Page 49 of Persuading Penny
“No,” Steve said, shooting me a dazzling smile. “But I am looking to buy a property here. I certainly do have the incentive to move here.” He pulled me closer to him.
Cliff’s jaw tightened and he shot me a quick glance before setting a cold glare on Steve. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” Steve said, his chest puffed out with abundant confidence. “There are a few estates on the periphery of Bath that have caught my eye. They are all very interesting. I love the city, but I do need space. So an estate nearby would be perfect.”
Cliff nodded without any true interest. “Well,” he said, looking at me. “It’s been nice bumping into you.”
“Yes,” I managed to croak.
He walked on and I stood there, frozen.
“We’d better get going,” Steve said, his eyes on Cliff as he walked out the door.
The tension that’d built up as the two men faced one another intensified as we walked out into the cool night air.I didn’t know what to say. I had nothing to say to him. Everything in my head revolved around Cliff. All the questions. All the emotions. All the wants and desires.
“I very much enjoyed this evening,” he finally said as we neared where our cars were parked.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” I said.“Not everyone appreciates poetry.”
“Well, I may not be very knowledgeable in the ways of poets and poems, but the evening was pleasant all the same. Lord Byron, Robert Frost, Edgar Allen Poe...all names I’ve heard before without much knowledge of what they’d written. But I fully intend to look up and read more poems by the poets who were read tonight.”
“I’m happy to hear it. It’s always a pleasure to introduce someone to the world of poetry.”
We reached our cars. “The evening was all too brief,” he said. “I was hoping we could find something else to do to extend our pleasure, yet I couldn’t help but notice how you led us back to our cars.”
Really? Had I done that? I’d wandered off without any real goal. But there we were, facing the end to the evening. I had to imagine that I’d just thought it was the natural progression.
No. I hadn’t thought that at all. As soon as Cliff left that tea house the evening was over as far as I was concerned.
Steve walked me to the door of my car. “I guess the emotions associated with poetry readings are more overwhelming than I thought.”
It was clear that he wasn’t talking about poetry at all. He was referring to the emotions associated with seeing Cliff.
Had he been able to guess that there had once been something romantic between us; that we were more than just coworkers?
“How about we meet for lunch tomorrow,” Steve said.
I nodded.
“Or we could meet at Sydney Garden and have a picnic.”
Again, I nodded.
He leaned in to kiss my cheek. He was so sweet, and I suddenly realized how I had effectively left him behind. My thoughts were no longer with him.
I brought myself back to the present, to the here and now, to the handsome and caring man standing right there in front of me. “Yes, Steve. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. I’ll fix us a splendid picnic.”
