Page 62 of Nothing Heals Me Like You Do

Then Justine’s phone rang—of course, it did.

Justine checked the screen. “It’s Darrel. Is it okay if I take this?” she asked, as though Sienna would say no to that or, even if she did, Justine would listen.

Sienna just nodded and watched Justine take the call. She listened to how she spoke to Darrel, her voice this peculiar blend of worry and efficiency. And Sienna realized that she hadn’t just fallen in love with the parts of Justine that were endlessly understanding, always kind, and oh-so hard to resist. She had fallen in love with the whole person, and that included her full commitment to the shelter and to the kids who stayed there. Come to think of it, it was a huge part of what drew her to Justine because it made up most of her personality. Of who she was. Sienna didn’t get to pick and choose which bits of Justine she loved. As with everyone else—with her dad, but also her mother and her sister and her friends—it was all or nothing. Besides, she had plenty of flaws herself—such as, also not unlike her dad, the unshakable need to come first in someone else’s life.

“Do you happen to feel like making someone’s day?” Justine had hung up and smiled broadly at Sienna.

“If you put it like that, it’s hard to say no.” That was the other thing about Justine. Even though the Rainbow Shelter housed kids in precarious circumstances, the place made her light up like nothing else. It gave her strength and purpose. It made her stand taller than she already was.

“A surprise visit from Sienna Bright would most certainly make Ashleigh’s day,” Justine said.

Before meeting Justine, even after having signed up to play Rochelle inGimme Shelter, Sienna would never have considered visiting a homeless kid in hospital. The thought had simply never occurred to her. Now, on their way back from seeing Ashleigh, Sienna’s smile was just as big and persistent as Ashleigh’s had been when Sienna had walked into her room. All Sienna had to do was show her face for Ashleigh to light all the way up. And that for a kid who’d been through hell and was a psychiatric inpatient. Ashleigh didn’t have too much to smile about, yet she hadn’t been able to stop smiling at Sienna.

“Thanks for coming.” Justine put a hand on Sienna’s knee. “Ashleigh was over the moon.”

“Honestly, it was my pleasure.” Sienna pointed at her lips. “Have you seen the smile on my face?”

“You enjoy making other people happy.” Justine gave Sienna’s knee a quick squeeze. “I told you that you were the opposite of a terrible person.”

Sienna did, indeed, feel the opposite of terrible. She felt as though, just for a few hours, the blow that life had recently dealt her might be manageable. Especially if she could find more opportunities to get her head out of her own ass. Making a vulnerable teenager grin from ear to ear was a hell of an antidote against wallowing in her grief. It also made her understand Justine’s irrepressible can-do attitude about everything. It was right there in theGimme Shelterscript and now Sienna witnessed it in real-life action. Justine had saved herself by saving others. Helping others, helped Justine. And Sienna had made the mistake to hold that very thing against her.

Sienna put her hand over Justine’s. “I’m sorry for giving you such a hard time about you not being at my dad’s funeral.”

“You really don’t need to apologize.” Justine gave her a quick look. “Your father died and, well, for lack of a better word, I was your… girlfriend. My place was there, with you.”

“Mygirlfriend?”

“I did say for lack of a better word.” Justine stopped at a red light. She looked sideways at Sienna and shot her one of her crooked grins.

“And that for someone who usually has no lack of words.” Sienna grinned right back.

“What does that mean?” The light turned green and Justine accelerated. “I always thought of myself as a woman of action more than words.”

“Even though you were mygirlfriend.” Sienna brought her hand to the back of Justine’s neck. “I get why you couldn’t be there.” She caressed the soft skin of Justine’s neck. “I get why you do what you do. Why you put all this energy into it. It’s everything to you.”

“You’re pretty important to me too.” Justine leaned the back of her head against Sienna’s hand. “You are my ex-girlfriend, after all.”

“I don’t feel like your ex at all. Especially not after this morning.”

“That’s because you’re not.” Justine focused on the road, but the vibe in the car intensified. “You’re so much more than my ex-girlfriend. You’re very special to me.”

For now, Sienna thought, it was more than enough. The only thing she could do was wait and see where taking it day-by-day would lead them. She didn’t even know where Justine was driving them right now, let alone where they would end up together in the next few weeks. And there was no talk of beinggirlfriendsagain just yet.

Chapter35

To be at the wrap party of a movie about her life was already absurd enough for Justine, but to be there with Sienna Bright, who was playing her ex, was beyond surreal.

Whether they were actually each other’s girlfriend—whether Justine could ever really be someone’s girlfriend—was up in the air, but what was more than obvious was that they enjoyed each other’s company. They spent most of their spare time together—and every single night in each other’s arms.

They didn’t waste a lot of that precious time talking, but Justine felt it in every cell of her body. When Sienna so much as rang her doorbell, her stomach flip-flopped. When she kissed her, Justine knew no one else’s kiss would ever do again. All the while, they did as they had agreed. They let the days pass, lived their lives, and grew closer.

Sometimes, Justine had to cancel a date. Other times, instead of rushing to the shelter the way she’d always done, she asked Darrel to handle an emergency that previously she would have believed only she could deal with. Darrel would finish their management course next week and as their graduation present, Justine was giving them a larger chunk of responsibility as well as a pay rise—thanks to Bobby Bright’s donation. The shelter was still everything to her, but Sienna was quickly becoming equally important.

A hush went through the crowd at the party. They were being silenced.

“Time for the director’s speech,” Rochelle said to Justine.

Mimi St James stepped onto the stage, microphone in hand. She’d never looked the way Justine had imagined a director would, and she certainly didn’t tonight. She was dressed in a stark white pants suit, a fuchsia blouse underneath, all no doubt costing more than a month’s worth of Justine’s salary.

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