All About Justin
 

Chapter 4

 

“Hello?” Justin said as he answered the phone.

“Jester, I’m glad you’re home.”

“What’s up, Mol?”

“Owen and I just arrived at the cottage for the weekend,” Molly informed her brother.

“I didn’t know you were coming up. You haven’t been around much since you started your new job.”

“I’ve been busy.”

Justin laughed. “No shit! I suppose you’re going to tell me what a place of slavery Kinnetik is. How’s Taylor?”

“I wondered if you’d like to spend some time with him. He’s getting to be such a big boy. He has two teeth.”

“Fuck!” Justin reacted. “How did that happen?”

“It’s called time,” Molly chuckled. “He’ll soon be a year old.”

“I … I can’t believe that a year has gone by.”

“Well, you’ve had plenty of milestones to mark the year,” Molly replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh Justin, for God’s sake. There’s Taylor’s birth, Gus’ eighteenth, and your triumph at the London Gallery. It’s been a fabulous year for you.”

“Yeah, I guess it has,” Justin said thinking about all the things she had just mentioned. “It’s not a bad year for you either. Taylor’s birth and starting a new job.”

“True.”

“How’s the job going?”

“I thought I might walk up the lane with Taylor and tell you about it,” Molly said rather enigmatically.

“Is something wrong?”

“Can I come up there? I’ll tell you all about it then.”

“Of course you can come here any time you want. You don’t have to ask,” Justin reassured his sister.

“I wouldn’t want to … interrupt anything.”

“You’d never interru…” Justin’s voice trailed off. “Oh that!” he chuckled. “You don’t have to worry about that. Bree’s home on the weekends.”

Molly giggled. “I’d like to see the little princess too.”

“She’ll be thrilled you’re here.”

“Coming up right now,” Molly said before clicking off.

Justin started a new pot of coffee.

 

*****
 

“So Daddy and Dada said I could have a sleepover for my birthday,” Bree informed her favorite aunt.

“That sounds like fun, peanut.”

“’Cept…”

“’Cept what?” Molly asked with a frown.

“She’s having trouble deciding who to invite,” Justin supplied as he sipped his coffee. They were sitting around the kitchen table eating cookies. Brian had gone into Bridgeton to his favorite nursery to get some fertilizer for his gardens. It wouldn’t be long until he could get started working on them.

“I’ll come,” Molly volunteered.

Bree giggled. “You’re too old, Auntie Molly,” Bree told her.

“Well, that’s a kick in the pants,” Molly said, making Bree giggle more.

“You’ll figure it our eventually, won’t you, sweetheart,” Justin said to his daughter.

“I guess so,” Bree sighed.

Just then Taylor let out a little cry. He had been asleep when Molly arrived, carrying him up from her cottage. They had put him in the middle of the brass bed in the sun porch to finish his nap.

“I’ll get him,” Justin offered.

“Thanks,” Molly replied. “So, what’s the problem about who you’re going to invite to your sleepover?” Molly asked Bree.

“There’s this girl, Winona…”

“Yes?” When Bree didn’t offer more, Molly ventured a guess. “I imagine Winona isn’t one of your favorite people, but somehow you feel you should invite her to your party.”

Bree’s eyes got very large. “How did you know?” she asked in a voice filled with awe.

“The way you said Winona’s name made me think you didn’t like her, and then I seemed to remember something about a problem at summer camp with a girl named Winona.”

“Yeah,” Bree said nodding her head.

“Why are you even thinking about inviting her to your party?”

“I don’t know,” Bree sighed.

“Yes, you do.”

“Winona is kind of … all alone. I don’t mind her too much anymore. She’s all right, most of the time, I guess.”

“But your other friends don’t like her?” Molly asked.

Bree shook her head. “Patrick says I shouldn’t invite her and so does Ashley.”

“Is Patrick sleeping over?” Molly asked with a chuckle.

“Nope, and Ashley will come even if Winona is here.”

