Chapter Twelve
Jonathan
“So,” Theo said, leaning over the reception desk the following morning with a delighted smile and troublesome glint in his eye. “How was your date last night?”
“Wha… I… I didn’t…” My stomach roiled and my brain felt like it was short-circuiting as I stared at him, trying to work out how the hell he’d found out. Had he been following me? Or reading my messages? Had he somehow installed secret spy cameras in my house?
None of the options were good and I wanted the floor to open and swallow me up before this conversation went any further. Theo meant well, but there was a reason I hadn’t told him, and this was it.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Theo said. “That’s Alfie right? From the ice cream shop.” He giggled and clapped his hands like I’d gifted him a truly wonderful present. “Tell me everything!”
“H-How did you know?” I asked, licking my lips as my mind slowly rebooted itself.
I was sure I was blushing scarlet again and I wished the phone would ring to get me out of this, because I knew Theo wouldn’t let the subject drop until he’d gotten the answers he wanted.
And I didn’t know how to give them to him without dying.
“I have my ways.” He winked. “Secret ways.”
“It’s not a secret,” Laurie said as he stepped out of his office to save me like some hero of old. “We had dinner with Fred last night and saw you walking back.”
“WITH A BOY!” Theo screeched gleefully, spinning on the spot. “Our baby Jonathan had a date!” He gasped as he grabbed the front of reception again, a desperate need to know written across his face. “Did you kiss him? On the mouth? Was it good? Oh! Was there tongue?!”
“Darling, I love you but please stop pestering poor Jonathan before you break him,” Laurie said.
“I’m not going to break him. I just want to ask questions!”
“Fine, Jonathan please feel free to ignore him. You don’t have to tell him anything.”
“I’m not going to ask him anything rude,” Theo said. “I only want to know if they kissed. That’s not rude at all!”
“To Jonathan it might be,” Laurie said firmly. “You can’t demand personal details like that. Just because you’re happy to share things about our relationship, it doesn’t mean Jonathan will be the same.”
They kept talking as if I wasn’t sat there watching them, but at least it gave me the chance to come back to Earth and work out how I felt about Theo’s questions. I didn’t think I’d want to share intimate details but I supposed… perhaps…
“I will tell you,” I said, cutting through Theo’s chatter in my best firm voice.
“On the condition that you don’t pry and you don’t interfere unless I ask you to.
And I don’t want you following me or Alfie around either.
The reason I didn’t tell you was because I wasn’t convinced you wouldn’t have tried to get a table in the restaurant next to us and watch. ”
“I would like it to be noted that I’d never have let Theo do that,” Laurie said, but he was smiling fondly at his fiancé in a way that suggested he would have caved if Theo had asked in the right way.
Theo sighed forlornly. “Fine, I accept your terms. But I just want to make sure you’re safe and that you’re having fun!
Everyone deserves to have good sex, if that’s something they want obviously, the sex part, not the good, nobody wants to have bad sex.
” He nodded, like he was preaching a universal truth, and then grinned at me.
“But everyone does deserve to be with someone trustworthy, kind, and caring, and not a walking red flag! And I know you say don’t pry, and I won’t, but you know you can come to me if you have any concerns.
I promise, I won’t make a big deal out of it. ”
“I might,” Laurie said quietly. “If he’s being unkind to you.”
“That’s different,” Theo said. “Then we assemble our friends and scrub him from existence.”
“Isn’t that a little extreme?” I asked, looking between them.
“Not if he hurts you, no,” Laurie said. “We care about you Jonathan, and that means you’ll always be protected.”
“Okay. Thank you,” I said, although I wasn’t quite sure what I was really agreeing to. He turned to go and I suddenly remembered what I’d been meaning to ask him. “Oh, Laurie. I had a question for you.”
“Of course. Is something wrong?”
“No, but Alfie was saying they’re struggling a little at the moment at Lick It! since they’re so busy already and it’s just the three of them. They’re advertising for more staff, but I wondered if you’d mind me going to help them out at the weekend?”
“That sounds fine,” he said with a nod and a soft smile. “You know, you didn’t have to tell me. As long as it doesn’t affect your job here, you’re free to do as you please outside of your work hours. And you know you wouldn’t be the only one with a second job.”
“I know, but I thought it was polite.” I shifted slightly in my seat, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. “And I didn’t want you to be surprised if you came down and saw me there.”
“Thank you,” Laurie said. “I’m sure we’ll be coming down if it’s nice on Saturday.”
“We absolutely will,” Theo said as he leant on the reception desk. “And now, will you please, please, please, tell me if you kissed Alfie?”
On Saturday morning, following a long message conversation with Alfie where I confirmed that yes, I really did want to help out and no, he wasn’t taking advantage, I arrived at Lick It!
to start my first day. I didn’t have anything pastel to wear, so I’d simply put one of my clean, white shirts on and hoped that would do.
“Hey,” Alfie said as he greeted me at the door, the same warm smile on his face that always seemed to make my knees weak. “Thanks again for coming. I really appreciate it, and I know Darcy and Milo do too.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, brushing a stray strand of hair out of my face. “I really hope I can help.”
Alfie slid his hands into mine and squeezed gently. “Please don’t worry, you’re going to do great.” He leant forward and gently pressed his lips to mine in a kiss that made me melt.
We’d kissed a lot on Wednesday night, stopping every couple of minutes to kiss in the kitchen, the living room, my painting room, and even on the stairs.
