Chapter Twelve
February Seventeenth
Wolfgang
‘I wonder what June is up to?’ He thought as he got into his jeep at lunch. ‘I should just go over there and take her to lunch, there’s the diner next door to her shop.’ The Jeep turned around, heading in that direction. Wolfgang hadn’t thought about a girl like this , that much. He saw something about her and for someone who waited so long to find someone, he wanted to make it official sooner than later.
‘I could take her to lunch, and then I can ask her out? Maybe ask her to be official then? No.’ His eyes narrowed at the road, ‘I want it to be more special than just a random lunch date.’ He turned into a parking spot in front of the shop and swiftly got out. Wolfgang opened the door and caught Juniper's eyes across the shop and smiled under his beard. ‘Damn she was beautiful, I had to kiss her and make her mine.’
Juniper
“Oh Junie babe!”
Golden exclaimed when he saw her drafts for a few dresses and a suit. “These are beautiful! I’d like to have these done before the annual ball.”
He separated a draft from the others, her first sketch. A sleek floor length, dark green dress, with a sheer sweetheart neckline. “I normally wouldn’t do this but I’d like to see this one in white, for a wedding dress. You have barely been here a month and I’d hate to promote you before the others.”
Golden handed back the other papers.
“That’s understandable,”
June tapped the papers against her desk, straightening them out. “Would you like me to do a sketch of this one in white now or-?”
“No, actually. I’d like you to make your other two dresses and a suit. I want to see how well of a seamstress you are. Let’s see how good you can be. The few sample dresses you made were good. Maybe if you focused more on sewing and less on Wolfgang we would excel.”
Golden winked at her teasingly and wandered off.
June had finished a few plain dresses and did want to excel, she knew she could. She flipped through her drafts, a black silky floor length dress, a short pink dress with a big bow in the back and a bustle. The door chimed and she looked up. Wolfie walked in unannounced and June was surprised to see him, “Hey gorgeous.”
He bent down and kissed her on the lips as she approached.
June blushed as some of her coworkers looked at them from their stations, “What are you doing here?”
“Can’t a man take a lady to lunch?”
“I guess so.”
She smirked at him, “Let me grab my bag.”
Wolfie followed June outside, holding the door open for her and then going for her hand, “Have you tried this place a few shops over?”
“No, I usually bring mine.”
They walked side by side until they entered the small diner two doors down and found a seat against the window.
“I enjoy seeing you Juniper.”
He started the conversation.
“Why is that?”
She simpered.
He reached across the table to play with her hand, “Many reasons.”
His tone was serious but the way he was poking at her palm made her think otherwise. “I want to take you out again.”
He smiled and flattened her hand with his against the table.
“Okay,”
She grabbed her coffee with her spare hand.
“But I kind of want it to be a surprise, when is good for you?”
June spoke into her coffee mug pulling it away, “Anytime after three.”
“Well, I am working late tonight to upgrade part of the system and tomorrow, I promised Max I would help him with his things. I’d hate to push it until next week-”
“How is next Saturday?”
“That will give me time to plan something halfway decent.”
He seemed pleased as if he had already known what he planned.
“Okay, you know if you miss me too much you can always come over and see me.”
She sent an inviting smile.
“Oh really?”
He pulled his hand back, “What do you have planned for tonight?”
“Whitney wants to go shopping after work.”
“How fun.”
He expressed flatly, “Doesn’t she own half the clothes on the island?”
“Probably.”
She cleared her arms from the table as the food arrived. “But it makes it easy for me to find an outfit.”
*****
“I only want to go into the dressing room one time.”
June zigzagging through the racks.
“I know.”
Whitney muttered.
“How do you have so many clothes and still need to go shopping?”
“I like retail therapy.”
Whitney twisted her cross body bag to sit behind her.
“What do you do with them when they’re done?”
“You should know.”
She looked at June, seeing she was confused. “You bring them back and they credit you. It’s called recycling. Even if they have stains or holes, they use it for other stuff.”
June stood there still confused on how she should know this. “Never mind, it’s a whole other department than yours.”
“How is Fade?”
June sighed.
“He’s good I guess, he’s in one of his moods.’”
Whitney hyper focused on the rack.
“Ick, I’m sorry.”
“I love him anyway, ya know? I’m going to try and get him out of it tonight with a little tender, love and care.”
Whitney chuckled to herself. “How’s Wolfie? I haven’t heard you talk about him, is that still even a thing?”
“Yes, we actually went to lunch today and we’re going out again next week.”
“Are you guys in love yet or what?”
Whitney added some clothes to her pile.
“No. I like him, he’s sweet, a gentleman and I just want to punch him in the face for seeming so damn perfect.”
“Not a great tactic, but I see where you’re going with it.”
She held up a plum colored dress, “What do you think about this?”
June shrugged, “Not really your style.”
“Well it’s for you, for your date.”
She tossed it at her.
“Oh, I’d have to try it on.”
Her phone buzzed.
Wolfgang ‘In the words of Whitney, you looked HOT today.’
The corner of June’s mouth turned upward, ‘Thank you, you’re not so bad yourself.’