“Then invite her.”

“But I don’t want her to ruin the sleepover. Winona can be … mean.”

“Oh, I see.”

“And she has a crush on Dada,” Bree added.

“She does?” Molly asked stifling a laugh. “Then by all means invite her.”

“You think I should?”

“Um…” As much as Molly would love to see Brian Kinney deal with an infatuated child, she didn’t want to suggest something that would ruin Bree’s party. “I think you should do what seems right to you. If you want to invite Winona then invite her.”

Bree heaved a large sigh. “That’s what everybody says.”

“Here’s the young man,” Justin said carrying Taylor into the kitchen. “He is now dry and ready for a snack.”

“Here,” Molly said taking a teething ring out of her bag. “He’s cutting another tooth, and he can almost walk.”

“Really?” Justin asked setting Taylor down between his legs once he got himself situated on the kitchen chair. Taylor leaned against Justin’s legs and sucked on his teething ring. Justin could tell it wouldn’t be long before Taylor took that first step. “You’re getting to be such a big boy,” Justin cooed.

Bree slid off her chair and stood beside Taylor, making faces at the baby and getting him to giggle.

“Let me get his bottle of juice,” Molly said rummaging through her bag.

“I’m home,” Brian called from the doorway as he entered the house.

“In the kitchen with an almost walking, talking, teething dynamo,” Justin called.

“Oh, that must be you, sister-in-law, dear,” Brian replied as he entered the kitchen and saw Molly. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

“Ass…” Molly started and then thought better of it with Bree there. “As you can see, Justin meant my very precocious son,” Molly said instead.

“Hey, big guy,” Brian said bending down to scoop up Taylor. The baby studied Brian’s face before breaking into a big smile. “He remembers me,” Brian said softly.

“Of course he does. Here, give him his bottle,” Molly ordered as Brian sat down at the kitchen table.

“How are you enjoying your job?” Brian asked as Taylor started sucking on the bottle of juice.

“Very much, but I’m sure you get reports,” Molly told him.

“You’d be wrong. I only hear about disasters, and nothing you’ve done so far has fallen into that category.”

“I’m so relieved,” Molly replied sarcastically.

“I’m not keeping tabs on you, Molly. If you’re doing your job well, which I’m sure you are, I won’t hear a word.”

“Then I guess it’s safe to tell you that I love the job. I haven’t been this happy in a long time. And Taylor is thriving in the daycare.”

“You mean the school,” Bree corrected.

“Right, the school. The ladies there are just wonderful.”

“I liked them a lot,” Bree said. “Could I go see them sometime?”

“That sounds like a plan, Squirt,” Brian agreed as he burped Taylor. “We’ll have to find a way to get you there when you don’t have school. Maybe when the teachers have a conference day.”

“Good, Dada.”

“I’m glad you like the job, Molly. If you didn’t…”

“I’d be the first to tell you.”

“I’ll count on that,” Brian said. He set Taylor down on the floor and watched him hold onto Brian’s legs. They grew up so fast.

 

*****
 

“Sooo, what did your creative writing professor think about your paper?” Lindsay asked hesitantly. She knew Melanie wasn’t very happy with the assignment but did the best she could. Unfortunately, Mel had one of those compulsive, competitive personalities that demanded the highest possible grade.

“He liked it,” Mel said nonchalantly.

“Were you graded?”

“No. We’re doing these assignments for the learning experience, not for a grade.”

“But?” Lindsay knew there was more to it.

“I asked that if the paper were to get a grade what would it be?”

“And?”

“B+.”

“Is that okay with you?”

“Yes, it is,” Melanie answered sincerely. “And damned if I know why I’d accept a B+ in anything, but I did learn a lot about myself and about writing. It’s one thing to write about a topic that I’m an expert in, but it’s a whole other thing to be able to pick up a pen and write something on the spur of the moment. I have a newfound respect for people who can come up with that special line or jingle or...”