Nothing else had happened except kissing, and afterwards, when Alfie had finally gone home and I’d taken myself to bed, I’d found myself thinking about what else I wanted to do with him.
I hadn’t told him about it, but maybe next time, or maybe the time after that, we could see where it went. And hopefully he wouldn’t mind the fact I was very inexperienced.
Perhaps it would be best to go slowly.
“I missed doing that,” he said as he slowly broke the kiss and nudged my nose with his.
“It’s only been a few days,” I said, my face prickling and my stomach twisting at the idea of Alfie thinking about me.
“Three days too many.” He kissed me again, brushing his tongue softly against my lips. I hummed and opened my mouth… until a pointed cough behind Alfie made me jump.
“Sorry to disturb you,” Darcy said, an amused expression on his face. “But—”
“You can suck face later,” Milo said as he popped up beside him, his smirk making raw embarrassment rise up inside me. “We have shit to do.”
“Don’t be dicks,” Alfie said, turning to face them with his hand still in mine. “I started it, don’t take it out on Jonathan. Especially not since he’s here to save our arses.”
“Oh, I’m not blaming him,” Milo said. “I’m totally blaming you, corrupting harlot that you are.”
“Thanks,” Alfie said wryly. “You’re so charming.”
“I know.” Milo winked. “Come on, you can show our young apprentice around while I put the boards out. Then I’m going into the kitchen to help Darcy before he implodes.”
“Hey! Would you please stop acting like I’m five seconds away from dropping dead?
” Darcy’s face was a picture of exasperation but there was a heaviness to his posture, and I could see the way exhaustion had begun to settle itself on his shoulders.
It made me glad I’d offered to come down and hopefully they’d be able to find some help soon, because it was clear this couldn’t continue.
“I don’t know, did you remember to eat something this morning? Or drink something that wasn’t a triple espresso?” Milo retorted.
“He has a point,” Alfie said. “Did you have breakfast?”
“Yes, I did actually. I stopped at that coffee shop you recommended and got a muffin and some coffee,” Darcy said.
Milo frowned and stared at Darcy for a long second. “I’ll allow it.”
“Thank you,” Darcy said, making shooing motions with his hand. “Now, you’ve both stopped speculating about my health, can we please get moving?”
Alfie led me into the shop and behind the counter, digging out a spare apron for me to put around my waist as he began to talk through the flavours they currently had on offer.
He was very patient as he explained how everything worked on the iPad they had for their point of sale, telling me he’d serve, and I could take payments and fetch any cold drinks out of the fridge.
He didn’t think we’d get many orders for hot drinks, but said milkshakes and frappes were more likely, so he promised to show me how to make them as we went.
“Sorry, the training is a little slapdash,” he said sheepishly.
“I thought you were going to be with Darcy but…” He shook his head and I suddenly wondered if the other two had conspired to allow us to spend more time together.
I wasn’t going to complain if they had. “If you have any problems or questions then just ask.”
“I will,” I said, wishing it was possible to kiss him as confirmation but having to settle for a smile instead.
The sun was already high and the temperature rising, and as soon as the doors opened a few minutes later, we already had people pouring in, many of whom seemed to be returning customers.
Some of them knew me from my day job, and were surprised to see me behind the counter, but Alfie very smoothly explained that I was a friend who was helping out while they got their feet under them—playing it off charmingly and joking that it was their fault for having ice cream that was too good to resist.
I quickly got into a rhythm of taking payments and handing out cold cans and bottles of water, and Milo came out to teach me how to make the other drinks to save holding customers up.
For all his jokes, he was a kind and patient teacher with the sort of easy rapport that drew people to him, so it didn’t take me as long to learn as I’d imagined.
Unsurprisingly, Theo and Laurie made an appearance in the early afternoon, but Theo was on his best behaviour and didn’t say anything to Alfie that didn’t revolve around the day’s ice cream flavours and asking how things were going.
After they’d left, Milo and Darcy came out for a bit to insist that Alfie and I took a break, so we walked down to the front and bought sandwiches from one of the little shops there.
We ate them on a bench overlooking the beach, avoiding the thieving machinations of the local seagulls, who would steal anything that wasn’t closely guarded at all times.
“Think you’d be up for coming back again tomorrow for a couple of hours?” Alfie asked as he scrunched up the paper bag which had held his tuna mayo and sweetcorn sandwich. “Or has today been too much?”
“I’ll be back,” I said, finishing the last of my cheese, ham, and tomato and almost wishing there was more.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.” I shot him a smile and slid a little closer so our thighs were touching. “I know it’s busy, but there happens to be one rather lovely perk.”
“Is it the free ice cream?”
“No,” I said with a soft laugh. “Although I wouldn’t say no to having some to take home.”
“That can definitely be arranged. You get a lifetime’s free supply.”
“Thanks.” I let my hand fall down to rest on his, sliding our fingers together.
There were people all around us, but all the noise seemed to fade into the background, leaving just the two of us.
“I get to spend time with you and see one of the things you love. And I know we don’t really get to talk to each other when it’s busy, but that doesn’t bother me.
I just like being in the same room as you, doing things side by side. ”
“I like that too,” he said, turning his face towards me, his eyes shining in the bright sunshine. “Can I kiss you again? Before we go back?”
“Yes.”
I tilted my head and softly pressed my lips against his. Something sparked inside my chest, like the first moment a sparkler ignites—hot and dazzling.
And in the back of my mind, I wondered if I’d ever get tired of kissing him.