Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Josey
My rebellion had started relatively young with stretched earlobes and a nose ring.
I’d outgrown those, on account of the fact stretching my ears made them smell in the mornings and the way my nose ring never quite healed right.
Thankfully, all of those piercings closed back up to normal, and I was able to move on to new things.
At eighteen, I got my first tattoo, an addiction I hadn’t managed to shake even after almost twenty years under the needle.
All my work was out of sight, though, spread across my chest, my ribs, my stomach, my back, the tops of my legs.
If a person saw me out, even in the middle of the summer, they’d have no idea.
It was only a year or so ago I’d branched out into hair color.
I worked at a bookstore, so they definitely didn’t care about my appearance as long as I was clean and well-dressed.
First, I’d started with some bleached highlights, but it was giving late nineties heartthrob vibes, and that I most certainly was not.
From highlights, I moved to bleaching everything, and from that I ended up with fun colors.
I’d run through the rainbow and pink was decidedly my favorite.
After rinsing the color out of my hair and shaking out the pink strands over my forehead, I headed into the bedroom to check the alert on my phone. There were a couple emails about work, a text from my best friend, and the notification from H2H.
The man who’d messaged me looked to be about my age, maybe a little younger.
His profile indicated his name was Reg but didn’t say much else.
His picture was handsome enough, an angled nose and sharp cheekbones, close-cropped brown hair, and moss green eyes.
Reg looked like he had money, so I had no idea what a man like him would want with a man like me.
The message he’d sent was short and sweet.
Josey, my name is Reg, and I want to see if you’ll come on an adventure with me.
He’d at least read my profile, since my tagline was about going on adventures, so that was one check mark in the yes column.
I really didn’t make a habit of saying no to things, especially where dating or adventures were involved.
I’d always been of the belief that we only lived once, and the best way to live was to grab life by both horns and screw it.
Not literally, though also sometimes very literally.
I sent him a message in reply.
What kind of adventure?
He responded almost immediately, and I found myself wondering what his hands looked like. He didn’t have any pictures besides the main one on his profile which left everything about him to the imagination.
Reg: I need to buy a house
Me: I’m sorry?
Reg: It’s a little more complicated than that.
Reg: I just didn’t want to go it alone. I tried to convince myself the whole thing would be an adventure, and then you popped up on H2H and I thought…
Reg: I don’t know.
Me: Kismet.
Reg: You don’t think it’s bananas to use a dating app to invite a stranger house shopping?
Me: It would be if you were asking the stranger to move in with you. But you’re not, right?
Reg: Just shopping. An unbiased second opinion.
I sat down on the edge of my bed, phone cradled in both hands. My hair was still wet, dripping down the side of my neck, but I couldn’t be bothered over it. I was absolutely swept up in the mystery of Reg and his urgent need to go house shopping.
Me: I’ve got plenty of opinions. When did you want to start?
Reg: When are you free?
Me: My schedule is flexible. I’m actually off for a week starting today.
Reg: Tomorrow, then?
Me: I’m game.
Reg: I’ll text you an address later tonight, and we can go from there?
Me: Perfect.
Me: Before you go, I’ve got to ask. What is Reg short for?
There was a delay before the reply came, and I wondered what it was that gave him pause about his own name.
Reg: My name is Rainwater, but I go by Reginald. It sounded too staunch for this, so my sister just used Reg.
Me: Your sister? Did she set you up on here?
Reg: She’s convinced I’m going to die alone.
Me: In this new house you need to buy.
Reg: Exactly.
Me: Are you looking to date me, Reg? Or do you only want me for my opinions?
Another drawn-out break between replies, and I couldn’t help but smile to myself over how twisted up the question must have made this poor man.
Reg: I’m looking for an adventure. That’s about all I know.
I couldn’t have come up with a more perfect answer if the tables had been turned.
Me: Then I can’t wait to adventure with you tomorrow morning.
I swiped out of the app and dealt with the messages from work and from Kat, then decided it was time to have an early dinner and an even earlier bedtime.
From my phone, I ordered a pizza, then got comfortable in front of the TV.
It took twenty minutes of scrolling to find a movie, and by then my pizza had arrived.
I gobbled down two pieces, then pressed play on a romantic comedy, and I wasn’t sure if it was the movie or the text messages from Reg that had me smiling like a fool.
Right before the credits rolled, I got another message on H2H.
It was a message from Reg.
1626 Beachfront Way, Santa Monica. 9am. I’ll bring coffee.