AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They do,” I agree. “Could be my favorite project ever, Brian.”
He leans forward, looking back and forth from the bike to me a few times. “What if I leave it here for good? You could use it as a showpiece, couldn’t you?”
I’d thought this exact thing myself, but it was too selfish to ask. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know,” he says, firming his posture. “I’m offering because I appreciate you, and I want the bike to have another life. It’s right for you to watch over it.”
“That’s amazing.” I take a breath, gathering my thoughts as I run my fingers back through my hair. “It’s already helped me sell a few projects and would help show off what I can do.”
“Exactly, and I can still see it whenever I want.”
“Come with me.” I stand up. “Let’s figure out how we should display it. I could build a stage or a table, even put it on the wall.”
Glancing through the window, I see Allie leaning acrossTurbine’s counter, talking with Hector and smiling over at me.
Chapter 28
Allie
“Don’t be surprised when things start going your way. Eventually, your hard work will pay off.”-Allie’s horoscope, June 12th
Luke: You need to wear pants.
Me: PANTS?! It’s already 90 out.
Luke: You know I love you in a skirt but if you want a ride to joshua tree on my bike you’ll wear pants.
Me: You’re infuriating. I hate you.
Luke: I’m not. No you don’t.
Luke: Bring a backpack with a change of clothes.
Me: You could have said that in the first place.
The ride out to Joshua Tree is the longest I’ve been on a motorcycle, even with all the time I’ve spent two-topping them with Luke. My ass is a little numb, and it’s a long time to go without getting to talk to each other, but it’s mesmerizing too. It’s amazing how much of the desert I miss when I make this drive in my car—with a roof.
Luke reaches back and squeezes my knee, melting me with his touch. I squeeze tighter around his torso in response, like I always do. We’ve fallen comfortably into step with each other. Being together is the most natural thing in the world. Decisions like how much time to spend together, what to eat, where to go, all come to us easily.
Four months ago, sharing a glass wall with the unfairly hot man who stole my dreams felt like a curse. Now it’s a blessing. He’s still unfairly hot, but he shares his body with me, so no more complaints on that front. And I know he didn’t steal my building. He pursued his own dreams, and I can’t fault him for that.
We’re in a happiness bubble of watching each other all day while we work, sending naughty texts through the window, and sitting together at lunch, but it has an expiration date. Two more months of this bliss, and then I’ll be somewhere else, maybe as far as Joshua Tree, and he’ll be running a bar in my old place.
I’m trying to find the balance between reveling in the present and figuring out the future.So far, I’m terrible at it.But it helps a lot that’s he’s coming with me today.
Luke leans heavily into the turn as we pull off the highway onto a side street.I swear, he’s exaggerating the turns just so I have to hold on tighter. I don’t hate it.
We pull up to the building I’ve been stalking on Google Maps street view for weeks, the corner unit of a strip mall featuring sand colored stucco walls and a red tile roof with a covered patio that wraps around the front and side.
I’ve been harping on about character during this search and rejecting places in Palm Springs for their lack of it. While strip mall doesn’t exude unique character—Joshua Tree does. There’s something magical and undeniably vibey about this corner of the Coachella Valley. Being a part of this community could be agreat consolation prize.
“Do you want to change?” Luke asks me.
“Feels a little odd to ask if I can use their bathroom and come out in a totally different outfit, doesn’t it?”
Luke shrugs.
“I’ll survive in pants, but thanks.” Truth is, I don’t have a change of clothes in the backpack. Figured I could surprise him with a backpack-desert-floor-picnic-lunch since he surprised me with truck-bed-charcuterie-dinner.
