Finding Justus

by Bretz, Amanda

  “I got a call today,” Justus started, beaming with pride. “Well, I shouldn’t say I personally. Katherine took the call.”

  Krystal looked at her with confusion. “Yes and…” Krystal said somewhat excitedly.

  Justus waited until their waitress had placed their salad and bread in front of them before she continued.

  “Okay, we got a call from a man in Miami today, his name is Paul Goldstein. He’s opening several businesses in the South Beach area and he’s been meeting with decorators there for almost a year. He said that everything he’s seen in Miami has looked exactly the same. He said there’s no originality there, everything has already been done, and he needed something cutting edge, but still classy.

  “He said that he was in St. Louis last week on business and guess where he stayed? He was blown away by my work. He actually used that phrase, Krystal. This is so amazing,” she said with a squeal.

  “I can’t believe it is all happening. Oh, where was I? Oh, yeah. Anyway, he asked around at the front desk, to find out who had designed and decorated the lobby and nightclub, but Mr. Jenkins wasn’t there that day, and the manager on duty couldn’t remember my name, but he knew the name of my firm.

  “He ended up calling back to the hotel and speaking with Steve Jenkins first, to see if he was pleased with my work. Well, good old Steve raved about me. He told him that he gave me complete creative control, and he wasn’t disappointed. He said I was professional, efficient yet personable, and an overall ‘dear’ to work with.”

  Justus paused to catch her breath and to let some of what she had said sink in.

  “Go on,” Krystal said, an expectant smile on her face.

  “Well, I don’t want to brag or anything, but it looks like I’m flying to Miami next week to meet up with Paul to look over the businesses, and talk designs. My flight and hotel will be paid for by him, and if I decide to do the work for him, I’ll be staying in Miami for about a year to design the three businesses, all expenses paid.”

  Krystal’s mouth dropped open, and she quickly covered it with her hand. “I’m so happy for you. That’s amazing!” Tears started forming in Krystal’s eyes and she quickly leaned across the table to hug her friend. People dining at the nearby tables looked at them with curiosity.

  “Thanks for being so happy for me. I feel like this is a dream Krystal. I mean when I learned I had gotten my last project, it was one of the biggest things I had ever done. This is a whole different level. This isn’t about just being a designer in St. Louis. This is about my designs being known outside of Missouri. I still don’t believe it.”

  ***

  Justus arrived at the Miami International Airport feeling a sense of déjà vu. She had been here only three months ago, anxious and excited about her cruise. As she walked to the baggage claim area, she looked around for her ride. Paul had told Katherine that he wouldn’t be available to pick Justus up from the airport, but he had arranged for a car to pick her up. She was told the driver would have a sign bearing her name.

  As she scanned the area looking for her driver a familiar form caught her eye. It couldn’t be. Miami wasn’t some small town, it was nearly impossible to run into someone in a city of its size. It couldn’t be, but it was. He had spotted her and was moving toward her with a warm smile on his face.

  “Justus,” Miguel grabbed her bags and gave her a quick, friendly hug.

  “Hi.” Justus couldn’t make her mouth form any other words. She was simply too stunned. “I-I’m waiting for my ride,” she said dumbly.

  “I know. I’m it.”

  She looked at him as if he had suddenly started speaking Greek.

  “I’ve started driving limos, as a side job. When I saw the name Justus Kendall, I didn’t bother bringing in the sign. I didn’t think that there could be two of you in this world. It turns out I was right.”

  He explained it all in such a glib manner, that Justus couldn’t help but nod her head in agreement and follow Miguel to where he was parked. Even though she had been to Miami before, it didn’t stop her from going through culture shock all over again.

  She was still amazed in the diversity that she saw at the airport alone. When they arrived at the limo, Miguel held the back door open for her. She looked at him as though he were joking.

  “No, thanks. I’ll ride in the front seat. I would feel weird having you chauffer me around.” She couldn’t believe her rotten luck. She had always heard the phrase about it being a small world, but it wasn’t that small was it? She just wanted to get this awkward drive over with. She was anxious to meet with Paul, check into her hotel, and possibly do some sightseeing this evening.

  Miguel tried to make small talk during their drive, and Justus responded as politely as she could, although she focused most of her attention on gazing out the window at the passing scenery. When the two stopped in front of a small old building, Justus breathed a sigh of relief. She practically leapt from the car while it was still rolling. She didn’t want to give him time to come over and open her door.

  “You’re not making my job any easier, you know.”

  “I’m sorry. I feel weird having you wait on me. So, this is it,” she said more to herself than to Miguel.

  It certainly wasn’t what she had expected. Paul had said he wanted her help with designing a nightclub. She had expected a big building, something brightly painted and more along the lines of the other Art Deco structures in the area. This one however, was plain brick, with a small awning over the front entrance. Overall, it had a quaint appeal to it, but it didn’t seem to say nightclub to Justus. Miguel started leading her up the walkway, and when he pulled a set of keys from his pocket, Justus became suspicious.

  “Why do you have the keys? I thought Paul was meeting me, where is he?”

