By the time our workday came to an end, I’d realized in all our time together, we hadn’t actually been on a real date.
“Will you go to dinner with me?” I blurted.
Charlie had stepped closer to the carved wooden door of the pub, and the warm glow of sunset caught him through the small window panes in the top half of it. His hair lit up like luminous flames, and the green of his eyes struck me dumb for the hundredth time. My heart skipped as I waited for him to say yes.
“Don’t you have to head to the city?”
“I’ll get up early and drive in. What do you say?”
“Sure. Chinese takeaway or something different?” he asked as he gathered up a few empty boxes to take to the dumpster on our way out.
“No, I mean… I want to take you out. Like out.” The words weren’t coming right, but he seemed to understand what I was trying to say.
“You want to… take me out on a date? Here in town?”
I nodded like an eager child. “Yes. That. I want to take you out on an official date. Where would you like to go?”
His smile was worth the bumbling, and it took all my self-control to keep from leaping at his lips with my own.
“Well, if you’re buying… can we go back to the Pinecone? I know we’ve been there quite often, but I’m craving their filet and those little roasted potatoes with the bacon in them.”
I stepped closer to him and took the empty boxes, placing them back on the floor so I could wrap my arms around him. “You and your potatoes,” I murmured, leaning in to taste his lips because I simply couldn’t wait another minute to be close to him that way. We kissed for several minutes until someone cleared their throat behind us.
“Sorry to interrupt,” a man said. We turned to see someone I didn’t recognize, a petite quiet-looking man matching the description of the antique-shop owner Charlie had told me about. “But I’m closing to head out of town to an estate auction and needed to bring Mama back.”
Mama wiggled her way over to us before sitting politely at Charlie’s feet.
“Thanks, Augie,” Charlie said. “Have you met Hudson Wilde? Hudson, this is August Stiel, the owner of the shop down the way.”
I reached out to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you. Thank you for looking after Mama. I’ve heard she’s made herself at home in your store.”
Augie looked at his feet, his hands, the interior of the pub, anything to avoid making eye contact. It appeared the poor man was incredibly shy. “Yes, well, she’s a sweetheart. Keeps my Milo company while I’m busy working.”
Charlie stepped forward to touch Augie’s shoulder, causing the man to startle. Charlie glanced up at me with concern before looking back at the other man. “Do you need us to look after Milo while you’re gone?”
Augie’s face softened. “Oh, would you? I was going to leave food and water out for him, but I’d feel much better if someone could look in on him every once in a while. I’ll only be gone a couple of days.”
Charlie’s smile seemed to put Augie more at ease. “It’s no trouble. Plus, this way Mama won’t cry in her tea over missing Milo.”
We followed Augie over to his shop to get instructions and a spare key before making our way to the Pinecone. When we were seated, Charlie glanced at me with mischief clear in his expression.
“What? You look like an evil mastermind,” I said with a chuckle, glancing at a menu I already knew by heart.
“We should set Augie up with someone.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re crazy. Any of the gay men we know would eat that poor little man for breakfast.”
“I’d bet ten quid Augie would enjoy being devoured,” Charlie murmured before smiling at our approaching server and setting down the drinks menu he’d been perusing.
My snort turned into a full laugh when Charlie sweetly ordered a Hanky Panky “with extra Panky please.”
The server was the same young woman who’d swooned over his accent once upon a time. She’d never stopped flirting with him in all the times we’d been there. “Charlie, I should have known you’d order one of those. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a Sassy Lassie? I think it would suit you.”
He clutched his chest. “Och, Tiffani with an i might be right,” he teased, glancing at me. “Sweetheart, would you like a Sassy Lassie or some Hanky Panky? We could get both and share. You already know I don’t mind swapping spit with you, and I adore sharing hanky panky with y—”
I clapped a hand over his mouth before the poor woman’s eyeballs turned inside out. “Tiffani, how about one of each please? At the rate this one’s going, he’ll enjoy both. Thank you.”