“We could pretend that we’re going to catch you up on the book later, but you know that we’re just going to talk all about you and that handsome singer after you’ve gone,” Eleanor added with a playful wink.
Even Winnie, who was least prone to bossing around another member of the book club, given that she was the most recent addition to the group, had her hands planted firmly on her hips.
“I think you’ll regret it if you don’t,” she said quietly.
And June had to admit that this was possibly true. Maybe evenprobablytrue.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll go.”
Cadence let out a whoop loud enough that even Miriam, whose hearing was slightly less acute than what it once had been, winced.
There wasn’t any time to react, however, as Cadence practically leaped from her chair and grabbed June by the arm, propelling her toward the front coat rack where they’d all hung their winter gear. She wrapped June’s scarf for her, like she doubted that June would manage the task quickly enough on her own.
June, helpless with laughter, couldn’t do anything other than stand there and let her friend dress her like a little doll.
When she was appropriately bundled, she headed for the door, glancing back at her friends’ eager, encouraging faces.
“Go get ‘em, babe!” Diana encouraged, sending June a playful wink.
June felt buoyed by their encouragement… right up until she got behind the wheel of her car. The moment she was alone, however, her nerves gripped her in full force…
But this time, she didn’t feel nervous about what she was doing. She felt nervous that she might have dallied too long. She feared that she might be too late.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Levi had been staring at the clock for… longer than he cared to admit. But when the clock ticked past six thirty, he decided that it was time to throw in the towel.
She wasn’t coming.
He was disappointed that June hadn’t taken him up on his offer, of course, but he was a grown man. He could bear the disappointment. It wasn’t as though this was his first time not getting his way.
He kept telling himself that as the weight in his gut started to feel heavier and heavier.
Or maybe he was just hungry! This didn’t soundtooconvincing, even in his own head, but he still needed to eat. And the snacks he’d bought hoping to share them with June didn’t appeal. Maybe he’d go down to the diner. He knew, at least, that June wasn’t working tonight, so he didn’t have to worry about any awkward encounters, and their foodwasreally good…
He had gotten most of the way through convincing himself to put on the thousands of pieces of clothing he needed to brave the walk over to the diner when a knock came at the door, so quiet and cautious that, for a moment, Levi wondered if he had imagined it.
That possibility didn’t stop him from leaping to his feet to answer the door, though. He wasn’t afool.
He yanked the door open a little more forcefully than he probably should have, and June startled a little bit at his vehemence.
“Hi,” he breathed, excited and pleased to see her.
“Hi,” she said, her tone nervous.
They grinned at one another for a minute. Levi was certain that he looked dopey, but he didn’t even care. She’d come. She’d actually come!
“Um… do you mind if I come in?” she asked after a moment, her smile still in place. Levi wanted to smack himself on the forehead, like he was in some kind of cartoon.
“Yeah, yeah, of course,” he said. “Sorry, can you believe that I actually used to be kind of slick?” he continued with a laugh as he ushered her into the warmth of the house. “I promise that I am not always the chief dork of the century.”
“I find it kind of reassuring,” June said, “since I usually feel like I’m the assistant chief dork. It’s getting worse now that Benjamin is getting older too. He’s got all this kid slang that I don’t understand at all, and the more he tries to explain it to me, the less I get it.”
“I remember the first time a young fan told me I had ‘rizz,’” he said in commiseration. “All I could do was nod, smile, hope it was good, and then go home and look it up later.”
She laughed, but when the sound faded, there was a pause.
Levi was just about to offer her something to eat, give her the chance to ease in to… whatever was going on between them, when words came out of June in a torrent.
