‘For goodness’ sake, spit it out, Charlie!’ I laughed.
‘You have make-up… kind of here.’ He pointed to a spot on his face, a little under his eye.
‘I do? Oh, great. That’s a brilliant advertisement for my blog, isn’t it?’ I wasn’t annoyed in a vain way. Let’s be honest, it wouldn’t have been the first time I’d had smudged make-up. I was annoyed because I knew when it had happened, and I hadn’t thought to check the state of my face following my emotional blip earlier. I balanced my handbag on the wall surrounding the sculpture, and pulled out my compact. Yep. Charlie was spot on. Repair work was definitely needed. I should have gone with waterproof mascara.
‘Look, do you want to get some coffees whilst I sort this out? Here—’ I reached for my purse, but Charlie put a hand on my arm.
‘I told you, lunch is on me.’
I pointed to the deli bag he held in one hand. ‘That’s lunch. This is coffee.’
‘Which is all part of the same meal. Now, come on, sit down here, do what you need to do, and I’ll go and get the drinks.’ He pulled out a chair from a nearby coffee shop’s outdoor table selection and waited for me to take it.
‘What would you like?’
‘Tea would be perfect. Thanks.’
He nodded. ‘Back in a sec.’ He turned to go and hesitated. ‘You know, I wasn’t being… picky when I said about your make-up. I don’t normally even notice stuff like that. It’s just that I’d seen you this morning, so kind of knew how it was all supposed to look. And I just thought you’d probably want to know, as you were going on to dinner and stuff.’
‘I know.’ I caught his hand, and gave it a quick squeeze. ‘If I’d seen later, knowing that I’d sat here and you hadn’t said a word, I’d have killed you.’ I smiled sweetly.
‘Something to remember for the future.’
‘Absolutely. Now shoo whilst I fix this mess.’
‘Hardly a mess!’ he said, squeezing my hand back briefly before letting it go. ‘But I’m going, I’m going!’ He grinned and I forgot all about my messy eye make-up for a moment. Charlie didn’t do big grins a lot but when he did, it was kind of special. And yes, we were just mates. But heck, I wasn’t dead! Purposefully I opened my compact and stuck it up in front of my face, blocking Charlie from view – sort of – and set about the repair work.
A few minutes later and he was back. Putting the takeaway cups down on the table, he unloaded napkins and stirrers, placing them alongside.
‘I put some milk in already for you. Is that enough?’ He opened the lid for me. It was the perfect colour. Of course it was.
He took a seat. ‘So, did you sort out your—?’ He stopped as he looked up at me.
I shifted my eyes. ‘Please don’t tell me I’ve smudged it again in the time it’s taken for you to go and get these?’ I began to reach down for my bag.
‘No! No, you haven’t. It’s fine. I mean, it’s perfect. It’s like it was this morning. How did you do that?’
He paused, frowning.
‘OK. I am perfectly aware that sounded like a weird question. I just didn’t think you’d be able to make it look like nothing had happened so quickly. That’s quite an art. You should do one of your videos on that. I know plenty of girls who’d love to know your tricks.’
I had no doubt that there were plenty of girls who’d love to know a few of Charlie’s own tricks.
‘Thanks. That’s actually not a bad idea. I’ll think about it.’
He nodded, taking a sip of his coffee, before quickly pulling the cup away. ‘Christ, that’s hot.’ He took the lid off and sat them both on the table, allowing the drink to cool a little. ‘So, tell me about this morning, and the meeting.’
I proceeded to do just that and felt the enthusiasm and excitement bubbling up inside me once again as I did. Charlie asked questions, checked things he didn’t understand – his logical brain wanting to make sure it had all the facts, even if those facts were about cosmetics – and then congratulated me on the success of the meeting.
‘So, what happens now?’ he asked, echoing Matt’s question from earlier. I gave him a similar reply.
‘I’m going to think about it over the weekend, but I have the legal papers ready to sign here already.’
He nodded, a more serious expression coming onto his face.
‘Have you read them all through?’
‘No, not yet. They explained a lot of it in the meeting though. And if there’s something I don’t understand, I can just give them a call.’
