Page 47 of Dumbstruck
“A professional…what, exactly?”
“Saboteur.”
“Are those a real thing? Professional saboteurs?”
I whack him on the arm playfully, but my eyes catch on the sheer number of people wandering along Main Street now. School has been out for almost an hour now, and with nothing else to do, the kids tend to hang out in town before going home for dinner. There are too many of them for us to have a conversation without being overheard, and I’m starting to suspect…
“I think we might have to be done with interviews for the day,” I murmur, taking hold of his hand and subtly gesturing to a group of teens wandering near us, a few with bikes and skateboards in tow.
Jonah nods and touches a finger to my chin. “Your wrinkles are starting to come off anyway.”
“Thank goodness for that. I’m ready to be reasonably pretty again.”
He scoffs, his eyes trailing over my face. “As if you’re not as beautiful now as you were in your younger years.”
“Mr. Smith, you are incorrigible.”
“Actually, I can be quite corrigible with the right motivation.”
I snort a laugh and tuck my arm through his so we can head back to the production field. I prefer to talk out loud if I want to make sense of my thoughts, and I’ll need privacy to do that. “You are something else,” I murmur, which only makes Jonah laugh. At this point, I’ve said that so many times that it’s getting ridiculous.
The walk to the makeup tent is a slow one, but I tuck my theories in the back of my mind and let myself enjoy the peace of it, focusing on being with Jonah. Today is cool, not quite spring, and I’m content to lean into Jonah and soak up his warmth. Dexter is right behind us—he started following after we left the grocery store—but I can almost pretend that we’re a regular couple out for a walk in the sunshine.
I can almost pretend that a relationship between Jonah and me might work.
“Did you learn anything?” Dexter asks once we reach Jonah’s trailer.
Jonah sighs. “Not re—”
“Maybe,” I say, stretching my back now that I don’t have to worry about looking old. “But I need to think about it for a second and make sure I’m not grasping at straws.”
“We can take you back to your house so you can shower and change.” Jonah does his own stretching, raising his arms high above his head and subsequently lifting his shirt and sweater with it. I have to try exceptionally hard not to sneak a peek of what’s under there, contenting myself with the memory of when he went running past my house. “Or,” he continues, “you’re welcome to use my trailer if you’re desperate to de-age. I can use Dexter’s shower.”
Dexter frowns. “My shower is a tent and shared with like thirty people.”
I meet Jonah’s gaze, curious about how he will respond to that.
His mouth stretches into an amused smile as he reads my curiosity on my face. “You’re forgetting I grew up on a farm, June Harper. I spent my summers roaming the woods with nothing but the clothes on my back and a shotgun to keep the cougars away. I can handle a tent shower.”
“I can’t decide if you’re telling the truth,” I whisper, a little horrified as I imagine this man getting attacked by a big cat. “Though, you’d probably make friends with a cougar before ever having to shoot it.”
Chuckling, he throws his arms around Dexter’s shoulders. “Or start dating her,” he says with a wink that heats me to the core. “You know how I have a thing for older women. What do you say, June? Should we take you home, or—”
“I want to stay.” I grimace when the words come out sounding desperate.Show some dignity, June.“I need someone to bounce my ideas off of after I’ve done my ruminating in the shower, and I don’t want…” I stop. I don’t want to revert back to the awkwardness of the alley if we’re apart for too long, but I’m afraid to bring it up. Things are good between us right now, and I want it to stay that way.
Besides, there’s always the chance that the saboteurs will stalk my house again tonight, and that sounds…disconcerting.
Pulling his arm free, Jonah steps closer to me and takes my hand, holding it to his chest like he did before. He clearly felt my shift in energy, with the way concern adds to the wrinkles on his forehead. “You’re also welcome to take my bed tonight,” he murmurs, rightly guessing some of my fears. “There’s a couch in the trailer I can use, or I can see if Bonnie will let me—”
“You wouldn’t mind spending a night on the couch after spending last night on the floor?”
Jonah’s smile turns warm. “I wouldn’t mind it in the slightest. Not if it means you’ll feel safe.”
Safe. Everything I didn’t have with my ex. Even after the argument in the alley, I still feel safe with Jonah because he was so quick to own up to his mistakes. Sighing with relief, I lean up on my toes and press a kiss to Jonah’s cheek. “Thank you.”
“Dex, can you grab June’s stuff from costuming? And maybe tell Richie he can stop pacing wherever he is now that we’re back.” Jonah waits until Dexter leaves to do as directed, and then he turns his full focus to me, eyes burning.
This might be the first time we’re alone, and it looks like Jonah isn’t about to waste the opportunity.
