Page 99 of Bluebird

I ambled into the pub, and found Luke in his usual position behind the bar. But instead of pulling beers, he was making coffee. He looked up and met my eyes momentarily, before whispering something in Dan’s ear. Dan nodded and offered me a wave.

Luke handed a coffee to his waiting customer and moved in my direction. He motioned for me to follow him out the back, so I did. I walked into his office and he closed the door behind me, giving us privacy.

“Have you come to yell at me some more?” he asked, making an effort to ease the residual tension.

I rolled my eyes. “No…”

“That’s a shame.” He smirked. “You’re pretty cute when you get all feisty like that.”

“Luke!” I protested with a nervous laugh.

He chuckled at my reaction, then his smiled faded. “We good?”

I sighed. “Always.”

We regarded each other for a moment, before I remembered why I was there.

“Oh, I just wanted to let you know I’m leaving town—”

“Fuck, Blue!” he exhaled, running his fingers through his hair.

My eyes narrowed. “…for a few days!” I clarified.

Luke pursed his lips at his mistake.

“I have a meeting in Melbourne, and, well…I…I just thought you should know,” I stumbled, and nervously broke our gaze.

“So…I guess I’ll see you in a few days then?”

“Yeah, well…I better get going.” I turned for the door.

Luke blocked the exit and I slammed into his solid body. His hands caught my shoulders as I stumbled backwards. I drew in a deep breath and cautiously lifted my eyes to meet his. My heart was racing and I certain he was going to kiss me, but something changed in his expression.

“You wanna coffee for the drive?” he offered, but his jaw remained fixed.

“Ah, yeah…that would be great actually,” I answered with shaky breath.

And with that, he quickly returned to the bar to make my latte for the road.