Chapter 1
Every single Saturday the whole family, those who still lived in the family home at least, would depart the house at around 11 am and head to Central Park together. The twins would get pushed by the mother in an oversized buggy, while the older son walked hand in hand with the father. Behind them, the daughter would be carrying the packaged lunches on her own.
They would take a stroll around the park until the twins would start acting up, or until the second youngest son would start to whine about his feet hurting. The parents would then find a bench, somewhere to rest. They would pay full attention to the twins, as they were only toddlers and also had some special needs. The other son would complain and whine until the parents would send him away, forcing the daughter to go with him to watch over him.
The son would always find his way to the playground somehow, forcing the daughter to choose a bench to sit on and keep an eye on him. The son could entertain himself for hours, she knows, so she always makes sure she can sit somewhere.
That day, everything was the same as always, except someone was already sitting on the bench she usually occupied. She looked around at the other benches and noticed them all completely occupied. The only place for her to sit would be next to the older man. With a sigh she made her way towards him, scuffing her feet as she stood before him.
“Is– Can I sit here?” She asked with a slight stutter. The man looked up from his newspaper, and she was blown away by his bright blue eyes and perfect jawline. She could see his eyes glancing over her body, and she shifted in embarrassment as she waited for his response.
“Of course,” His voice was deep and kind, “no one is sitting here yet.” he gave her a small smile before returning his eyes to his paper. She nodded, not sure if he saw her do it, and hurried to sit down next to him while making sure to keep a respectable distance. Her feet tapped on the grassy ground as she looked around for her brother. When she saw him playing with another little boy, she let out a deep breath. He’s fine.
“Are you here alone?” The older man startled her attention away from her brother once more. He looked and sounded genuinely interested in her response, so she felt no hesitation to answer him. “No sir, I’m just watching my brother while my parents are otherwise occupied with the twins.” she shrugged and smiled up at him shyly.
He nodded in understanding, “A big family.” He folded the newspaper closed and shifted around a little to look at her more easily. “Are you the oldest, then?” He asked her kindly.
She quickly shook her head, her red curls and bangs shifting with the movement. “No, I'm actually the youngest daughter. I have three more older sisters, but they have all moved out already.” The man whistled, clearly shocked by her large family. It was a reaction she frequently got whenever she revealed they were a family of nine.
“That must be fun, right? Such a big happy family. I am an only child myself, so I'm always a bit jealous of people with siblings. Now with my mothers’ passing… Well, sibling’s would have been nice.” He smiled down at her.
She frowned in sympathy. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I suppose having a lot of siblings could be fun, but it’s also always busy. And, with my sisters out of the house, the responsibility of taking care of my brothers often lands on my shoulders. Speaking off,” She looked away from the older man and made sure she could still see her brother. “Ah, he’s fine.” she sighed.
“Which one is your brother?” He asked her curiously. She easily pointed him out from the crowd, his orange hair matching hers. She used to hate her hair, as her parents and sisters all have brown hair. When her younger brother was born with a head of orange, she couldn’t help but be relieved. She wasn’t the only one. She wasn’t weird or strange.
“Ah,” the man chuckled, “should’ve known. That hair of yours is definitely recognizable. Very pretty, too.” She giggled in embarrassment. People usually called her hair strange or messy or ugly, never pretty. Her cheeks reddened and she quickly looked back out into the playground to watch her brother.
“I’m Steve, by the way. I just realized I never introduced myself. I apologize for that.” The man said after a few seconds of silence. She turned her attention back towards the older man, impressed with the way he sounded so relaxed yet so formal at the same time.
She shook his hand quickly, her smaller hand getting engulfed by his bigger one. “Nice to meet you Steve. My name is Juniper, but everyone just calls me Junie.” Her voice was high and breathy, and she knew her grin was way too big for the situation. She couldn’t help herself, though. No one really paid attention to her, let alone was interested in her.
“Lovely to meet you, Juniper. You have a beautiful name.” Steve said, letting go of her hand almost reluctantly. She was about to respond before she got interrupted by the sound of her mothers voice.
“Junie? Ah, there you are! Are you ready to go? The boys are hungry so we're going to set up the picnic somewhere.” Her mother walked towards the bench she and Steve were occupying as she spoke. “Who’s this, Junie?”
“This is Steve, ma. We just met.” She said with a small shrug before standing up. She turned around to face Steve one more time. “It was great meeting you, Steve. Enjoy the rest of your day.” She smiled brightly, her brown eyes almost disappearing with her smile.
“Thank you, Juniper. Enjoy your day as well.” He nodded with a small smile, already unfolding his newspaper again to continue reading it. She turned back to her mother with a clear question on her face; are we going or not?
Her mother snapped back to reality and hastily walked back towards her father and brothers. “He looked familiar for some reason.” Her mother mumbled under her breath. “Maybe he just has one of those faces?” She suggested quietly. Her mother brushed her comment away with the shake of her head.
The next time she saw Steve was much sooner than she expected. Truthfully, she hadn’t thought she would ever see the man again. A handsome, older man like him must have a busy life. And yet, Juniper began to see Steve everywhere she went.
The first time after their introduction was in a cafe she was in with two friends from school. It was a small cafe with a lot of interesting coffees and teas. She picked out an iced Chai tea, while her friends both chose some kind of iced coffee. While they were waiting for their order to be made, the door to the cafe opened causing a little bell to ring to let everyone know.
