a christmas miracle

two

Charlie's date with Nick went well. They'd met in the warmly lit café, settling into the huge armchairs by the open fireplace. At first, the conversation had been stunted and awkward, with Nick admitting that it had been a long time since he'd been on a date, and he had never been on a date with a guy before. Charlie had smiled and admitted that it had been a while since his last attempt at dating too.

After that, the conversation seemed to flow easily and Charlie learned that Nick had grown up speaking French with his father who had been mostly absent, living in Paris since Nick was very young. Nick had decided to try and heal his relationship with his father after Uni by living in Paris for a few years, teaching English at various schools. But things hadn't been resolved and other circumstances led to Nick moving back to the UK with a baby and a broken heart.

Cleverly steering the conversation away from himself, Nick had asked Charlie about his life. Charlie spoke about how he'd always loved books and had a part time job in a big-chain bookstore as a teenager. Which led to him studying English in Uni and getting a job at a publishing house in London for a while until he happened to walk past a vacant retail space for sale one day and decided to turn it into what is now his beloved bookstore, the place he probably spends more time in than his tiny flat.

Their conversation continued even as the street outside fell into darkness, lit only by the glittering Christmas lights, until the café staff shooed them out into the cold. Standing under the awning of the neighbouring store, Nick and Charlie exchanged phone numbers, with Nick apologising that he had to end the date there but he had to collect his daughter from wherever she was currently.

So now Charlie was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling as he tried to memorise every detail of the date, in order to never forget. He was mid way through remembering the way Nick's eyes lit up every time there was even a mention of his daughter when his phone buzzed from the bedside table. Reaching over to grab it, he saw a new message from Nick.

NickNelson: Hey Charlie, It's Nick. I just wanted to say thank you for making this the best first date I've ever had. I had a wonderful time and would really love to see you again. But I feel like I need to just get something out into the open before we go any further. You know I have a daughter and she will always be my first priority. I really hope you can understand and accept that because I think you're amazing and want to get to know you more.

Charlie stared at the message on his phone, letting the words sink in. He couldn't tell if Nick was just setting boundaries before something happened or if Charlie had already crossed some kind of line. He hoped it wasn't the later, because he would hate to have already done something to upset Nick.

Rolling onto his stomach, Charlie typed out a reply, deleting it and trying again several times before he settled on the perfect words.

CharlieSpring: Hey, I had an amazing time too. Definitely would love to see you again. I can completely understand your wanting to put your daughter first. I wouldn't want to get in the way of your relationship with your daughter.

Charlie set his phone down and got off the bed, heading into the kitchen to get started on dinner for himself. A part of him couldn't help but imagine making dinner in a totally different situation; with Nick beside him, his daughter in the living room watching TV, maybe another baby sleeping soundly somewhere.

He couldn't help the dreams that filled his head. It had been such a long time since he'd allowed himself to even imagine the possibility of sharing his life with someone else. And now he'd met someone who seemed almost perfect to fill that space in his life