“I count on that,” she said. “I look forward to every phone call. I love being with you. You make me feel...” She hesitated. “New,” she finally said. “You make me feel brand-new. Thank you for that.”
He kissed her cheek. “The pleasure is all mine.”
“Not all of it is yours,” she said with a laugh. “It’s been so long, I was afraid I’d be awkward or embarrassed.”
“It’s quite obvious you weren’t.”
“Now comes the bad news. I have to get home at a civilized hour.”
“I can’t wait to hear what civilized is,” he said.
Right on cue, her phone rang. It was in her purse. “Would you mind,” she asked, pointing to her purse on the chair.
He slid out of bed, naked as the day he was born, and she admired his fine form. He was quite a good-looking man. He handed her the purse, and she pulled out her phone. She looked at the screen and answered. “Hi, honey. Everything all right?”
“Sure,” Amber said. “Just checking in. We brought pizzas back to Melanie’s so I guess we’re in for the night.”
“And Melanie’s parents are home?”
“Yes. Janet said to tell you hi. What are you doing?”
“I’m actually out to dinner in town. Well, I had dinner and now I’m having dessert. I’m with a friend I worked with in San Jose.”
“A date?” Amber asked.
“I guess it technically is a date. Now I don’t want to be rude and be on my cell phone. Call me when you’re headed home in the morning.”
“Okay, sure. Have fun!” Then she signed off.
Justine laughed and dropped her phone in her purse. “When you have teenage girls, you do a lot of checking in with each other.”
“Good idea. Now, can I get you a little more dessert?” And Logan crawled into the bed and took her in his arms again.
* * *
Logan walked Justine to her car. It was in a dimly lit parking lot outside the restaurant, which was on the other side of the building. They were talking about when they might be able to get together again. Just as they turned the corner around the building, Logan stopped short, a concerned look on his face.
Justine stood still and could hear voices. Angry voices. It was mostly a woman, though she couldn’t make out everything she was saying. She caught a few words. Not what you said would happen. What about me? She’s a greedy bitch. You could fix this. You’re just a chicken. If there was another person in the argument, that person had little more than mumbles to contribute.
Then there was the sound of a slap and a cry of pain. Then a man found his voice. “Get ahold of yourself! Ugh!” Followed by a lot of unintelligible sounds.
“Stay right here, by the door,” Logan said. “Sounds like someone’s having a domestic. I’ll check it out and be right back.”
“Don’t get involved, Logan!” she said.
“Don’t worry, Justine. I know what to do.”
He walked into the darkness, between cars. She could hear the arguing continue though Logan was out of sight. Then she heard a voice she recognized. “Goddamn it, Cat! Stop that! You’re out of control!”
That was Scott. And she knew only too well who Cat was. She got her phone out of her purse, turned on the flashlight, pointed it in the direction Logan had gone and attempted to follow.
It wasn’t far. She heard Logan’s voice clear as a bell. She saw he was using his flashlight, as well. “Hands off each other, right now. I’m calling the police.”
Then Cat shouted, “Go away! This is none of your business!”
When she came through the cars, approaching Logan’s back, she could see Scott and Cat, and Scott had a trickle of blood running down his lip and over his chin, staining his shirt. He wiped at it impatiently. Then he saw her.
“Justine! What are you doing here?” Scott asked.
“I was having dinner. And you are apparently having a fistfight.”