Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

June looked over at Carlise and smiled a little tipsily. She hadn’t planned on drinking tonight, just on getting to know April and Carlise. But April had made an amazing drink with pineapple juice, flavored rum, Sprite, and who knew what else. She couldn’t taste the alcohol in the drink at all, and before she knew it, she’d sucked down two cups of the stuff and was now on her third.

“Oh! Before I forget, I called Meg, and she’s super anxious to meet you,” April said excitedly. “And if it’s okay, she wants you to come by Hill’s House on Monday and meet with her.”

“So soon?” June asked.

“Yup. She just hired a new janitor, but she’s been looking for months for the right person to fill the entertainment coordinator position and is almost giddy that you’re here.”

“She doesn’t even know me. I mean, doesn’t she want a résumé or references or anything?” June asked.

April waved her hand in the air and shook her head. “Not necessarily. I told her all about you. Where you were before, what you did. You’ll be perfect.”

“But what if she doesn’t like it there and doesn’t want to take the job?” Carlise asked. Her words were also slightly slurred. They were all feeling mellow, but weren’t knockout drunk. No one wanted to be hungover for the wedding the next day.

“Why wouldn’t she like it?” April asked.

“I don’t know. But interviews are supposed to be for both sides. And we all know Cal will let her stay for as long as she wants, so she doesn’t have to worry about money.”

“I’m not a mooch,” June said a little more forcefully than she’d meant to.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to imply that,” Carlise said with a frown.

“She just means that with the way Cal looks at you, you could tell him you wanted a jet plane, and he’d go out and not only buy it for you but build a hangar and an airstrip in his backyard,” April said with a huge smile on her face.

“That’s not true,” June protested.

“Girl, please,” Carlise said after taking a sip of her drink. “He looks at you as if you hung the moon and control the stars.”

Pleasure swept through June at the other woman’s words. Still . . .

“We’ve only known each other a few days,” she protested.

Carlise burst out laughing. “Do we need to go over this again?” She lifted her arm and looked at her bare wrist, pantomiming checking a watch for the time. “Riggs and I have known each other for a hot minute, and we’re getting married tomorrow. Time doesn’t matter, it’s how he makes you feel deep inside. When your belly does somersaults when you see him. When his voice makes you wet between the legs, and the way he constantly watches you, as if he’s afraid little green men will come down out of the sky and steal you away at any moment.”

“Is that how it is with you and Chappy?” April asked.

A dreamy look crossed Carlise’s face. “Oh yeah. And when he kisses me and . . . you know . . . it’s as if there’s no one in the world but the two of us. Has Cal kissed you yet, June?”

She couldn’t help but lick her lips and remember the amazing and passionate kiss they’d shared earlier that very day. She nodded.

“And did the earth move?”

“Definitely.”

“And the sex?”

June blushed and shook her head.

“Right, well . . . it’ll happen. Soon, I’m sure. Because Cal is just like my Riggs. He doesn’t mess around when it comes to what he wants. And that man wants you. He practically drools when you’re around.”

“Oh, that was a nice picture . . . not,” April said with a roll of her eyes.

“I meant it in a good way. He wants her,” Carlise said. Then she smirked. “And should we talk about you and JJ?”

April choked on the drink she was sipping. She turned to Carlise and shook her head. “We aren’t going there.”

“Why not? I mean, it’s obvious by the way Cal looks at June that he wants her, just as it’s obvious by the way JJ looks at you.”

“He doesn’t look at me in any way,” April said stubbornly.

It was Carlise’s turn to roll her eyes. “You’re kidding, right? The man can’t take his eyes off you. And Riggs told me all about how that stranger came into the office the other week and harassed you, and JJ nearly lost his mind. His voice got all growly and scary, and he chased the guy off.”

“It wasn’t that big of a deal. He overreacted,” April insisted, but she wouldn’t look either June or Carlise in the eye.

“All I’m saying is that the man likes you, April,” Carlise said in a softer tone. “If you gave him even the smallest sign that you were interested, he’d jump on that . . . and on you.” She giggled at her own joke.

“I’m too old for him,” April insisted.

“What?” June asked, not sure she heard right.

“I’m almost fifty,” she said mournfully.

“I thought you were like forty-five or forty-six,” Carlise said, confused.

“Forty-six. Which is almost fifty.” April sighed.

