Page 27 of Man Glitter
I shook my head, ponytail flying. “We’re not going to my clinic.”
Charlie frowned, but I didn’t give away my secret mission.
Pulling into a spot just a few doors down from Coffee, we got out of the car and I stood in front of Charlie on the sidewalk. “Do you trust me, Charlie?”
His eyes softened, and he leaned in close, his trademark soap and wood smell making my stomach swoop and soar. “‘Course I do, Rudolfina.”
I smiled and patted his cheek. “Good. Then follow me and keep up.”
I marched off and Charlie followed, holding the door to Coffee for me when he realized that’s where I was headed. I skipped the order line and went straight to the counter, the one Charlie had made for this town.
“Give me a boost, would you?” I asked Charlie.
He didn’t even hesitate, just knelt down and laced his fingers together. I stepped on his hands, and using his shoulders for balance, climbed up onto the counter to stand several feet above everyone’s heads.
Speaking of heads, they all turned my direction, jaws dropped and eyes wide at the crazy lady standing on the counter.
“Good morning, Hell!” I called out. I got a few grumbled good mornings back, but mostly stunned silence as even the baristas stopped what they were doing to stare at me. This would either go really well or I’d have to find another profession in another town. I should have asked Charlie if he minded moving.
The butterflies in my stomach took flight, and I suddenly wished we’d gotten something to eat first. Charlie reached over and put his hand on top of my foot and I glanced down to see him smiling at me, total confidence in his eyes. He had no idea what I was even doing climbing on tables in front of everyone he knew, and yet he believed in me. My heart expanded and so did my confidence.
“Hi, everyone. I’m Finnie Dorado. I’m the new doctor in town, opening an urgent care on Brinestone Way. I, uh, couldn’t help but overhear a conversation here yesterday and it made me realize that I needed to address everyone publicly. I mean, I was already in the newspaper the other day with speculation about my love life, so why not set the record straight right from the horse’s mouth, you know?”
I cleared my throat and locked eyes with Poppy, who just poked her head through the door. That woman could sniff out a story like a bloodhound. She gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up. My gaze swung over to Polly and Yedda, who looked at me with much distrust. The former, not the latter. Yedda was beaming at me.
“So, here’s the deal. Charlie Boldt and I are together. What you read in the paper was true, except for the shacking up thing. I mean, I was living at Charlie’s this last week, but only because he cut his thumb pretty badly when I startled him in his workshop.”
“Oh, did you surprise him with the naked under the trench coat move?” called Yedda, her eyes filled with glee.
I wobbled on my perch, my face heating. “Um, no. Definitely not that. I, uh, had to stitch him up and then he couldn’t use his hand so I stayed to help him out. Platonically. But that’s the thing. I got to know Charlie this last week or two and I can safely say that the general impression of Charlie is all wrong.”
I stood up taller, wanting to set the record straight, once and for all.
“I overheard someone saying Charlie is crazy. I can tell you, that is completely untrue. Charlie is the most amazing artist and human I’ve met in a very long time. He genuinely cares for people without judging them first. I, for one, can’t say I’ve been around too many people like that. I’ve been wrongly judged before and it hurts. I refuse to be that person and I refuse to let you all go around thinking Charlie’s something that he’s not. He’s refreshingly real. He’s mind boggling, really.”
“He’s hot!” a woman called out.
My head whipped right, looking for the cat caller, finding four young ladies all sitting at a table nearby, one of whom had a rambunctious little girl on her lap. The dark-haired woman with the red lips gave me a sly wink and smile.
My blush deepened. “Yes, he is hot. And he’s all mine, if he’ll have me.” I looked down at Charlie who looked up at me like I’d hung the moon he loved to dance under so much. “Will you be my boyfriend officially, Charlie?”
He smiled wide, those laugh lines on each side of his mouth making my knees weak. Polly charged out of her chair and grabbed the back of it to swing it right by Charlie.
“Better get your girl, Charlie,” she said with a grin.
Charlie hopped on the chair and then came to stand on the counter with me. His blue eyes heated and his eyelids dropped. I held my breath, hoping his answer would be yes, and I hadn’t humiliated myself in front of the whole town for nothing. His hands lifted and cupped my jaw.
“The answer is always yes when it comes to you, Rudolfina,” he whispered right before he kissed me.
His tongue darted out to lick my bottom lip, and I let him all the way in. No more barriers or reasons why I wouldn’t let him into my heart. Loud whooping and whistles from our audience had me pulling back with a furious blush, reminding me we were still on the counter in the middle of the coffee shop.
“Oh God, this thing is going to break!” All I could think of was that we needed to get down. Immediately.
Charlie smirked. “I made this thing. Trust me, it’ll hold.”
He turned to our audience, a peace to his expression that hadn’t been there last week. “Wanna see her incredible stitches?” He went to pull off the last of the gauze covering his cut. Attention shifted his way, and I sighed with relief.
A bunch of people hopped up and came over, wanting to see the gory wound and hear about how it had happened. I hopped off the counter and tried to get in line to get some breakfast like it was a normal day. Quite a few people complimented my handiwork and promised to come see me at the urgent care when it was up and running.
