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“Yeah?” Tatum quirked an eyebrow at him. “Do you do this a lot?”
“Eat here? Yes.”
“Strong arm single women at the bar into joining you?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Let me guess. You think I’m going to say I don’t have to strong arm single women into anything.”
“I’m sure you don’t.”
“Please?” He shrugged.
With another frazzled glance at the bar, she closed her mouth and slid off the stool. Rather than have her follow him, Charlie waited for her to pass and then ushered her to his table like they were a real couple on a date at some posh place instead of a dive sports bar.
She sat across from him, and though it was way the hell too far away from him, he didn’t complain. Tatum—the woman he’d been moony-eyed over for the past month—was sitting at a table with him for dinner. When Renita saw that Tatum had joined him, she quickly made her way over to the table and offered Tatum her big smile.
“What can I getcha to drink?”
“Just water, thank you.”
“So. How do you like Long Grove?” he asked when their eyes met.
“I like it.” Her answer surprised him.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “Why do you sound surprised?”
He opened his mouth to answer her but decided he shouldn’t bring up again that she rarely smiled. Which made him assume she wasn’t ever truly happy. She hadn’t taken his comment well the other day; no reason to say something like that again and run her off.
Renita delivered Tatum’s water glass, giving him a moment to mull over an answer.
“I dunno.” He sipped his beer, noticing the way her eyes followed the pint glass back to the table. “Maybe because so many people I grew up with here can’t wait to get away. I like it when people come to Long Grove and like it enough to stay.”
“Is that your way of asking me if I’m going to stay?”
“Are you?” he asked around a grin.
“I dunno. For a while, I guess.” She put her billfold on the table and then folded her hands in her lap. “I just got a few things for my apartment. Guess that means I’ll be around for a while.”
“What’re those apartments like? You live in the Sage building, right? Where Everleigh lives?”
“Is that your way of asking me to invite you to my place?”
This time, Charlie laughed. “No. I’m just curious. That’s an old building. But I know they did a lot of renovations and remodeling there.”
“It is old,” she agreed, “but it’s nice. My place is about a thousand square feet, but it’s an open floor plan, so it feels bigger.”
“Where are you from?”
“I moved here from Ohio.”
Charlie didn’t call her on the fact that she didn’t say where she was originally from. Hopefully, this would be the first of many conversations between them, and he would have other opportunities to ask her.
“And what do you do?”
“Drink coffee and lounge in this great coffee house I lucked into finding my first day in town. The only problem is there’s this guy that ogles me every day when he comes in.”
She said it with a straight face.
