The House on Sandstone

by KG MacGregor

  "Well, honey…if it ain’t you…and it ain’t me…then I guess we ought to stay out of their business. They’ll work it out. Okay?"

  The teen nodded grimly.

  "You want to stay over here next week when you’re out of school?"

  "Can I?"

  "Are you kidding? I’d love that. Just clear it with your father." As far as Justine was concerned, she could stay there every night. Of course, that might cramp her plans for Carly Griffin.

  "Can I ask you a question? It’s kind of…well, you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to."

  Panic gripped her stomach and she held her breath, fearing the worst. What am I going to say?

  168

  The House on Sandstone

  "Do you like J2?" Emmy couldn’t read the look on her mother’s face, so she tried to clarify. "It’s weird sometimes to think that she’s closer to my age than she is to Dad’s."

  Justine could feel her heart rate slow to its natural rhythm. "I like J2 just fine. We probably won’t ever be close friends or anything, but I think she’s been good for your father. And I especially appreciate that she’s made a nice home for you and your brother."

  "You don’t…hold it against her for marrying Dad?"

  The mother held up her thumb and forefinger so that they barely touched. "Not even this much." She laughed at that, and her daughter followed suit.

  "I think it’s nice that you and Dad are still good friends. Most of my friends’ parents who are divorced hate each other."

  "Well, we weren’t meant to stay together, but we’ll always have you and Trey to remind us that there was a time that we did something right."

  As they shared a loving hug, Justine basked in knowing that this was the kind of moment that mothers lived for.

  169

  The House on Sandstone

  Chapter 16

  Justine stretched high on the step-stool to hook the blinking light strand around a nail in the corner of the large day room. Minute by minute, she was growing increasingly annoyed at the conspicuous absence of her son, who had promised to be there over an hour ago. Calls to his cell phone went unanswered, and she was having difficulty concentrating while plotting his demise.

  "You shouldn’t be up there, Justine. We can do without the Christmas lights. It’s not worth you breaking your neck." Wendell was struggling himself, trying to guide a load of folding chairs through the door on a cart with an errant front wheel.

  "We can’t have a Christmas party without Christmas lights, Wendell. If I could just…get this to…." The instant she got the strand looped around the nail, the nail itself pulled from the wall, sending the lighted string to the floor and shattering several bulbs. "Dang!"

  "Come down from there. We’ll have to do something else."

  Justine wasn’t ready to give up on her decorating plan, but they were desperately in need of reinforcements. She called the Sharpe home and Trey’s cell phone, but again her efforts were fruitless. Next, she called the most dependable person she knew.

  "Carly? It’s Justine." Just hearing the other woman’s voice had a calming effect. "I’m at the nursing home, and we need some help. My soon-to-be-grounded-forever son didn’t show up, and we’ve got to get…That’s right…Carly, you’re a lifesaver. See you in a few."

  Fifteen minutes later, Carly arrived with her cousin Perry, and an adolescent boy Justine didn’t recognize. Right away, they pitched in to help with the chairs, lights, and decorations, and in no time, the day room was transformed into a party room.

  "Just what we needed–muscles!" The redhead squeezed the bicep of the grinning lad as he carried an armload of folding chairs. "Can you set those up in a semi-circle around the piano?" She showed him what to do and he set to work.

  "Kevin, when you’re finished, how about giving me a hand with these speakers?" Perry was trying to mount the speakers from his portable stereo to the wall so they would be out of the way.

  Carly was again in awe of how well her cousin was bonding with his soon-to-be fiancée’s son. If Kevin was a troublemaker, he was hiding it pretty well. "Hey, Justine?" She held up the strand of twinkling lights. "I got all these fixed. Where do you want them?"

  "Good for you! I need to hook them up there in the corner, but first, I’ve got to put in a bigger nail."

  170

  The House on Sandstone

  "I can do that."

  The taller woman winced. "I don’t think you’ll be able to reach it."

  "A dagger!" Carly clutched her chest in mock pain.

  "You can hold the ladder for me, though. That’s a good short person job."

  "That’s right…twist it, why don’t you?" Nonetheless, Carly took her position at the ladder and immediately began to give thanks for whatever part of her genetic pool had enabled her to enjoy this glorious view of Justine Hall’s rear end. She could vaguely remember getting a peek at its naked state when the phone rang that night they’d passed out on the floor and they got up to stumble into the bedroom. It was fine…mighty fine.

  "Oh, Miss Griffin?" When the redhead saw what had her friend so occupied, she almost wished their situations had been reversed, but Justine was infinitely pleased to know that Carly was enjoying the view.

  "I’m sorry…What was it you wanted?"

  "I said, the nail’s ready. Will you hand me the lights?"

  "Sure." Carly tried to pretend that she’d been watching Perry and Kevin, but she knew she’d been caught.

  "It’s looking mighty fine, Justine!" Wendell stood in the center of the room with his hands on his hips.

  For a moment, Carly feared that the nursing home director had also caught her staring at Justine’s butt…until she realized he was talking about the room.