“Or?”

“Fuck!”

“What?!”

“I was about to say, an ad. Shit, I just paid Brian another compliment,” Mel said as she smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. She and Lindsay stared at each other for a second then broke out into laughter.

“Face it, Mel, Brian Kinney is just a part of our lives,” Lindsay said as she embraced Melanie.

“I guess he always will be,” Mel confirmed as the girls kissed, and then all thoughts of Brian vanished.

 

*****
 

“Justin, my boy, thank you for promptly returning my call,” Sidney gushed into his phone.

“Your message sounded urgent,” Justin said with concern.

“We’ve made a discovery.”

“What kind of discovery?”

“Kinney kept meticulous records and also kept copies of deeds and promissory notes.”

“I didn’t see any notes but then I was too scared to turn the pages. They looked very fragile.”

“Some of them are but the vault kept the book well preserved, as well as the other documents toward the back of the ledger.”

“The back of the...”

“Yes, Justin. The Kinney ledger records his transactions, what he loaned out and what was repaid. However, there are special pockets in the back of the ledger where the signed notes were kept.”

“Shit! Are there a lot?”

“I’m not very good at reading land measurements.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Several of the documents included the precise land markings in longitude and latitude. Justin, we’ve taken many photos of the papers that have been found. I’m going to email them to you. I think you should have your lawyer look them over.”

“Why?”

“Well, if these loans have never been repaid then the Kinney estate may include most of Bridgeton and surrounding counties.”

“Fuck me!”

“Exactly.”

 

*****
 

“Daddy, when are we going to send out invitations for my birthday party?”

“Your birthday isn’t for a while yet.”

“I know, but we had pretty invitations for my other birthday.”

“Yes, we did, but that was much fancier than your sleepover’s going to be.” Justin thought about all the over the top things they had done for Bree’s fifth birthday. This one was going to be a lot different, a lot less extravagant. He didn’t want his daughter expecting ponies, multiple new dresses and hundreds of guests for each of her birthdays.

Bree frowned and looked thoughtful. “I wanted pretty invitations,” she said.

“You’re only inviting a few friends,” Justin reminded her.

“I still want pretty invitations,” Bree restated.

Justin shook his head. When his daughter got something into her head there was little hope of changing it. However, he had learned from long practice that a distraction might work just as well. “What if we designed a personal invitation for each of your guests?”

“What does that mean, Daddy?”

“We could use your craft paper and art supplies to make a special unique invitation for each person who will be coming. What about that?” Justin asked hopefully.

“Can we make them pretty?” Bree asked.

Justin smiled at his little girl. “I think we’re both good enough artists that we can make them very pretty.”

“’Kay, Daddy,” Bree said cheerfully when she heard her father refer to them both as artists. She liked that. “Can we make them now?”

Justin hesitated. He had one more commission to complete and he wanted to work on his Chronicling Justin Taylor project. He also should talk to Bobby about what he had found out in regards to Kinney’s ledger. He looked at Bree whose big, bright violet eyes stared up at him with such innocence and eagerness.

“Yes, Bree, we can start right now,” he said gently.

Bree wrapped her arms around her father and held on tight. “Thank you, Daddy, I couldn’t do it without you.”

Justin smiled one of those blazing Taylor smiles that would have taken Brian’s breath away if he had been there to witness it. “Let’s go see what we’ve got to work with,” Justin said.

They went out into the sun porch to Bree’s little table and the chest that housed her arts and crafts supplies. Brian made sure it was all neatly organized. Justin lifted the lid and looked at the neat piles of different types of papers, and the markers and crayons all in their packets. Bree pulled the drawer out down below, revealing all kinds of beads and sequins and stickers and every kind of frilly artsy thing that a little girl might want.

“I think we have lots to work with,” Justin said.

“Yes, Daddy,” Bree said with a frown on her sweet face. “But how do we start?”

