But as we emerged from the crowd, me blinking owlishly in the bright light, the 6 inch mop of sandy blonde hair on top just felt hot. I was pretty sure the gel I used to keep it looking like a respectable hairdo and not some post-punk nightmare would not enjoy this heat and humidity and I was going to have to really avoid mirrors when I got back inside. We made it through the rest of the crowd in the midst of my musings and instead of sitting down at any of the cafe tables I had outside, the stranger turned sharply right. We walked to the edge of the little plaza that housed my shop, a couple others, and several high rise professional buildings to some ornamental trees and bushes. There was a low wall and out ten feet down, the opening for a path. I'd never noticed any of this stuff before. "Okay", the stranger said conspiratorially "what I'm about to show you it top secret" as he took a step down the path. Maybe twenty steps in we found a picnic bench, like one of those ones you'd see at a park, in the middle of a the tiny grove of trees. It was like the book The Secret Garden playing out right before my eyes.
"I never knew this was here."
" Nobody does, and they better not learn about it either," he said with a stern voice, but a smile that said the threat was a joke. "The city built this complex with no regard for green space so a couple years back they dug up the pavement in this little section, planted some trees, and plopped down a picnic table and now, no lie, this is considered a 'park' in the city plans." he said, gracing me again with that rich chuckle. I laughed along with him, the story warranted it, but I was on Cloud 9. I knew a secret about my dream man. I knew the location of his oasis. If I wanted to graduate from light to heavy stalking, I could find him here after he bought his coffee every day. Amazing.
"Oh God," he said looking embrassed and reaching out his hand for me to shake, "I'm Dominic by the way, my friends call me Dom. You can call me Dom." I shook his hand but my head was a little fuzzy as my libido came surging back into the situation with a vengeance, my inner lech happy to take over and imagine all the situations in which I could spend my time calling him 'Dom'. "Kyle," I replied and added still a little dazedly "I wear a nametag." He laughed and this time, it wasn't a chuckle like before, it was a full rich belly laugh that shook his shoulder and lit up his whole face. The blood that had been surging to my groan did an abrupt about face and headed for my heart and for a second I thought I'd pass out. Prolonged exposure to Dom seemed like it would really put my body through the wringer. The lech took over again, imagining what it would be like for Dom to put my body through the wringer. Great, now that guy wasn't just riffing off of what Dom said but my own internal monologue too. I should really have a sit down with that guy.
Dom settled onto one side of the picnic table and reached across to set my water down in front of the bench on the other side. I slid into the bench, taking a second to shuffle around so my knees fit and I could fold my legs under the seat without too much hassle. He was still smiling but unlike before it wasn't purposefully charming or business like, it was an ear to ear boyish grin of enjoyment. I liked that. I liked that I'd made his face look like that. There was still tension in him though, and he didn't settle down fully until I took a long sip from my water. He'd been worrying about me, I realized, with shock. This whole time while we walked over and chatted Dom had been thinking about and worrying about me. That did other funny things to my heart, but I knew I couldn't get too caught up. Just two guys sitting down for non-romantic drinks as
friends.
Not even friends, lightly acquainted strangers who could maybe
become
friends. I couldn't get carried away here, it would only lead to heartbreak down the road.
"So Kyle," Dom started, "you're the manager of the best coffee shop in three counties. What's that like?" I laughed at the seemingly effortless ice breaker, the guy was smooth, I'd give him that.
"Just three counties?" I joked while Dom made a non-committal gesture with his hand before taking a sip of the sugared monstrosity he'd ordered. "Well, I do manage the place," I continued "but I actually co-own it with my friend." Dom's eyebrows rose.
"You own the place and still spend a Saturday sweating your ass off behind the counter with just a couple of high school kids to help?" he exclaimed incredulously.
"Well an adult has to be legally present," I joked "and besides, I wouldn't ask them to do something I wasn't willing to do and I'm really committed to the success of the place, so yeah, I work Saturdays and behind the counter . . . " I trailed off without finishing, shocked by how defensive I felt about my crappy work schedule and weird sense of business honor. When I looked back at Dom he was smiling that genuine smile again and I think he liked what I'd said. I blushed. "How about you?" I asked to get the focus back off me before I melted further under the warmth of his gaze. "What do you do?"
