Page 2 of Love Around the Corner

Alfie threw a despairing look at Mrs. Kohli’s Nissan and rubbed the sore patch on his palm. “I need a coffee,” he decided, pocketing his phone. “You want anything from Dee’s?”

“Oooh, a hot chocolate.” Dani fluttered smoky eyelashes at him. “Extra whipped cream?”

He laughed and reached for his coat. “I’ll even get you marshmallows, since it’s Christmas.”

Leaving Dani finishing up sorting the mail, he stepped out into the cold winter morning. The temperature had been steadily dropping for a couple days and there was snow forecast for the weekend—in time for Christmas, if they were lucky.

He smiled at the thought and dug out his phone, entertaining dreamy notions of being snowed in with LLB, and tapped out a quick message.Taking a break. What you up to?

A reply pinged right back.

LLB: Wishing it was 7pm already.

Alfie grinned like the Cheshire Cat, stomach swooping giddily. He and LLB had first met back in January, on theJASNA-NYFacebook Group, and, as two of only a handful of guys in the Jane Austen Society of North America (New York), they’d started chatting. Twelve months later, they messaged all the time and it was awesome. They talked books and movies but also about stuff Alfie had never shared with anyone: dreams for the future, regrets, hopes, and fears. He and LLB got each other on every level—they just hadn’t met on the physical one. Yet.

But all that was about to change. Because what Dani didn’t know—what nobody knew—was that he and LLB were going to meet.

Tonight.

Anticipation sat in the corner of his heart like a glowing coal, warming him from the inside out. Anticipation and a dash of tension. LLB was smart, funny, highly educated—and he didn’t know that Alfie was a mechanic who hadn’t even graduated high school. Maybe Alfie should have told him, but they’d never really exchanged personal information. LLB said it was better they didn’t judge each other on external crap, and Alfie agreed. After all, who’d want to talk books with an under-educated car mechanic like him?

So their meeting would be a revelation. And the start of something, Alfie hoped. The start of something serious—a real-life, long-term relationship. Love, if he was going to be bold. Because Alfie was in love with LLB, had been for months, and tonight he was going to tell him face-to-face.

The prospect made him fluttery and he slowed down as he replied to the message, stepping to one side of the sidewalk so he wasn’t in anyone’s way.

Counting down the hours—he added a heart emoji and a smiley face for good measure.

It was only when he looked up from his phone that he realized he was standing outside Bayside Books, Leo Novak’s store. A place he usually avoided.

Not a single Christmas bauble or thread of tinsel adorned its window, in contrast to the rest of Main Street. New Milton wasn’t a particularly affluent place, but everyone did their best for the community. Everyone except Novak, it seemed. The town’s resident Ebenezer Scrooge.

In his hand, Alfie’s phone buzzed.

LLB: Excited/nervous about tonight. You?

He grinned like a fool, all thoughts of Novak swept aside as he crossed the road and headed up the street to Dee’s Coffee Shop. As the only coffee shop in town, Dee’s did good business. It helped that she served fantastic coffee and awesome baked goods. Alfie paused outside, hesitating before going in. It looked crowded, the windows steamed up, and he wanted to reply to LLB without Dee nosing into his business. So he leaned up against the wall, and typedDefinitely excited.Can’t wait to meet you at last.

Then, whistling happily, he slipped his phone into his back pocket and pushed open the door. Unfortunately, the first person he saw was Scrooge himself.

Leo Novak stood at the counter, hips cocked at an annoyingly provocative angle, his shock of dark hair unmissable. But it was what he was saying to Dee that grabbed Alfie’s attention.

“I mean, come on. Have youseenthe sign outside his shop?” There was laughter in his voice, a disdainful smirk. “Alfie’s Auto’s? With that horrible misuse of an apostrophe?”

Dee’s eyebrows rose as she caught Alfie’s eye. “Leo—”

“No, Dee,” he said. “I’m sorry but I require at a least basic level of literacy, even in a hookup.”

Alfie stared, his good mood evaporating beneath sharp humiliation. Not that he let it show, he wouldn’t give the asshole the satisfaction. He just watched with grim amusement as Novak stilled, finally getting the message, and turned with agonizing reluctance to face Alfie.

Merry fucking Christmas.

***

Leo’s phone buzzed in his coat pocket, and he pulled it out while he waited for his vanilla latte, Bing Crosby crooningWhite Christmasin the background and the air warm and heavy, redolent with the aroma of coffee and spice.

Camaro89: This day is lasting forever.

He grinned. Two weeks before Christmas, and Leo felt good. Better than good—he felt excited about the future in a way he hadn’t in a long time. And it was all because of this man.

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