Fake Friends - Saxon James Page 0,81
but the rainbow shake was delicious.”
The disgusted look on Rowan’s face makes me laugh.
“Excuse me, are you Leon Jefferies from LJ Construction?”
I look around for the voice and find a skinny guy staring straight at Leon.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
The … kid? Maybe? I mean, he’s small, but I don’t think he’s much younger than us, holds his hand out to Leon.
“I’m Auggie. I’ve submitted an application for the apprentice you’re looking for, and since I drove up for the festival tonight, I thought I might introduce myself if I saw you.”
The guy’s trying so hard to be professional, but his words just keep vomiting out of him.
“I mean, your whole story is impressive. No college, started the company from scratch and built it from the ground up. Now you have one of the biggest contracts this side of Portland …” He laughs awkwardly. “Now it sounds like I’ve been stalking you. I haven’t, so you know. But … yikes, okay, that sounded really stalkerish.” His face floods with a blush. “Oh, man, I really need to stop talking, don’t I? Sorry, I just, sometimes I struggle to do that.”
Leon seems confused as hell as he looks the guy up and down, and I know exactly what he’s thinking. There’s no way this guy could lift one brick let alone build anything.
Hiding a laugh, I hold a flyer out to the guy and cut him off just as he opens his mouth again. “We’re opening in a month. You should stop by.”
Apparently my offer is too much because he blinks in surprise and quickly takes the flyer before backing up. “Umm, yeah, thanks. Okay, that’s all. Look out for my name. Or don’t. I mean, just umm … maybe I’ll see you around. At work?” He gives a fake laugh. “Or not. Okay. Bye.”
He turns and flees, and the second he’s gone, Rowan can’t hold back his laugh. “What the hell was that?”
“Enthusiasm?” I offer, because seeing how embarrassed he was makes me feel bad for him.
Leon stuffs both hands in his pockets. “That was weird.”
“I’ll say.” Rowan tugs me closer and presses a kiss to my hair. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone talk that fast.”
“Or prove so quickly that they are the complete opposite of what I’m looking for.”
“You’re mean,” I tease.
Leon points down the road. “There’s no way I’m putting up with that every day.”
He has a fair point. The guy was a bit intense.
“Anyway, I’m off. With the town this full, there’s gotta be good pickings at Ugly’s later.”
We say goodbye to Leon as he leaves, and I stand there, surrounded by Rowan’s arms as we watch the families in the street.
“You know,” Rowan says after a few moments of silence, deep voice tickling my ear. “You’re right that we’re not in a place to be having that conversation, not yet anyway. But … I want it one day. A future with you. Kids with you. I want to give you the biggest family you ever dreamed of.”
I can’t stop my smile. “I want five kids.”
“Sure.”
“And three goats.”
“Okay.”
“Maybe a rooster, and some chickens.”
“Circus …”
“And a whole herd of alpaca.”
His silent laugh hits my neck. “Why don’t we start with one and go from there?”
“One Rowan.”
“And one Circus.”
Everything inside me settles. “That sounds like the perfect start to me.”
Two Months Later
I’ve never seen Circus happier, which is bizarre considering the twenty-four hours we’ve just had.
After visiting his parents’ graves yesterday and following it by having an awkward dinner with my family, by the time we got home, we were both feeling flat.
My parents are … trying, I guess. Dad barely spoke, and Mom spent the whole time bringing up business. Either the gym, or the diner, or Circus’s modeling.
It could have been worse.
The whole day is weighing on me, but Circus has already been out to collect the eggs from our chickens and is looking over the list for today’s party.
Red, white, and blue decorations are everywhere.
“Happy Fourth of July,” I say cautiously as I join him in the kitchen.
His smile splits his face. “Too much?”
“I think you hit too much about ten garlands of flags ago …” At least. I can’t see the ceiling through everything hanging from it. His long table has red, white, and blue flowers running down the middle, there are American flags hanging from the walls, and on the grass outside he’s set out blankets and cushions around a fire pit. “I didn’t know you were so patriotic.”
His full lips turn into this