Page 50 of Nothing Heals Me Like You Do

“I hate to say this to you, Justine, but just like Bobby Bright, you’re not going to be around forever.” Rochelle really was too much sometimes, but it was also why she’d been Justine’s best friend forever. “The Rainbow Shelter will be there long after you’ve gone. It’s unlikely, but you might even consider retirement one day, or at least scaling back.” Rochelle held up her hand, indicating that she wasn’t done talking and that she had a further point to make. “What I’m trying to say is that there are other, equally capable people who work at the shelter and can fill in for you when needed—when you have to be at a funeral you can’t miss. If you’d called me this morning, I would have gone to the hospital to be with Ashleigh. You know that. And Darrel will graduate their management course soon.”

“I wasn’t thinking. I just did what I always do when I get a call. Hop in my car and go so I can deal with the situation. It’s what I’ve been doing for thirty years.”It’s what they’re making that fucking movie about.“I hate that I hurt Sienna. It’s the last thing I wanted to do.” Justine couldn’t shake that first heart-wrenching glimpse she’d caught of Sienna’s face at the reception earlier. The profound pain and deflation in her glance. “I really care about her. A lot.” Justine looked into Rochelle’s eyes. “I may need some advice on how to fix this.”

“Do you want to fix it?” Rochelle brought her hand to her chest. “Do you feel that in here? Like it can’t possibly be any other way?”

Justine nodded. That was precisely how she felt.

“Let me put it differently, then.” Rochelle narrowed her eyes. “If you could do today all over again and you got the call about Ashleigh while getting ready for Bobby’s funeral, what would you do?”

Justine scoffed. She knew what Rochelle neededandwanted to hear. Whether that was what she would actually do, given another chance, was impossible to honestly say.

“I would call you,” Justine said regardless. “I would ask you to be with Ashleigh so I could be with Sienna.”

“Sure.” Rochelle didn’t sound as though she fully believed Justine—and why would she? “Your best bet is to convince Sienna that’s the truth.”

“What a fucking mess.” Justine closed her eyes for a moment. This was usually the moment she knew she had to retreat from the relationship, for her own sake, but also for the other person’s sake. Yet, even though she had behaved the way she had, and made a spur-of-the-moment decision that put her relationship in grave jeopardy, Justine felt no desire to pull back from Sienna—on the contrary.

Chapter27

The production staff had rearranged the shooting schedule so that Sienna could have the maximum number of days off after her father’s death. She only had to go back on set next week. She was still staying at her mom’s house because not only was she grieving the loss of her father, but her burgeoning relationship with Justine had also come to an abrupt end. After Justine had left the house during the reception, in a fit of rage, Sienna had blocked her number. She hadn’t found it in her to unblock it yet. The rage hadn’t subsided sufficiently, even though Sienna was self-aware enough to realize that her anger wasn’t just aimed at Justine.

She was angry at Bobby for owning a motorcycle in the first place—for being the quintessential guy in his sixties who believed he was indestructible.

She was angry at herself for being so annoyed at her dad when he’d visited theGimme Shelterset—the last time she had seen him. For believing that she saw right through him and his motives while, in hindsight, maybe all he truly wanted was to spend some time with her and see his daughter in her element.

She was angry at Taissa, who seemed to have picked her life back up as though not much had happened—as though their father hadn’t unexpectedly died.

She was angry at all the gossip sites that kept rehashing Bobby’s accident as if talking about it non-stop could possibly undo it.

Mostly, she was furious because she couldn’t think of or do anything that would bring her father back. Bobby was gone and it was all just so terribly infuriating.

Sienna was also angry at herself for being so angry at Justine for simply being who she was. For being every inch the kind of person—which was really just an incredibly caring, kind human being with a few personal boundary issues—she’d always said she’d been. The kind of person Rochelle had warned her about. Because, of course, Justine would have rushed to Ashleigh’s bedside as soon as she’d got the call about her suicide attempt. Every cell in Justine’s body would have been utterly and completely convinced that she was doing the right thing, despite it preventing her from going to Sienna’s father’s funeral. And where did that leave Sienna? It told her a harsh truth: nothing and nobody came before the shelter in Justine Blackburn’s life. Not if you wanted to put yourself before someone like Ashleigh, who had been so depressed and desperate she’d actually tried to take her own life.

Rochelle had stopped by the house a few days ago to explain to Sienna where Justine had been last Saturday and Sienna understood—of course, she understood—but that didn’t mean she had to accept it. In the state she was in, still so full of pain and rage, she couldn’t possibly accept it, even if that made her the most selfish person on the planet. For that reason as well, she was very angry at herself. At the whole fucking world. Because it was all so goddamn unfair.

“I had Dion work his reservation magic,” Sienna’s mom said as she walked into the living room. “He got us a table at that Korean place you can’t shut up about for tomorrow evening.”

Sienna had been flicking through the channels. She switched off the TV and put the remote away. “Min-ji’s?” she asked.

“Yep.” Her mother all but batted her lashes.

“I’m impressed.”

“This is LA, where name-dropping still works like a charm, no matter what anyone says.” Her mother’s assistant, Dion, was a legend at talking his boss into a table at the most coveted restaurants in town on short notice.

“It’ll just be the three of us girls. It will do us good.” Her mother sat next to Sienna.

“Thanks, Mom.” In need of human contact, Sienna instinctively sank against her mom’s side. Her mom put an arm around her. What Sienna had missed most of all, were Justine’s hugs. Especially now, when she was in such need of a pair of loving arms around her.

They were startled by the sound of the bell.

“Are you expecting anyone?” Sienna’s mom asked.

Sienna shook her head.

“I’ll go see who it is.” Unhurried, her mother pressed a kiss on the crown of Sienna’s head before walking off. “It’s Justine,” she shouted from the room next to the kitchen where the security video was fed into a screen.

Sienna huffed out a deep breath. “I’m not here,” she yelled back. Tell her to fuck off, she thought. Sienna might miss Justine’s arms around her, but Justine had lost the right to do that when she’d failed to show up at Bobby’s funeral. As soon as Sienna heard her mom say Justine’s name, that fist of steel clenched harder around her heart. As if Justine had come to stand for all the pain that coursed through Sienna so mercilessly after her dad dying.

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