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The ringing of the elevator’s eency phone interrupted our conversation "Finally," I shouted, jurabbed the receiver

"Yeah," he answered "We’re fine, just ready to get out of here" I wished I could hear the voice on the other end With all y, I almost ripped the phone from his hand

"Oh, co deflated "Can you at least contact Rob Froch on the fifty-second floor and let hi us" His words immediately took the wind froainst the elevator wall, waiting for the inevitable bad news

"It et so up the receiver

8

Noveht it would be Hisby the surprised look on her face, my visit was as unexpected for her as it was for ed pleasantries, while I plotted Justin’s des became more comfortable after his brother and sister joined us, and I watched how they interacted together He teased his little sister, Hollie, ly obvious Justin was her hero His younger brother, Travis, instantly drew ht During dinner he regaled us with stories that I’m sure Justin would rather have re so hard It turned out Justin’s mother was a teacher, whichin education and how things had changed in public schools during her twenty-five years of teaching Things had gone so well at that point that I was in the process of silently patting myself on the back, when of course the inevitable happened, and I dropped a stack of dishes as I was helping clear the table Justin, Travis, and Hollie had all responded by applauding atthe pile of broken dishes Suddenly, Justin’s deain

"I’ized for the hundredth time as Trish, Justin’sdeal They were a gift from my former in-laws, so you actually didme on the back

I returned her sh I felt like a complete heel

"Come back and break dishes soon," Hollie teased frorihed atelse you’d like to drop?" Justin joked before opening the door and guiding me out

"I should kill you for that," I complained as weto kid? I saw the way you were s You enjoyed yourself Admit it," Justin chided me as he opened the door to the jeep He and Travis had reinstalled the roof and doors after dinner Histo freeze me out I tried to reassure her it wasn’t all that bad, but she’d played the httiht I would have frozenthe skin on h I could have done without the dish disaster"

"Well, I would hope not"

"They were cool," I adht you were ‘cool’ too," he said dryly, seeing through my nonchalant façade

"So, you don’t live on caine

"No I moved back home when my dad decided to make an example out of Travis He moved out and I moved in"

"What do you mean ‘make an exa a probleer I had justout He put Travis through the wall in our dining room when he found out," Justin bit out as he clenched the steering wheel tightly in his hands

"Seriously? No offense, but how could he not have known?" I asked After having a siure it out Not because he wore it like a badge or anything, but his iveaway

"Yeah, well, ht in front of his face He doesn’t like it when things stray from the path he’s set God forbid his little soldiers have a mind of their own or move to a different beat"

"So, what beat do youso much more to his story

"Just put it this way: My dad is in the frame of mind that art is for pansies He had sorow up to be a lawyer or so in art, he gave ot out Of course, I nore my art," Justin said

Suddenly, his words froh ns," I stated as understanding dawned on ot them so your father would have to face it," I said with aondering where that kind of belief and strength came from It made me think about my relationship with my own mom It wasn’t until I turned fifteen that her notorious busybody ways really began to bother me I wanted to tell her but could never think of a way to do it without hurting her feelings Instead, I le eyes It was that desire that had proet

"Yeah, I got my first tattoo when I moved out The second and third followed quickly after that"

"Did it work?" I asked, wondering if his father was finally accepting his dreams

"Silent treatment for two months," Justin answered proudly

"Mature h had a bit of an edge to it "TwoHe hasn’t spoken to Travis in like a year"

"What a dick," I said, not caring that I was talking about his parent

"That about surin this tih of our one and only date talking about hiht be able to score another date if you play your cards right," I answered in my most blasé tone

"I knew the ole meet-the-family trick would seal the deal," he said triu wheel with enthusias nation

"Hell yeah, I did"

"Maybe I’ll changeabouthis hand onexactly how I felt about it onit I was sending a signal that I was interested Moments stretched into seconds and seconds into nored nor forgotten as eachbeneath it I felt like a preteen onon Back when each brush of his skin against yours would send your pulse racing and ears on the jeep he would return to the original position on ain

"Ready?" he asked, breaking intomy mind back to reality "Oh, we’re back," I said as I spotted ine

"Just tired, I guess," I answered lamely