“Oh my God, no it isn’t,” Carlise said with a shake of her head. “Besides, JJ is going to be forty soon. I think his birthday is in a month or something like that.”

April’s head came up at that. “He is?”

“How do you not know this?” Carlise asked with a laugh. “I mean, you know everything about everything. I can’t tell you how many times Riggs has said that without you, Jack’s Lumber would’ve crashed and burned. You keep them all straight, organize the work schedules, and you’ve even started arranging their AT hikes. How do you not know how old JJ is?”

“I thought he was in his early thirties,” April said. “I mean, have you seen him? He’s in amazing shape. And he doesn’t have any gray hair at all.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. The gray hair, I mean,” Carlise said. Then she put her drink down and leaned toward April. She was sitting cross legged on the floor in front of the sofa, where June and April had sat before opting for the comfort of the couch. “You are not too old for anyone. I don’t care if JJ was thirty-two or something. Look at you—you’re beautiful. And smart. And you don’t put up with his crap, which I think he really needs.”

“He sees me as a mother figure,” April protested.

June couldn’t stop the burst of laughter that escaped her lips.

“What? He does!” April insisted. “He even calls me ‘mom’ sometimes.”

“He’s teasing about that!” Carlise told her.

“If JJ thinks of you as a mother figure, I’ll call Elaine and tell her where I am and agree to work for her for free for the rest of my life,” June said solemnly. “And since she’s the last person I ever want to see again, I’m that sure of what I’m saying.”

April stared at her with so much hope in her gaze, it made June’s heart hurt.

“Look at me,” she reasoned. “I’m short, fat, have never gone to college, and have lived in the same house my entire life. And somehow, a billionaire prince is interested in me. Me.” June shook her head. “Not only that, but for some reason, he’s worried that I’m going to think his scars are a turnoff, which I don’t get.

“But I want him, so I’m going to have him. It probably won’t last, and there’s no way he’d ever want to marry me, but I’m not willing to let this opportunity pass me by because I’m scared. And I am. I’m terrified. But I know deep down that if I chicken out, if I don’t go after what I want, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. And you will too, April, if you don’t give JJ a chance.”

She was practically out of breath by the time she was done, but she really wanted April to hear her.

“You aren’t fat. Or short. And . . . I’ll think about it,” April said.

“Says the woman who’s five-nine and has probably never had to wear any clothing with an X in front of the size,” June muttered.

To her surprise, April put her glass down on the small table next to the sofa and practically threw herself at June.

She barely managed to not spill her drink as April hugged her tightly.

“Hey, I want in on this hug fest!” Carlise protested as she squeezed in on June’s other side.

“I feel like a squished bug,” June said with a laugh, as she was embraced by the two women.

Carlise pulled back and smiled at her. “I like you, June.”

“Me too,” April agreed.

“And I like you guys. I’ve never really had friends before, actually. Never had time, and the girls I knew in high school all went on with their lives after we graduated.”

“Your stepmother sounds like a total bitch,” April said firmly.

“That’s because she is,” June said with a shrug.

They all laughed. Carlise went back to her spot on the floor and took another sip of her drink, and April scooted back to her side of the couch.

“I can’t believe you’re getting married up at the cabin where you almost died,” April said almost nonchalantly. “If it was me, I’m not sure I’d ever want to go up there again.”

“Wait, what?” June practically shouted. “You almost died?”

Carlise shrugged. “Yup. But Baxter saved me.” She reached over and petted the black pit bull who’d followed her around the apartment all night, only settling down when Carlise had.

“Start at the beginning!” June insisted. She couldn’t explain why she was so upset about learning her new friend had almost died. Maybe it was because she seemed so . . . full of life. The thought of not knowing her was painful.

June sat and listened with wide eyes as Carlise explained what had transpired just a month earlier. How she’d first been caught in a storm, and Baxter led Chappy right to her. Then how her best friend had been stalking her and ended up coming to Maine and the cabin and tried to kidnap and kill her. The rest of the story involved a bunker, an avalanche, and Baxter once again helping to save her life.

“It’s not as if we’re getting married in the bunker,” Carlise told April when she’d finished telling the story of her ordeal. “We’re doing it outside at the cabin. And trust me, I have a lot of very good memories in that cabin and can’t wait to make more after Riggs marries me.” She had a satisfied smile on her face.

