Chapter 5
Diccon
Finally, I felt like things were starting to get somewhere with Theo.
He really was awesome, maybe even more so because he didn’t think he was anything special at all.
He’d dropped just enough hints that I guessed he’d had some romantic missteps in his past, and maybe he hadn’t had the supportive family that I’d had.
Whatever the case, I was dying to learn more, to learn everything about him.
We made arrangements over text—and boy was I happy to have his phone number at last—to have dinner at a new and reportedly quirky BYOB near the Keswick section of town called Closed Mondays.
“Who names their restaurant Closed Mondays?” Brian asked as he helped me go through my closet to find the best combination of skinny jeans and nice shirt that I could make to look as hot as Theo deserved.
“Someone who doesn’t want to keep repeating their opening hours all the time?” I suggested with a laugh.
Brian chuckled. “I guess it’s memorable.”
“It will definitely be memorable after tonight,” I said, grinning as I picked a soft pink Henley to pair with my black jeans.
It was a little bit of a risk, since I didn’t know how much Theo wanted our outing to scream “I’m on a gay date”, but I was willing to take a chance, because the combination always made me feel sexy.
“So you’re planning for this to be more than just a little bit of a date?” Brian asked, one eyebrow raised.
I met his look with a knowing one of my own. “It’s not like Theo and I have only just met. Haven’t we been dancing around each other for months now? I’m perfectly okay with not taking things slow, especially after that kiss the other night.”
“Yeah, you still haven’t given me all the juicy details about that,” Brian said, examining something on my dresser so he could politely look the other way as I ditched my work jeans and slipped into the black ones.
“You don’t want all the juicy details,” Sam’s voice sounded from the hall.
Brian snapped straighter and moved to open the half-shut door all the way. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, his enthusiasm for talking to my older brother just a little bit too obvious.
Sam backtracked to answer Brian as I put on the shirt. “They were making out in the corner of the performance space where plenty of people could see them,” he said.
“Oh yeah?” Brian leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, looking momentarily cooler than I knew he was. But he always did that when Sam was around. “With everyone watching?”
“We weren’t exactly watching,” Sam said, glancing into the room at me as I settled into my shirt. He focused on Brian again with maybe a bit more interest than he probably thought he was showing. “They were discreet, but boy were they sucking face.”
“Really?” Brian laughed, glancing to me before going right back to Sam again. “I can imagine Diccon getting sloppy in public, but I’ve seen Theo every morning when he comes into the café. He doesn’t seem like that type at all.”
“It was pretty epic,” Sam said. “Until Theo bolted.”
“It’s all been sorted out,” I reassured them, grabbing my wallet and cell phone from my dresser and tucking them into my back pockets. “And Theo’s reasons for leaving so suddenly are none of your business.”
“I never said they were,” Sam said, taking a step back so I could walk into the hall and downstairs to the living room and the door.
Brian followed, but kept pace with Sam instead of me. “I still wish I’d seen it.”
I was ready to get my date started, but as I grabbed the doorknob, I wondered if I needed to stay behind to chaperone Brian and Sam.
Then again, it wouldn’t have been the first time Brian had come over to the house I shared with my brothers, the one that belonged to our parents before they signed the business over to us and retired to Florida, when I wasn’t home and had decided to stick around just because.
I had a feeling I knew why Brian liked to hang out, but I wasn’t going to go there when I had what promised to be a big night ahead of me.
“You kids behave,” I told Sam and Brian in a mock scolding tone before opening the door.
“Have fun,” Brian called after me as I left. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I laughed as I crossed the porch and walked down the path to the sidewalk. I intended to do whatever came naturally, but that’s exactly what Brian would have done, so it worked out in the end.
Our house was closer to Common Grounds than Keswick, but I didn’t mind the walk to get to Closed Mondays. It was another beautiful night, and I breathed it in with the thrilling feeling that tonight might just be the beginning of the rest of my life.
Yeah, I was a little sappy sometimes, but could you blame me? After all these months, I was finally going out on a real date with the guy who’d turned my head and given me a little something extra to look forward to every morning.
Unsurprisingly, Theo was already at the restaurant when I arrived.
