Finding June (20 page)

It was Friday night and I was managing. Reece was closing with Jo. It was eleven on the dot and the last table had barely left as I locked the doors. Reece walked into the office, and as he was cashing out he asked, “You ready for tomorrow?” He handed me his credit card receipts.

Tomorrow was the big meet the parent’s day. Honestly, I was pretty freaked about it. While Reece and I would share a stolen kiss here or there, I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure what we were. A friend? A girlfriend? No, definitely not that, but I felt like more than a friend. Friends with benefits? Well, first, those are filed under things you don’t tell parents. Hi, I’m June, your son’s friend with benefits. Let’s see how well that goes over. And I haven’t really experience the benefits yet, so it would also be a lie. Which led me back to square one.

“Sure,” I said. “What should I wear? Is this like a black tie affair or a country hoedown?” I knew Reece’s parents had some land outside of Nampa, but wasn’t sure where.

Reece laughed and said, “Somewhere in the middle.” He handed me the money he owed me and I put it into the till.

As he counted his money he had made that night, his eyes glanced up from his thick eyelashes. “The party starts at six. I will pick you up around five thirty. Does that work?”

“Sure, I’ll be ready.” I had the whole day and wasn’t sure what to do exactly. A part of me wanted to hang out with Reece, but the other part was trying to not act clingy or look too desperate. Again, the whole not knowing thing was really killing my vibe here. But then I remembered the whole not thinking thing and knew I was overthinking it. Again.

Instead, I didn’t think and said, “What are you going to do with a whole day off?” Bam! I rocked. I didn’t seem clingy and instead asked a question that did not seem like a desperate June starving for companionship.

“I am spending a
thrilling
day covered in paint,” he said while he put his money into his wallet.

“Really?” I asked in amazement, like the idea of Reece covered in paint was a foreign idea. Reece covered with paint … I bet I could help him clean off. Oh dear Lord, I had issues. I pushed the thought to the back of my head. “What are you painting?”

“The living room. I don’t know when it was done last, figured it was time.”

Painting? Not exactly what I had in mind, my mind had dirtier thoughts I didn’t know how to act on, but I could deal with painting.

“Do you need help?” Reece shot me a look and I quickly added, “I mean, I know you have to spend the night with me.” Fuck.
Why
do I always butcher what I say to him? “I mean … at your parent’s party. Like in public. Hanging out with me.” Rambling June strikes again. “But I can help if you want” I finished after my mash up of words. Somehow I had gotten that out even with images of a paint covered Reece
not
staying in the back of my head.

I saw a smirk and a raised eyebrow. “June, are you willingly saying you want to spend time with me?” Reece leaned on the door frame, his eyes lit up.

Okay, maybe that was what I was saying. But I wasn’t going to let him know that. “Nope. Just saying I can lend a hand if you want. Only if
you
want to hang out with me. I am a hot commodity, what can I say.”

Reece shook his head and smiled at me. He was going to let me win this one. With a sweetness in his voice and a touch of sarcasm only a master could detect, he said, “I would love for you to hang out with me. Please, would you care to help me paint my living room? I will even make you lunch.”

It wasn’t a hot and sweaty make out session I wanted, but the boy could cook and I agreed. This round I had win. The score was becoming a little more even.

I knocked on Reece’s door the next morning. Morrison was sniffing around Reece’s porch, being adorable. Getting a dog was one of my better ideas. I didn’t want to leave him alone, and Reece had offered his backyard for him to play. It was nine in the morning and Reece was really pushing it if he thought I would be here any earlier. It had been almost midnight by the time I had left The Shack, and I had finally crawled into bed around one. Now with the morning sun I rarely saw blinding me, I stood on Reece’s porch wearing cut off grey sweat pants and a Blue BSU shirt, dog in tow. I had thrown my hair up in a messy bun and didn’t even bother with makeup. I was painting, not going out. That was tonight and I would be putting effort into my appearance. It was one thing to get dressed up for Reece, but I was meeting his parents at a gathering of Reece’s family and friends. It was a different a matter altogether. I thought how this was probably harder for him than he was letting on. If he hadn’t seen his parents in who knows how long, then it was probably longer for his parent’s friends.

I wasn’t going to let my issues be the main focus tonight, as they seem to always be. Reece had been nothing but sweet to me as I continued to be a wreck over my life. He had helped in more ways than he knew. Tonight, I would do the same for him. I would be there for him in what could be a difficult night.

Reece opened the door with a chipper smile, cutting off my thoughts; he must be a morning person. He knew I wasn’t one as he held me a cup of coffee from Starbucks. I took the coffee without words, only a smile, and followed him into the house to the backyard, Morrison’s puppy heaven.

He had already moved the furniture, covered in white sheets, and the painting materials were laid out. He was painting the main wall a beautiful brown that had hints of honey in it. The rest would be an off white to compliment the brown. A classy bachelor pad that screamed Reece. He said he was updating what his aunt did, but I knew he was putting his own mark on it, and even possibly settling down. I was filing painting under the deal we had made. This was his subtle way of making progress and putting down roots. Honestly, I was happy to be a part of it. If I couldn’t figure my shit out at least I could help Reece figure out his.

After Reece had put on some music, we started to paint. I loved that about him. Music was a uniter, it brought people together. Reece’s love for music spoke to my music-filled soul. The playlist he had playing was upbeat tunes that was easy to paint and dance to. We painted for a few hours, easy conversation between us filling the time. Around lunch, “Free”
by Graffiti6 was playing and I was grooving along and singing at the top of my lungs, badly I was sure.

