Page 10 of Silver
“Oh no?” I’d personally never been in close contact with anyone pregnant. I’d heard some stories though. Immediately, my mind went to Charlie and wondering what he would look like carrying our child. Did he want children? Until tonight, I had always been completely fine without having them, but now? My gorilla definitely wanted to see our little mate round with our own baby gorilla.
Charlie shook his head. “No. I really do love her. Don’t think I don’t. But like I mentioned earlier, she thinks I need to be mated and having a family. It’s been crazy.”
“Ma has been like that,” I told him before taking another bite of the main course. It truly was delicious, and I wondered if I could figure out how to make it since Duncan had said the meal was catered and not done by the restaurant staff here. “She wants all of us mated and having kids. None of us seem to be moving at a timeline that she agrees with, so she apparently took matters into her own hands, and here I am.” When I first arrived, I wanted to growl at Ma and take some time apart, but the longer I’d been in Charlie’s company, I was beginning to wonder if Ma knew, or most likely, it was that fate stepped in.
“Who would have thought that out of all of the people here, two that didn’t sign up themselves were matched up,” Charlie said with a little chuckle. I could tell he was trying to make light of the revelation we both spoke of earlier, but the tone of his voice sounded somewhat sad. My gorilla didn’t care for that, and he insisted I do something to bring back the smile that had been on Charlie’s face just moments ago.
“True. But I’m glad I came,” I told him. “I’m really enjoying having dinner with you and can’t wait to see what else happens later.”
Charlie looked at me, surprise all over his face. He glanced around before leaning a little closer. “What are you saying? Or implying?”
I winked again. “Well, I had mentioned you not being home in the morning for your sister to wake you up and demand to know what all happened on our date. If that isn’t something that interests you, which is perfectly acceptable, then perhaps we could at least go for a walk and get to know each other a little more? Perhaps we can even get a second date set up?” It was my turn to glance around at the dining room. “Not that this place isn’t amazing, because it is. But it’s loud and doesn’t really offer privacy.”
“We could walk around the zoo if you want. Although it closes at eight, so that probably won’t be an option.”
“What about everyone here?” I glanced around the room again. There was no way everyone here would be gone by the time eight came around.
“They usually have barriers put up and will have employees that volunteered to be stationed here and there to make sure people don’t go wandering around. It’s actually easier to close off sections of the zoo than you’d think.”
I thought about that for a moment, and it made sense. With a place such as this, there was so much that could happen that it would need to be able to close at a moment’s notice. “Well, there are other places we could go for a walk, aren’t there?” I asked, trying to quickly come up with somewhere around town where we could continue our evening. If nothing else, my neighborhood was quiet and had nicely lit sidewalks.
“Umm…I’m not sure. I don’t really hang out in the parks around town too much. I think most of them close at sunset anyway, don’t they?”
Hmm, he had a point. They did, and that really only left his place or mine. Or we could go to an all-night diner or bar. But again, neither of those places was overly private. My neighborhood it was, then.
“Well, I’ll just suggest that we can go back to my place—no strings attached, promise—and we can hang out on my back deck if you’d like. Or go for a walk around the neighborhood. I would recommend going to the beach, but I happen to know for a fact that it does close at ten, so depending on how long we’re here, we might not get a long walk.”
“Your deck sounds like a good place to be. It was supposed to be fairly warm tonight, so I don’t see why not.”
The weather here was almost always warm, but that was what happened when you lived on the coast where we did.The temperatures were usually mild, and we often enjoyed nice weather year-round. We could still get cold weather, but for the most part, it was what I’d consider ideal. My gorilla didn’t mind the snow, but my human side? It wasn’t something I enjoyed.
“We can do that. You can follow me home, and that gives you your vehicle there, and you are free to leave whenever you feel you want or should.” I held up both hands. “Absolutely no pressure for anything. I truly would like to continue our conversation more. Talk about other things beyond what are normal first-date things when one is set up on a blind date. And, of course, continue normal first-date discussions.”
Charlie grinned and was about to say something, but unfortunately, Duncan interrupted us. I didn’t necessarily dislike the guy, but he was beginning to get really annoying with his timing.
“How’s your meal going? Need any refills?” Duncan asked. He had a pitcher in his hand and immediately started refilling my water.
“I’ll take another tea,” Charlie told him.
“The meal is good, but the company is better,” I said, my gaze never leaving Charlie’s. When he noticed, his cheeks turned pink again, and I winked. I might not have been interested in dating anyone when I first arrived, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know how to flirt. I did and definitely could if I so desired. I’d discovered that with Charlie, I certainly desired to flirt, among other things. I was giving in to my animal side. I was going to do what I could to romance the cute little mate sitting across from me.
“Yeah, so I’ll be back with that tea and your desserts a little later. Unless you’d like them to go?”
Charlie continued to stare at me for a moment before finally looking up at Duncan with a somewhat confused look on his face.
“Huh?”
“Dessert. Did you wish to have it to go?” Duncan gestured around the room, which had emptied out considerably since we’d first arrived. “There are several other couples who decided to take dessert with them.”
“Umm, it’s not late yet, is it?”
Duncan shook his head. “Almost eight, so no, not late.”
Almost eight? How had that happened? We’d already been here for an hour and a half? It didn’t seem that long.
“I’m happy to have dessert to go if that’s what Charlie wants. Otherwise, here is fine,” I told Duncan. He looked back to Charlie, who seemed a bit indecisive. “To go, then,” I decided. Charlie grinned at me, and I offered another wink in return.
“I’ll be back with those in just a bit, then,” Duncan said. “Did you still want another tea?”