Justin looked over at his commissioned painting that wasn’t nearly as close to finished as he would like it to be. It didn’t look like he’d be getting back to it any time soon either. He heaved a sigh as he sat down on one of the little chairs beside Bree’s work table. “We could approach this like I approach a commission,” Justin suggested.

“What’s a … commission?”

“It’s when someone pays me in advance to paint a picture for them.”

“Is someone going to pay me?” Bree asked, remembering when her Dada had paid her for her rainbow design.

“No, no one’s going to pay you for these invitations.”

“Oh,” Bree replied looking slightly crestfallen.

“What I meant was that we could use the same process I use when I have a commission. I have to know who the people are that I’m making it for. I want to know what they like or dislike, what their favorite colors are, maybe their favorite shapes.”

“Okaay,” Bree said.

Justin could see that she still wasn’t sure what he was talking about. “Let’s start with who this first invitation is going to be for,” Justin said.

“Ashley,” Bree responded without a moment’s hesitation.

Justin chuckled. He should have known. “So what is Ashley’s favorite color?”

“Pink.”

“Isn’t that your favorite color?”

“Yes, but Ashley likes it too.”

“Okay, pink it is,” Justin said pulling a piece of pink paper out of the pile of craft paper.

“Ooh, that’s perfect,” Bree said. “I love that color.”

“And Ashley will too?”

“Yep!”

“Okay, so what does Ashley like?”

“Like?”

“What are some of her favorite things?”

“She likes peanut butter sammidges.”

Justin laughed. “I don’t think a pink peanut butter sandwich would make a good invitation.”

“Oh,” Bree said wrinkling her brow. “She likes to play princess with me.”

“You and Dada,” Justin chuckled, remembering the picture he had taken of Brian and his princesses. Bree nodded. Justin thought for a moment. “What if we cut the paper in the shape of a princess’ gown? It could fold open at the skirt and the invitation message would be inside.”

“Huh?”

“Here, I’ll show you,” Justin said. He picked up a piece of plain white paper and quickly sketched his best version of a princess’ dress. He folded the paper at the edges of the skirt so that they met in the middle of the dress. He then took scissors and cut out the silhouette of the dress. He showed Bree how the folded parts could open and they could write inside.

“That’s … beautiful, Daddy,” Bree said, staring at what he had made with something akin to awe. “But it’s apposed to be pink.”

“This is our rough draft. When we get it right, we’ll make it out of your pretty pink paper. You can decorate it with sequins or lace or whatever you want.”

“’Kay,” Bree said happily.

They spent the next hour or two making prototypes of the princess dress and changing it till they had something that both of them liked. They were just composing the message when Brian arrived home.

“Dada, come see what Daddy and me made. It’s for Ashley.”

Brian looked at the princess dress and Justin showed him how it opened. “I have some Lettraset up in my office if you want professional lettering,” Brian suggested.

When they both agreed, Brian got the peel off letters from his attic office and they carefully placed them on the inside of the princess skirt. That took a lot longer than they had expected, Brian being very anal about keeping the letters perfectly aligned. Finally, it was completed, or so they thought.

“It doesn’t say, Ashley,” Bree informed them as she studied the beautiful little creation they had made.

“We can put that on the envelope, and maybe you could make one of your famous rainbows on it too,” Brian suggested.

“Yay!” Bree said enthusiastically.

“You got any envelopes that would fit?” Justin asked Brian.

“I think so,” Brian said as he went back up to his office.

After another extended period of work they had the envelope completed and the invitation inside. They were all happy with what they had done.

“I love it!” Bree said happily. “But that was hard work.”

“Yes, it was,” Justin admitted.

“It’s dinnertime,” Brian said looking at the clock.

Justin sighed as he looked over at his commission which was exactly how it had been when he woke up that morning. He had accomplished nothing.

“Thank you, Daddy,” Bree said wrapping her arms around his neck as he sat on the little chair. “We only have four more to make.”

Justin tried hard not to groan.
 

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