Page 111 of Fun Together
“Bambi hates the garden,” her grandpa says, brushing her off.
“I don’t hate it.” Faye bends down to pluck a tomato from the vine. “It’s just a little much for you to take care of.”
“Nah, it’s fine,” her grandpa says.
Faye just looks at me and shakes her head in a way that signals her surrender to her grandpa’s stubbornness. I get the sense this is an argument they’ve had plenty of times before, and Faye has lost it each time. It’s becoming clear where Faye gets her reluctance to accept help from.
“You want to take some of this with you, Eli?” he asks me.
I look at him and then I look at Faye, silently asking her permission. She smiles. “You don’t have to.”
“No, I’d love to.”
He goes inside and brings out a grocery bag. “Here you go, have at it.”
About twenty minutes later, my plastic bag is full of tomatoes and cucumbers, and I get into Faye’s car for the drive back.
“I think he liked me.”
I expect her to playfully disagree or say something vague in response, but she says, “Yeah, I think he did. No small feat. As you can tell, he’s a little prickly.”
That makes me feel like I’ve won the fucking lottery.
“I don’t mind prickly. I’m glad I got to meet him.” As we pull out of the driveway I notice the hole again. “Want me to help fill that some time? I can borrow a shovel from my brother if your grandpa doesn’t have one.”
“Sure, that would be a huge help.”
This also makes me feel like I’ve accomplished a great feat. Faye is accepting my help without asking what she can do for me in return.
Now’s my chance to bring up the job. But we just had a great afternoon together and I don’t want to ruin the mood. Maybe I can find a chance to mention it before the party tomorrow.
36
Faye
“I needto tell you something before we go in.”
Eli’s been nervously fidgeting the entire drive from my apartment to the party. I thought maybe it had to do with him being worried about his speech. I offered to help him with it earlier this week, but he said he would “let the inspiration come to him when he’s up there.”
Now I feel uneasy, like something else is wrong. If he’s showing this much discomfort about it, I’m scared it’s something to do with the party itself. “Okay . . .”
We pull into the driveway of his parents’ house, and I notice there are cars everywhere, lined up and down the entire street.
A woman darts out of the house and runs down the front path. “That would be Evie,” Eli says. He seems tired, too. He’s got bags under his eyes like he hasn’t slept well.
My stomach churns. “What do you need to tell me?”
He scratches at his chin—he has a light five o’clock shadow from shaving last night—and turns toward me. “I should have told you sooner, but?—”
He’s interrupted by persistent tapping on the driver’s side window. Evie motions for Eli to open the door. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone? We have an ice emergency.”
He gives me an apologetic look. “It’s not life or death. I’ll tell you after.”
That doesn’t help matters for me, but I can’t help but go with it. We get out of the car and Eli introduces me to Evie.
She has a bubbly way about her that I like immediately, and I’m beginning to think Eli’s entire family is attractive. Her light brown hair is perfectly curled, and she’s wearing a simple black tank top tucked into a pair of high-waisted white shorts that highlight her curvy figure.
“Iloveyour dress,” she says. I’m wearing a vintage baby-blue shift dress that Rett and I found while thrifting one Sunday afternoon. It was one of those magical moments where the perfect clothing item was hanging from an end cap, like it was waiting there for me. “Anyone ever tell you that you look like Liv Tyler?”
