Adore

Chapter 46

Work was flat out again today. I swear I've never used so much gift wrap or green and red ribbon in my life. Wondering to myself if it was possible to get carpel tunnel from curling ribbon..

Mary and I finished recovering the store and I told her about my plans tonight.  She was excited for me and wished me luck, her plans for the night included a large glass of wine and dinner that her husband was cooking for them.

I said good bye to her as I stepped into our staff bathroom to get changed and fix my makeup. Keeping my burgundy straight leg trousers on but changing my blouse to a cream knit jumper. The sleeves were too long for me so I rolled them up a few times into cuffs.

I'd packed myself a spare pair of shoes as well. I kicked off my stiff leather flats and replaced them with a pair of comfortable slip on shoes.

During our conversation yesterday, Nikki had asked me to arrive at 6:30. It was just 6pm now, which still gave me plenty of time to pick up the dessert I ordered from Lucy.

I headed out of the shop, making sure all the locks were done and the alarm set and I walked the short distance to the cafe I was so fond of.

The sign on the door of the cafe said closed, and I could see Lucy and Jace cleaning up after a busy day. I tapped my knuckles against the door and both of their heads turned towards me.

I waved to them with a smile as Jace came to let me in. He unbolted the door and pulled it open gesturing for me to come in.

"Hey Rhylee"

"Hey, how are you guys?" I asked him as we went over to where Lucy was standing.

"Good, we had a busy day again, Christmas rush" Jace said as he went behind the counter. Lucy and Jace swapped an adoring look, they really made such a gorgeous couple. It was easy to tell how well they fit together.

An idea sparked in my head.

"Hey, I was wondering if maybe you guys wanted to come round to my house for dinner one night? I could ask Tom to join us as well" I asked them both.

They looked to each other with wide smiles and Lucy answered me.

"We'd love too"

"Great, he's not back till Sunday so maybe we could do the weekend after?" I said thinking it'd probably be best to get together on a weekend.

"Sounds good, we can't wait to get to know him" Jace beamed as he handed me the box of dessert that was keeping cool in the display fridge.

"Thanks so much, I'll see you guys soon" I said as I paid for the sweet treats.

Lucy walked me back down to the door waving goodbye as I headed off down the street to the bus stop.

•••

After swiping my travel card, I stepped off the bus and checked on my maps app to see where I needed to go. It only took about ten minutes to get to the front door of the house.

Raising my free hand I tapped against the solid wood and carefully balanced the dessert in the other. I was greeted by Dominic, he pulled the door wide as I stepped inside.

"Hi Dom, how are you?" I asked.

"Good, good what about you?" He responded, gesturing that we was going to take the box from my hand.

"Not bad, glad its the weekend we've been flat out at work" I replied, shifting on the balls of my feet.

"Christmas rush I bet" He said with a smile and nodded his head towards the kitchen.