  When he opened the door, Justus’ nostrils were assailed with the musty smell associated with old, unoccupied buildings. As Miguel stepped through the threshold, he flipped on the lights. Once they were both inside, he turned to Justus and expelled a long breath, while running his hands down the sides of his face. He looked like he was about to be sick.

  “Justus,” he began slowly. “I’m Paul. I mean, I am the one who called your boss and raved about your work. I’m the one who owns this business. I want you to work for me, help me design this place, get it off the ground.” His eyes were sparkling and there was a hopeful smile on his face.

  Justus nearly laughed in his face.

  “You expect me to work for you after you lied to me! You don’t even have the decency to call me, not even so much as a hello, but yet you lie, go behind my back and call my boss. I’m supposed to jump at the chance to work for you, right? Liars always make the best bosses,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  How could she have been so naïve? She started heading for the door, but she turned to say one more thing to him before she left for good this time.

  “As if working for a liar wouldn’t be bad enough, it’s always a good idea to work for someone you’ve slept with. Someone who…” she stopped because if she didn’t, soon she would be saying too much. She was in danger of getting too personal and letting him know how she really felt.

  “I lied to you, Justus. There’s no getting around that, I won’t deny it. I’m sorry. I feel terrible for deceiving you, but after I called you and asked for your help and you didn’t respond, I knew you wouldn’t come to Miami on the terms that I asked unless you didn’t know that I was the one hiring you. Does that make sense?”

  “No, none of it does. I think you’re delusional. When was it that you supposedly called and asked me for help?” Justus asked as she rolled her eyes, not really concerned about what he might say in return. She was convinced that it would be just another one of his lies. Miguel appeared to be getting angry, but she didn’t care. As far as she could tell, he was a complete phony. Justus looked at him as though he were a stranger.

  “I called you last month,” he practically shouted. He ran his hands throu
gh his thick hair. “I left a message, and you never returned my call. That’s why I came up with this place. I had to get you here. I had to have you design my club. I had to see you,” his tone had softened considerably, and he was making steps toward her.

  Justus quickly backed up. She looked at him with large eyes, glassy with tears. She was shaking her head no, only she didn’t realize it at first. Her head was spinning from everything that had taken place in the last hour. Seeing Miguel again, feeling exhilarated, yet angry at him. Being lied to, which she hated. Damn him, he should know that. Hadn’t she let him know that she had been deceived before and it had destroyed her relationship with her own mother? What made him think that she could forgive him if she couldn’t forgive her mother for lying?

  She knew that Miguel’s lie and her mother’s lie were like comparing apples and oranges. She knew that she was being irrational, but she didn’t care.

  “You lied to me,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

  “I know and I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say, or how to make it up to you. But I want you to know that I was telling the truth about this job. The offer still stands.”

  Justus let out a snort of contempt. Miguel kept speaking as if he didn’t hear her.

  “And although I don’t have three businesses at the moment, I will with your help. I am going to renovate this building and make it into a dance studio and a nightclub, like I told you about. Eventually I want to add a Cuban restaurant. I’m going to split the building up, so that all three sections will be long, but narrow. I’ve taken the measurements myself and I know I can make it work. With your help, that is.

  “Justus, we were, I mean we are, so good together, the way that we fit together when we dance. Let me tell you, I have been dancing for most of my life, and I’ve never had a dancing partner like you before.

  “I’ve never danced with someone who seemed to know what I was thinking, and feeling, someone who was as passionate about the dance and the rhythm as I am.”

  Miguel had been walking toward her slowly while he was talking and he had closed in the space between them. He reached for her. Justus didn’t try to stop him. He put his arms around her and held her in an embrace that resembled one of the dances they had shared on the cruise.

  Feeling his arms around her again after so long was both comforting and new, she felt at ease, as if she belonged there, and yet she felt as if she was experiencing his arms around her for the first time again. She had longed for this a thousand times. Since she’d returned home from the cruise, she had wished to feel Miguel again, to kiss him again. Now that she had him, why was she trying to fight it?

  “Justus,” Miguel said as he stroked her face. “Ay, mi amor. I’ve missed you, missed holding you like this. See how we fit together? I want you to be my dance partner again, Justus.” Miguel swallowed audibly and added softly, “I want you to be my dance partner, for life. Please say that you will stay. I know that your career is important, and I know that you have dreams, just like I do. If we work together, we can have everything, our dreams and each other.

  “By designing my businesses, you’ll get attention. I’ll make sure of that. I promise you, we’ll get your name out. I’ll advertise the fact that you designed everything. I’ll hang signs with your name on them everywhere, inside and outside. I’ll hang a freaking banner from the roof. Justus, will you stay? I want us to be together, and by the look in your eyes, I think you do, too.”

  Justus had been listening intently to his speech, holding back her tears. She could no longer hold back her emotion and tears began spilling down her cheeks. For the first time in her life she was overcome by happiness and love. She was too filled with emotion to say anything. She merely put her head on his shoulder and nodded her head yes.

  Miguel began to move them slowly in a circle. His hands idly rubbed her back. Justus was curious about how Miguel was able to open his club now, when on the cruise he had told her that he wouldn’t be able until much later down the road.

