Page 54 of Bourbon Bliss
“Look, GT, you have to be straight with June,” Bowie said. “She’s smarter than half this town combined, but she sees things literally. You gotta say what you mean, not assume she’ll figure it out.”
“That’s not even the real issue,” Gibson said.
Bowie’s eyebrows winged up his forehead. “What?”
“The issue is that June had a concern and you blew her off. She saw something that she thought wasn’t right. She let you know. You told her she shouldn’t be jealous of your pretty assistant, which basically sent the message that you weren’t taking her seriously. No shit she’s mad at you. I wouldn’t speak to you either.”
Bowie and Jonah stared at Gibson.
“What?” he asked.
“That was very insightful, Gibs,” Bowie said. “Although why were you tossing shit my direction? You’re aggressively single, but you’re qualified to dole out relationship advice?”
Gibson cracked a rare smile behind his thick beard. “Coaches don’t play on the field, Bow.”
“That’s a fair point,” I said, tipping my beer to Gibson.
He nodded.
“Coach my ass,” Bowie said. “This is from the guy who once dated Misty Lynn Prosser.”
“Shut your pie hole.” Gibson finished his sweet tea, set down the jar, and stalked off toward the pool tables.
“That was interesting,” Jonah said. “Gibs was being oddly helpful just then.”
“I know,” Bowie said. “And he told us to go easy on you when we were planning the whole lake thing.”
“I won’t even pretend I understand that guy,” Jonah said. “But he doesn’t hate you, GT, so you have that going for you.”
I knew Gibson remembered me helping him the day he’d almost hit that deer. I didn’t like that he’d crashed his car, of course, although he’d already fixed some of the damage. But I didn’t mind the fact that it seemed to have put Gibson in the pro-GT camp. I had a feeling not many people got that guy to like them.
But I still had to figure out what to do about June.
“I screwed up, didn’t I?”
“Little bit,” Bowie said.
“How do I fix it?” I asked. “My last girlfriend would have wanted diamond earrings or a designer purse. Iknowthat’s not June. Hell, it’s one of the reasons I like June.”
“First of all, be prepared for her to show you charts and graphs that explain how she’s right.” Bowie took a drink. “But I have to admit, despite the fact that I’m in love with June’s sister, I don’t understand Juney too well.”
I got the sense that a lot of people didn’t understand June very well. Which seemed odd to me. She was different, but in a lot of ways, that made her easy to understand. You knew where you stood with her.
Of course, that didn’t mean I magically knew how to handle our first fight. But at least I knew buying her presents wasn’t the answer.
I stared at the mouth of my beer bottle. June wasn’t like other girls I’d known, but that didn’t make her any less a woman. I’d hurt her feelings. Gibson had been spot on. She’d been concerned about me. She cared. And I’d brushed that aside, assuming she was jealous.
Some girls played games. Made you guess. Not my June Bug. She’d said exactly what she meant. I just hadn’t been listening carefully.
“I need to go talk to her.”
“Good luck,” Bowie and Jonah both said.
“Thanks.”
I got up from my stool and headed for the door. Gibson caught my eye. Gave me a quick chin tip, which I returned.
Then I went in search of my girl.
