reasons.”

“He’s the father of your daughters,” Justine said, as she slid onto one of the stools surrounding the giant kitchen island.

“He was not a bad man.” Maxine got up and, without asking, served Justine a bowl of soup. “But he was a really shit husband and not the best of fathers either.” She placed the soup in front of Justine. “In case you’re hungry. It’s tomato.”

“Thank you.” Justine shot Maxine a warm smile. It could probably be anyone sitting across from her now. She just wanted to vent, release some of the things that weighed heavy on her mind.

“We tried to stay friends, but Bobby was a hard man to stay friendly with,” Maxine murmured. “I know I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but his worst fault was that he was so unreliable and hurt the girls over and over by being like that. I hated him for that—for hurting them. For not being there. For not being the dad I wanted him to be.” She huffed out some air. “But hewastheir dad and they wouldn’t be who they are—these two amazing, talented, smart, and beautiful women, without his… contribution. And now he’s gone, and I can’t believe it.” She shook her head.

“Life can be a real bitch,” Justine said.

Maxine surprisingly chuckled in response. “Ain’t that the truth.” She went quiet again, then said. “Sienna’s very sensitive and she was much closer to her dad than Taissa. I guess she saw him as her acting mentor. They bonded over that, at least. She might take this very hard.” Her eyes glistened with tears again.

“I understand,” Justine said. “She can count on me.”

“Is it… serious between the two of you now?” Maxine asked.

Good question. “Getting there,” Justine said, quickly realizing how inadequate that was as an answer—no matter how truthful. “I mean, um, my intentions are good. I think the world of Sienna and I have strong feelings for her.”Jeez.Justine had just gone in search of some food—and she hadn’t even touched her soup yet—but now she was sitting in Maxine Brewster’s swanky kitchen, answering questions about her relationship with Sienna. But she and Sienna were in a relationship, that much they had established. And they liked each other a lot and loved sleeping with each other, although Justine wasn’t going to tell Maxine that.

“I’ll be honest.” Maxine fixed her gaze on Justine. “After Sienna first told me about you, I had my assistant do some in-depth research on you.”

“Excuse me?” Justine’s eyes grew wide.

“I’m sorry, but it’s the kind of mother I am and my hackles went all the way up when the girls were talking about this ‘middle-aged white lady’ Sienna was seeing.” She shot Justine an apologetic smile. “Of course, I’d heard about you. Even before Sienna told me about this movie. You’ve made quite the name for yourself in this city. And my assistant didn’t dig up anything negative about you. Nothing. Nada. Like you’re some saint or something. Los Angeles’ very own patron saint for homeless queer kids.”

Justine scoffed. “I can assure you I’m no saint, but I do take my work very seriously.”

“Because you’ve been there?” Maxine asked.

Justine just nodded.

“If Sienna’s going to be with an older woman, then I’m happy it’s with someone as conscientious and serious as you.” Maxine’s smile grew a little warmer. “It’s also obvious that you care about my daughter a great deal and I get the distinct impression she’s pretty crazy about you too, so…”

And she’s thirty-six years old, Justine thought, but it was not the time or place to say something sharp like that. Justine was sitting in Sienna’s mother’s kitchen purely by circumstance and, for that reason alone, it was futile to wonder whether this conversation, and everything Maxine had just said, was a good thing or not. Justine was here and Maxine was sort of—that’s how Justine read it, anyway—giving them her motherly blessing.

“Granny!” A child’s voice came from the living room. “Granny, where are you?”

“I’m here, baby.” Maxine stood up and, as she headed out of the kitchen, briefly touched her hand against Justine’s arm.

Chapter25

Taissa stared at the piece of paper in her hand again, then looked at Sienna.

“I guess we’re loaded,” Taissa said, as though they hadn’t been rich before they’d inherited their father’s many millions.

Sienna would give back every single penny for one last hour with her dad. For a chance to say goodbye. For a frank and honest conversation about his shortcomings as a dad and her own as a daughter. Because more often than not, she hadn’t painted him in a very positive light. But no one was perfect, and Bobby Bright certainly hadn’t been—although the dozens of obituaries written about her famous, larger-than-life movie star dad would have you believe otherwise.

Bobby’s net worth had been much higher than Sienna could ever have imagined—she had never given it much thought—and everything he owned was to be split evenly between her and her sister. Bobby had never remarried and hadn’t fathered any other children—possibly because he knew he wasn’t really cut out for parenting, although Sienna would never have the chance to ask him. She’d never be able to ask him anything ever again. All she could do from now on was speculate about Bobby’s motives.

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