I had no cares in the world and I wasn’t thinking about my not so great singing voice or embarrassing myself, I wouldn’t allow myself to. At that moment, I was more than happy, I was blissful. As the song ended, I was on the ladder getting the top parts when I looked over at Reece. He had stopped painting long enough for at least six or seven drops of paint to fall on the sheets we were working over. He had a look on his face I couldn’t describe; it was a mix of longing and awe if I had to categorize it. Maybe I had paint on my butt.

“What?” I tried to turn around to see my backside. While I was looking, I almost slipped off the ladder. I grabbed the ladder so quickly, with the paintbrush still in my hand, I flung paint right onto Reece.

Reece gasped, broken from the weird look he was giving me, and glanced down at his shirt. He returned his gaze to me and laughed. I started to laugh, too, and realized that was probably a bad idea on a ladder so I quickly got down. As soon as I got down and turned around, I felt something wet on my ass. I looked and
now
I had paint on my ass. I turned to Reece with faux shock on my face. He had a huge smile on his face, knowing he had instigated an all-out paint war.

I dipped my brush back into the paint, and with a straight face I glanced up to Reece.

“What are you doing, June?” He narrowed his eyes and gave me a half-smile. Oh, he knew what I was going to do.

I smiled the sweetest, innocent grin I could muster. “Nothing,” I politely said. I took two steps forward as he retreated to the other wall. “Are you running away from me, Reece?” I teased, waving the paintbrush in my hand as I took another step closer to him, closing the gap.

“I would never run away from you, June. I don’t think I could even if I wanted to.” I slightly stumbled over his words, my heart fluttering, but I continued my quest as I cornered Reece.

With his back against the wall, I walked up to him, toe to toe.

He had a mischievous grin on his face. “What now, June?” he asked me … dared me.

I took the paintbrush and tapped his nose, the pretty brown covering it.

I slowly smiled. “You are such a brownnoser, Reece. Always trying to get in my good graces,” I said with sarcasm.

Two heartbeats later he said, “There is nowhere else I would rather be.” He grabbed me by the arms and kissed me with fervor, making my heart race and my head feel light. I dropped the paintbrush and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. The force in his kiss pushed me back a step and my feet got tangled in the sheet on the floor, causing me to fall backwards. Reece broke my fall, and then I was once again underneath this man, and at this moment he was all man, I could tell. He never broke the heated kiss we were sharing and suddenly I felt something cold on my arm. I gasped as I pushed Reece back to find him laughing, holding the paintbrush I had dropped. I glanced at my arm to see brown paint all over it.

With my mouth open, I looked over to Reece. He was laughing so hard he wrapped his hands around his stomach and flopped over. I took advantage, grabbing the paintbrush and making a long swipe over his arm and onto his shirt. He retaliated by grasping my wrist and leaning in to kiss my neck. He must have known it was my weak spot because the grip on the brush weakened. He took it out of my hand, making my other arm match my painted one. We wrestled on the floor for another few minutes, stealing kisses in between our paint war. By the end we were both covered with paint and out of breath. We laid on the floor for a few minutes before Reece got up, threw off his shirt, and went to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” I sat up and leaned back on my hands.

“Making you the lunch I promised.”

And he had to do this shirtless?

And I was complaining why?

Reece started to grab items out of the fridge and I moved myself to one of the bar stools as I settled in to see the dream in front of me; a very hot man with no shirt making me lunch. Give me a beer and I would swear I was in heaven.

“Want a beer?” Reece reached in, grabbed two beers and handed me one. Oh Lord, my prayers had been answered. I took a big swig, realizing I was a bit thirsty from all the painting. While the beer was tasty, I could think of other things that could satisfy this urge I was having, and it was looking straight at me as it stood by the stove stirring something that smelled delicious in a pan.

“June, you’re staring again. Do I need to put on a shirt?” Reece asked with a smirk.

Oh hell no. Please, don’t do that.

“Ha! Okay, okay I won’t, geez I didn’t want you to beg.”

Oh sweet Lord, I had totally said that out loud. Fuck me. No really, I wouldn’t mind. Though I made sure to keep
that
thought in my head.

After an amazing lunch and a couple more hours of painting I left Reece to get ready to see him again for his parent’s party.

I had taken a shower and was looking hopelessly at my closet. I searched for anything that fell in the realm of fancy yet country. I lived in Idaho, but I wasn’t what you would classify as country. I didn’t own cowboy boots or listen to country music. Folk indie music, yes, but country, not so much. I really didn’t even know if his parents were more country or hippie. Those were generally the two types of people who owned land out in this part of the state.

I was overthinking this, again. I shook my head and started to randomly grab items out of my closet. I ended up with an off-white swirly skirt, a dark green tank top, and on top I added a tan jacket. It was the first week of October, so I put on my brown knee-high boots. I went to the mirror and put on a bit of makeup, even pulling out my straightener, blowing off the dust since I never used it. I really didn’t wear jewelry often, but I threw on a red beaded bracelet I had bought at the farmer’s market. As I stood in front of my full-length mirror, I took in my appearance. I looked country enough and had the barest amount of cleavage; enough to entice Reece, but not enough to horrify his parents. I threw on some lip gloss and grabbed my bag. As I was turning off the lights from my bedroom, I heard a knock on the door. Knowing it was Reece, I quickly put Morrison in his kennel, luring him with doggie treats, and took a quick last look in the hallway mirror.