Page 62 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

She didn’t want him to think she was avoiding it. She wasn’t. “I’ve got to pee. We can talk more if you want.”

She got up and moved to the bathroom, her T-shirt falling past her hips. She was naked under it. She barely remembered grabbing it to put on after she woke up the first time.

Garrett had asked if she wanted him to leave and she said she’d like him to stay but would understand if he didn’t want to.

She knew he had no change of clothes and it wasn’t planned.

She was glad he decided to get back in bed with her.

Now she did her business in the bathroom, brushed her teeth, found a spare toothbrush, and put it on the counter for him.

When she returned to her room, Garrett was up and had his jeans on but not buttoned.

“I don’t know if you have plans today.”

“Nothing,” she said. “Not sure if you do or not. There is a toothbrush on the counter for you. My first plan is to make breakfast.”

“I’m starving,” he said. “Mind if I shower?”

“Go ahead,” she said.

She grabbed a pair of underwear and shorts and pulled them on, then made her way to the kitchen. Eggs and toast sounded good and were easy enough.

The first thing she did was make a cup of coffee for herself. She was positive Garrett drank coffee, but she didn’t know what flavor he would want and it didn’t take long to make.

When he came into the kitchen, the bread was in the toaster and the scrambled eggs were almost done.

“Coffee smells good,” he said. “Is that cup for me?”

“Yes,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what flavor you liked or how you took it.”

He spun her little carousel and then started his coffee while he took some plates down. When the toast popped he pulled them out to butter them.

“We make a good team,” she said.

“We do,” he said. “Still feeling good about where things stand with us?”

“I am,” she said. “Are you going to ask me all the time? Is it because I don’t want to put a label on things?”

His head went back and forth. “No. I just know that you’ve had a lot going on in your life in the past year and I didn’t want to add to it.”

“Well,” she said. “You are adding to it but not in a bad way. And I’m not the only one that had a lot happen in the last year. I’m only getting hints from you and guessing more than anything. Don’t you think it’s time to share?”

She normally wouldn’t have done that. Put someone on the spot.

But she realized that she’d opened up so much with him and that he wasn’t doing the same.

Here he was introducing her to family members and making her feel comfortable around people and on the island, but there was a lot to him she didn’t know yet.

He let out a sigh. “What do you want to know?”

“What caused you to volunteer to be on the island for a year? You said you weren’t handling things well and that you needed to reevaluate your career. I’ve got to imagine something specific happened rather than an accumulation of events, but could be I’m wrong.”

“Sit,” he said. “I’ll tell you if you want to know. It’s not something I do. I don’t share with anyone other than my family.”

“Because they’ve been there and understand?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “But even then, it’s not everything. It’s hard to hide work stuff from my father.”

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