Andy said yes to Jamie’s request, but only because he knew that it wasn’t really a shopping trip. Justin had talked to him earlier and explained his ideas, and Andy was more than happy to help out.
The group of three made their way down to a strip mall close to the venue. Justin had called ahead to the dress shop and had them close off the store to customers so he and Jamie could browse in peace.
The shop was a small, quaint place with mostly formal wear. Justin used the excuse that he wanted to find something more formal for the next awards show they needed to attend, and because Jamie was somewhat tired, she didn’t argue.
The couple browsed for a while, Justin grabbing a few outfits here and there. He then wandered into the woman’s section, getting a curious glance from James.
“What are you doing? Justin, those aren’t your size.” He laughed sarcastically at her remark and held up a simple, black dress.
“They’re not for me…I thought Andy might like them.” She laughed, which was Justin’s intention. “No, really. I think you should try some on James, I mean, what could it hurt? And I know you, like most every female, likes to try on dresses.”
Jamie threw Justin a skeptical look, but took the dress from his hands. She glanced at a few more racks before heading to the fitting rooms.
A few moments later she stepped out in the black dress that Justin had been holding. It fit her curves like it had been tailored to her body, and she looked spectacular. It was a halter top, with a slight dip in the neck line, and it cut very low in the back exposing her lightly sun-kissed skin. It fell gracefully to the floor with a slight flourish, and it made everyone in the area stop and stare.
“What? Does it look bad?” Jamie asked, self-consciously. She turned around so they could see the whole dress and Justin shook his head vehemently.
“No…no, you look gorgeous. That dress was made for you…or so it seems.” He grabbed her hand and spun her around a few more times before leaning in and lightly kissing her. “You are too good for words.”
Jamie blushed and smiled. She then turned around to go change, but the dressing room door was locked. She tried the door a few times before turning to Justin with a helpless look.
“Justin, I can’t get my door open.” He walked over to her and tried it, and then stepped back. They glanced over at his door and noticed that it was shut too, and like they suspected, it was locked.
“I’ll go find the salesperson, they should have the key.” Justin walked out into the main part of the store and brought the salesperson back to the dressing rooms.
“I have the keys right here…just a second.” The woman tried the key in her hand, and when that didn’t work she went through the other keys on the ring.
None of them opened the doors.
Jamie was starting to worry, and Justin looked upset.
“I’m sorry Sir, I don’t know what happened.” The woman looked mortified and about to cry.
“Is that the only set of keys you have ma’am?” Andy asked, ever the calm one in the group.
“Well no, there’s one more set that the manager takes home with him. They’ve got the keys for the safe and the back doors.”
“Is there any chance that he grabbed the wrong set?” A light seemed to turn on in the woman’s eyes and she nodded her head.
“Yes, he could have. Let me go try this on the back door.” She rushed away and Jamie let out a sigh.
“I do not want to be stuck in this dress all night.” She paced the floor and Justin walked over to her.
“We’ll figure something out James. There has to be a way into the room, even if we break the door.”
Andy glared hard at Justin and held up his hand. “There will be no breaking of doors in this store. They stayed open late just for you J, you’re not going to disrespect that by breaking their property. You two can live in those clothes until we get back to the hotel, and we can send someone over tomorrow to pick up what you left here.”
Jamie looked up at Andy and shook her head. “I don’t want Justin to have to pay for this, I saw the price tag and it’s way too much money just for something to get home in.”
“I don’t care about the price James, I just want to get out of this place.” He started to pace and get angry and everyone was waiting for the “Timberlake Tantrum.” He had been fairly calm and well behaved for months now, he was due for a breakdown.
The salesperson came back with a very hesitant look across her face. “Uhm, it seems that we don’t have the keys for the dressing room. The manager took the wrong set.” She rushed to continue when she heard Justin’s growl. “I called him though, and he’s on his way back here. He should be here in about an hour.”
The group was silent for a second while they all digested the information. Andy looked over at Justin and grabbed him by the shoulder.
“J, why don’t you take Jamie and go get something to eat. There’s this great little café down the street. I’ll have Bruce come down from the hotel and wait for the manager and grab your clothes. I’m sure this nice woman would let you loan these clothes and bring them back later.” He stared hard at the saleswoman and she nodded nervously.
“Of course, they can take the clothes. I’m so sorry for this inconvenience, please, forgive me.” Justin sighed and looked at Jamie.
“It’s OK Miss. Let’s go James, I need to get out of here.”
Jamie looked hesitant to leave and Justin threw her a questioning glance.
“I don’t feel right, leaving in this dress.” She turned to the saleswoman and started to talk, but the woman stopped her.
“Please, it’s the least we can do. Wear the dress…and if it makes you feel better, we’ll charge you if you get any food on it.” The woman smiled at Jamie and urged her out the door.
“Come on James…I want something to eat.” Justin took her hand and they headed to the door.
“This was certainly an interesting evening. Remind me to never go shopping with you again.” She laughed at the hurt look on Justin’s face and kissed his cheek.
Justin and Jamie walked down the street hand in hand. It was a beautiful night, the sun was close to setting and there was a light breeze moving softly over the couple. Jamie felt slightly over dressed for taking a stroll, but Justin assured her that it wasn’t far.
“How do you know where we’re going? Andy didn’t give you any directions.”
“He’s talked about it before.” Justin hurried to answer, and hoped that Jamie didn’t ask any more questions.
They walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence. Jamie watched the other people around, hurrying to or from somewhere, completely occupied with their own lives. She wondered what they were so worried about, or what they were rushing for. As she watched these people moving about, she suddenly became completely content with her life.
