Page 76 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

“That will be nice,” she said. “I wonder if anyone will be here that I know. I think my boss.”

Justine hadn’t said she was attending, just that she wanted the weekend off. There would be talk if she saw coworkers and she had to get used to that.

“Is that going to be an issue?” he asked, looking at her. They were moving through traffic faster now.

“No. I’ll introduce you. Don’t worry.”

He laughed. “I expected you would.”

It didn’t take long to get to his condo building. He pulled under it to park and they got out, her grabbing her dress in the bag in the back while Garrett pulled out her overnight bag.

He didn’t have a suit with him, but she expected he had more than a few at his condo and didn’t need to worry.

“I can’t wait to see you in a suit,” she said. “And then to get you out of it later.”

“I might have been thinking the same thing about you in that dress. Are you going to tell me what it looks like?”

“No,” she said. “We’ve got time before you see it. I’m not used to dressing up so if I’m acting awkward in it, I’m sorry.”

“There isn’t anything awkward about you,” he said.

They took the elevator to his floor and got out, then went to his door and he punched the code in.

A few steps in, she noticed how modern the place was.

“It’s bright in here,” she said. “You’ve got a lot of pictures. I didn’t expect that.”

“Why?” he asked. “Did you think I had bare walls?”

“Maybe,” she said. “That vase is stunning.”

“Did I tell you that Carson’s wife is artist Laine Connors? The one painting over there is hers and there are two vases too.”

“No,” she said. “You didn’t tell me that.”

She wasn’t sure why she didn’t hear that news at work. It seemed people gossiped about so much, but maybe they thought she knew.

“Sorry,” he said. “I don’t think much about it. She’s very talented. That’s a painting of the island. It just drew me in and I had to have it.”

“To have a piece of the relaxation here even when you weren’t there?” she asked.

“I guess that is true,” he said. “I never thought of that, but I did find myself walking by and looking at it a lot before I moved there.”

“Do you have more of her pieces at your house on the island?”

“Just a bowl,” he said. “She’s got a studio on the island. My mother is the one who gave me the vases and bowl. She knows I like these things and don’t think to shop for them myself. They were gifts. I bought the painting.”

“I find that very sweet,” she said.

“Let’s go to my room and you can hang up your dress,” he said.

They moved down a small hall and she went to his room, saw the big bed and laughed. “I can’t wait to roll around on that tonight.”

“I can’t wait for you to do that either,” he said. “We could try it out now if you want?”

“We only have three hours before it starts,” she said. “You said it will take time to go across town to get there and you’ll want to be early. I need to shower and get ready. You know I’ve got to look the part to be with one of the Mills doctors.”

He closed one eye at her. “Fine,” he said. “Maybe we can shower together and get a teasing session in there for later?”

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