Springtime for Justin

Chapter 9

"Morning, Mr. Harris, and how are you this fine day?" Emmett asked as Seth came into Emmett's Place.

"Not bad, and yourself?"

"I'm having a great day."

"Where's Sean?"

"He has the day off, so I've been in here since the crack of dawn baking and cleaning and…"

"Getting everything shipshape," Seth finished the sentence for Emmett.

"Exactly. Now what can I get for you?" Emmett asked cheerily.

"A popover and a coffee."

"Okie dokie."

Seth shook his head and grinned as Emmett turned to pour the coffee and set a popover on a small plate. "I'll take it out on the patio if that's all right."

"Your future son-in-law is out there."

"Justin?"

"Yes, he came in a few minutes ago."

"Thanks," Seth said as he paid for his popover and coffee and took them from Emmett. He made his way out to the back of the shop. "Justin?" he said as he saw the young man flipping through what looked like a sketchbook. "I didn't know you were in town today."

"I had an appointment."

"Oh? What type of appointment? May I join you?"

"Sure. A doctor's appointment."

Seth sat down at Justin's table. "Nothing serious I hope."

"No, just allergies. At least that's what I think it is."

"I thought you had those pretty well under control from what your mother said."

"Well, spring is always difficult with everything blooming and all the pollen and everything." At that moment Justin sneezed.

"So what did the allergy doctor have to say?"

Justin shrugged. "He did some tests, but there's nothing conclusive. I have to wait for some results."

"Are you doing anything out of the ordinary that might be causing the allergy?" Seth asked as he broke off a piece of popover and greedily devoured it.

"That's what the doctor wanted to know."

"What did you tell him?"

Justin shook his head. "The only thing different is that I'm painting every day … all day. But I've never been allergic to my paints before."

"Are you using a new brand of paint or anything?"

Justin shook his head. "I don't know what it could be. I'm a little better now that I'm in Pittsburgh, but all the spring flowers still get to me." He sneezed as if on cue. "I'm getting really sick of feeling like shit."

"I can believe that. I hope you feel better soon."

"Me too," Justin said ruefully. "I better get going. I'm meeting Brian at Kinnetik and then we're heading home. Say hi to Mom for me."

"I will," Seth replied as he watched Justin disappear back into Emmett's shop.

 

*****
 

"Hey, what did the doctor say?" Brian asked as Justin walked into Kinnetik.

"He couldn't find much change in the allergy tests. He's as baffled as I am."

"What the fuck kind of doctor is he if he can't figure out what's wrong," Brian ranted.

"Easy, big guy. Medicine isn't an exact science."

"I'm not sure there's any science in it at all. I think they just make guesses and prescribe some shit to see if it works."

Justin chuckled. "The perfect description of modern day medicine. The doctor did give me some stronger allergy pills."

"Fuck! More pills! Pills are not the answer to everything."

"Says the man who believes in better living through chemistry."

"I used to believe that," Brian said indignantly. "Not anymore."

"I know, you big Smoosh. It'll be all right. I'll try the pills and see what happens."

"Are you ready to go home?"

"Hours ago."

"Maybe you should take it easy for a few days. Stop painting and relax for a while."

"The doctor suggested the same thing," Justin admitted. "But I can't really afford to. I have deadlines."

"That's why they're called deadlines, because they kill you."

"Brian…"

"I know, I know. I want you to be well. I want to fuck you without sneezes in the middle of it."

Justin chuckled. "And so we get to the crux of the problem, your sex life."

Brian merely stuck his tongue in his cheek and looked smug.

"Hey, Justin, how are you doing?" Ted asked as he came down the hall.

"Hi, Ted. Not too bad," Justin replied.

"He's fucking miserable," Brian contradicted. "Allergies are a bitch."

"Tell me about it. I'd be a basket case without my Claritin."

"Have you had more trouble than usual this year?" Justin asked.

"Maybe a little. Everything seems to be coming out at once, and I don't mean closet cases," Ted laughed.

"I'm having a worse time than I've ever had before."

"Have you ever tried Claritin?" Ted asked.

"He's tried everything," Brian supplied. "He's way beyond Claritin at this point."

Justin elbowed his husband. "I need to get home."

Brian sighed. "Yeah, if we have to."

"Since when do you not want to go home?" Ted interjected. "We all know what goes on there."

Justin giggled. "Your staff knows you so well." He gave Brian a gentle elbow to the ribs.

