Finding June (13 page)

I took a deep breath and glanced back to where I had stomped away from Reece. He was still sitting there finishing the apple. I kicked a rock, regretted it immediately, and walked back to the blanket he was sitting on. Ungracefully, I flopped down on the blanket.

“You done?” Reece threw the core of the apple in the basket.

“Why are you so fucking carefree?” Nope, apparently I was still mad.

Reece didn’t say anything, just gave me a small smile and handed me the bottle of wine. I took two big swigs and wiped away the red wine on my upper lip with the back of my hand. Lady-like gestures were evading me at the moment.

I continued to drink out of the bottle, sitting silently with Reece and wondering why I wasn’t good enough for Owen. “I can see your mind working and you have to stop. Owen is a douche,” Reece finally said.

I took another drink out of the bottle. I barely whispered, “I know he is a douche, but it still hurts.” Silence sat heavy between us. “Three years and I got the boot. But this girl knows him for, what, four months and they are already engaged. What is wrong with me?”

Reece put his hand on my knee; even that small touch made me extremely aware of his presence. He looked straight at me with kind eyes. Not eyes of pity, but kind, warm eyes I couldn’t get enough of.

He gently put his hand under my chin, lifting my head so our eyes met. With such tenderness and another emotion I couldn’t name, he said softly, “Nothing is wrong with you. He was a fool to ever let you go.” Our eyes held each other, his hand never leaving my chin but rather cupping my cheek. His thumb slowly caressed my skin.

I sighed and broke the tension. “I think I might be drunk.”

Reece chuckled, removing his hand. “I think you’re right. Let’s get you home.”

I went to Eleanor and hopped into the passenger seat while Reece grabbed the basket and threw it in the back. Reece drove back onto the freeway, and five minutes later I was asleep in a nice mid-afternoon drunk nap. I was sure the emotional upheaval probably didn’t help either.

The next thing I knew I was in someone’s arms. My eyes popped open as I felt a shift in the arms that were holding me.

“Sorry, trying to grab your keys,” I heard a dreamlike voice in my head say.

“What are you doing?” I sleepily asked. Was I dreaming? Because his arms were way too cozy right now. If I never left his arms I would live a happy life.

“Taking you inside your apartment.” His soothing voice was like a blanket of security, a lullaby drifting through my thoughts. I snuggled deeper in his arms, drawing from him a soft chuckle. His warm breath caressed my cheek.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Why was I asking that? I didn’t care. I was in heaven right now.

“I tried, but you were saying something about a green forest.”

Holy embarrassment. I vaguely remember dreaming about his eyes and how they looked like a plush, green forest floor. As Reece got the door open, I became more awake and aware of the situation. I jumped out of his arms and tried to compose myself. Reece set my bag next to the door. I glanced to the clock; it was only four. Reece had kept his promise on his friendly day date. I guess that meant all was forgiven. I turned back to the door Reece was standing in.

“Thanks for today. Sorry I ruined it with my outburst. I seem to do that around you frequently.”

Reece grabbed my hand and kissed the inside of my wrist. I was starting to get more confused. This friend thing had a lot of tiny little kisses attached to it. And each tiny kiss was making me more aware of Reece, which was something I didn’t know if I wanted. My body was taking notice, that traitor.

His hand stayed in mine. “You didn’t ruin it, June. It was a perfect day. Even perfect days have moments. Besides, I like feisty June. I can see how much fire and life is behind those chocolate eyes of yours. It’s nice to see.”

Oh holy swoon. No one had said anything even remotely that sweet or romantic to me before. I was seriously starting to doubt his friendly actions. “Thanks,” was my lame reply.

“Are you okay? You seemed pretty upset when you saw Owen. You know you’re better off without him, right?” Concern was evident in Reece’s tone.

“I don’t miss being with Owen. I was in love with the idea of a relationship, not in love with him. But … he was a large part of my life for three years. I can never erase that or who I was with him. It hurts, Reece, to know that you weren’t enough. My parents think I’m this failure and are always pushing me to be better. Owen didn’t even push me, just let me go. Some days it’s hard to know if I will ever be enough for someone … or even myself.”

Reece lifted his hands to my face, running them through my hair. “You will find that person who won’t want
you to be
enough,
but to be
everything
. You will be their everything without changing a damn thing. You’ll find that because you are more than enough, you are so full of life. Stop listening to whoever
they
are, they don’t know what’s truly inside of you.” We were so close. If I shifted my head ever so slightly, our lips would be touching, a joining of the passion radiating through both of us in this moment. He spoke again, “I believe in you.” While his words were quiet, there was strength behind them, a conviction so strong the only thing I could do
was
believe him. I couldn’t look away from him, his eyes really were like the forest floor. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to be lost in him. He sighed and kissed me softly on my head, clearing my mind of any lust-filled thoughts.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He snuck out of the door, and as it closed I put my head against it. His kind words had made me forget about the Owen bombshell. I was now only thinking of Reece, his words, his tiny sweet kisses, and the passion he made me feel.

The rest of the week at work I was hyper aware of Reece and his actions. We skirted around each other, but I always had his tiny kisses in the back of my mind. I was drawn to him and there was no explanation for it, so I did what any girl would do, I drew back. Letting go of your perceived notions and pressures, I felt, was hard. I wasn’t perfect and it was going to take some time. I still made small talk, but I tried to steer away from the hard-hitting conversations we had lately. I was taking time to process.

It was the Saturday before we were going up to Jo’s parents cabin for her birthday. There were only a few tables in the restaurant, but it seemed to be eerily quiet. I wasn’t the only one to notice. Jolene looked to me, and then the door. “This isn’t good, is it? It’s like the calm before the storm. I have a bad feeling about this.” I couldn’t help but agree. I heard another deep voice behind me.

