12. Chapter 12 #3
“It’s not as much of a hardship as you’re making it out to be,” Kat said. “You’ll find out someday.”
Bastien looked toward Carmen. “And you? How are you enjoying the evening?”
“I’m still deciding,” she said. “Depends on how the night develops.”
Not subtle.
Charlie held in a smile.
Bastien gave her an amused look. “You don’t strike me as someone indecisive.”
Carmen tilted her head. “I guess I’m not.”
Lorenz leaned toward Charlie and muttered, just loud enough for her to hear, “Your friend knows what she’s doing? Bastien can be a bit of a player.”
This time Charlie didn’t hold back her smile. “Believe me, she knows exactly what she’s doing.”
Carmen shook her head. “What are the two of you whispering about?”
“Ignore them,” Bastien said cockily. “We can whisper too.”
He leaned forward and murmured something in Carmen’s ear that made her laugh out loud.
“Now we’re all curious,” Kat said.
“Absolutely not,” Carmen said, still laughing.
“That bad?” Hugo asked.
“That good,” Bastien said calmly.
Carmen shot him a sideways glance. “Careful. You’re building expectations.”
“I’m a firefighter,” he said. “Handling dangerous situations is part of the job.”
“You think I’m dangerous?”
“I just met you,” he said. “But the evidence is accumulating.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Carmen argued.
“That’s true,” Bastien said. “We should probably fix that.”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
“Somewhere quieter,” he said lightly.
Kat coughed dramatically. “You do know we’re all listening, right?” As she glanced up across the room, she gave a soft groan. “Ah. I was hoping she wouldn’t see me.”
“Who?” Hugo asked, turning.
Kat nodded toward the bar. “Yvette. I’ve been avoiding her. She wants me to write an article. Something about women in the PGHM.”
“I’ll come with you,” Hugo said. “We might be able to distract her if we find Alex.”
Kat looked back at the group with an apologetic smile. “It was nice to see you again, Charlie, Carmen.”
Bastien glanced towards the entrance doors.
“Still interested in that quieter place?”
Carmen’s eyes glinted. “You were serious? You want to leave now?”
“Why not?”
“I came with Charlie. I—“
“Go,” Charlie said, waving a hand. “I’ll be fine here.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Carmen looked back at Bastien. “Let’s go then.”
Charlie watched them leave, laughing together. She became suddenly, acutely aware of the fact that she and Lorenz were standing alone once again.
For a moment, neither of them said anything.
“Don’t worry about Carmen,” she said lightly. “If anything, it’s Bastien’s heart you should be worried about.”
Lorenz smiled. “You know, I think you might just be right.”
“Your colleagues seem nice.”
“They are.”
His voice was calm, matter-of-fact.
“They didn’t ask many questions about me.” She glanced sideways at him. “What I mean to say is, you didn’t give them much of a chance to ask questions.”
Lorenz met her eyes then. He’d never been a coward.
“I didn’t know what you’d prefer.” His voice softened. “I’m not embarrassed, Charlie. But I didn’t want to say anything that would—make things hard for you.”
Typical Lorenz.
It would be frustrating, if it wasn’t so sweet.
Charlie shifted her weight slightly.
“You love your job,” she said, struggling to keep her voice casual.
“It’s good work.”
It was the closest Lorenz would ever come to bragging. Good. Also thrilling. Dangerous. Important. The only type of work, perhaps, for a man like him, who’d run marathons on every continent and was always looking for his next challenge.
She smiled faintly.
“I’m not surprised.”
His gaze lingered. “And you? Teaching was always what you wanted to do.”
“I love every single day with my second graders.” Her job was the only thing that had never disappointed her.
“I’m glad. I want you to be happy, Charlie.”
Happy.
Was she happy?
She didn’t think so. Content, yes. And maybe that was enough. Maybe the obsession with happiness was over-rated.
But this wasn’t a discussion she was willing to have. Not with Lorenz. Not tonight, maybe not ever.
Eager to change the conversation, Charlie glanced toward the entrance where Carmen had disappeared. “I guess I lost my ride.”
Lorenz’s lips curled into a smile, and damned but she’d missed his smiles. “I was looking for an excuse to ask if I could drive you home. I guess I can stop looking now.”
Charlie tilted her head, studying him.
“Did you rehearse that line?”
“Maybe.” Lorenz looked entirely unapologetic. “I had a second version prepared, if you want to hear it.”
Despite herself, she laughed softly. “You used to be terrible at flirting.”
“Used to be?”
“You once compared my eyes to glacier meltwater.”
“You know what I meant. Your eyes are beautiful.”
“Thank you. But it sounded like you were reading from a textbook on climate change.”
Lorenz’s laugh was low, and warm, and dangerous. Because it suddenly felt like no time had passed at all. And Charlie knew she should say no—no to him driving her home, because there was no way she wouldn’t invite him in. And that was a terrible idea.
Say no.
“Okay.”