Page 97 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

He lifted an eyebrow. “Oh really?” he asked. “Are you going to share more?”

Justine was blushing and he didn’t know what that meant.

“My sister is shy,” Jordan said. “I’ll do it. You’re not scholarly looking. Or what I like to say, dorky, but my sister gets mad at me.”

“That’s not nice,” she said, elbowing her sister at the table.

“See. My sister is no fun. But most of the guys she dates are on the smaller side too.”

“This is the first I’m hearing this,” he said. “Go on.”

“Stop,” she said, nudging him with her hand this time. “Don’t encourage her.”

“Oh yeah,” Jordan said. “Encourage me. You’re good for my sister. I wanted to see you two together to see what is going on. This way I can point out all the things she’s been missing before.”

He leaned back to get comfortable and was going to ask what that was about, but the server came over to take their drink order.

When they were alone again, he said, “I don’t want to embarrass your sister.”

“I do,” Jordan said, grinning. “She’s tougher than anyone gives her credit for and she can handle it.”

“I think she is, but also don’t want to put her on the spot.”

He reached over and tucked a blonde stray hair behind Justine’s ear.

“That’s so sweet,” Jordan said. “Okay. I’m going to just say it once then. I’m not sure who needs to hear it, but I’ve got to say it. Justine understands the need for that.”

He looked at Justine and saw the tender look between the siblings and was willing to bet some bonding or grieving happened in the past two days. He wouldn’t ask and didn’t need to know.

They were entitled to their privacy. If Justine wanted to share, she would.

Justine nodded. “Be nice,” she said.

“All the guys that Justine dated in the past, and mind you, they weren’t much more than a few dates. But she’d tell my father all about them. The negative things. My father would bring them up another time and then next thing we know, Justine was calling things off.”

“So your father was choosy for his daughters?”

He was looking at Justine when he asked that.

“No,” Justine said.

“Justine read more into things,” Jordan said. “I think my father was testing her to see if she’d defend someone or say something nice rather than always negative. The last guy, he made a comment that if all she ever did was point out the negative, why was she wasting her time.”

“That’s a good point,” he said, grinning.

“She hasn’t said one negative thing about you, Garrett. Nothing. I’ve even asked and she struggles to find something.”

He started to laugh. “That is very nice, but I’m positive there are things. She kicked me the other night for snoring.”

Justine blushed. “It’s only been a few times and you roll over and go back to sleep. You’re tired is all.”

Jordan was smirking and he read between the lines, that Justine was defending him.

He was going to take that win and run with it to the finish line.

“What fun things have you two been doing?” he asked.

“We went to the beach on Tuesday. That’s why Justine has a red nose. Her sunglasses kept slipping down and wiping off the sunscreen. We were two babes on the beach people watching for hours and drinking our margaritas to wipe away our worries.”

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