  "We’re almost done, Wendell. Thank goodness Carly and Perry and…."

  "Kevin."

  "…and Kevin got here to help. Emmy said she’d be here at six to warm up. What time are the residents coming in?"

  "They’re serving dinner at five, so it’ll take about an hour or so after that to get everyone cleaned up. The families usually get here about six. Will you and your friends be able to stay for the party?"

  Justine climbed down from the ladder and dusted her hands on her slacks. "I will, and I think Perry was going to come back to be with his grandmother." She turned to Carly.

  "That’s Mrs. Coppins, isn’t it?"

  "Yeah." Arlene Coppins was her great-aunt.

  171

  The House on Sandstone

  Wendell continued, "Could I ask one of you to sit with Mrs. Adams tonight? Her daughter called from Cincinnati and they aren’t going to be able to make it on account of the snow."

  Carly looked at Justine, only to find a hopeful look on her friend’s face. "I guess I could.

  I should get home so I can change."

  "I have to do that too." Justine looked at her watch and shook her head. She wasn’t going to have time to get in her workout. "If you want to, you can leave your car and ride with me. I’ll bring you back."

  "I rode with Perry, so that’ll work out. Let me tell him."

  A few minutes later, the two women walked through new fallen snow to the blue Acura.

  The roads were mostly clear, but with the temperature falling, they would likely turn slick soon after dark.

  "You and your cousin really saved the day, Carly. I don’t know what we’d have done without you."

  "You’d have figured out something, I bet. The Justine Hall I remember never gave up until she got what she wanted."

  "I don’t know about that these days," she said seriously. "Ever since my breakdown, I try not to push people anymore. I hope you didn’t feel like I pushed you into coming over today to help out."

  "I didn’t feel pushed at all." I wanted to be with you all day…so I could stare at your gorgeous butt. "This will be fun; it’s a good feeling to do something nice for other people. I probably wouldn’t have thought of it on my own, so I should thank you for includin
g me."

  "Carly, you always think about other people. You’ve been that way as long as I’ve known you." She turned the car down Stony Ridge Road. "Heck, you learned those lessons a long time before the rest of us."

  "You know what, Justine?" I probably shouldn’t tell her this. "The reason I used to do things for other people was to get them to like me. When I figured out that some people weren’t going to like me no matter what I did, I quit." The Acura pulled up in front of the small Griffin home. "But then I realized that I didn’t like that either, because I didn’t like myself. My friend, Daniel…I think he’s on to something. You know, he said you just have to be the kind of person that you would like, and if other people can’t deal with it, that’s their problem."

  The redhead looked at her solemnly, feeling those old pangs of guilt about how she and her friends had treated Carly back in school. "I think Daniel’s on to something too," she said quietly.

  172

  The House on Sandstone

  Carly sighed, irritated that she’d taken what had started as a compliment and turned it into a condemnation of Justine and her friends. "Anyway, that’s a long way of saying that I liked saving your day, and I’m going to have fun at the party tonight because I like doing nice things…and…because you’re going to be there." Carly raised her voice with excitement as she moved to get out of the car. "So pick me up at a quarter to six, and let’s give my mother a little more to gossip about with my dad."

  Justine laughed and shook her head as her silly friend disappeared inside the white frame house. Carly Griffin was exactly as she had once described herself–irresistible.

  **********

  Justine rolled out of bed, dreading what she needed to do today. JT had called her first thing to say that Trey got in last night after midnight. He told his father that he’d intended to go to the nursing home, but that Melissa had insisted at the last minute that he attend a party at the Chandler’s home in honor of her aunt’s birthday. He seemed sullen, and was clearly surprised that his father had waited up.

  Things were about to get pretty ugly for JT Sharpe, the Third.

  Justine slipped on her heavyweight fleece and laced up her running shoes. The logging trail would be treacherous today from yesterday’s snow, but the track at the high school would be clear. She wasn’t even going to count laps today; she’d just run until her legs gave out. That’s the kind of outlet she’d need after having it out with her son.

  Twenty minutes later, she stood at the foot of Trey’s bed, while JT waited out in the hall.

  "Are you going running with me this morning?"

  "Mom?" The teenager rolled over, very disoriented at hearing his mother’s voice in his bedroom. "What are you…?"

  "I asked if you were going running with me this morning. In other words, are we going to have this conversation here with your father or out on the track with just you and me?"

  "If this is about that party, I already told Dad–"

  "This is about everything, Trey." JT stepped into the room and took a position beside his ex-wife. "It’s about how you still don’t do your fair share of work around here. It’s about getting a D and two Cs."

  "I told you they were singling us out because we’re all athletes. They think we’re just a bunch of dumb jocks."

  173

  The House on Sandstone

  Justine was starting to understand the pattern. "It’s about how you acted at the movies last weekend, and how you got detention for smarting off in Miss Berkley’s class."

  "Emmy has a big mouth."

