Page 34 of June

When she parked her car, she pulled out her phone and stared at the message again. Deciding that replying wouldn’t hurt anything and it would help get Caroline off her mind for the night so that she could focus on her date, she typed a response and hit send. Then, knowing that her first text was a ridiculous one to send to someone, she quickly typed and sent another message to try to make up for the silly one.

Enid Becker: Tell Miranda that I appreciate the apology and that I forgive her.

Enid Becker: Also, hi.

Somehow, when she looked at her messages together now, her second one looked even more ridiculous than the first one had been just on its own, or they were at least tied for the most ridiculous. Enid sighed, wishing that she could have taken them back, but it was too late now, so she shoved her phone into her purse and headed toward Jill’s apartment, trying to refocus on the fact that she was about to be on a date with someone who was notpossiblyflirting with her via mentions of cartoon furniture.

“Hi,” Jill said with a wide smile on her face after she opened her apartment door.

“Hey,” Enid said, smiling back at her.

Jill was wearing a pair of skinny jeans with black ballet flats and a sleeveless turtleneck, also in black. She had makeup on, but it was light and appeared mostly natural. Her hair was pulled back into a high pony, and she looked beautiful. Not only that. Jill looked hot. She also looked like she’d put time into getting ready for their date, which meant that she cared, and that madeEnid feel even worse about forgetting about their date being tonight.

“Do you want to come in?” Jill asked.

“Sure. We have a few minutes,” Enid replied.

“We’re on a schedule I don’t know about?”

“I made a reservation. It’s not to a fancy place or anything, but I didn’t want us to have to sit around and wait for dinner all night.”

“You made a reservation? That was thoughtful,” Jill said as she ushered Enid in. “And I thoughtfully picked up my dirty clothes and actually did dishes today so that you wouldn’t see how my mess of an apartment usually looks.”

Enid laughed and walked inside, taking a look around at the pretty decent one-bedroom place that Jill had described a little to her over text.

“It’s nice,” she said.

Jill’s apartment was in an old building, so the walls were made of solid brick, which actually gave the place some real character. The living room and dining room were both open, but the kitchen was one of those tunnel-style ones, and it only looked big enough for one person to be in there comfortably.

“I moved in about a month ago,” Jill shared. “My old lease was up, and I didn’t want to renew. Melinda technically still has the old apartment above NOLA Guides, but she and Kyle have had a lot of sex there, so even though she offered it to me, I turned her down.”

Enid laughed again. Jill was funny. She also seemed light somehow, like she didn’t have a care in the world, and Enid decided that she needed someone like that in her life because she’d been feeling like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders for the past two years now, maybe even longer.

“Do you want the tour?” Jill asked.

“Sure,” she replied.

“This whole area is open, which I really liked when I saw the place.” Jill motioned to the living room and dining area. “There’s really only just the kitchen, which is moderately clean but very small, and the bathroom and bedroom.”

Enid didn’t know if she should ask to see the bedroom because that could come out wrong, so she just nodded. Jill tilted her head as if reading her.

“Do you want to see the bedroom?”

“Sure,” she repeated. “But not in a… not like…”

Jill laughed and said, “It’s just a room, Enid.” She then took Enid’s hand and pulled her about ten feet across the living room toward a half-open door. “My room.”

She pushed the door open the rest of the way, and they stood in the doorway. Enid looked inside and thought it was fairly standard as far as rooms went. Jill had a queen bed with white bedding that looked fluffy and comfortable. The tables and dresser matched in a dark wood, and she had a modest TV sitting on top of the dresser.

“Bathroom is through there, but it’s just a bathroom,” Jill added, nodding to a closed door next to what Enid now assumed was the closet.

“Nice,” she said.

“It works for me,” Jill replied.

She had dropped Enid’s hand when she’d pushed the door open, but then she took it again, and they walked back toward the front door. Jill let go of her when she went to grab her purse and then looked at Enid.

“Ready?”

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