Page 120 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

“You’re right,” she said. “I’m going about this all wrong. I know what I need to do.”

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MORE TIME FOR THEM

“You’re staying until the end of the year?” Garrett asked three weeks later when she arrived at his house. “They told you you had to or you asked?”

He was holding his breath over that piece of news.

He needed something good after what he’d found out last night.

Since Justine was working, he hadn’t been able to tell her yet.

“I asked,” she said. “I thought of it a few weeks ago and decided that it’s the best thing. I don’t want to rush anything and I’m not avoiding it either. I just would like to have more time to get my ducks in a row.”

“The looming thought of having to decide in less than sixty days was getting to you?” he asked.

It was early August, and she was supposed to be done by the end of September. He was glad that wasn’t the case now.

More time for them to work this out together.

“It was,” she said. “It’s a big decision. I can lean one way now, but a lot can still happen. As Jordan said, I don’t have to lock myself into anything. I’ve moved once, I can again if things don’t work out.”

He didn’t like the way she said that.

He didn’t know if it was about things not working out between them or liking it on the island.

Hell, if she had that attitude, she could feel like she could leave Boston too if she wanted.

“What do you think won’t work out?”

“Nothing,” she said. “I don’t think that. But when I told myself that I could give it more time, I just breathed a sigh of relief. Between that and Karly getting the footage yesterday, I want to feel as if some positives could happen.”

He’d known they’d gotten the footage. The DA had a copy now along with Justine’s attorney and the police, but he was betting anything Bond Law found something first.

“I’m glad,” he said. “I really am.”

She moved closer and hugged him. Things had been fine between them since they’d had their fight almost a month ago.

They were spending more nights together and got along well.

“Your light is a bit dim right now,” she said. “Why is that?”

“What?” he asked, laughing. He walked past her to get on the deck and check on the steaks that he was grilling. There were some potatoes cut up in foil already there and probably done, mixed in with some vegetables. Nice and easy.

She moved onto the deck too, looked to the side at Vanessa’s house and smirked, then back to him. “I said you don’t seem as happy or relaxed as you normally are. Did you have a bad day at work? You can talk to me about it without going into specifics.”

He loved her all the more that she’d said that.

“Thank you,” he said. “Nothing horrible. Or more than normal. Not with my current patients. But I did get some news yesterday about my past one.”

“Oh no,” she said. “I’m sorry if you lost someone.”

“I’m being sued,” he said quickly and turned back to the grill. He didn’t need to do anything with them, but he didn’t want to see her face either.

“Come here,” she said. “My father often said that people liked to sue because it made them feel better and they looked at it as an easy cash win. The patients rarely think that doctors are human too.”

“No,” he said. “They don’t. It’s the parents of the young man who died. It’s a civil suit now. I called Roark yesterday. The hospital attorneys won’t take this on and I wouldn’t expect them to. It’s me and the other two doctors named. It’s crazy.”

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