“Who is that? Wolfgang?”
Whitney pointed to Juniper’s lit phone.
“Uh, yeah. Who else would it be? I don’t have anyone else interested in me.”
June put her phone in her pocket as it vibrated again.
Wolfgang, ‘I might need a break from Max and Shianne. Should I come over tonight?’
“Wolfgang wants to know if he should come over tonight?”
She looked at Whitney who was meticulously shifting hangers.
“Tell him, only if he makes us dinner.”
Juniper ‘I need a break from cooking dinner.’
She pulled out a red tank top, “That’s cute,”
Whitney confirmed for her and June’s phone buzzed in her hand.
Wolfgang ‘Deal, see you at six. Dinner for four or five?’
“Will Fade be joining us?”
She picked up her bundle of clothes to try on, “Actually, no. Might be weird for Brittanya. I can have him come over later.”
Juniper ‘Four.’
She picked up her few items and followed Whitney into a dressing room next to her.
After trying everything on, June announced to Whitney as she emerged from her dressing room, “I hated the dress but the tank top and shorts are cute. I’ll wear them tonight.”
Wolfgang
He went with barbecue, He didn’t know what else to cook without messing up. He grabbed his grocery bag of steak, potatoes and salad and headed towards the front door. Wolfgang knocked and in an instant Whitney swung the door open. “Hey.”
He smiled.
“What’s up?”
She stepped to the side. The room was clean, but it was never really messy that he had ever seen. He heard Brittanya and June come from down the hall and flashed a grin when he saw Juniper.
“Hey.”
He smiled and walked towards her with every intention of kissing her.
“Hi.”
June’s cheeks flushed as he pulled away. “What’s for dinner?”
“Steak.”
Whitney closed the door, “Typical.”
She snorted. “We haven’t used our barbecue since last summer.”
“That’s fine, I can make it work.”
He set the bag down on the kitchen counter and stepped outside. There was a layer of fine dust on top of the barbecue with a few leaves and twigs from the nearby tree. Wolfgang opened it up to find burnt out coals and the rack with crusted food still on it. He rubbed his beard and opened the bottom compartment, finding a barely used bag of coal and matches.
Starting up the coals, he let them burn hot and long to burn the old food off and went back inside. June was in a red tank top and tiny jean shorts, she was barefoot. It was enough for Wolfgang to fantasize what would happen if they were alone and dismissed the thought when he heard Brittanya’s voice.
“So just steak?”
She peaked in the bag.
“No, not just steak.”
He grabbed it and pulled out the paper wrapped meat, four potatoes and a prepackaged salad. “Should I do the potatoes on the grill or in the oven?”
“The oven is fine.”
She grabbed them and took them to the sink and Wolfie looked at June who was sitting at the table next to the back door. She glanced up from her phone, side eyeing him through her eye lashes. He watched her look him up and down, smirk and then go back to her phone.
“What?”
He walked towards her, towering over her.
“I was messing with you, and it worked. Golden says hi by the way.”
Juniper
Fade had joined us after dinner and Whitney was no longer entertaining anyone but him.
“I’m going to finish up some stuff in my room,”
Brittanya excused herself.
“Okay.”
She smiled. June placed her kitchen towel in the sink after wiping down the counter and picked up her hand full of items to take to her room holding her smile as she passed Wolfgang. He stood and followed behind her, entering June’s room with her and left the door open. She placed her few items down on her dresser and opened the top drawer, “So this is my room, welcome.”
She placed her purse in the drawer and closed it.
“It’s nice, very minimal.”
He sat on the bed.
“Yeah, that’s what happens when you don’t grow up here.”
She was snarky towards him and stood in front of him.
He grabbed her around the waist and looked up at her, “Well we all can’t be hot but here you are.”
His voice had shifted deeper and his eyelids relaxed as he pulled her to straddle his lap. She accepted, pushing him back on the bed with a kiss, going from flirty to lust in an instant. June aggressively kissed him, she couldn’t stop herself, she didn’t want to either. The way he cared for her tonight with no strings attached, had jolted something inside of her. Her mouth opened and closed over his as his tongue entered her mouth, touching hers.
Her chest grazed his as she held herself up with one hand and the fingers of the other weaved through his beard, feeling his jaw move. The tension burst between them as Wolfgang’s hands rode up the back of her shirt, feeling her bare skin above her jeans. June dropped her hand to his chest, feeling his heartbeat with every movement of his mouth and hands as a few fingers hooked onto her jeans waistband, testing the limits. June thought about stopping him but did nothing.
Whitney’s laugh echoed down the hall from the living room bringing Wolfgang back to reality and dropped his head from interlocking with June’s. He groaned, fixing June’s clothes, “I should go.”
“Are you sure?”
June sat up, still straddling him with his hands on her hips.
“I don’t want to, but I should.”
She knew he wasn’t wrong, but right now felt good, it felt safe, it felt like every movie she had questioned if love actually happened like that.
“Yes, it’s getting late.”
He sat and gently kissed her and reassured her, as if what was growing between them wasn’t enough.