Phone messages

Kip laughs at the notion of a brain freeze helping him sleep, and takes another bite, despite his headache. "Maybe it would be like a deep freeze and they could just wake us up when we get there."

Spotting the ice cream on the end of Karla's nose, he grins. Grabbing a napkin, he reaches out to wipe it off. "I didn't tell Twila once she had some food on her face and she didn't talk to me for a week." He laughs again. "Well... maybe not a week, but almost."


Justin grins a little, imagining such a headline in the newspaper. Heeding her warning about other drivers, he nods. "Thanks. I'll watch whose cars I get under. It's the old ladies with canes I'm worried about."

Standing back a little so Beth has more room, he cocks his head, lost for a moment in studying her expression and her eyes. They told stories in a language only a heart could read, and only if one first learned the key to unlocking the pages.

Not bothered in the least that he is staring at her, he offers another small smile. "Drive safe."

Waiting for her to pull away, the baseball is revealed and he picks it up, waving it a little in the air to show her that he had found what he'd been looking for. Left alone once more int he parking lot, Justin sets about finding the rest of the baseballs, counting them before satisfied he'd found them all.

It takes a couple tries to get his pickup to start, but once the engine turns over, he's on his way. An hour and a half was how long it takes him to get home. But he didn't mind the drive. Not when he had a job as important as helping someone else. Ninety minutes on the road spent with good music and God... he rather enjoyed it. Free time didn't pay bills, but it was a peaceful ride through the back roads.

Eventually he pulls off onto a narrow lane lined with trees that created a kind of canopy after not being trimmed back for many years. It was a dead-end for travelers, but for him it was a driveway. Stopping right after turning, he reaches out the window to grab his mail, sifting through the envelopes and junk mail before continuing his route. His house wasn't visible from the main road - he liked it that way.

After driving for a short distance, the dirt driveway curves, revealing a clearing in the trees. The yard was big and well-kept, trimmed down with a neat lilac hedge that bordered the property. Parking outside the garage that leaned a little to the left, Justin cuts the engine and slides out, met with excited barking. "Hey girls!"

Two Dalmatians wriggled all over, straining at the ends of their chains and barking happily now that their master was home. Justin grins and unhooks them both. "How are we today, hmm? Did you miss me?" He gives both dogs rough scratches and pets, playing with them as he stumbles through their legs to make it to his porch. "Alright. Stay outside and I'll give you both some food."

Making it inside, the rickety screen door bangs shut without a spring to slow its movement. It was a bigger house than it appeared to be from the outside. Older and in need of new paint and some roof repairs, but it suited Justin fine. All one level, there were two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room that was big enough to serve as a dining room too, a kitchen and an extra room that he used as his office.

Justin tosses his keys onto the little hook by the hall closet and kicks off his shoes and socks to walk around barefoot. Once in the kitchen, he moves aside piles of newspapers and has to move his trashcan full of metal to be recycled in order to get to the bag of dog food. The inside of his house was clean - he just seemed to be rather unorganized. If asked where something was though, he almost always knew.

After taking food to Danitza and Zora, he wanders back inside, passing by the answering machine on the table at the edge of the living room. Hitting play, he straightens up a few things while listening.

"Justin, it's me again... I just need to talk. Please? I miss you."

Justin's eyes narrow at the sound of Renae's voice. "Yes, you miss me because you miss someone you can suck all the life out of with your constant phobias, trials beyond measure and a cat that you really need to shoot instead of taking it to pet daycare every day."

While folding a blanket, he hits the delete button. He'd thought Ranae just needed a little help getting back on her feet. Unfortunately, their dates had turned into constant counseling sessions and with her unwilling to make changes in her own life, Justin had had enough. She'd become so needy and dependent on him that she'd worn him out and he'd eventually ended the relationship. He'd cared about her, but he just couldn't do it anymore. Now, three months later, she was still begging him to come back - probably at the prompting of her older sister who insisted that all men needed to be molded into butlers who would wait on the woman hand and foot.

Giving a little growl, Justin continues to fold the blanket. Stubbing his toe on the leg of the couch, he cries out in more frustration than pain as the second message plays.

"Yeah, this is Nick. We're gonna have to have that downpayment for the car by next week or we'll have to sell it to someone else. Give me a call and let me know what's up."

"Yeah, I know... you should sell it to someone else - it's gonna take me too long." Nick had done Justin a personal favor by actually holding the used car for him while he tried to get the downpayment together. Unfortunately, the money just wasn't coming in fast enough, so it looked like he'd be depending on his pickup for a while longer. He'd call Nick later and apologize and call off the deal. Maybe his extra money needed to go towards a new roof anyway.

"Justin, it's your uncle. Just wondering how things were going with Scott. Jenny said he ate a little more for lunch today after you'd left."

"Mm-hmm, exercise'll do that to ya." Justin goes to the kitchen to bring back a glass full of water for his two sorta-sad looking plants by the window. Yes, Dr. Hawks was his uncle. Which was probably why he'd been willing to take on this job in the first place. He could still be a counselor or get back into Social Services if he wanted to - but nobody else was willing to hire him full-time because of what had happened a few years ago, and he'd put his schooling on hold, so he couldn't make a go of it on his own. "But no, I'm not calling you back. You know my rules. Once I got a foundation, I'll report to you."

He picks up a few paper plates to throw them away and tosses a couple forks into the kitchen sink to wash later. The messages were done playing and he was a little weary after staying up too late last night reading. Flopping down on the couch, he yawns. A nap would be good. Then he'd go out and play with "his girls" for a while.