The patter of footsteps comes closer to the door and the latch of her front door unlocks. There are billions of humans roaming this floating rock and somehow I ended up in this small town with the most beautiful woman the world could ever see.
The door opens and I’m left breathless.
“Good morning, Henry.” Maisie looks like the sun shines just for her.
Sheissunshine in the purest form.
“Good morning, Maisie.” My skin is getting hot just being in her proximity, another feeling I’ve never felt. “I got you your go-to coffee.” I hand it to her and I’d be lying if I said the brush of my fingertips against hers wasn’t on purpose.
“You remembered my order?” The look in her eyes is pure admiration.
“Of course I did, I wrote it down after I left Lakeside Grounds that day I ran into you.”
”Wow,” she lingers in the doorway, staring at her twitching hands, “that’s very sweet. Thank you, Henry.”
“Iamvery sweet, after all,” I joke, hoping to ease the anxious energy between us. “You look beautiful today by the way.” Beautiful is an understatement, she deserves to be put in The Louvre.
She has on a yellow dress that hits her mid thigh and a pair of cowboy boots that look like they’ve been well loved.
I wasn’t sure what to wear so I went with a black T-shirt and jeans, and brought a denim jacket in case Maisie gets cold.
“Thank you, you look good yourself.” She blushes. I wonder if I make her as nervous as she makes me.
“Are you ready for day one of your Fuck List?”
“It’s Fuck It List, not a Fuck List.” She grins and grabs her keys from her bag, fumbling with them to lock the front door.
“If it was a Fuck List, I’d still be here anyway,” I whistle, “I’d be number one on it.”
“Let’s go.” She rolls her eyes which only makes me like her more. “Don’t make me regret this.” And with that, she turns and we begin making our way to my truck. “I meant to ask the other day, is this Miles’ old truck?”
“Yeah, he let me borrow it for the summer since he recently upgraded and got a new one.”
I remember when Miles got this truck, it was his pride and joy—a red 1997 Chevy Silverado. When he turned sixteen, we would drive throughout the night, getting into all sorts of trouble. I even had my first kiss in this truck the summer I was seventeen.
“I thought it looked familiar, he used to drive it to school,” she says as I open the door for her. I’m reminded of the other day when I held her waist and set her in the passenger seat. I take hercoffee from her and put it on the roof of the truck, holding out my hand for her as she steps inside.
“Wow, what a gentleman,” she says playfully but I don’t miss the hitch in her breath.
“Want to see a real gentleman?” I reach to grab her seatbelt and buckle her in. The whole time trying to mask the inhale as I take in her sweet floral scent. As I step back, I don’t miss how close our faces are to one another and I especially don’t miss the way her eyes graze my lips.
I’ll press my lips to hers one day.
“Arealgentleman,” she whispers. “Thank you.”
I shut her door and hop around the front of the truck with a grin on my face I can’t even be embarrassed about. Today is going to be a good day.
Opening my door and sitting in the driver's seat, I give her a pointed look. “Alright, Winslow… time to go check off your first Fuck It List item.”
The Crescent County Fair is about a 20 minute drive out of Ruby Lake, in a town called Willow Creek. The drive takes us around the lake which may be one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever seen.
The mountains are kissed by the sun, the evergreen trees are bright and green and the lake is moving in waves as boats fly through it. The sky is blue and clear with no clouds to be seen for miles. Today might be the perfect day.
But that might be because of the girl sitting next to me.
Maisie is in the passenger seat with the window down and it’s hard not to look her way as the wind tousles her blonde locks, yet I do. “I’m happy you asked me to help you with your list. Are you excited to make thisThe Summer of Maisie?”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” She turns to me with a smirk on her face.