“I should have guessed you’re the kind of guy who shows up to things early,” I teased him, and also greeted him with a warm hug.
Theo tensed for a moment, then hugged me back. “There’s nothing wrong with making sure you’re on time for important events,” he said, smiling once we let go of each other.
“So you’re admitting this is an important event?” I asked with a sly look.
“I, um, I didn’t mean—”
“I’m just teasing,” I said, nudging Theo with my arm. I then let him off the hook by looking around and saying, “This place looks great.”
It was pretty cool. The whole place was painted with bright colors and decorated with art from local artists.
Some of that was sculptures made from trash.
I happened to love that stuff and thought it was incredibly creative, but Theo stared at it with a more critical eye once we were seated and looking over the menu.
“I’m not sure I really understand art,” he admitted once the server had come to take our orders. “How do people decide to weld random pieces of bicycles and garden tools together like that?”
I shrugged. “How do you decide what a building will look like?” I was genuinely interested in knowing why he loved what he did.
“That’s different,” Theo said like he was about to teach a class on the subject, which I was totally down for. “Architecture has rules and standards. You need to make certain any structure you’re designing is sound and safe as well as aesthetically pleasing.”
“And you like doing the calculations and figuring all that out more than you like designing?” I asked, hoping to learn more.
“Not necessarily,” Theo said, his whole face lighting up as he explained. “I like to look at things as a whole. I consider function as well as form. “Like, there’s a retail space I’ve just finished designing that’s about to be built that I’ve put a lot of work into.”
“Oh yeah?” I reached for the bottle of wine Theo had brought with him and that the server had opened for us and poured us each a glass. “What do you like best about that building?”
“The space, really,” Theo said, his brow creased in concentration. “The challenge was to make the interior and exterior space blend into its surroundings, but also be functional so it can contain everything that will need to be displayed.”
“And you figured it out?”
“In the end, yes,” Theo said with a proud smile. I loved the fact that he could at least enjoy the fruits of his labor. I had the feeling he was hard on himself most of the time.
I would have much preferred to be hard on him, or maybe under him, I wasn’t picky.
I was just about to say something totally inappropriate to that effect when our server came over to let Theo know the fish he’d ordered was out of stock.
He took a few minutes to help him decide on something else.
Everything on the menu looked amazing, so I didn’t see how he could go wrong, but Theo was nothing if not precise about every decision he made.
By the time he and the server had everything sorted, my brain had already moved on to a different topic of conversation.
“So, forgive me if this is too much of a question, but I kind of got the impression the other day that it’s been a while since you’ve been on a date?” I asked, praying I wouldn’t scare him away again.
Theo huffed a humorless laugh. “It’s been months. I was with a guy for a while, but we broke up about four months ago.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, instantly jealous, though that was ridiculous of me.
“Don’t be,” Theo laughed and shook his head.
“I’m better off without him. Before Paul, I went through a phase where I was on all the apps, and yeah, I’ll admit, I had a few hook-ups.
” His face flushed with that wine-stain blush of his that I found dead sexy.
“They weren’t really what I was looking for, though. ”
“And what are you looking for?” I asked, reaching for my wine glass and making eyes at him over the rim before taking a drink.
Theo smiled bashfully and lowered his eyes for a moment.
The man had no idea how sexy he was. “I don’t know,” he said with a shrug, reaching for his own glass.
“Is it too cheesy for me to say I want the whole package? Romance, a deep connection, a monogamous relationship that may or may not include kids someday?”
“Theo Callihan, are you saying you want to get me pregnant?” I teased him.
Theo’s eyes went round, and he nearly swallowed his wine wrong.
“I—I’m not saying that. I mean, I think you’d make a great dad, but I—” He paused his verbal spewing as I raised a hand to cover my laugh.
His expression softened and his shoulders loosened.
“You’re teasing me, aren’t you,” he said, eyeing me with something just a bit too warm to be scolding.
“Maybe a little,” I laughed openly. “I love the way you’re so open and earnest, though.”
“Me? Open?” He genuinely looked surprised. “I’m so closed up that I’m afraid of my own shadow.”