“No, I’m good. But thank you.”
“Okay, but the offer still stands.” That almost pulls a smile from my lips.
Almost.
“Now, what’s going on with the car? Something wrong with it?” I shrug.
“I don’t know, Miles says it might be the starter. He towed it to the garage this morning to take a look.”
“How’d you get here today?”
“I walked,” I say with a sigh, and he glares at me.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I would have come to pick you up.”
“You were working,” I murmur.
“Weren’t you the one so intent on showing me there’s more to life than work?” I bite my lip, looking away. “Working or not, all I ever want to do is share the sunshine that you radiate all day long, even when you’re having a shit day. Next time, you call me.” My lower lip wobbles.
“You’re not allowed to make me emotional when I’m on my period, Graham. It’s a rule.”
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize, my bad. I’m new to this whole boyfriend thing.”
That alone makes me want to smile, but the dark cloud hanging overhead keeps me from doing so. He sees it, I think, because after a breath, he steps back, tipping his head to the front door.
“Let’s go for a walk. The sun’s out now,” he says, but I shake my head, resigned to my doomed fate.
“No, I’ll just wallow away in misery in here.”
“Wow, when you’re having a bad day, you really have a bad day, huh?”
“I only know extremes,” I say. “Extreme joy, or extreme misery. There is no in-between.”
“I thought you said some vitamin D would help out even the worst moods?”
I groan, balling up the now-empty bag, tossing it toward the trash, and missing. I glare at it, just another small bit of deceit.
“I think I’d need an entire day in the sun to turn this mood around.”
“Then let’s do it.”
“What?”
“Let’s spend the entire day in the sun, turn your mood around.”
“We can’t just cut out for the day,” I say.
“I’m your boss. I say we can. Come on.” He steps away, using his hand in mine to tug me off the edge of the desk. “I’ll email Rowan now to tell him we’re taking the day to explore and engage with the community. He won’t care.” He pauses, reaching out to push my hair back. “We’ll chase rainbows, June. That’s what your grandmother said to do, right?”
My heart melts at the mere idea that he remembers that small moment.
“We don’t have bathing suits,” I argue weakly. “We’ll have to go back home.” He shakes his head.
“Buy some in the gift shop. Go pick them out while I finish things up here.” I stare at him, wide-eyed, but his face is serious. “Go, June. Now. That’s an order.”
And really, who am I to argue?
“Are you sure about these?” Graham asks as we walk to his car, tugging down the hem of the swim shorts I grabbed for him. They’re a seafoam green color and just like I daydreamed about all those weeks ago, short as can be. The perfect slutty inseam for my man to show off his killer thighs.
