Page 10 of Love Around the Corner

Alfie glared at him. “I thought you had a date.”

“It’s uh…delayed,” he said shiftily. He’d lost the bowtie, Alfie noticed absently, his gaze darting from Novak to the guy at the bar. He had his back turned now. Damn it. Could that be him? Was that LLB?

Alfie reached for his phone, hesitating. If he messaged and the guy checked his phone…

“Jane Austen, huh?” Novak said.

Alfie blinked at him. “What?”

Novak’s fingers flickered toward Alfie’s copy ofPersuasion. “I assume this isn’t yours.”

“Right. Of course you do.” Alfie pulled the book toward him with a defiant look.

Novak’s gaze lingered on the cover. “Doesn’t look like you’ve read it. The spine’s not even cracked.” Alfie didn’t respond; he wasnotgoing to explain himself to this guy. “Truth is…” Novak hesitated, giving him an odd look. “Truth is, I…I didn’t exactly take you for a reader. I’d always thought—”

“I know what you thought,” Alfie snapped. “You’ve told me. Several times.” Just then, the guy at the bar turned and Alfie’s heart leapt so high he could feel it in his throat. He snatched up the book, vaguely aware of Novak turning to look over his shoulder, but then the guy lifted a hand to wave at a group piling in through the door, and Alfie’s heart just…died.

Opposite him, Novak cleared his throat and leaned forward in his chair. “Look, Carter, I think…”

And suddenly Alfie had nothing left. No patience, no kindness, no nothing. “No,youlook,” he snapped, talking right over Novak. “I don’t care what you think, okay? I don’t care about your opinion. You don’t know shit about me. You have noideawho I am.”

Novak blinked at him, his pale eyes wide behind his glasses. “I might say the same about you.”

“Fine—let’s keep it that way. Because I sure as hell ain’t wasting my time on a pompous prick like you.”

“Charming.” Novak’s ashy face turned white.

“Not tonight, I’m not. So why don’t you piss off and leave me the hell alone?”

Stiffly, Novak rose to his feet. “Fine. I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, Mr. Carter. It was…” His lips quivered with some emotion Alfie couldn’t interpret. “It was unintentional. I’m sure you’ll get over it.”

With that, Novak snatched up his bag and stalked out of the bar, leaving Alfie alone with his beer and disappointment.

Chapter Four

Camaro89: It’s okay that you didn’t come tonight. I’m sure you had a good reason, even if it was only that you were scared. I was scared too. Just tell me you’re okay.

Leo lay in the sleepless dark, staring at the blue glow of his phone.

It was the eighth message from Camaro89—Carter—and he hadn’t replied to any. How could he? What could he possibly say?

He was chewed up by emotion. A rootless anger lashing out, directionless. But as much as he wanted to blame Carter, he couldn’t. He’d seen the disappointment in the man’s face last night, knew he was as much a victim as Leo himself; the universe had played a cruel trick on them both. And maybe Leo should have said something in the bar last night—he’d come close—but Carter’s words had stopped him. In the face of Carter’s hostility, he’d been unable to render himself so vulnerable. More than that, he’d realized that the cost of telling Carter the truth would be losing Camaro89 forever. And he couldn’t stand that.

Yet reconciling the two into one man felt impossible. He simply couldn’t wrap his thoughts around the fact that the mind he’d fallen in love with belonged to a man he couldn’t abide. A man who despised him. The fact that Leo was the only one privy to the secret just made it worse, trapped him in this absurd nightmare. And the one person he’d have turned to for solace, the only friend whose advice he’d have trusted, was the one person he couldn’t tell.

He felt bereft.

When dawn finally broke, a faint lightening of a heavy snow-filled sky, Leo dragged himself out of bed and into the shower. The hot water pounding against his skin helped, warming him from the outside even if it couldn’t reach the chill inside. Then he dragged on some random clothes, tried not to remember how carefully he’d planned his outfit last night, grabbed his heaviest coat and trudged downstairs, through the shop, and along the street to Dee’s.

The morning was sharp with the promise of snow, Christmas lights glowing against the steely sky, but where yesterday the promise of the holidays had lifted his spirits, today it only added an extra weight. Yesterday, he’d known he’d spend Christmas with Camaro89—either online or in person. Today, he knew he’d spend it alone.

What a horrible joke.

Bells jingled cheerily as he opened the door to Dee’s, the welcome aroma of coffee and baking hitting him as he stepped into a wave of warmth that fogged up his glasses. Dee lifted a hand to wave as she finished serving another customer—Liz, Leo thought vaguely, a teacher up at the school. Swiping off his glasses, Leo slid into one of the chairs at an empty table to wait, gaze fixed out the window. Warm white lights hung in swags between the buildings and a large Christmas tree was being erected in the church parking lot opposite. There was some kind of event at the weekend, he recalled. Dee was organizing Christmas caroling or a market or something. He couldn’t quite remember the details. He thought it was for charity.

Looking at the preparations through a window misty with condensation felt appropriate. Everything was out there behind a fog, he was in here alone: it was pretty much how he’d always experienced the world—until he met Camaro89.

With a sigh, he shucked off his coat and was cleaning his steamed up glasses on the hem of his sweatshirt when Dee set a vanilla latte down in front of him, followed by a large almond croissant—his treat of choice. He looked up, her face blurry without his glasses. “What’s this?”

---