Finding June (11 page)

“Are you surprised?”

“Are you going to slam the door in my face if I say yes?”

I gave him a dirty look.

“Too soon?” he asked. I shook my head at him and at myself. This time I did close the door in his face.

What did I get myself into?

Reece texted me later that day with the details. The fact that I had never given him my phone number didn’t get past me. We had agreed on going out during the day on Wednesday since we both worked all weekend, and the next Sunday and Monday I was heading up to McCall for Jolene’s birthday trip. He told me to be ready by ten a.m., which for me was pretty early. I think at ten it was more of a morning date, but I was past the point of arguing.

The next few days were a blur of work and suddenly it was Tuesday night. I was having a mild panic attack about the next day. I called Jo in a tizzy and she rushed over, like the good friend she was.

“What’s the problem, Junebug?” Jo gave me her sympathy eyes; she could see a June Freakout a mile away.

I surveyed the disaster of my room, clothes were everywhere. “I have no idea what I’m doing. This is the first date I’ve been on in over three years with someone other than Owen. Reece didn’t even give me any idea of what we are doing. I don’t know what to wear, or what to bring. I just know he will be here at ten in the morning. Which, by the way, what the hell kind of day date starts at ten a.m.!” I ranted as I flung hangers around in my small closet.

“Girl, breathe. Ten is like mid-morning to the rest of the world. Think about who you are going with. It’s only you and Reece. I don’t think this is a short dress and fuck me shoes kind of date.”

I whipped around and gave Jo an evil glare.

The panic setting in was making me edgy, which made me bitchy. “When do I ever wear heels? Never. And I will not be wearing any for a man either.” It was true. I was not the most graceful girl, and heels did not help. I never had a job that required me to wear business attire, minus a small internship at a bank in downtown. Otherwise, I was all about the comfy flats and Keens.

Jo gave me a knowing glance and walked over to my closet. It wasn’t that big. I didn’t have a lot of clothes compared to her closet, but I had a few fun items. At least I thought so. Jo grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me onto the bed. I saw Jo picking through the selection and throwing a few things at me. After twenty minutes—which, really, twenty minutes was pushing it—Jo had pulled out a suitable outfit. Normally, if it took me more than two minutes to figure what I was wearing, I lost interest. Which was another reason why Reece was different. Usually I didn’t give a shit what people thought about me, but I was putting more effort into this than I had anything in a long time. And, it was all for the friendly date we were going on. It didn’t matter because nothing was going to happen with Reece. I had to keep telling myself that.

After picking out my outfit, Jo made me drink a glass of wine to calm down. She distracted me with stories of her newest boy toy, a bodybuilder, but I knew Jo and figured Mr. Bodybuilder would be short lived. A hot body she loved, but my girl was smart and needed someone to hold a conversation. I ended up having another glass of wine after Jo left and it was enough to put me into a nice tipsy slumber.

The next thing I knew my alarm was going off at nine in the morning. I didn’t know how people got up so early, it was a killer. All I wanted was a bit more sleep. I got up and made coffee, zoning out as I tried to wake up. I eventually got in the shower and got dressed, putting on the outfit Jolene had picked out: a nice flowery peasant top with a pair of skinny jeans. I threw on coral flats for some color to offset the jeans. I didn’t really have curly hair, but I was feeling too lazy to blow dry it so I scrunched in gel, giving it soft waves, making the brunette and auburn highlights shine through the golden mop of hair. I really had a rainbow head. I was hoping it wouldn’t frizz out and I would be left with crazy fro hair. I was taking a chance. I wasn’t much for makeup, and usually the most I wore was during work. The things I did for money.

The summer had left my skin sun-kissed, so I didn’t bother with foundation. However, I threw on a bit of mascara and lip-gloss, calling it good. If Reece didn’t like it I didn’t really care. This was me most days and there was no need to give him a false idea. I had never understood why girls put on a fake face when they went on dates. I figured most of them were looking for steady relationships, and wouldn’t you want the guy to know whom you really were and what they were getting into?

After grabbing a banana and finishing my coffee, I heard a knock on the door. I glanced at the clock on the wall, 9:58. He was at least prompt. With the banana in one hand, I opened the door with the other.

Reece was standing on the doorstep and I took in his outfit. Good to know we were on the same page. Nice jeans and a long-sleeved collared shirt. The simple outfit made him look better than nice; he looked hot and I was swooning. Silently, of course, and on the inside. I made sure I looked indifferent on the outside. This was the first date … I mean, the first friend date, so it didn’t really matter what he looked like. It was a friend date. I internally sighed. This was becoming complicated, exactly what I didn’t need right now. I needed to get through the day so I could go back to ignoring Reece.

“Breakfast?” Reece pointed toward the banana in my hand.

“Uh, yeah,” I stammered. So far so good. I was killing this friend date. Not. “Want one?” I held up the banana.

Reece raised his eyebrows and I knew exactly where his mind went. I made a sound of disgust, reached back inside, grabbing my purse and locking the door, still holding said banana.

“Where is your ride for this day date, though I’m still qualifying this as morning.”

“You’re looking at it,” Reece replied with pride in his voice.

In front of me was a vehicle. Well, it was something that had wheels, but I wasn’t exactly sure if it moved. It was a tan looking box with new tires, but I was pretty sure that was the only thing new on it.

