Page 35 of Promise Me This

He stops swinging the towel and leans forward, bracing his hands on the counter in front of me. “Without a tour guide?” he asks, and I know immediately that he’s flirting with me.

It should feel good. It’s been a long time since any man blatantly flirted with me. But it makes me think of Callum, and that makes me want to cry.

A bell dings, drawing his attention away from me. I’m certain I’ve dodged the bullet when he returns from the back with my salad and then resumes his stance.

I squirm in my seat, trying to get comfortable. “I’m pretty good at finding my way around.”

“Well, that’s too bad.” He steps away and stretches his arms up over his head, locking his fingers together and letting them settle against the base of his neck. His blue gaze is startling and vivid, full of confidence, so I focus instead on the yellow stains in his armpits. “I happen to be great at showing the tourists around.”

The armpit stains make him feel less perfect, and it releases some of the tension building in my spine. I snicker softly, taking a bite of my salad and chewing slowly. When I finally swallow, I reply, “Oh yeah? You give tours to all the single women that come through town?”

“Not all of them.” He winks, letting his arms fall to his sides. “Just enough to be good at it.”

“Right.” The slight smile falls from my face. “Well, Godspeed on that side hustle.”

He cocks his head curiously and bites at his lower lip as he considers me. I wonder how I must look to him. Then I decide I don’t care to know.

“Could I get a couple pieces of sticky toffee pudding to go, please? And how much do I owe you?”

He adds the order in and tells me my total, taking the bills when I hold them out to him while managing to look genuinely disappointed.

When he hands over the packaged-up cakes a few minutes later, my salad remains half-eaten, but I can’t bring myself to finish it.

“Thanks for”—I gesture awkwardly at the picked-over meal—“this.”

“Anytime,” he replies, a crooked smile returning to his face. “I’m Colin, by the way. You’ll come see me if you decide you want that tour, yeah?”

All I can do is nod, tight and succinct, before backing all the way to the door and making my escape.

“That was fast,” Siobhan says as I deposit her and Niamh’s cakes onto the kitchen counter a few minutes later. The two of them are all bundled up, ready to head to the grocery store, and I find myself hoping they don’t bother to invite me along.

“I’m nothing if not efficient.”

She glances at the dainty gold watch on her wrist and then back at me. “You’ve barely been gone twenty minutes. You can’t have eaten that quickly.”

Niamh glances over at me from where she’s sitting at the table, lacing up her shoes, and smiles, exposing that gap between her front teeth. The gesture takes up her whole face and more than a reasonable amount of my heart. “Did ya come back ’cause ya missed us?”

“Right, that’s exactly why.” I nod, giggling, before my gaze cuts to Siobhan. “That and the pesky bartender.”

“Oh, Colin? Pay that charmer no mind.” Siobhan shakes her head at no one in particular. “He’s just about as bad as a stray dog with the way he’ll hump anything in heat.”

“What’s that mean?” Niamh asks, ever curious.

Siobhan balks for a moment before regaining her composure. “Erm, it means he wanted to take Miss Leona out on a date, but she said no.” Something occurs to Siobhan, and her gaze reverts to me. “You said no, right?”

“Right.”

“Oh good.” She shudders with relief before shrugging out of her jacket.

I wave a hand at her. “No, please don’t let me interrupt your plans. I’ll be fine while you two go to the store.”

“Nonsense. One doesn’t simply abandon a friend who’s just been—”

“Humped?” Niamh offers.

Siobhan bites her knuckle to hold back a laugh. I’m not so composed.

While I work to contain myself, Siobhan gathers a few spoons that clink metallically in her fist as she carries them to the table along with the two cakes. “No, love, not humped. Harassed.” Glancing over her shoulder, she gestures for me to join them. Niamh pops open the first container the moment it’s placed in front of her. “Especially when said friend bears warm sticky toffee pudding.”

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