  “Miguel?”

  “Hmm.”

  “I have a question, and it may seem a little nosy. How did you get the money for this place? I mean, on the ship you told me that you wouldn’t be able to open your own studio and club for a few more years. How did that change to a couple of months?”

  Miguel stopped dancing for a minute and looked directly into her eyes. For a moment she was worried that she had struck a chord. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so nosy. After all, it really wasn’t any of her business.

  “I found a way,” he replied elusively. He started dancing again and he seemed to debate his next sentence.

  “Do you remember me telling you that story about the Rolls Royce that belonged to my great-grandfather?”

  Justus shook her head and got a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. “Oh, don’t tell me you sold it! It was a family heirloom. You spoke of it with so much affection and pride.”

  “No, I didn’t sell it. A friend of a friend gave me the loan for this place. He’s a great guy, he bent over backwards to get me a decent loan, so I could get started. But even he couldn’t perform miracles. I had to have a certain amount of money down in order to get the loan, money I didn’t have. He asked me if I had anything for collateral. The Rolls was the only thing that I could think of that was worth that much. So, if my business goes down the tubes, I lose my heirloom, as you called it, but I don’t see that happening.”

  “Miguel, why did you do that? Why didn’t you just wait?”

  “Because I thought if I waited and opened the club later, I wouldn’t have a good reason to get you to come to Miami. Although, now I realize I had a great one all along.”

  “Oh, what reason is that?” Justus asked coyly.

  “I love you. That should’ve been reason enough. I think it would’ve been reason enough, had I told you. I’ve loved you from the beginning Justus, since that first day of the cruise, when I saw you by the pool.”

  Justus started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “How convoluted I made everything. How I threw away your number as soon as I got on the plane back to St. Louis, because I was so sure you’d never call me. How when I first saw you, I thought you were gorgeous, but then I saw you talking to Tammy, and I thought she was your girlfriend. How I thought you were a lousy cheater. Like my ex. You know, when I found out that Alex was cheating on me and I wasn’t going to get married, I thought my life was over. And I was right.”

  Miguel looked at her quizzically.

  “That life was over, and since I’ve met you, I have a new life, one that I enjoy, because I love you, too.”

  “I really love you, Justus. I have to confess something else to you. When we were in bed and I was speaking to you in Spanish, I was telling you that I loved you. I was too big of a coward at that time to come out and tell you in English though. I’m sorry for that.” He leaned down and whispered into her ear, “Te queiro; I love you.”

  That’s what the phrase meant. All those nights that she heard it in her dreams, maybe her subconscious had been trying to tell her that Miguel loved her all along. She would tell him about her dreams, but not right now. Right now she didn’t feel the need for words.

  Neither of them did, they simply enjoyed the feel of each other’s arms, and the dance.

  ###

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Growing up, Amanda Bretz began creating stories before she could put pen to paper. When it came time to pick a career path, writing was a natural choice. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Florida Gulf Coast University and has worked as a print and online journalist. She currently resides in St. Charles, Missouri with her husband and is working on her next writing project. Thanks for reading her work. For more information visit www.amandabretz.com.

  Please enjoy this excerpt from Love, Simplified.

  When workaholic Cecile Day realizes she isn’t living the life she wants, she uproots her life in Denver and moves to he
r family’s ramshackle cabin in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Cecile wants to slow down, move to the country and live a life full of the things money doesn’t buy, but her motives for moving aren’t quite that simple. She knows running from an array of demons, leaving a wealthy fiancé and high-powered career won’t be easy, but what she hopes to gain by moving is peace of mind, sense of self and lasting happiness. Upon her move, Cecile meets her sexy neighbor, Ethan Morgan. Cecile quickly discovers Ethan can provide her with companionship and a simple, country life, that is, if she’ll let him. She feels haunted by her past mistakes and struggles to feel worthy of Ethan’s affections. Even though Cecile has worked hard to simplify her life, will she realize she can’t live without the most basic necessity of all: love.

  Cecile was in the bedroom kicking off her tennis shoes and was about to change out of her travel clothes and into pajamas when she heard a knock on the front door. She paused, momentarily alarmed. Who could be knocking on the cabin door at nine-thirty in the evening?

  Should she answer it? If she didn’t, maybe they’d get the hint and just go away. As she weighed her options, she heard a second knock. Her visitor was certainly persistent. After she heard the second rapping noise on the wooden door she knew she had to answer it, if only to get some peace and quiet. She wished she had some sort of weapon, just in case the neighborhood had gone to hell in the past few years. She looked around the kitchen and living room for something she could use in self-defense. She’d settle for a baseball bat or a golf club at this point.

  “Who’s there?” Cecile called to the door.

  “Ethan Morgan, I live a few cabins down. I’m head of the neighborhood watch. I saw the lights and thought I’d check things out. Make sure everything is okay.”

  Cecile flipped the kitchen light on and grabbed the first weapon-like object she could get her hands on and wrenched the door open. This wasn’t the kind of story that a mass murderer would make up, she was fairly certain, but better safe than sorry.