When she glanced over her shoulder and made direct eye contact with Steve, she couldn’t hold back a surprised gasp. Shock quickly turned into delight when she saw him walking straight towards her. Her friends both whispered about him, how she knew him, who he was, but she didn’t respond.
“Juniper! What a coincidence.” The blond male grinned brightly. He came to a stop right in front of her, forcing her to look up in order to make eye contact. He was wearing a casual blue shirt with black jeans and a brown leather jacket. His hands were comfortably in his pockets as he spoke with her.
“Hi, Steve.” She smiled shyly, “How are you?”
“I’m pretty good. Work is extremely busy, but thankfully I have a great team that I work with. How are you doing? School busy as well?” He tilted his head slightly, his eyes shining in genuine curiosity. He didn’t even glance over at her friends, only looking at her. Juniper knows her friends are both very pretty girls, much prettier than her, but Steve didn’t seem to notice.
“What kind of work do you do? As for school…it’s alright. I’m a senior now so I only have a few months left. I should be alright.” She shrugged, trying to look casual and not at all like her heart was beating out of her chest.
“I work in security. Very boring stuff, really. A senior, really? You still look so youthful.” He chuckled, causing her to giggle in return. “Ah, I think your name is being called.” Steve looked over her head to the employee behind the counter to confirm.
When Juniper looked behind her, finally returning to the real world, she noticed her two friends had already picked up their drinks and were sitting near the window. The man behind the counter was indeed calling out her name, her iced tea in his hand. Juniper rushed to take it from him.
“What did you choose?” Steve asked from directly behind her. It felt as if he was only a breath away as he glanced over her shoulder at the drink in her hand. When she told him, he hummed in understanding. “Well, it was a pleasure to run into you again, truly. I think your friends are waiting for you, so I'll let you go. Until next time.” He winked at her when she turned around to say goodbye, before he walked away towards the cashier to order his own drink.
She overheard him ordering the same drink she had as she walked towards her friends. The gesture made her smile shyly, her cheeks on fire.
After that it felt like Steve was always around somehow. She would see him out of the corner of her eyes everywhere she went. She wasn’t sure if it actually was Steve, but she did think she was going a bit crazy. She tried not to think about him too much in her day to day. After all, Steve never gave her his number. That means he’s not interested, right?
The next time she actually spoke with Steve was maybe two weeks after the cafe run-in. It was a Friday morning and she was walking through the streets of New York towards school. The bus was unreliable and her parents didn’t allow her to use the subway on her own. A car in New York city was unimaginable and a bike was also too dangerous according to her parents. So walking it is.
“Juniper!” She stopped walking and glanced around in confusion. At first she didn’t see the person who was calling her name, until he was suddenly right in front of her. Steve was panting and sweating as he grinned down at her. He was wearing workout clothes and had headphones around his neck.
“Steve! What a surprise.” She giggled, her cheeks already warming up just by being so close to the sweaty older man. “Are you working out? I don’t want to disrupt your progress.” She said shyly, playing with her hands behind her back.
Steve chuckled, “It’s fine, I was the one approaching you. Are you walking to school? Alone?” His amused expression turned into a small frown.
“Y-Yeah! It’s only a few more blocks from here. No big deal.” She said quickly, not liking the expression on his handsome face. Steve looked best while smiling.
“I’ll walk with you, then. This city is much too dangerous for a girl like you.” He said seriously, softly placing his hand on her backpack and encouraging to start walking again.
“A girl like me?” She asked him as they walked side by side. Her head only reached till his shoulders, so it kind of felt like she was walking with her dad. She wasn’t happy with the connection her mind made. Steve might be older, definitely too old for her, but he wasn’t her father’s age. Steve was probably thirty-something, her parents were both late fifties.
“A pretty girl, of course. This city is full of dangerous people. I don’t understand how your parents are okay with you walking through these streets on your own.” Steve brushed easily over the ‘pretty’ comment, moving on to criticize her parents in the same breath.
She decided not to get into that subject, not wanting to disagree with Steve, but also not appreciating him talking about her parents like that. She hummed in thought and calmly walked side by side. Steve smelled like fresh cologne and sweat. He smelled manly and so, so good.
They chatted about her school work, about how the amount of homework and studying was increasing everyday. Steve also talked some about his work, though never in any detail. He always referred to his coworkers as his team, which she thought was sweet.
“Here we are.” She said brightly as they reached the school. Time flew by as they were walking. She hadn’t felt the need to think about safety while crossing the street, or about staying away from strangers at all since he arrived. Steve had made her so comfortable that she just relied on him to do those things. “Thanks for walking me.” She added with a small blush.
“No problem, doll. Have a good day at school, alright? I’ll see you later.” He smiled down at her softly before putting his headphones back over his ears and jogging away. She was left standing there with her mouth open in shock and cheeks bright red from embarrassment. Doll! He called her doll! If she hadn’t been aware of her surroundings she would’ve swooned and fainted right there.
She was distracted the entire day. Her friends asked about Steve again, as some had seen him walking her to school, but she kept all information close to her heart. Steve was her little secret. She didn’t want to share him with her friends or her parents. Neither would approve, she was sure.
Steve was not romantically waiting for her when school was over. She didn’t want to admit to being slightly disappointed. As she walked the same way home, however, it did feel like she was being watched. Every time she glanced around to find the person watching her, she didn’t notice anyone acting strange. She pulled her jacket a bit closer to her body and hurried back home.