Page 23 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

Talking to Garrett was much easier than she was used to doing with a guy, which was probably why it happened.

Maybe because there was no pressure here. She told herself that anyone at the hospital was off-limits.

“He was,” she said. “A surgeon. He passed a few months ago.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Thank you,” she said. “And I need to get to work. My computer is dinging.”

“I hear it,” he said, smiling. “Sorry for pulling you away. I won’t ride you too hard if my patients are a bit late, but I think I’ve only got three today again.”

She nodded her head. “We’ll get it to you on time.”

Garrett left and she went back to the computer to see how much was building up, but it wasn’t bad. Some dings were emails and she’d push them off for now.

“I made you one,” Troy said, coming back out. “Didn’t know if you wanted it toasted or not.”

“This is good,” she said, taking a big bite. She’d have to finish it before she could fill her scripts, so she went to the emails to take care of that while Troy filled things for her.

The two of them worked quickly and got caught up before the other tech showed up.

When someone from Garrett’s office came to get their meds, she stopped to look over and see if it might be him.

She didn’t know what would make her think that, but Troy had said it’d happened before when the nurses were busy and he could run down faster.

But it was a woman she hadn’t seen before and got back to work wondering when she might see Garrett again and then told herself to cut it out.

7

MORE GUARDED

Time to do something that she hadn’t done in a long time.

It’d always been a phobia of hers and she knew it was a simple one to overcome. She’d done it before.

Years ago.

Jordan did it all the time and entertained herself on her laptop or phone, even reading a book.

But Justine just felt silly.

Silly no more.

No one knew her on the island.

Or very few did.

When she’d driven by, there weren’t a lot of cars in the parking lot and it seemed perfect. It was why she chose a Thursday over a Friday.

She pulled the door open to a pub called McKay’s and looked around. The tables seemed pretty empty, just a few people scattered about. The bar the same.

“How many?” the hostess asked her.

“Just one,” she said. Eating alone in a restaurant was the first step for her to get out of this little hole she dug into again.

She’d done it enough as an adult and her father always nudged her to try things that made her uncomfortable but weren’t harmful.

Eating in a restaurant wasn’t harmful.

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