Chapter 38
38
Later that afternoon, Charlotte’s phone pinged again. She was excited and pleased to find another message from Tristan, inviting her over to dinner.
I know you said you’d cook but given the short notice, I’d love to cook for you again!
Its vaguely apologetic tone made her smile, and she texted back, accepting his invitation. Then, she packed everything up that she’d been working on, checked twice she’d secured the observatory and headed back down the hill.
Lorelai raised an eyebrow but said nothing when Charlotte mentioned she was going out to Tristan’s. This time, she decided to take Comet with her. When Tristan arrived to pick her up, he gave a resigned smile when he saw Comet’s eager face looking up at him.
‘This fella’s our chaperone for tonight, then?’ His tone was amused, despite his initial expression.
‘If that’s all right?’ Charlotte replied. ‘I didn’t want to impose on Lorelai for another night, and I figured he’d like a change of scene, too.’
‘That’s fine.’ Tristan popped open the boot of his car with a smile and Comet hopped happily in as if he’d been used to travelling there all his life.
Tristan’s smile turned to a grin. ‘Well… shall we?’
With Comet peering curiously out of the rear window, they were soon en route to Tristan’s.
When they were back in the house, Tristan hesitated after he poured Charlotte a glass of wine.
‘I, er, wanted to show you something before we had dinner,’ he said. ‘It’s a bit early to actually use it, but I thought you might find it interesting.’
Charlotte’s glass paused on the way to her lips. ‘I’m intrigued.’
Tristan led her out to his small, well-kept back garden. Charlotte suspected Lorelai might have had a hand in its maintenance, as there was an immaculate patch of lawn bordered by raised beds of lavender and other bee-friendly blooms. The scent, as evening drifted in softly, was divine. But it was the object in the centre of the lawn that caught Charlotte’s eye.
‘Oh, wow!’ she breathed. ‘I wasn’t expecting that.’
There, on a wooden tripod, standing proudly, was a telescope. Charlotte immediately recognised it as a Unitron Refractor, popular in the 1950s and 1960s among amateur but serious astronomers. Its white casing and elegant construction were shown to great effect on a mahogany mount.
‘Thought you might like to see it, and use it a bit later.’ Tristan reached for her hand. ‘You know that my relationship with all things astronomical is somewhat complex, but I wanted to share this with you, since you’ve got a real interest.’
There was that adorable understatement again. Charlotte smiled. She ignored the ‘somewhat complex’ phrase and just added, ‘An interest, and a career.’
Tristan grinned back. ‘Well, yeah.’ He shuffled on the spot. ‘You know more about these things than I do, that’s for sure.’
Charlotte leaned forwards and gave him a long, lingering kiss. ‘I’d love to take a look a bit later,’ she said. ‘Thank you so much for thinking of it.’ When they broke apart again, she added, ‘Where did you get it from?’
‘It was my great-uncle’s,’ Tristan said as they moved towards the tripod. ‘He was a funny old fella: very private, almost reclusive. He and Gran argued a lot, especially when he came to live with her at the end of his life, but he still left everything to her. She passed this on to me some time ago, and it’s been in its box on the top of the wardrobe in the spare room ever since. I didn’t really know how to use it, but a couple of YouTube tutorials taught me the basics, and I thought you might like to have a go while you’re here.’
‘That would be great,’ Charlotte breathed. The anticipation became too much, and she was impatient to take a look, even before the sky had darkened. ‘May I?’
‘Of course.’ Tristan was obviously pleased by her excitement. ‘It would be great to have an expert at the helm.’
Charlotte bent over to investigate the eyepiece of the telescope. Its lenses had been cleaned and restored and were clear and sharp. She looked into the eyepiece and made a couple of adjustments so that she had a decent view of the sky. It still wasn’t dark enough to see much, but she could get a sense of the quality of the telescope and continued to tweak and amend its positioning as Tristan watched.
‘That should do the trick,’ she said as she stepped back again. ‘Later on, we’ll be able to see more. Even though it’s summer, there’ll be planets and some stars visible. If, er, I’m still here, when it’s dark, anyway.’ She couldn’t help blushing as she stumblingly finished speaking – it had crossed her mind more than once that she and Tristan might be heading in a more physical direction tonight.
Tristan’s expression showed that his thoughts were heading in a similar direction, as his eyes flitted between her lips and her slightly heated gaze. ‘Well,’ he murmured softly, ‘I hope you will still be here when it’s dark enough to see stars.’ He reached for her hand and placed it on his chest, before drawing her closer to him for a long, sensuous kiss. Charlotte’s hand, feeling the warmth of Tristan’s body beneath his clothing, grew shakier as the kiss deepened. She moved even closer to Tristan, until they were pressed together, breath shortening and kisses becoming more urgent as the seconds moved languorously by.
Eventually, the oven timer pinged from the kitchen. Charlotte reluctantly broke free from Tristan’s embrace and glanced up at him. ‘Can dinner wait for a little while?’
Tristan nodded. ‘It’s nothing that won’t keep. Let me go and switch off the oven.’
Charlotte stumbled slightly on wobbly legs as she followed him, watching from the doorway. She picked up her glass of white wine, which she’d left on the kitchen table, and took a big gulp, betraying her nerves. Tristan was beside her in a shot.
‘It’s all right.’ He took the glass from her hands and put it down carefully on the kitchen table. ‘If you’ve changed your mind, I mean.’
Charlotte shook her head. ‘I haven’t.’ She leaned up and kissed him again. ‘Now, are you going to join me and have a glass of something to give you Dutch courage?’
Tristan raised an eyebrow. ‘What about driving you home? I never drink and drive.’
Charlotte wouldn’t have expected anything less from this gorgeous, serious-minded, responsible man in front of her, but his statement banished any lingering doubts. ‘I don’t think I’ll be going home anytime soon.’ And there’s always Uber , she thought, if things go pear shaped.
Tristan hesitated for a long moment before moving to grab another wine glass from the cupboard. ‘Well, that seems pretty conclusive.’ He gave a laugh that definitely had an undercurrent of nerves. ‘And a relief!’
Charlotte laughed too, but things gradually got more serious as the laughs turned to kisses, and the wine glasses were left on the kitchen table.