He sighed. He looked down at his drink and down at the surface of the picnic table and made an all around show of looking chagrined. "This is where I lose them all," he said ruefully and I chuckled. "I'm a lawyer, a defense attorney, with one of the white shoe firms in the Hanson tower in the plaza. I won't tell you which one, I couldn't stand the thought of you hating me thirty seconds after meeting me." He finished. 'I could never hate you,' I thought. But the thought was both sappy and overly familiar so I said nothing. "So you live close by?" I asked. I was confused when he immediately blushed and looked guilty.
"No, I live out of town a little bit, in one of the suburbs." he said hesitantly. When I didn't respond immediately, he followed up with "I was just craving coffee. . . this coffee . . . you know, specifically so I came in to town for a bit. I guess I could have made coffee at home, but I have some papers I wanted to grab from my office anyway, so it made sense." He didn't have to justify anything to me but it was funny to see him running through it anyway.
"Hey, I'm flattered," I said "the coffee is good enough to risk Saturday morning traffic here with only that flimsy paperwork as an excuse? I should put that endorsement on the website!" I teased. He laughed but it was more hesitant before. Okay, maybe he didn't think I was a funny as I thought I was, can't win them all. I grinned and chuckled. At this point most of my allotted fifteen minutes had passed and no matter how much I was enjoying my conversation with Dom, I was still the boss and had to set a good example. I finished my water while he sipped his coffee and we lapsed into companionable silence. I could Dom was thinking about something, but he didn't say anything and I didn't push.
The last few minutes of my break passed and I was really feeling refreshed. The water, the breeze and shade through the trees, and the pleasant conversation with the handsome and friendly Dom had really revived me. When I opened my mouth to tell Dom that though, he cut me off. "Hey," he said squirming on the bench a little. "So um, I'm sure the water helped but I have a pool. . . At my house. You guys are closed on Sunday's right? So if you don't have plans tonight, you can come over and use the pool? It was supposed to be a party but all the guys bailed at the last second, so now I have like three cases of beer and burgers for 12. I could sure use the help! I'll cook, you'd just been to bring swim trunks and an appetite!" His confidence seemed to return as he talked and by the end he was giving me a full dose of that charming smile again. Go to his house, with just swim trunks to stand between me and abject humiliation as my body reacted to his presence? Hang out with at an abandoned party potentially just the two of us? Drink beer and stare at Dom shirtless for some unknown amount of time? This was an awful idea. I was in dare I say, dangerous waters, here. In the history of colossally bad ideas, this was the worst.
"Sure, sounds fun." My mouth said before my brain could stop it. 'WHHHAAAT?! Sure?! SURE?' I scolded myself but it was too late to take it back. The words had escaped my mouth and they were just hanging out there practically visible in the air. Waiting for Dom to pick them up or drop them. Please drop them, save me from myself, I pleaded with him mentally. But apparently he was no psychic, because that genuine boyish grin was back and he said "Awesome" as he reached into the back pocket of his shorts and pulled out his wallet. He pulled a business card out of one of the folds and flipped it over. He wrote down his address and a phone number and handed it to me.
"That's my address, I put my cell number on there too, just in case something comes up or you get turned around on the way over," he stated, handily giving me an escape hatch, but seeing his obvious happiness at my acceptance I knew I'd never be able to take it. "I was thinking like 8?" he said, waiting for my response. I glance at his address, it was probably about 20 minutes from my place, which was maybe a 5 minute walk from the shop. Yeah, 8 would be perfect, it would give me time to close up the cafe, dress in all two pairs of swimsuits I owned a couple of times and take them both off hating them before flipping a coin, and then overthink everything for an hour before I even had to get in my car. "Sounds good" I said, while inwardly groaning. Dom smiled again, wide enough to make little crinkles at the corners of his eyes and highlight a dimple on one cheek I hadn't seen before. I was done for, no person with a heart could disappoint a face like that.
