Love All

Changing Ends

"Can we start again? Please?" His smile went straight to her heart and without a second thought she smiled and nodded.

"Of course."

They were sitting in a little café, a few minutes away when Tom looked at her with a soft smile.  "I never want you to cry because of me again kitten." he said, reaching over and taking her hand from where it lay on the table. "It broke my heart when I thought I'd hurt you."

"You? You didn't do anything Tom, it was me and my big mouth. I have a history of spoiling things with it.  Lack of filter isn't always funny." she looked at him and he knew that there was a story behind that, but he didn't want to press it.  This was about reconciliation not persecution.

"Yeah, I've put my size tens in it a few times." he nodded, taking a bite of his cheese and tomato on rye. "So, given that we're going to pretend you didn't make a wrong assumption, and you aren't going to disappear into the ether any time soon, would you like to have dinner with me?  Tonight?" he smiled and she could see hope in his eyes.  

It took her aback, why would he even have to hope?  Surely ANYONE would give their eye teeth to have dinner with him, even if they DIDN'T want to jump on him at any given point in the proceedings?

"That" she said, extracting her hand from his grasp and picking up her own sandwich, a rather colourful affair of ham salad. "would be lovely. Just a little teensy weensy problem." she looked at him from under her lashes. "I don't have anything dressy apart from this..." she indicated her sun dress. "Hardly a dinner outfit?" 

"Oh darling," he laughed and winked "where we're going?  You won't need a dinner outfit...."

The taxi pulled up at the address he'd been given on the booking and turned to his customer. "Here you go Cara, have a lovely evening." Dave and Cara had gotten on like a house on fire.  From the moment he'd picked her up at her hotel till now, they'd chatted and laughed and generally acted like they'd known each other for years.  

The reason?  They actually HAD known each other for years.  Well, more accurately, online for years.  It turned out they were both members of the same Facebook group - one that shared their everlasting love of all things Marvel.  Dave had made an innocent remark about a billboard they'd passed on the way, advertising the latest Marvel TV series and that was it.  Ice broken, Marvel knowledge shared and ultimately?  The confession to him that she was meeting Loki for dinner.  

That had made Dave smile even more widely.  What he knew, and she didn't, was the ultimate destination.  The taxi had been booked - and paid for - by Luke and Cara had only been told to dress casually and it would pick her up at 7.30.  She'd said goodbye to Tom after lunch as he had a previous appointment and she had wanted to go and collapse in a heap for a few hours.  Where once the thought of them parting would have made her sad, this time, under these circumstances?  It made her more excited than anyone had a right to be.

Now, as she got out, she leant through the open window towards her new friend. "Thanks Dave, see you online sometime yeah?" she reached out and shook his hand.  He smiled, 

"Absolutely, look forward to it.  Have fun with Loki!" and with that he drove away.  Cara paused and looked around.  The little street they were in seemed to have come out of some Georgian novel.  It was narrow but leafy with plane trees.  The houses on either side, tall and imposing.  Each with their own set of steps up to a little portico. Protected from the elements by them,  each door was solid and imposing, some even with brass lion-head knockers.  What she now realised, with a rush of adrenaline, was Tom's house was one such building.

As she walked up the steps, the door opened.  Although she could see no one, she knew it was the right house.  After all, who else would have a hallway that looked like an extension of  a public library and an art gallery all rolled into one.  Even from the steps, she could see the mass of paintings and drawings on one wall, the other lined with shelves of books.  Not neatly arranged as if they were never touched, no.  These shelves, she could tell were regularly scavenged for old friends. 

As she reached the top step, the curator of the world's most exclusive art gallery stepped forwards from behind the door with a smile.

"Hello darling, you look lovely, please... come in..." he grasped her hand and guided her inside, kissing her cheek as she went. She paused as he turned to close the door, this was the single most surreal moment of her life.  Tom turned back and stopped, looking at her intently.  Her expression told him everything he needed to know and more.    Ever. Her eyes, her smile, everything about her was perfect. This was, quite simply, the best decision he'd made.

"Don't move... wait right there...I need to get...." he dashed off and she stood, a puzzled expression replacing the wonder in her smile.

Two minutes later, he reappeared as if nothing had happened.  "Tom? Are you ok"? she asked softly, "Have I done something wrong?" 

He smiled and walked up to her, presenting her with a little gift bag.  Looking inside, she let out a small noise of confusion "huh?" and looked at him. "Tom.. what?"

"Take it out." he said with a quiet smile, watching her, his heart thudding in his chest so loudly he was sure she could hear it. Carefully, she extracted a small squishy toy tennis ball with a cute little face and a tag attached. Her hands shook as she tried to read the tag.  "Tell me what it says?" he smiled and put a hand around her waist drawing her to his side.

"You are cordially invited to the Gentleman's Singles Final on Sunday 13th." she looked up at him, hardly able to believe it.  He'd invited her!

"Go on love, read the rest..." he gently  encouraged her, desperate for her reaction.  Cara took a deep breath, 

 "Please note, you will not be admitted without an accompanying devoted Jotun Prince." her voice shook and she felt hot tears begin to prickle her eyes, her throat and chest tightening. 

"Just as well you - and Loki - are Jotun then eh?" she smiled weakly, hardly able to believe what was happening. Tom shook his head. "No?" The air thick with unspoken tension, she held her breath.

"No," he said thickly, his eyes searching her face, coming to rest on her lips then her eyes. "No, I'm NOT Jotun, what I AM is the other thing...." he swung her round and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. 

"Devoted?" she barely dared whisper as he leaned down, his lips a mere breath from hers.  He closed his eyes and nodded as he touched them to hers murmuring as he did so, 

"To you."

As they lost themselves in each other, all thoughts of dinner put aside, Cara had no idea how true that would prove to be.