  "And it’s about you blaming everybody else when you’re the one that’s messing up."

  "Why is everything my fault? I can’t believe you’d take everybody else’s word for it but you won’t take mine."

  "Where were you last night, Trey?" she demanded angrily.

  "Everything I do isn’t your business!"

  In a flash, JT was on his son, yanking him out of bed in his underwear to stand before both of them. "Which one of your friends are you going to blame that smart mouth on?"

  Justine turned away while Trey pulled on his jeans. All three of them were shaking with anger.

  "Trey, I was counting on you last night. You promised to be there, and when you didn’t show up, I had to call on other people at the last minute to come and do what you were supposed to do. If they hadn’t dropped what they were doing and come to help, the folks out at the nursing home wouldn’t have had much of a Christmas party."

  "But you got it all done, so what’s the big deal?"

  Justine knew her son wasn’t dense; he was just being antagonistic. What she didn’t understand was why. "The big deal is that I expected you to come. I went out of my way to arrange for Mr. Kruenke to give you school credit because you asked me to, and then you didn’t even bother to call. I was embarrassed."

  "That’s what you said at the movies too, Mom…that I embarrassed you in front of your friend. At least now you know what I felt like when they teased me at school."

  His words struck his mother like a slap in the face. Why is he throwing that in my face again after all this time? He had to know how much that would hurt me. Justine whirled and walked out before she said something she could never undo.

  JT watched her leave and turned toward his son, his brown eyes pinning the boy in place.

  "That’s one of the meanest things you’ve ever done, Trey. And I’ve never been more ashamed of you than I am right now."

  **********

  174

  The House on Sandstone

  Carly entered the coffee house through the back door, stopping to hang her coat and scarf in the employee closet. She’d been back here years ago to deliver the beautiful teak desk that still stood in the corner, but it hadn’t been a coffee house then. Before it was Daniel’s, this space had belonged to Rich Cortner’s father, who operated a small office supply store. When a series of strokes left Mr. Cortner disabled, Rich came back to town and sold off the inventory to make room for his partner’s business venture.

  Saturday morning was the busiest time of the week. Though she usually only stayed until ten, she thought she would stick around longer today, maybe just to help get through the lunch crowd. When she walked out behind the counter, Daniel was already "in the weeds", his term for being swamped.

  "I can help the next person," she announced, tying the long green apron over her jeans and Oxford shirt. For the next two hours, they worked methodically, her taking orders and cash, him making the drinks. They had barely had a chance to say hello, and Carly was startled when she finally noticed Daniel’s bedraggled look.

  "Hey, is everything all right?"

  "Oh, we had a hard night. Rich’s dad was having trouble breathing and we had to call the paramedics. They hooked him up to oxygen, and it looks like he’s going to need that from now on."

  "I’m sorry to hear that."

  "Thanks. Rich is taking it pretty hard…you know, seeing his dad take another step down.

  The man’s only seventy, and up until just a couple of years ago, was still going to work every day."

  "It just reminds us how quickly things can happen. I sure am glad my mom and dad have decided to retire, so they can have some time to relax. It’s long overdue."

  "So what’s going to happen to the store? You going into the furniture business?"

  "Not me. They’re going to turn it over to my cousin, Perry. He’s been planning on it and saving for a long time."

  "That’s good…you’ll keep it in the family."

  "Yeah, which means Daddy will probably keep going to work every day because it’s all he knows how to do."

  Daniel chuckled. "What about your mom?"

  175

  The House on Sandstone

  "I think she was looking forward to being retired until it sank in that it was going to be permanent, and not just a vacation. She’s starting to think she won’t even have a reason to get out of bed."

  "She’ll be surprise
d how many things she finds to do. Look how many things you found."

  No kidding! Between Justine and the delivery truck and the coffee house, this time at home had flown by. It was only three more weeks before she was due to leave for Madrid. That was a depressing thought, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it, as the next wave of coffee drinkers swarmed into the shop.

  **********

  The lone figure rounded the turn at the far end of the track, determined to push herself to the point of exhaustion, to a place where she could collapse and forget the pain in her legs…and in her heart. Leaning over the chain link fence near where she’d parked her car was JT. She’d seen him pull up and park seven laps ago, but she wasn’t yet ready to stop, not while she could still feel.

  Justine picked up her pace, still waiting for a sign that her body was ready to surrender.

  She’d lost count long ago of how many times she’d circled the quarter-mile track, but an hour and a half at this pace meant she was close to the twelve-mile mark.

  She could see her ex-husband huddled in his coat with his collar pulled up. He was freezing, but he obviously planned to wait until she finished…or died.

  That’s enough. She slowed to a walk, stretching her arms behind her to begin her cool down. "Walk with me," she shouted as she reached the place where he stood.

  JT opened the gate and jogged onto the track. "I don’t know how you do this, Justine. It’s amazing."

  "Nah, it’s just conditioning…and craziness."

  "It’s not crazy."

  "Thank you, Valerie." She’d told him about her therapist’s admonitions.