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Recognizing her voice, I chuckled and turned around to see Charlie, trying her hardest to contain a very exuberant and strong puppy from rushing inside.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she yelled with one hand holding the door open while the other held on to Pepperoni for dear life.
I heard Johnie chuckle behind me as his wife yelled, ‘No worries, Charlie. You hold onto the beast and we’ll get your order for you.’
Charlie sighed and there was an excited bark from Pepperoni. ‘Thank you.’ Then she finally saw me standing just a few feet away from her and her eyes rounded. ‘William?’
I strolled towards her and closed the gap between us. ‘Second time in a day, Charlie?’
‘I’m not following you if that’s what you’re thinking.’
The pizza box in my hand, I got down to Pepperoni’s level. ‘Hello, Pepperoni.’ He did his thing again, hiding behind Charlie’s leg, but his tail was thumping very hard and this time it didn’t take him too long to say hi. He nosed my palm, and I gave him a scratch behind his ear while looking up at Charlie. ‘Didn’t even cross my mind. What are you doing out here this late?’
She smiled as she watched Pepperoni try to get his nose into my dinner. ‘We were doing our last walk of the day and realized we forgot to have dinner.’ She met my eyes and I rose from my crouch. ‘I don’t like going to bed hungry so here we are. You?’
‘Basically the same thing.’
‘I guess it’s inevitable that we bump into each other when we live so close.’
‘I’d say you’re right.’
We smiled at each other, and Charlie pushed a loose strand of her hair behind one ear, looking away from me for a moment.
‘Excuse us.’
The couple in the pizzeria had to walk between us since we were still standing in the entrance, and I took the time to take in Charlie. She gave the couple an apologetic smile as Pepperoni pulled her back a few steps in his hurry to get away from the strangers. She was wearing sport leggings and, under her thin jacket, a light blue tee-shirt that said Only Love in colourful letters. The light blue suited her very well. There was still a slight flush to her cheeks that could be from the short walk or from Pepperoni’s effort to drag her along. Either way it added to her allure.
Which I had no reason to notice. She had no allure for me. No matter how easy it felt to talk to her, or to be around her – that was all it was. Yet I still took note that her hair was half-up and half-down and she looked beautiful. Relaxed, natural and just… beautiful. She had looked beautiful earlier in the day too when she had first walked into the coffee shop and acted as if we were a couple – and she looked beautiful now. And I needed to stop.
I joined her outside and she closed the distance between us.
‘Your pizza is getting cold, I don’t want to keep you,’ she said, relaxing her hold on the lead as Pepperoni decided to plop down right in front of me. I guessed he was hoping to work me over for a slice.
‘That’s okay. I’d like to walk with you guys if that’s okay.’
She smiled. ‘Thanks. We’d like that.’
Pepperoni gave me a little bark, and the moment I looked down his tail started going again. While we began to negotiate for a slice of pizza with a small bark here and there, I enjoyed listening to Charlie’s laughter as she took in our ridiculous back and forth. Every time I said ‘No’ or ‘I don’t think so’, Pepperoni would give a small bark and shift his feet as if he were tapping on the concrete ground.
When Charlie’s pizza was ready and paid for, I decided to carry it for her so she could focus on Pepperoni and we started on our short walk back.
‘I don’t really want to talk about work outside of work, but I’ll only ask this. What did you think about Laurel? I couldn’t guess at the meeting.’
‘I think she’s telling the truth. I think I’d like to help her out of this mess even though it isn’t exactly a crisis anymore.’
She released a long breath as Pepperoni walked a little bit in front of us, sniffing at everything. ‘Okay, that makes me happy. I know you’re picky with the cases you want to work on, but I’m glad you didn’t want someone else to handle her.’
‘You like her.’
She gave me a quick look. ‘Yeah. She is a little all over the place, but I do.’
Her phone chimed with a new message and she quickly looked at it.
‘A possible date?’ I asked, all of a sudden not sure where the question had come from.