“Ladies, how bad could it get? It’s been a pretty slow day.” I knew, I just knew at that moment Reece had totally screwed us over.

I sighed.

“What?” Reece asked.

“You jinxed it, we are now going to get our asses kicked. You watch.”

Reece responded with a smirk, not believing me at all. Oh, he was in for a ride, that was for sure. I glanced to Reece as he stood there in his six-foot hotness, and then I thought about what taking a ride with him would actually be like. I blanched as the thought unwarrantedly crept into my mind. Dammit! It was hard to process my emotions when I couldn’t help picturing him naked. I diverted my focus to Jolene and her latest crazy story.

It didn’t take long for me to prove Reece right. Oh so right. Oh, and I was in full on panic mode. Apparently no one let us know that there was an expo at the college and it had just gotten over. They came in masses, and I was currently working toward grabbing drinks for a table of fifteen while I watched myself get sat three more times.

Fuck. Me.

I usually didn’t get panicked, but I was a bit overwhelmed at this moment. Okay, that was a fucking lie, I was sinking. It’s not that there weren’t people to help me, but serving was the ultimate team sport and at the same time it was completely reliant on you and yourself alone.

When everyone came in at the same time, all of the servers were at the drink station. It was a tight fit, a close contact sport, and it was rare in a shift when I wasn’t being manhandled in some way, unmeaning of course. It was at the point where I felt like I was having a slight panic attack, which never happened. As I tried to remain as calm as possible, I quickly looked to my left to see Reece at my side. He locked eyes with me for only a few seconds and I quickly went back to putting ice in my glasses. He sighed, and suddenly Reece was grabbing my arm, jerking me out of the frenzy of servers grabbing drinks.

“What the hell!” I practically screamed, not even thinking about the craziness that was happening around me or the guests that could hear.

Reece calmly put both his hands on my arms with a firm grip, which in a way helped, it focused on me.

“June,” he commanded. “Stop. Look at me.”

I did and I glanced up to his forest eyes feeling a tiny bit calmer.

He softly instructed me, “You need to breathe. Stop and breathe.”

I took in a big breath and felt the panic attack quickly subside as I said, “I never get this way, but I’m fine. I can do this.” I wasn’t sure if I was talking to Reece or myself.

“June, we’re going to do this together, okay? We’ll team up our sections since we are both next to each other. You take the drinks out to the big top and I will focus on the rest of the tables, okay?”

I didn’t have to think about the fact that we generally didn’t team serve here, or that I was trusting Reece with my tables, which was really trusting him with my income. I didn’t have time, so I agreed and we were off to take care of the madness.

And, surprisingly, the next hour and half went pretty damn smooth. Reece and I worked well together; we had this weird natural rhythm. We knew what the other person needed and was able to grab it before anyone asked. Our tables loved us and we made pretty decent money. Reece was the server that did everything fast, but made sure each table was taken care of.

Reece and I made a good team, but I was still completely aware of him. Of him softly putting his hand on the small of my back as he passed behind me. When he handed me food or a glass our fingers would graze over each other. Or when he thought I wasn’t looking, I could see him taking quick glances at me, when he was taking an order or walking up to the door. I saw it all, and it made me feel that even though the whole restaurant was full and everyone was in intense work mode to get through the rush, Reece still made me feel like I was the only one in the room.

With that thought, I saw most of the tables leave, with only a few left here and there. I took the opportunity to take a quick break. I walked out into the brisk autumn day. Unfortunately, it was in the back of the restaurant, so my fall day had the view of trash cans and the smell of smoke lingering from Bethany, who had just taken a break. I took a deep breath and put my hands on my knees, leaning over.

It didn’t matter how long you had been serving or how good you were, when the restaurant filled up in less than twenty minutes, you were never prepared. However, it seemed Reece was prepared. He was calm throughout the whole damn rush.

The door opened and of course Reece walked out. Even with ranch on his shirt and some other unidentified substance he had wiped on his apron, he still had that rugged handsomeness. For a brief moment, I was overtaken, my thoughts lost. So, to do what I do best, I ruined the moment.

“Why did you help me?” I quietly asked, and I felt like it was a legitimate question. No one had really helped me in that way, by team serving. I mean, someone made me a salad or ran my food once in a while, but usually when it got that busy it was a fend for yourself kind of day.

Reece put his hands on his hips and addressed me, “You were panicking, June, and I have never seen you like that before. I should say I usually don’t catch it. You try to act like nothing is wrong, but when I looked at you as you were grabbing drinks, I saw turmoil in your eyes. Your eyes gave it away. Your eyes always give it away. How could I not help?”

I opened my mouth, but … well, nothing came out. He had the uncanny ability to leave me speechless. It was the strangest fucking thing.

Reece held out his hand, handing me a stack of cash. “Anyway, here is your half from our tables. We made out like bandits, so any other time you want to team serve again, please, let me know. I would kill to make what we just did in the last ninety minutes.”

“Thanks.” I took the cash out of his hand. I had to say more, I knew it.

“And thanks for helping me, no one really has before. Not like that.”

Reece’s smile lit up his face as he turned back to me. “Oh, June, you really don’t get it. I’m here for you. All you have to do is ask.” Reece smiled and squeezed my shoulder, lingering for a few seconds, and walked back inside, getting in the last word again.

I watched him take the few steps to the door. Emotions swirled through me, bursting out and I couldn’t stop myself from yelling, “Stop,” as he reached the door.

Reece slowly turned around, caught off guard by my sudden outburst, and casually said, “Yes …” The smile still plastered on his face.