A Baccano Love Story

Meant To Be

Keith Gandor lived in a detached house in West Manhattan, on the edge of Hell's kitchen. Up until the previous year, he'd lived with his brothers in several rented rooms in a nearby tenement, but when Berga had gotten married, they'd each moved into places of their own. At present, only Luck was still living in the old apartment.

Keith unlocked the door and let Luck and Charlie in. His house had more than one guest room, but at the moment, only one of them was fit for a guest to stay in. Kate had stripped the beds to clean the sheets to keep them fresh, and, for whatever reason, hadn't finished folding them all. There was still a set of unfolded sheets in a laundry basket by the sofa, where she must have been sitting to fold them. But they had no idea what she had done with the ones she'd already finished.

Keith left Charlie and Luck to get some blankets from a chest in his room.

"You take the bed," Luck told Charlie. "I'll take the sofa."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"We could share the bed." Charlie felt bad taking the warm bed while he slept on the sofa.

Luck knew it was an innocent suggestion, but...

"I'll take the sofa."

"Luck—"

"Do you know how hard it would be on me to sleep next to you without being able to touch you?"

"... Oh."

Charlies cheeks turned pink when she caught his meaning.

"Like I said, I'll take the sofa."

"......"

Keith came back out with the blankets.

Luck kissed Charlie.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Luck. Goodnight, Keith."

Charlie took a blanket and they basket of unfolded bed linens, and went into the guest bedroom and closed the door. She would make the bed before she slept in it.

Keith handed Luck the rest of the blankets.

"Thanks, Keith."

"......"

"Goodnight."

Keith left Luck to sleep on the sofa, and he went to bed himself, making sure not to wake his already sleeping wife.

Luck lay awake under the warm blankets, staring at the ceiling. He smiled when he thought about Charlie's offer to share the bed. It was funny how someone who spent her early years growing up in a sporting house and knew every curse word in the book could be that innocent. He thought it was cute the way she blushed. He shifted to lie on his side and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

—∞—

The next morning, Luck woke to the smell of frying bacon. He sat up on the sofa and looked toward the kitchen.

"The bacon's done."

He heard Charlie's voice come from the kitchen.

"Just put it over there, dear."

Kate was talking to her.

Luck stood up and went into the kitchen. Charlie was sliding pieces of bacon onto the plates at the table.

Charlie smiled when she saw Luck and laughed a little.

"Your hair is a mess."

Luck reached up and felt his hair. She was right. He smiled wryly.