A la Carte

Chapter 26

Unedited 

The next morning Charlotte was up early. She pottered around the kitchen, making coffee and taking the breakfast things out. 

"Good morning, love." Dimitri said and place a kiss on her forehead when she looked up from her spot at the breakfast nook. 

"Morning," she said. He poured himself coffee and took a seat next to her.

"What are you up to?" He still looked half asleep, but he was dressed and his hair was only slightly ruffled from where he had run his hand through it. 

"Nothing much, I was just flipping through this magazine I found," Charlotte said.

"Anything interesting?" 

"Well if you're into landscaping, then yes."

Before Dimitri could answer Frank Lockehart walked into the kitchen, and stopped short upon seeing them. Dimitri cleared his throat and stood up to greet him. 

"It's nice to finally meet you Mr Lockehart, I'm Dimitri Catricala, Charlotte's boyfriend." He said, giving Frank Lockehart a firm handshake. 

"I'm aware of who are Mr Catricala, I've done some business with you family before," Frank said, returning the handshake. 

"Hopefully it was a successful business deal," Dimitri said. 

"Can I pour you some coffee Frank?" Charlotte's mother said as she entered the kitchen, only to stop short when she noticed the two men sizing each other up in the kitchen.

"Yes, that would be nice, I'll fetch the milk," Frank said and turned towards the fridge without another word. Charlotte sighed as Dimitri sat down again, he squeezed her leg in response and she gave him a weak smile.  Ben came shuffling into the kitchen, sweatpants and a old t-shirt on. he gave everyone a smile and immediately honed in on the coffee pot. 

"So what's the plan for today?" Ben asked after he had taken a few sips of his coffee and looked decidedly more alive. 

"Charlotte and I might go explore the city a bit, it would be nice to have a guide?" Dimitri said with a grin towards Ben. Ben chuckled. 

"I suppose I'll join you, there's a few things I need to pick up from work as well." He said. 

The rest of the morning was comprised of a large breakfast that everyone pitched in to help make and then promptly sat down to eat. Frank Lockehart had barely said a word the whole morning and just ate his food without comment while everyone chatted around him. Charlotte couldn't help but feel like the underlying tension was mostly because of the damaged relationship between her and her father and she could see that it was taking a strain on her mother. Even Ben seemed to be acting more lively and jovial than usual, in effort to make up for the lack of communication coming from the one side of the table. 

After breakfast, Charlotte went to grab her bag and joined Dimitri and Ben at the car. The rest of the morning was filled with window shopping and some actual shopping. Ben drove them around a pointed out some spots that Charlotte could vaguely remember from her childhood. The visited the main office of Lockehart Industries while Ben picked up a few documents that he needed and then they headed back to the house. 

"Let's go for a swim?" Dimitri said when they arrived back at the house. 

"Sounds like a great idea," Charlotte said. After changing into their swimming gear, all three headed to the pool. It was a lovely day and Charlotte couldn't help but relax, all the tension and anxieties about the trip leaving her body as she lazed in the sun. Her wonderful snooze in the sun was disrupted when she suddenly felt cold and wet hands on her. 

"NO!" She screamed as Dimitri and Ben picked her up and she struggled against them as they dragged her towards the blue water of the pool. 

"Please don't! " She cried out, laughingly and attempted to pry herself out of their grip, but to no avail. She soon found herself spluttering and completely wet as they chucked her into the pool. She splashed water at Dimitri when he came up for air after jumping in after her.  

"You're cute when you're pretending to be angry," Dimitri said, chuckling.  It was in a moment like this, that Charlotte realised how lucky she was. His tanned Italian skin made his green eyes stand out even more and with dark, wet hair he looked like he came out of one of those fragrance advertisements that appeared on TV. 

"What?" He asked as he swam closer to her. 

" Nothing," Charlotte said coyly. 

"Oh come on, I know you're thinking about me,"  She blushed. 

"Interesting," Dimitri said as he pulled her into his arms. 

"What?" Charlotte said, slightly breathless at the close proximity of Dimitri. 

" Your blush travels all the way down..." He said as his finger traveled all the way down from her cheek to her chest. Her heartbeat quickened and for a second she forgot how to breathe. 

"Oh would you two get a room please!" Ben yelled at them while making gagging noises. 

Dimitri didn't make a move to let go of her, he just gave her a dazzling smile before leaning in to kiss her, only he didn't. He dunked her under the water instead and when she came up for air, she found him laughing and swimming away from her. 

"You'll pay for that Dimitri Catricala," She warned, a sly smile on her face.  Dimitri only laughed. 

After an afternoon spent in the sun, they were all starving and by the time dinner came around everyone was chatting animatedly, even Frank as he asked Dimitri about his family and the company. Charlotte was pleased to see her father had thawed out a little, probably thanks to her mother, who most likely gave him a stern talking to when they left. 

" So Charlotte, what's the future plan? " Charlotte stilled, her father had directly questioned her at the dinner table. Everyone stilled. 

"I honestly am not sure, I think I'm still going to work while I consider some options," She answered as honestly as possibly. Frank Lockehart only nodded and her mother quickly changed the subject to ask Dimitri about his siblings. Charlotte caught Ben's eyes and smiled sympathetically at her and mouthed "you'll be okay", she only nodded.

Giving the excuse that she was exhausted, Charlotte retired for dinner after helping her mother pack the dishes away. She really did need to start thinking about the future and she needed a plan, but that was a worry for another day, right now all she really needed to do was sleep.