“It isn’t about Justin’s dad.This is about his family.His family is gone now, and all he has left of them is his memories.”
Bryan only scowled as he passed back the photo and I tucked it back into the album.He had always been the most against Justin’s decisions.Bryan absolutely hated that Justin visited his dad in the hospital and stayed by his side until his death.And I knew Bryan was upset with me for supporting Justin.If Bryan had his way, he would have locked Justin away until his dad died in order to protect him from the toxic existence of his father.
“Do you remember anything about them?”I asked.
“Not really.We were pretty young, and I didn’t hang out with them as much back then.It was hard for me, my parents couldn’t care less about me playing with friends.Unless someone picked me up, I was stuck at home.”He paused and looked down at the photo of the entire family together.In a sad whisper, he said, “I do remember the funeral though.”
“Aunt Laura and George seem to remember them pretty well.They said they’ll be happy to tell stories.”
“They’ll have good stories, I’m sure.They never talked to Justin about it because they weren’t sure if he wanted them to, but I guess now’s as good a time as ever.”
“All right.Time is running out,” I said, starting to feel nervous that we weren’t going to finish in time.“I’m going to get these framed and on the wall.”
“Seth should be back soon to help, and I’ll be done in a couple more minutes.We’ll get this done in time.”
His comfort settled some of my nerves.I smiled at him.
“I believe you,” I said.I pulled out my phone and turned up the volume before playing one of my playlists.No Christmas music on it at all.Then we got to work as the time ticked away and Justin was set to show up in less than two hours.
Chapter Two
We told everyone tobe there by five, and they began arriving at four-thirty.Aunt Laura messaged me to let me know that Justin would arrive at five like we planned, so we needed to be ready by then.Micah showed up with his parents.The twins, Lillian and Hazel.Even Dr.Arason, my therapist.I raised an eyebrow and then made sure to hide from her.I was surprised when George went over and hugged her, the two of them talking animatedly.Then again, they worked in the same profession.
This was also a small town.Everyone knew everyone.I couldn’t be surprised.
Even Roman Davies was in attendance.I was still a little on edge around him after I was used as bait with the Ryder gang, but he’d been nothing but genuinely apologetic since that incident.A couple of people on Paxon’s soccer team came, the ones who’d known Justin for a while.Even Principal Calgary stopped by.There were some faces I didn’t recognize and once I began not knowing who some people were, my anxiety spiked.
I shouldn’t have put this on at my house.There were so many people in my space and after the break-in, it was hard to accept strangers in my home.I didn’t realize how bad it was until now though.We should have done like Seth suggested and had it at his house, but I refused when I realized more people than I expected were prepared to come to show their support for Justin and I had more space.
I swallowed my anxiety and put Dad, Micah, Toby, Paxon, Seth, and Bryan to work, helping me with the pictures.It was taking a lot longer than I had expected to organize but once I got everyone helping, it came along rather nicely.It also distracted me enough to stop thinking about the people who were coming into my house.
Justin’s childhood was a story.Everyone’s childhood was a story.I wanted that to come through in the way we arranged the photos.It wasn’t enough to just stick them on the wall.They needed to tell his story.
Having George there made a huge difference.He helped us piece together the timeline, filling in gaps and making sense of what was happening in each moment.
By the time we finished, we had mapped out Justin’s life—from his birth to the arrival of his baby sister, all the way to the day she and his mother died.Walking through the room felt like retracing his journey, each photo a chapter in his life.I couldn’t begin to imagine what it would be like for Justin to see it.