“What exactly am I looking at?” I turned my head to the side, to see if I could figure it out.

“Eleanor,” Reece responded brightly.

“Is that a person? Oh my God, Reece is there a dead body in the back of that … car? Wagon? Box with wheels?” I raised my hands to the metal box.

“Eleanor is my car. That’s her name.” Reece walked up to it, petting it like it was a good dog sitting for his treat. Guys and their cars.

“You named your car?” Apparently, I had my judging-eyes on. Oh yeah, this day date was going splendidly.

“Yeah, you don’t?” He gave me a look like I was crazy, though I was sure he was the crazy one this early in the morning.

I had totally named my car. I figured I was the only one who did it, but Reece didn’t need to know that. “Uhhh … No. I do not name my car. And if I did I would make sure it was something bad ass. You say Eleanor and I expect to see … well, not that,” I said as I pointed to the heap of metal again.

Reece walked up to the passenger door and opened it for me. I timidly followed him to the tan, rusty box on wheels. After I’d climbed into the monster, Reece leaned against the doorframe, standing very close to me, and said, “This is a 1983 Jeep Wagoner. I am in the midst of fixing it up.”

Yeah, that was clear.

“It has a new engine, tires, and transmission. Really, I only have the cosmetics of it left. And Eleanor is from
This Side of Paradise.”

Interesting. “Not
The Great Gatsby
? Usually that is Fitzgerald’s work that gets more notice.”

Reece seemed to think about it for a moment. His eyes met mine, and I was caught in his gaze. And then he turned my world upside down. “
Was it the infinite sadness of her eyes that drew him, or the mirror of himself that he found in the gorgeous clarity of her mind? She will have no other adventure like Amory, and if she reads this she will say, ‘And Amory will have no other adventure like me’."

I couldn’t look away from him or his lips that spoke such enchanting words. My heart raced, lost in his presence as the world around us became blurred. Damn him. This was completely unfair. Having a friendship with Reece would test every fiber in my body, being able to resist the man who recited literature to me. I couldn’t look away from him. His hand tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. I craved his touch, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. Finally, Reece pushed off from the doorframe and moved around to the passenger side, allowing me a brief moment to get myself together.

Trying to distract myself and calm my racing heart, I looked around and noticed the inside of the car was actually pretty nice. There was a modern day stereo in it, which you could plug your phone into for music. The seats were newly upholstered and everything was shiny. Reece cranked the engine and drove out of the North End.

“This looks nice … different than the outside.” I had to make small talk; friendly, safe small talk.

Reece rolled down the window and rested his arm on the opened window frame. He fit in well with the old Jeep.

“I figured since I was driving it, I’d make sure the inside was the next thing done after making it run. I’ll get to the outside eventually.”

“So you did all this, you fixed this up?” Glancing around, I realized it had to be a lot of work.

The streets of Boise flashed by, and I took comfort in the cool breeze coming through the window as I listened to Reece. “For the most part. I sent it off for the new engine and transmission, but I have been doing the small things.”

“Where did you learn how to work on cars?” I asked as Reece drove through Boise. His list of skills were becoming quite lengthy.

“When I lived in Kansas and I wasn’t working in the corn fields I had a buddy that taught me a couple things.” Or a lot of things. Fixing a car wasn’t something to sneeze at.

“You know, most men would want a fast car like a vintage Chevy or something. Not this Griswold Station wagon.” Oh, I was impressed, but I didn’t need him to know that.

Even though that could have easily been offensive to Reece’s man pride, he just chuckled. “First off, Eleanor can be plenty fast, but I don’t want to scare you. Second, this is a wagoner, not a station wagon. The Griswold’s don’t have anything on this beast. Lastly, and most importantly, so remember this, I’m not like most men,” he said with a wink. The wink combined with that half-smile was making me uncomfortable and hot, so I looked out of the side window, trying to divert his attention. Unfortunately, it was hard to ignore the heat Reece made me feel, the overwhelming sensations only his voice could bring vibrating through my body.

“The only bad thing is I have yet to fix the air conditioning, but luckily it is a pretty nice day out so it shouldn’t be too bad with the windows open.”

I noticed we were getting on the freeway toward Mountain Home. I wasn’t able to stand it anymore and asked where we were going.

“Riverbend Winery,” Reece answered as he drove with his right hand on the steering wheel and his left hanging out the window. He was the perfect image of a carefree man. I took a mental picture as he drove on the freeway with his aviator sunglasses and the wind rustling his warm, mahogany hair.

“Isn’t that about an hour out?”

“Yeah, good thing I have the whole afternoon for this date.”

Now it made sense why we had to leave early. I was curious about his choice. Usually you would head the other way toward the mountains instead of toward the Snake River plain, but I was pleased and excited. I had never been to a winery, but I did enjoy a nice glass of wine. I wasn’t going to tell him this, but I was a fan of Riverbend wines as well. They always had the prettiest bottles. I was a sucker for packaging. I glanced back to Reece, all golden and carefree.

Yep, totally a sucker for packaging.

I settled into my seat and enjoyed the drive. Reece set his phone to The Helio Sequence and “Broken Afternoon” drifted through the speakers. The sun was shining and there was still a bit of warmth in the air. It was quiet as the music played. Reece and I didn’t talk, and it seemed perfect. We could easily be in each other’s company without having to make random small talk.