Finding June (19 page)

“Can you hold him?” I shoved the wiggling puppy into his arms, not giving him a chance to answer.

“Why do you have a dog, June?”

I didn’t explain, but said, “I want to show you something.” I then proceeded to take off my sweater. I was wearing a camisole underneath, but Reece’s eyes were wide as I stripped off my sweater and threw it on the back of the couch.

“Uh, June, what are you doing? I mean, I don’t mind you taking your clothes off, but I don’t know if this is a good time.”

I stopped. “I’m not stripping for you.”

“You took off your sweater and are wearing a tiny tank top underneath. And I’m holding a puppy that I’ve never seen before. This is a pretty bizarre situation for me.”

I huffed and turned around, pulling the right strap of my tank top down. “Look.”

I heard Reece take a step closer to me. “Wow, June, that is beautiful. I can’t believe you got a tattoo.”

I turned around and pulled up my strap. I was about to answer when I heard a girly squeak behind me, “Ohhh, a puppy. Reece, did you get a puppy?”

Suddenly there was a young girl taking the puppy out of Reece’s hands. I guess he had company over. Reece was right, this was a bizarre situation because I had no idea who this girl was. Why was she at Reece’s house? What was going on? In a split second, I took in her short dark hair that landed right below her chin and when she turned I recognized those eyes immediately. This must be Reece’s sister. For a second, I felt relief that I didn’t make a crazy scene and jump to conclusions, but also because she wasn’t some strange girl holding my puppy.

The girl spoke again, “He’s adorable. Look at him! Reece, where did he come from?”

Reece was standing there with one hand on his hip and the other rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s not mine. I’m not sure where he came from.”

The girl looked at me, her face friendly and her eyes expressive. “Is he yours?”

I nodded. “This is Morrison. My new puppy, he’s a poodle and golden retriever mix.” I had gone to the pound and he stole my heart the second I saw him. Jolene pouted that I wouldn’t settle on the Pomeranian mix, but I told her those were devil dogs and my heart was already set. He was abandoned and found in a cardboard box by a grocery store. The second I picked him up, I felt my heart become full of love. He was mine.

I looked back at Reece. Since he seemed speechless, I took it upon myself to introduce myself. “I’m June by the way, I work with your brother.” I heard Reece let out a huge breath.

“June? You’re June?
The
June?” Guess she knew who I was. This wasn’t awkward at all.

Reece’s pained look quickly came back. “Hannah, I thought you were leaving.”

She decided to ignore him and said, “I have heard so much about you.” I glanced up at Reece, seeing a hint of red on his face.

“You have?” I was curious to hear exactly how much.

“Hannah, time for you to go. You have done enough damage tonight. Tell Mom and Dad I’ll think about it, okay?”

I had heard Reece mention Hannah was a senior in high school this year. She looked young, but you could tell good looks ran in the family. Hannah rolled her eyes in true teenager fashion and handed the puppy back to Reece. Which I thought was weird, but then suddenly her arms were around me, squeezing me in a big hug. “I’m so happy I finally got to meet you. I can’t wait to see you next weekend at the farm.” Then in a flash she was out the door, a whirlwind of a girl.

I looked back to Reece and said, “Why did she say that? About seeing her soon?”

“So you got a puppy and a tattoo, full day for you,” Reece said, blatantly avoiding my question. He set Morrison down and went to close the door, but I stopped him before he made it past me.

“I don’t think so, buddy. What does your sister mean? Why, pray tell, will I be seeing your parents soon?”

Reece sighed. I stood there with my hands on my hips, waiting for an answer.

Reece quickly moved past me to close the door and stood behind a chair by the table. Like it was no big deal, he said, “Hannah thinks you are coming to my parent’s thirtieth anniversary party next weekend.”

“How does Hannah know about me exactly?” I had just met the girl, but she had treated me like we were the best of friends. Like I wasn’t some stranger who had only really kissed her brother once. Or twice. Okay a lot. Details.

“Hannah stopped by to tell me about this shindig next weekend and begged me to come.”

“Why did she beg?”

“Well … I haven’t seen my parents since I have been home,” Reece answered sheepishly.

My eyes grew wide. “Reece, that’s like four months! Why haven’t you seen them?” Really, though, four months and he hadn’t seen his parents? Mine would have flipped shit by now and called the police or something.

“I don’t know … I talk to Hannah once in a while, but being home is harder than I thought. So I haven’t gone to see my parents yet. I haven’t really seen anyone I used to hang with, actually. I didn’t really know what my plan was when I moved back. I thought I would take what I wanted from the house and sell the rest.” Reece never really met my eyes when he had said this. I knew about Rachel, but I felt like I was missing something. It had to be hard to come back home to a place where such a tragic thing had happen.

