Page 16 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

“Can we not talk about this?” Justine asked. She didn’t want to start crying again.

“I know,” Jordan said. “I’m sorry. But you can’t avoid it forever.”

“I’m not,” she said. “We are talking and I want to stop now.”

She didn’t need the reminder that she ran away, but she wasn’t stupid.

“Sorry,” Jordan said. “How many more spoonfuls of ice cream did you eat just now?”

“Enough,” she said, setting it down. “I’m going to get sick. Between this and donuts at work.”

“Donuts?” Jordan said. “You never eat donuts.”

“I had two of them. They were there. A doctor brought them in to welcome me.”

Jordan laughed. “Was he cute?”

“Actually,” she said, “he was.”

“I bet you’re blushing right now,” Jordan said, laughing.

“Only a sugar flush,” she said.

“No,” Jordan said. “I know my big sister. You’re embarrassed because you think a coworker is cute and don’t want to think that.”

“There is nothing wrong with thinking that,” she said. “I’ve got eyes and he was in front of me.”

“Listen to you sounding all prim and proper over it,” Jordan said. “I won’t bug you anymore.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“And ice cream sounds good so I’m going to get some too,” Jordan said. “Need to call DoorDash for it though.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think I can get that here.”

She hung up with her sister and bent over to get the ice cream container after she stood up, her eyes landing on the road behind her building. Not right behind it that she could hear traffic that loudly, but enough.

A guy was jogging on the side of the road, moving fast with a purpose as if he was trying to outrun something on his heels and wasn’t sure he’d be able to.

Funny how she knew that feeling well.

5

GOING DOWN A ROAD

Garrett returned to his place after sweating his ass off.

He wasn’t sure the last time he ran that hard, that fast, or that far, and wasn’t sure why.

He jogged up his front porch, bent over, and was huffing out a few breaths while he pulled his phone off his arm and unlocked the security system to get in.

His shirt was pulled up and over his head while he walked down the hall to his bathroom.

Sometimes he wished he had more space, but the small bathroom in his room he expanded and put a shower in was the best money spent, even if it gave him less room for furniture in his bedroom where he’d stolen that extra square footage.

The water was on and he stripped the rest of the way and stepped under the hot spray. Maybe it’d wipe away the memories of why he’d relocated, but he wasn’t sure anything ever would.

He shouldn’t have brought up the lawsuit.

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