She glanced at Justin and couldn’t help but feel her heart swell with love and admiration for this man. He had become one, if not the, most important person in her life and it baffled her. He was so loving, so caring and so in-tune to what she needed that she hardly knew what to make of him.
Jamie was pulled out of her trance but Justin making an abrupt stop.
“Here we are.” He held open the door for her and Jamie stepped inside the little café called “Heaven’s Corner.” It was darkly light, giving it a romantic atmosphere, and there were few couples seated around at the small round tables.
Justin led Jamie to the Maitre’ D. The older man smiled at the pair and asked for their name.
“Timberlake.” Jamie looked over at Justin and wondered how much she had missed.
“Right this way please.”
When they were seated and had ordered their drinks, Jamie looked at Justin with a puzzled glance.
“I thought Andy had just told you about this place.” She questioned, and Justin smiled a little.
“No…JC told me about it a while ago, actually. I’ve had these reservations for about 2 weeks now. Surprise!” He watched her face go from confused to shocked to pleased and then slightly miffed in a matter of moments.
“Justin Randall, this whole thing was a set up?” Justin lowered his head and nodded.
“Uh huh…I wanted to surprise you, get you out for the night. You’ve been so busy lately and you don’t seem to be having any fun, I wanted to do something just for you.” Jamie’s features softened and she smiled at him.
“Wait a minute, then what was the whole clothing store ordeal about?” Justin chuckled and took a sip of his drink.
“Well…I wanted this to all be a surprise and I knew that asking you to get dressed up just to go clothes shopping would be a little suspicious, so I had called the store ahead of time and told them what was going on. That whole thing was a set up.”
Jamie sat back in her chair and started to laugh. She tired to calm herself but the image of that whole scene kept playing in her head. She had to give Justin credit, that was good.
“I can’t believe you. That was the craziest thing you have even done.” Justin laughed along with her, but then he reached over and took her hand.
“That’s exactly what I wanted.”
“What?” Jamie stopped laughing to look at Justin. He had a smile on his face.
“That sparkle, that laugh…that’s what I wanted to see tonight. I haven’t heard you laugh like that in a long time, and I haven’t seen your eyes shine with life like that since who knows when. I did this because I wanted to see you smile, as selfish as that may be.”
Jamie just watched him for minutes, seconds…she didn’t know. She couldn’t believe that someone like this, someone so special could love her like Justin did. She was amazed and she thanked the Lord right then and there for giving her a reason to smile.
“I love you Justin.” His head snapped up and he looked taken aback.
“What?”
“I love you, completely. I think I’ve loved you from the moment I met you, and right now…all I can feel is the overwhelming sensation of how much I need you, how much you mean to me.”
Tears started to well in Justin’s eyes, against his best effort to stop them. Neither of them had spoken these words yet. Both knew they were there, but until tonight, they had stayed unspoken.
Hearing Jamie speak those words made his heart skip a beat and took his breath away. He felt as if he had been waiting his whole life just to hear these words, and now that they had been spoken, he couldn’t get enough.
“I love you too Jamie.” He had so much he wanted to tell her, so much that he felt he needed to say, but at that moment, those were the only words that he could speak. Jamie leaned over the table and placed a soft, tender kiss on Justin’s lips, and the two of them sat there, completely wrapped up in the feelings that only the other person could give them.
Justin sat in the back of the car that had come to pick them up. Jamie’s head was rested on his shoulder and she was sleeping lightly. The ruby necklace that he had bought now adorned her neck, and he couldn’t think of a more fitting place for it.
She had been apprehensive about taking the necklace, knowing how expensive it was, but Justin insisted and she gave in easily.
That night had been a first for the two of them, and they would remember it forever. There was a new, strong bond between the pair, and Justin had never felt more content in his life. When he was with Jamie, he was who he was supposed to be. He was home. Never before had he felt the way he did with James, and he prayed that this feeling lasted forever.
The car came to a stop in front of the hotel and Justin shook Jamie awake. She groggily followed him into the lobby and onto the elevator. Once on, Justin turned to Jamie and placed a deep, passionate kiss on her lips, causing her to fully wake up.
She pulled back once for air, but there wasn’t much time lost, because before she could comprehend what was happening, his lips covered hers again, this time harder and more sensual than before.
Justin wrapped his arms around Jamie’s slender waist and pulled her in as close as he could. He loved the way she fit right into him, and if he could, he would pull her inside of him so he could always have her near.
Things were starting to heat up and get out of hand, and the elevator was quickly approaching it’s destination, but before the two could pull apart, the doors opened and they were met with a loud clearing of the throat.
Jamie and Justin pulled apart so quickly that both had to fight for balance.
“Well I see you two had a good evening.” The figure in the door way seemed to loom over them, and neither knew why but they were both frightened.
“Uhm…yes, yes we did. What are you –?” Justin was cut off, and grabbed off the elevator, Jamie close behind.
“Don’t ask questions. I will be the one to ask questions, and you two have a lot of explaining to do. I don’t appreciate getting a call from your group members saying they’re concerned about you and asking me to come help. You should have been open to them from the beginning…and I’m not too happy about being here.”
The three of them walked quickly down to Justin’s room, and the two younger ones were ushered inside.
“Now you’re both going to sit down on that bed and tell me what’s going on, or I’m not going to be very happy…and you know what happens when I’m not happy.”
Justin looked over at Jamie with a mixture of fear and guilt. “I can’t - ” Again he was cut off.
“Don’t sit there and tell me you can’t, young man. You have always been able to talk to me, and that’s not going to end now. I am your mother, and I demand to know what’s going on!” Lynn’s voice raised a few decibels and Jamie and Justin cringed.
This was going to be a long night, and it was only the beginning.
