The Lunchtime Special

Chapter 35 - Making A Move

"If you were to see him...?"

Oh God.

They both cast incredibly guilty looks over my right shoulder and I sit bolt upright in my seat, releasing the held breath in a soft moan.

No, no, no, no, no.

I catch a whiff of a familiar scent and close my eyes briefly as panic rises. Surely they wouldn't do this to me.

"I'm going to...check out the muffins inside," Laila jumps out of her seat like there's a whole nest of wasps after her.

"I'll come with you," Will adds, both of them abandoning me.

The previously empty chair beside me is drawn back then filled and my heart goes into overdrive. I feel flush all over, I can hear my pulse hammering. When I allow myself to look at him I feast on the sight, noting the neat khaki trousers and pale green polo shirt that hug a body that has the same effect on me as it always did. His hair is in need of a cut, his chin covered with weekend scruff, and his eyes – his eyes look at me with such intensity that the oxygen is ripped from my lungs.

"Hey," he says softly.

I draw in breath as quickly and quietly as I can before I start feeling dizzy. "Wh...what are you doing here?"

His answer makes me wonder if this is all a drug-induced hallucination. "I live here."

"I don't..." I give my head a small shake, unable to tear my gaze from his.

"I live just around the corner; I moved here six weeks ago."

"No, that...that can't be right."

He picks up my hand from where it rests on my lap and holds it in both of his, the contact sending tingles up my arm. "I persuaded my bosses that the business is doing well enough to open a Sydney branch; they found some premises in Parramatta and put me in charge."

With no idea what to say to that astonishing revelation, I stay mute, but blood is pounding through my veins and a feeling suspiciously similar to hope is blossoming inside me.

"I asked Laila and Will not to tell you because...oh shit." His hands trembling, he seems to be having trouble continuing so I find my voice.

"You live here?" It's so difficult to believe, but he nods. "And commute to Parramatta?" Another nod. An idea begins to unravel in my head but it's almost too good to be possible. "Why?"

"Melbourne wasn't the same; nothing was the same without you."

"B-but you love Melbourne," I stutter, still struggling to believe what he's saying.

"I love you more."

My heart's not ready to hear those words; it never thought it would hear those words.

"I was kind of hoping...is there a chance you might still..." His words falter but his eyes and face show all he wants to say; love, hope, vulnerability.

It sends a surge of such overwhelming emotion through me that I shudder. My fingers grip his more possessively and I move my chair a little closer to his, lifting my other hand to his face and rubbing my palm against the soft fuzz covering his jaw. "Still love you?" I finish for him. He gives a small nod and I exhale on a sigh. "I tried to stop," I tell him quietly, "but it didn't work." A light goes on behind those amber eyes, suffusing me with warmth, and I marvel at the beauty of it.

"No?" he whispers, lips beginning to twitch.

"No," I confirm. "You're just too damn..." Wonderful? Amazing? Perfect? "...much." As soon as it's out I know it's not right. "No, not too much, I mean..." I pause to take in a deep breath. "Jake...are you sure you won't regret..."