“Why would Hannah assume I would go with you? You haven’t seen your parents in God knows how long, plus you have been home for four months, so the first time you see them you want to take me?” How nerve-racking! I had to meet his parents and I didn’t even know if we were dating. Add on what could be an uncomfortable reunion between son and parents … yeah, sounds like a great time! No way would you catch me there.

I could tell how uncomfortable Reece was about all of this. It was one of the rare times I saw a crack in his shiny demeanor. “Hannah was scrolling through my phone when I wasn’t paying attention and asked who the girl was.”

“You have a picture of me?” I didn’t remember him taking any pictures of me.

The more questions I asked, the more in pain Reece looked. “I took it on the way back from the winery when you were sleeping.” By this point, he had yet to make eye contact with me, but he flicked his eyes up to me and then back down. His grip on the back of the chair tightened, and I could swear he was about to break the chair. He continued, and said a little more quietly this time, “You looked so cute basking in the sunlight I couldn’t help myself.”

When Reece was nervous it was the cutest thing. This man oozed confidence and I had a feeling he rarely let his guard down. In these moments you could tell he wasn’t as sure of himself as normal, but it wasn’t a flaw, rather it was endearing to witness. I was starting to wonder if this man could have any flaws because so far I hadn’t seen any.

I slowly smiled; he was so damn cute when he was nervous. “Creeper.”

“Probably,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders, finally letting his gaze meet mine. As soon as he saw my smile, I could see the tension disappear. A smile on his face to match my own appeared. “Anyways, Hannah asked who you were and I told her.”

“What exactly did you tell her?” I was curious to hear this answer.

Reece moved away from the table, toward me. Back was the confident, carefree Reece. “That you were a girl. A girl with pretty warm, brown eyes and unruly golden hair that I can’t tell if it is blonde or brunette. A girl with feisty spirit and a big heart I can’t stop thinking of,” Reece said as he grabbed me at my waist and pulled me closer to him.

Oh. Well then.

“Hannah pleaded with me to bring you next weekend. It’s next Saturday night and I know you have it off. Also, Bethany owes me so I will make her work for me. What do you say, Just June?” He had moved swiftly from embarrassment to confidence. I really envied those traits about him; he never let anything really bother him for too long.

What was I supposed to say after that? I really had no choice. Looked like I was going to meet his parents.

“Okay,” I said as I gazed up into his eyes. It seemed every day I was getting closer to losing whatever hold I had on my emotions when it came to Reece Day.

“Now turn around again so I can see this tat.” I did, and I knew what he was examining. In delicate loopy script, the lyrics were written across my right shoulder. At the end was a single bird flying away and it was perfect. I loved it.

“June, that really is stunning on you. But you know what, it doesn’t even compare to your beauty. Do you know that, how beautiful you are?”

I picked up Morrison, snuggling him in my arms. My eyes went from the puppy in my arms up to Reece. He had expressed his interest in me, he kissed me like I was his last breath, but he had never blatantly told me that I was beautiful until this moment. His voice speaking those words did funny things to me, made my heart beat a little faster and made me feel a delightful weight settling inside me.

He moved toward me and kissed me on the cheek. “And the fact that you stormed in here, stripped for me, and then shoved an adorable puppy in my arms … well, all of that makes you even more beautiful. You’re beautiful inside and out, truly.”

I had this urge inside to speak three dangerous words, like there was only three words that could be a response for his. Luckily, I held myself back, let the insane moment pass, and set Morrison on the floor. I threw my arms around his neck, kissing him firmly on the mouth. We got lost in our kisses when suddenly I heard a tiny bark. I turned to see Morrison looking up at us with his cute puppy eyes.

“Time for me to go.” I reluctantly said. I picked up Morrison, kissed Reece again, and left his house, pleased with my day.

As the Indian Summer faded away and the cool air that came with October become more familiar, I couldn’t help but see my own change. I felt like I was slowly figuring out what it meant to be June Rosewood. And I was doing it all without worrying too much or overthinking. Not worrying about my future or what the next step in the plan was made it easier to live in the now. I had made a mental goal of finding one good thing about each day. I took time to do something that I wanted to do, whether it might be taking thirty minutes to read a book or to make myself a nice dinner. It was solely to please myself and no one else. I had told my mother I was still searching for jobs, but it wasn’t the truth. I was taking a break. And okay, it had only been a week, but I wasn’t giving up.

Reece and I hadn’t had much time to spend together in the last week because we were both working a lot, but we talked at work. It was playful and always brought a smile to my face. He always sent me a good night text with just the right amount of mush. He had come over one night to check on my tattoo, smoothly placing lotion on my back, giving me chills. When he left he gave me a kiss that left me wanting more. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to be a gentleman and not push me, but I was wanting more. I was done trying to tell myself otherwise, besides that would be considered thinking and I was not allowed to do that. Nope, I was okay in not thinking and just feeling. Feeling the connection between Reece and I, the one that felt like I was forever falling, my stomach up in my throat, but it was a thrill rather than fear because I trusted Reece, I knew he would never let me fall too far.