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"Nope."
"Sleep on the couch again?"
"Also nope."
"Good," he said definitively. "The fact that you're here with me and not out climbing that tall drink of water is a problem, though. You've got, like, less than 24 hours with him." June's stomach dropped and she looked at her phone to check the time. Tomorrow morning, at this time, the students would be loading their luggage onto the bus, and June and Kevin would be taking last minute attendance, and then they'd leave. She'd leave.
"Fuck," she whispered, her head falling backward.
"It doesn't have to be that way," Kevin sing-songed.
"It does, though," June argued. "There's no way it's gonna work, so why try? I have to figure out my fucking job situation first."
"What have you thought about?"
"Colin's stupid face," she grunted. "His dumb lips and hot body and adorable cat. Not whether I want to stay in this career or not."
Kevin laughed. "That's a good thing. Get your mind off of it. What if one day, you wake up, and just know. Like a truth will just hit you, and you'll know what to do."
"When is it going to be, though? Time is running out."
"Nah, it'll shake out. I have confidence." He finished his cup of coffee and got up to put it away in the dining hall. "I'm just going to assume that I won't see you this evening, right?" June turned beet red as her response. "I figured, and I'm happy for you. Does Uncle Kevin need to go buy you condoms or anything?"
"I'm fine," June muttered, slumping in her chair as she turned even redder.
"Ohh, you're blotchy!" Kevin said, delighted. "That means you really like him."
"Argh!" she responded, waving him off. "Go away!" His laughter followed him as he walked to the dining hall. June stayed in her chair, taking in her surroundings again. This was Colin's backyard. What an amazing place to live. Did they get a lot of snow? Did he ski?
There were a million things she wanted to know about Colin. Middle name, favorite color, childhood best friend, and a thousand more things. She wouldn't get the chance to ask him.
Shit. June berated herself as she trudged back to the cabin, grabbed her stuff, and headed out to the dock. Once there, she opened her laptop and shielded her eyes, looking over the lake at a figure in a canoe. It was Colin. June watched him paddle out to the middle of the lake, noticing how the motion made his arm muscles bulge in really delicious ways. She thought she could give him a back rub this evening if he was sore. June wondered how he took care of himself out here, living alone with just Muir to keep him company.
Just this week, June reminded herself. This was a week of escape, and if fucking Colin was a part of that, then she considered it a huge benefit.
But it’s not just the sex, a little voice in the back of her head whispered. Yes, that was one great part, but there was definitely more. The way they could bounce from laughing at once, then pivoting to have serious, deep conversations. June felt like this - whatever this was - was helping her begin to heal from the past few years. Yes, they would probably still leave a scar, but June could view this week like Neosporin. Something that you used at the beginning of healing, to minimize the lasting damage.
For someone who claims to read 100 books a year and studied the trench poets, that is actually the worst metaphor I’ve ever heard, she berated herself.
Just then, Colin waved to her from the boat, shaking June out of her thoughts and returning her to what she was supposed to be doing - thinking about jobs, exploring cover letters, rephrasing her resume. She closed her laptop with more force than was necessary, shoved it in her bag, and waved back. Cover letters could wait until tomorrow, because Colin wouldn't be coming home with her from camp, but her computer would.
Colin kept paddling toward the dock and June could have sworn he was showing off for her. Was it really necessary to paddle that fast? To roll up his shirt sleeves, revealing the caps of muscle on his shoulders, as well as a pretty gnarly farmer's tan. What was dorky and awkward on most men - stark tan lines, socks and sandals - was somehow wildly sexy on Colin. She laughed as he aggressively paddled, skidding his canoe onto the shore. He hopped out, quite athletically, June noted - and practically ran onto the dock.
"Hey," he said, slightly out of breath.
"Hey yourself," she replied, wishing there weren't kids on the lake, that she could greet him by leaping into his arms, throwing herself at him. Honestly, she wished she could tackle him on the dock and bang him right there, but that was clearly unprofessional.
"How are the cover letters going?" he asked, sitting down on the dock, extending his arms behind him and stretching out in the sun.
"You remind me of Muir right now," she commented. "And the letters aren't going anywhere, I'm avoiding them. I'm enjoying today and pretending that tomorrow doesn't exist."
"That's healthy," Colin cracked and June tried to resist the urge to push him off the dock and into the lake.
They sat there, soaking up the sun, as the group of campers paddled around the lake, played bumper boats, fell into the water and struggled to climb back into their canoes. June told Colin about the backgrounds of certain kids, Colin pointed out different species of birds flying by, and they swapped stories of the most ridiculous things that kids had said when they thought adults weren't around to hear. It felt so incredibly easy to be with him, where June didn't worry about the right thing to say or what potential outcomes could occur. They just…were. And when thoughts of Friday floated into her head, she pushed them out, focused on the stretch and length of Colin's body, the rasp of his voice, the yelp of his laugh, the glitter in his eyes when he looked at June.
Eventually, though, Colin pushed himself off the dock to help the kids unload, which provided June with a delicious selection of eye candy as he worked to pull in canoes. Students were not exactly graceful leaving them, so he was covered in water by the time he was out, and his t-shirt clung perfectly to his body. With kids on shore and sent back to their cabins to get ready, Colin waved June down from the dock.
"Cold?" June asked, raising her eyebrows when she reached him. His nipples were pinpoints beneath his wet shirt. He crossed his arms over his chest and wrinkled his nose at June.