"Allergies curtailing your time in the sack?" Ted asked Brian with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Watch it, Schmidt. I can arrange for you to stay in bed all day every day."

"Right, Boss. Sorry, Boss. I'll just get back to work now. See ya, Justin."

"You shouldn't be so hard on Ted," Justin observed as they watched Ted hustle down the hall to his office.

"He lives to be abused," Brian stated.

"You are so cruel."

"One minute I'm lovely and kind and caring, and the next I'm abusive," Brian sighed.

"Stop it, you big Smoosh, and take me home … now!"

"Yes, master," Brian replied as he escorted a giggling Justin out to the car.

 

*****
 

"So what do you think?" John asked his long time business partner and best friend, Gordon.

"I think you're nuts but then again, how sane am I for being your partner for all these years?" Gordon retorted.

"But do you think we can do it?" John and Gordon were standing outside the apartment building looking at it and the surrounding barren landscape.

"You want to build a small time village in the middle of a big ass city. And you want me to teach a bunch of runaways and hustlers how to build it."

"Yeah, so what do you think?"

Gordon studied his friend's face. "I like it!" Gordon said with a shrug of his brawny shoulders.

"Do you want to go in and take a look at the 'innards'?"

"Nah, you seen one abandoned building, you've seen them all. And heaven only knows what kind of creatures are living in there. I almost wish it were colder; it keeps down the critter factor. I'm more interested in how much of this land you intend to buy up and the plans you've drawn up for it." Gordon thumped John on the forehead.

"How do you know I already drew up plans?"

"How long we been a team?"

John sighed then led Gordon to his Navigator. He opened up the back door to pull out a tube. Taking the blueprints out of the tube, John used the hood of the car as a table.

"I'd like the apartment building to be surrounded by parkland, something to mute the sounds of business. Maybe one of those old fashioned diners on a rail car and the small boutiques, antique stores and a small gallery. Maybe a more upscale café."

"Maybe you can get that Emmett guy to open up a larger bistro," Gordon suggested.

"That's a great idea. The place he has now isn't really set up to serve regular meals. I bet Emmett would jump at the chance."

"There's still a lot of land left over."

"I was thinking of a small parking lot, something quaint, with reserved spots for the apartment building."

"A quaint parking lot?" Gordon gave his friend an incredulous look.

"Something rustic looking." Gordon rolled his eyes. Ignoring the looks, John continued. "Maybe a small clinic, the closest emergency care clinic is on Liberty."

"What else? Do you see the stores all on one street?"

"No, I was hoping to have more on the other streets as well, with nice manicured paths connecting them. You know Brian's friend Michael?"

"Yeah, the little whiny guy."

"That's him. He wanted to open up another comic book store but I don't think he ever did. What if we have a comic-book store? A small book store that sells rare volumes and comics. I bet Danny would run it."

"Danny?"

"Yeah, he's related to Michael in some way. He's a retired drag queen."

"I remember, we did his house. The guy with the hidden garden."

"That's the one. A sweet shoppe, and maybe a small organic market."

"Johnny-boy, aren't you getting ahead of yourself?"

"No, it's the beginning of Spring. I'd like it completed before winter. It'll take all of our crews plus the kids we intend to mentor and whoever we can hire local. And I don't want to use anyone with a cookie cutter mentality. If we own the land outright, we can be particular on who we hire. Aaron and his electrical contractors and that kid Ronny and his master plumber."

"By 'we' you mean...?"

"Me and Bobby. And my brother wants in. The main focus is to provide education towards a trade, and low cost housing for the kids. But there's nothing wrong in making a profit."

"I want in."

"What?"

"You heard me. I want in, me and Betsie."

"But..."

"But nothing. Look, my Betsie has been making a lot of noise lately about us building up a retirement fund, investing in real estate. She's even been thinking of moving."

"Moving? But you've lived in Bridgeton your whole lives! Where would you go? Are you unhappy with our partnership? Do you want to dissolve it?"

"Johnny-boy, you're not listening. First of all I am not unhappy with our partnership. I hope we stay partners and building things until we're a hundred. Secondly, we've always had that small office in Harrisburg but we do more and more of our business here in Pittsburgh. We have crews there and we're developing good crews here. John, my kids are grown. Betsie and me don't need that big old house and she's got family here."

"Are you saying that you'd want to move here? Specifically, right here? On this land?"

