Page 17 of Charlie
It had been years since I’d seen her, but I would have recognized her anywhere. She did a double take before her lips spread in a bright smile.
As the group moved on, we stayed behind, with me coming to stand in front of her. “Small world. What are you doing here?”
She grinned. “I know, right? I should be done with universities, but a friend told me that you can’t visit Dublin and not see Trinity Library. Turns out you can get a tour and access to the library for almost the same price, so here I am – soaking up the ghost stories.” She laughed and reached out to touch my elbow for a second. “And you, what are you doing here?”
“I teach here.” My tics acted up, but the joy on her face to see me made me continue. “It’s a long story, but my mom was Irish so I came to learn more about that side of my family and I just loved it here, so yeah, I decided to stay.”
Her eyes widened. “As in permanently?”
“Maybe, I don’t know.”
“Wow. I thought I was being adventurous by taking a trip to Europe, but you just had to outdo me and move here.”
We laughed together and then I looked after the group, who were turning a corner in the distance. “You’re losing the group.”
She looked back over her shoulder and then to me again. “It’s okay, the tour was almost over and since you’re a local now, how about you show me?”
“I’m afraid I’m not much of a historian.” I scanned her hands for a wedding band and couldn’t decide if the ring on her finger was only decorative. “Ehm, are you traveling alone or with someone?” I was half expecting some guy to come jogging and pull her away again.
“Alone.” She bit her lip. “I needed some time to clear my head, you know. Things have been hectic these last years and…” She stopped herself. “I’m sorry, you’re probably busy and I don’t want to take up your time telling you about my sad love life.”
Her words empowered me to ask what I should have asked the first time I saw her. “No, it’s fine. I was going to grab some lunch and get some work done. Are you busy or do you want to have lunch with me?”
She lit up. “I’d love to.”
“Great. Should I call you Charlie or Liv?”
“You remembered.” She looked genuinely impressed and surprised. “I prefer Liv, if you don’t mind.”
Lifting my hand, I swung it to the main entrance. “All right, Liv. I know a nice Italian restaurant. Will that work?”
“Pizza always works for me.”
“Yeah? Which pizza is your favorite?”
We made small talk as we walked the ten minutes to the Italian restaurant that I liked so much.
“This is so cute.” Liv was doing a full spin, her head leaning back as she looked up at the old brick buildings surrounding the covered patio with the string lights, heaters, and brightly colored chairs and tables. “It’s like a hidden gem.”
“And they make amazing food on top of that.”
Liv sat down at the table that the host had led us to. “I can’t believe you recognized me after all these years.”
“You haven’t changed that much.” I sat down too.
“No?” She shrugged. “That’s because you only see the outside of me. Inside I’ve grown old and cynical.” She followed her statement with a small wink that made my heart beat faster.
What was it about this woman? I’d only ever had brief encounters with her and every time I’d been spellbound by her.
“I hope you don’t mind me saying this, Charles, but you’ve changed a lot. You look so grown up and now your hair is all stylish. I like it.”
“Does that mean you didn’t like my hair before?”
“No, actually, I remember that I had this thought…” She trailed off and shook her head with a laugh. “Please don’t judge, but the first time I saw you in that coffee bar, I remember thinking that I wanted to slide my hands through your hair. It looked so thick and soft.”
That had me smiling more. “Why didn’t you ask me?”
“Would you have let me touch you? I was a complete stranger.” She wrinkled her nose up. “I’m outgoing and forward, but I’m not without social filters. Even I know that walking up to a hot guy and asking to touch him would be making a bad first impression, which of course I still did when I took a sip from your cup.” She held both hands to her hair to underline how embarrassing that had been to her.