“God, can we please not talk about sex when I’m not getting any?” April begged.

“You could be if you took your head out of your ass and gave JJ the green light,” Carlise fired back.

“Nope, not going there again. We’ve already talked about that tonight,” April said with a shake of her head.

“You were the one who brought up sex,” Carlise reminded her.

“Whatever.”

June couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

“I don’t know what you’re smiling about,” April muttered. “You aren’t getting any either.”

“Not yet,” she said coyly.

Carlise giggled. “One bed,” she said.

“What?” June asked with a frown.

“It worked for me. And you said that you and Cal shared a bed on your way up here to Maine. I have a feeling he’ll be stubborn, and if you finagled some way to get into his bed to sleep again, I’m thinking he wouldn’t be able to keep his distance from you for long.”

“You have a good point,” June said.

“I know. It’s that forced-proximity thing,” Carlise said firmly.

“The what?” April asked.

“It’s a trope. I’ve translated a few romance books that used it. When the hero and heroine are forced to spend time together, especially in a bed, things tend to happen. Hey! How can we get JJ and April into a bed together? I guess putting a cot in his office and then somehow breaking the lock when April’s in there with him would be a bit too obvious?” Carlise seemed entirely too excited about the idea of trapping her friends together.

“As if JJ wouldn’t be able to figure out some way to get free. He was Special Forces, you know,” April said with a shrug. “He’d have us out within five minutes.”

“Hmm, you’re probably right. I’ll have to think of something else,” Carlise mused.

June thought it was telling that April didn’t immediately protest Carlise’s idea in general. She made a mental note to talk to Carlise later—when she wasn’t about to get married and when they both weren’t tipsy. There had to be something they could do to help April and JJ get together, especially when it seemed as if they both liked each other.

She may have only met these women yesterday, but they were so friendly and welcoming, she felt as if she’d known them a lot longer. It didn’t even seem weird to be talking about their love lives or setting up their friends.

“That leaves Bob,” June said.

“What about him?” Carlise asked.

“We need to find someone to set him up with,” June said.

“Oh! You’re right. But I don’t think he’s interested in anyone around here,” Carlise said, frowning.

“Maybe one of the people who need a guide on the AT?” April mused. “Most of the requests are from women. I could vet them a little more closely, schedule him with women who might catch his eye.”

“Great idea!” June said a little too enthusiastically. “But that name . . . Bob . . . I’m not sure that’s the sexiest name.”

Carlise and April both laughed uproariously.

“His real name is Kendric,” April informed her.

“Oh my gosh, that’s so much better! Why in the world does he go by Bob?” June asked.

“Kendric is totally a romance hero name,” Carlise agreed. “And I don’t know why everyone calls him Bob.”

“His last name is Evans,” April supplied.

Both June and Carlise looked at her blankly.

“Jeez, you guys. Bob Evans? The restaurant?”

“Oh!” Carlise said.

June simply shook her head. “Boys. I swear, they have the most juvenile minds.”

Everyone giggled.

“I could totally tell the client I schedule him with that his name is Kendric. That way she wouldn’t know about the Bob thing unless he tells her. But by that time, she’d already be calling him Kendric in her head.”

“Yeah, like with me and Riggs. He told me his name was Riggs and then passed out on me for three days. So when JJ called and demanded to know what I’d done to Chappy, I was so confused. To this day, I can’t call him anything but Riggs.”

“Sounds like a plan,” June agreed. “April will schedule Bob . . . er . . . Kendric with a single woman who loves the outdoors—because why else would she want a hiking guide?—and they’ll fall in love, and she’ll move to Newton, and they’ll live happily ever after.”

June knew she was being ridiculous, but the alcohol in her veins and the happiness she was feeling hanging out with her new friends had her convinced everything would work out perfectly. “I wonder what the guys are doing?” she mused.

“Should we call them?” Carlise asked a little too eagerly.

“No! It’s too soon. We want them to wonder what we’re doing,” April said with a smile.

“But we’re just hanging out,” Carlise said with a shrug.

“They don’t have to know that. Maybe they’ll think we’re having a wild party or something.”

June wasn’t so sure about that, but she didn’t comment. She simply took another sip of her delicious drink and smiled. She was happy, almost scarily so, and refused to think about the other times in her life when she was content and how things usually turned to crap. That wouldn’t happen here. She hoped.