old guy, Jimmy Litchfield? He came to see you at the hospital.”
Juss squinted one eye. “Uh, yeah. The truck driver, right?”
“Yeah.” I held up the phone. “He wants to know if he can call around sometime and see how you’re getting on. Is that okay with you?”
Justin shrugged. “Sure. I guess.”
I let Jimmy know it was all fine, that mornings were best, and he said he’d see us soon. The pizza arrived and we made real short work of that, and I didn’t really give the phone call another thought until dinner time when Justin brought it up.
“What do you think the truck driver wants?” he asked.
“Honestly, I think he needs to know you’re okay. I think he feels a lot of guilt, and knowing you’re okay helps him with that.”
Justin nodded slowly and pushed his salad around his plate. He hadn’t slept for long this afternoon and I could see he was tired by his delayed speech and slow blinks. Clearly he had a lot on his mind. “He must be a nice guy.”
“He seemed it,” I replied. “When he came to the hospital, he was very upset. I thought he was genuine.”
He nodded. “Says a lot that some stranger wants to visit but my own mother hasn’t even called me.”
I put my fork down and covered his hand with mine. “Oh, Juss. I’m sorry. Have you been thinking about her?”
He gave a slight shrug. “Mm. Bit hard not to. I mean, I didn’t for a while when my brain was all foggy, but then I realised that she hasn’t even called, so now I . . .” He sighed. “Now I know how she really feels, I guess.”
I squeezed his hand. “Baby, I’m sorry. I’m sorry she’s a horrible person. You deserve better.”
“Did she call at all when I was in hospital?”
I shook my head. “No.”
He frowned. “Becca said she told her and that her reaction was about as good as expected. She didn’t say what was said, exactly, so I guess it was awful.”
“Baby, she hasn’t really been a part of your life since you came back to Newcastle. Not in the last five years. She certainly doesn’t like me.”
“Have you met her?”
I nodded. “Yeah. We went and saw her. You’d been back from Darwin for about six months and you hadn’t seen her in two and a half years. We thought we’d see if she’d changed her attitude.”
Something flashed in his eyes. “Was she mean to you?”
“Not directly. She was mean to you and disgusted that I wasn’t a woman. She said some pretty horrible things.”
His nostrils flared. His eyebrows knitted. “She never called me when I was in Darwin either. She hasn’t really spoken to me since she found out I was gay. I dunno why I ever thought that’d change.”
“Because you’re a decent human being who never loses hope. And she’s a terrible person and an even worse mother.”
His gaze darted to mine and he smiled. “True. Still sucks, though.”
“It does. I’m not denying that. My relationship with my family isn’t much better. But we know what we’re worth, and we know we deserve better.” I put his hand to my face and kissed his palm. “We choose our own family, Juss.”
“I’m so glad I found you,” he whispered. “Twice.”
I chuckled at that. “And I’m glad for the second chance.”
And right on cue, Squish decided to yell at us from his bowl. “Yes, Squish. We’re glad for you too,” I said. “And for the record, there are biscuits in that bowl. You’re not starving.”
Justin laughed. “You know this . . .” He gestured between us and then to the cat. “This was all I ever wanted.”
“The family we choose, right?”
He laughed again but got teary as he nodded. “Yeah.”
“Oh, baby,” I said, sliding my chair over and pulling him in for a hug. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
He leaned his head against my neck and let out a shaky breath. “Dunno why I’m upset. Tired, I guess.”
“You’re allowed to feel whatever you feel. Why don’t you go lie down? I’ll clean this up.”
He looked at his plate like he hadn’t noticed it before, then shook his head like the fog was back. “I’m sorry I’m kinda useless tonight.”
“You’re not useless, baby.”
He pouted. “I wanted to make out some more tonight.”
I chuckled. “I’m sure we can arrange something.”
He gave me a lazy smile, but he got up from the table and limped to the couch. I cleaned up and he was asleep when I