"We can have small homes attached to some of the stores. My Betsie always wanted a small flower shop and those kids..."

"What about them?"

"They may need a 'mom.' You know what I mean?"

John thought about the relationship Brian had with Claire, Jennifer and most of all, Debbie. If it wasn't for Debbie, who knows what would have happened to his brother.

"Yeah, I know. So I think we should have a family/corporate meeting. Brian and I will be here on Saturday for a special 'do' at the diner for Hunter and one of his new kids. Why don't you bring the missus over here, show her the land and the plans, then after, meet us at the diner. All the principle players will be there. We can make the proposal then."

"Sounds like a plan."

"My mother will miss you and Betsie. She's known you two since we were all kids."

"I'll miss her too but it's time for me and the little woman to become 'city-fied'!" Gordon joked. Knowing how many degrees Gordon had, John burst out laughing.

"A hick grows in Pittsburgh! Come on, I'll buy you a popover," John offered. The partners and best friends drove to Emmett's.

 

*****
 

"Seth?"

"Hi, sweet stuff," Seth replied into his phone.

"Could we have dinner tonight?" Jennifer asked.

Seth heard the serious tone in her voice. "You know you can have dinner with me any night that you like. But, is everything all right?"

"I think we need to talk."

"Talk?"

"Yes, talk," Jennifer said with a sigh.

"I don't like the sound of this."

"Nothing's wrong, Seth. I need to talk to you, that's all."

"Okay, where? Shall I make a reservation at a restaurant?"

"No, I thought I'd cook. It will be more private here."

"Okay," Seth said uncertainly.

"See you around seven."

"Right," Seth said before hanging up. He definitely did not like the sound of this, not at all.

 

*****
 

"So we're going to go to the diner on Saturday and meet Curtis," Brian explained.

Bree frowned and stopped coloring the picture she was making for school. They had never done anything like that before. They went to the diner and met their friends and family, but Curtis was somebody Bree didn't know at all. And Dada made it sound important. "Is Curtis nice?" she asked.

"I certainly hope so."

"You don't know, Dada?"

"Let's just say we didn't meet under the best circumstances."

"What are cum-stances?" Bree asked batting her eyes at her father.

Brian almost spit out his coffee. "Um … it means that Curtis wasn't on his best behavior the day we met."

"He was a bad boy?" Bree asked innocently.

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"Then I shouldn't go," Bree said decisively.

"Why?" Brian asked in bewilderment.

"Daddy said I should stay away from bad boys at school."

"That's what Daddy said, was it?" Brian chuckled.

"Yep."

"Well, in this case I want you to meet the bad boy, because he's trying to become a good boy."

"Oh?" Bree said thinking hard whether this would be all right.

"Do you think you could try to help Curtis, Squirt?"

"I try," Bree said immediately. "But how?"

"You remember Dr. Raph and Hector?"

"Yes."

"They want to adopt Curtis."

"What's adopt?"

Brian sighed. Everything was always complicated when he tried to explain something to Bree. She asked such tough questions. "It's when you want to have a child who has no parents of his own live with you," Brian said hoping that was a simple enough explanation. He realized that he had had to adopt Bree to make her officially his daughter. But that was a discussion for another time.

"Where's Curtis' parents?"

"They died."

"Died?" Bree asked her eyes getting huge and filling with tears.

"Yes, a long time ago."

"But what did Curtis do without them?" Bree wanted to know. She looked frightened. She couldn't imagine what she would do without her fathers.

"He lived with his grandfather for a while, and then in a foster home."

"What's a foster home?"

Brian sighed louder. How the fuck did he get into these things? "People who have room in their houses will let kids with no parents live with them. That's a foster home."

"Could we do that? We have room. I share."

Brian snorted. "I don't think so, Squirt. It's all your Daddy and I can do to look after you."

"Oh?"

"So, you're okay with going to meet Curtis on Saturday?"

Bree thought for a moment and then nodded. "I go."

"Good. Come over here."

Bree walked over to her father and he lifted her onto his knee. "I love you, my sweet baby."

"Love you too, Dada," Bree said giving her father a kiss on the cheek and then wrapping her arms around her father's neck. "Dada, you and Daddy won't die and leave me all alone, will you?"

"Never, sweetheart."

"Good! I don't want to live with anybody else." Bree snuggled contentedly against Brian's chest.

 

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