Page 122 of Dove
“He did all the work,” I pointed out.
“I filled the canister up,” she argued. “That’s got to count for something.”
As much as I loved Reverie, she wasn’t a hands-on gal. Unless it came to all thing’s beauty. But I didn’t question my best friend's alleged involvement, not when Zeke was gazing at Reverie like she’d cured cancer instead of pumped gas.
“Then thanks to you, too, Rev. I’m sure Zeke never would have managed to fill the container himself, so really you did the most important job of all.”
She scoffed at my sarcastic tone. “See if I come to your rescue again.”
My snarky reply got lodged in my throat as Josh moved behind me to prop his arm up on the truck bed. Every part of me was aware of how close he was, and despite the fact he wasn’t touching me, I could feel the weight of it. The pull to lean back into his chest was so strong my muscles tensed, yearning for him to drape that strong arm across my shoulders in a deliberate mirror of the couple in front of us.
I coughed around my dry throat and Rev smirked from her place under Zeke’s arm, an all-knowing twinkle in her eye as her gaze volleyed back and forth between me and Josh.
I widened my eyes pointedly, using our near-telepathic abilities to tell her toknock it off.
Thankfully I was saved by a truck passing by. It slowed to a crawl, boasting “O’Leery Farms”on the side. Instead of Mr. O’Leery himself in the driver’s seat, however, it was one of his farm hands, a sweaty-looking teenager sporting a farmer’s tan and a fresh driver’s license.
Bill O’Leery was known for hiring local kids. He paid a fair wage, and it gave them something to do over summer break. There wasn’t much to do in Haven when school let out, and trouble could be found just about anywhere. Parents wantedtheir kids occupied, and the farmers needed temporary help during their busy season, so it worked.
Gareth used to do the same thing, before Josh left. Then after...he hadn’t bothered, and it wasn’t long after that mom got sick.
He stopped beside us, leaning out his open window to ask if we were okay, but the green-around-the-edges look he sported said he wouldn’t have known what to do if we weren’t anyway. His relief was visible when we waved him on, reassuring him everything was fine. He tipped his straw hat and continued on, the back of his truck filled with ripe produce he was likely delivering to the grocery store.
“That reminds me,” Reverie said, “are you two planning on going to the fair?Or,” she cooed suggestively, “maybe you have something else you’re busy with?”
Something in the tone of her voice had me narrowing my eyes suspiciously, wondering what she was up to.
“Reverie.” Josh bit out warningly from behind me.
The terse, abrupt rebuke had me throwing a questioning look over my shoulder at him, but his focus was on my friend. The stern expression on his face took me by surprise almost as much as her question, mostly because I had no idea how what she said had managed to upset him about as much as I had no idea that the Strawberry Festival was coming up.
“That’s already?” I couldn’t believe we were in the middle of July. Had it really been over a month since our parent’s deaths? Since Josh came back? Somehow it simultaneously seemed like the blink of an eye and an eternity had passed at the same time.
She nodded. “This Saturday.”
Josh took a step closer to me. If I took a deep enough inhale, his chest just barely brushed my back. I forced myself to stand still so my body wouldn’t betray me by swaying backward.
“Do you want to go?” His question was softly murmured in my ear, sparking tingles to rush down my spine.
Nothing sounded better, but doubt swirled in my head. We’d be surrounded by the whole town, everyone’s eyes on us. It wasn’t like we could walk hand in hand, enjoying homemade goods and playing games like a normal couple. Not to mention the fact we still had so much to do yet for the harvest next week.
Instead of answering him, I asked them, “Are you two going?” I felt more than heard Josh’s tiny huff of laughter when my voice came out breathier than I’d meant it to. He totally knew what he was doing to me.Jerk.
Zeke shook his head. “Workin’ most of the day,” he answered regretfully. “We’re catering the festival. Plus we always get a bunch of city slickers stopping by while they’re in town, so we’ll be swamped.”
“But we might head over after,” Reverie tacked on. “Probably not until later in the evening, though, because I’ve got something important to do after work.”
Something important she hadn’t mentioned to me? She was being purposefully vague, but I could always tell when Reverie was being secretive. “What are you?—"
“Alright, big guy,” she interrupted quickly, patting Zeke on the chest. “We better get going, we’ve only got so much of your requested day off left, and I don’t plan on wasting a minute of it.” With that she took his larger hand in hers and tugged him back towards his truck, throwing a hasty farewell over her shoulder.
When we were nothing but tiny specks in Zeke’s rearview mirror, Josh curled himself around me. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” he muttered in my ear, “but your best friend is weird.”
I laughed, finally allowing myself to lean back into him like I’d wanted to do all along. “She’sunique,” I corrected, “and you act as if you didn’t already know that.”
Despite our teasing, something still niggled at me with how she’d been acting, at least towards the end. “Shewasacting strange, though,” I admitted, biting at my bottom lip in thought. “But I think maybe it’s because she’s with Zeke again.”
Josh wrapped an arm around me, resting it across my collarbones. “You said she isn’t staying?”
