EXHIBIT || Justin Foley

0.144 || REAL LIFE

The moment Lottie walked into the house, Hannah's hand tightly clutched in hers, she was immediately pulled into Maggie's arms. "I'm so so so so so sorry for not remembering, I didn't even realize what day it was but if I did I would've stayed in bed with you all day and—"

"It's okay, Maggs," Lottie whispered, her eyes welling with tears as she let go of Hannah's hand to hold Maggie tightly against her. "I didn't remind you because I didn't want you guys to have to deal with me all day."

"That's what we're here for, Charlotte Harper," Dom scolded softly, wrapping his arms around the two of them as they began to cry. "How many times do we need to tell you that?"

"I don't know," Lottie mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. "As many times as it takes me to remember it, I guess."

Hannah pulled the door closed and locked it behind her while the three stood there for a little while, offering Justin a small smile when she noticed how worried he looked.

When she eventually pulled away from the hug, Lottie was left to face Justin and apologize.

The three all went down to the basement where Maggie and Dom slept so the two could have their privacy, and Momma Harper hadn't gotten home from work yet.

"I was worried about you," Justin murmured, arms at his sides with twitching fingers. "Thought I did something wrong to make you mad at me. Didn't know what I was supposed to do."

"If I was mad at you, I'd tell you and we could talk about it," Lottie shook her head lightly, voice cracking.

After letting out a shaky breath, Justin surges forwards and wrapped his arms around her, hiding his face in her hair. He held onto her tightly — not enough to hurt, but enough to show that he truly did care — and rocked his weight from one foot to the other. Lottie immediately hooked her arms around his middle and allowed the sobs she'd been holding in all day to finally escape. Her body shuddered as tears rolled down her cheeks and soaked his shirt.

The two crumpled to the floor in the entrance hall of the Harper house, holding onto the other as if they were afraid to let go. Justin eventually propped himself up against the wall, and Lottie curled her body around him, face buried in his shoulder. He gently rubbed her back, eyes screwed shut to keep from crying as well.

Nearly fourth five minutes later, Sarah came walking through the door, stopping in her tracks when she saw Justin sitting on the floor with Lottie fast asleep in his arms. Please don't wake her up, he mouthed.

Smiling sadly to herself, Sarah silently closed the door behind her and toed off her boots. "If you want to take her upstairs to her room, I'll get started on dinner. The two of you can come down whenever you're ready," she murmured. Then she bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to her daughters head. She smoothed her hair, then went down stairs to let Maggie and Dom know she was home.

Justin carefully cradled Lottie against him as he stood up, slowly making his way up the stairs and into her bedroom. The walls were still turquoise like they had been when she moved in, and her bed was pushed into the far corner, piled with blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals.

He awkwardly moved the blankets back with his foot before setting Lottie down on the mattress, then crawled in behind her. In her sleep, she turned around and flung an arm around his waist, face buried into his shoulder.

Justin smiles softly to himself and pressed a short kiss to the top of her head before he closed his eyes.