at his hand for an extra second, feeling her heart build momentum. Warmth simmered in her chest, promising a raging soul-fire if she took the offered kindling.
Mira put her hand in his, sweaty palm be damned!
It was hard to concentrate, hand in hand with this man she didn’t know, who didn’t know her, who was setting her core alight. When she was with Rex it felt like her vibrations were moving faster, sparking bursts of bright energy that made everything clearer and higher. She felt places inside herself opening up that she’d never known existed.
They walked into the café and Rex went straight to the glass counter.
“What do you want?”
“Oh I’ll get it. Seriously,” Mira took her hand back and started furiously fighting with the zip on her handbag that was all of a sudden jammed.
Rex put his hand on hers and warm tingles blew up her arm straight to her chest. Her soul recognised his flow now and met with it like a magnet.
He turned to the lady behind the counter, “Can I have an egg and bacon roll, a tub of yoghurt…”
“What flavour?” The lady tolled with the mechanical ting of someone who asked the same questions day in and day out.
Rex raised his eyebrows at Mira.
“No, I’m fine really…”
He turned back to the lady “Make it boysenberry.”
That was her favourite!
Settle the fuck down Mira, he’s getting his own breakfast clearly, She chastised herself.
Mira went back to wrestling with her handbag.
“And a blueberry muffin,” he finished.
“Anything else?” The lady asked.
“And two coffees.”
The lady went over to the coffee machine.
Mira now had her bag off of her shoulder and was examining the zip more closely.
What the hell was wrong with it?!
Mira jiggled it furiously.
All of a sudden it slid open and Mira held her purse up above her head triumphantly. Her sparkling eyes met the gaze of the lady behind the counter who was staring dryly back at her.
Mira shot her arms down and started to subconsciously smooth her skirt.
“Put that away, here,” Rex gave her the whole oversized bag of food in one hand and a coffee in the other.
“But I don’t need all of this,” She gasped.
Rex chuckled “That’s the whole point of a gift. You’re not very good at taking gifts are you?”
“I’m just not used to it,” she replied plainly, shrugging.
“Then you need more practice,” Rex opened the café door for Mira.
“Ha?” She squinted up at him against the brightness of the outside world.
“I’d like to feed you again,” Rex persisted.
“You’ve already given me breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack!” Mira was dying inside.
She loathed to her bones the idea that she could be taking advantage of someone else’s generosity. In fact Mira spent a great deal of her energy ensuring she gave more to others than they gave her, and she’d rarely had opposition to that. With Rex though Mira felt like she was fighting a loosing battle just to balance the scales.
“Then you’ll need dinner. Are you free tonight?”
“I should stay home,” Mira sighed.
“Come on, it’s Friday night.”
“Only if you let me get dinner,” Mira set her eyes.
“Jeez, you’re tenacious - but I can’t let you do that,” Rex’s eyes were just as set.
A lightbulb flickered in Mira’s head.
“What if I cook you dinner? That’s totally different to buying.”
“Seriously, I can’t let you,” Rex sounded final.
But Mira smiled, all the way up to her eyes “It’s a gift.”
And she kept going before Rex had a chance to roadblock her rocket idea further.
“I’ve got an apartment just a couple of blocks away, you could come over. Wait, no.
No offence but that would be really inconvenient if you turned out to be a psycho, for me.”
Rex looked on her quietly with amusement in his eyes.
“But the apartment block’s got a common area on the roof. It’s like a garden with seats, and the weather’s getting warmer. The view’s amazing!
And it’s public so you’ll find it much harder to dice me into little pieces.”
Mira raised her eyebrows, asking him with her eyes
You down?
“I’m down,” Rex smiled.
His response flustered her momentarily.
“Here I’ll give you the address,” Mira flicked through her sketchbook to a blank page and scribbled her apartment address on it.
Rex’s fingers touched Mira’s as he took the note, and warmth enveloped her.
“May I?” he tilted his head at her sketchbook.
“Oh sure, but it’s nothing really. Just scribbles.”
Mira watched with an excruciating heart, held on a precipice, as he flicked through page after page of her sketches. They were mainly different versions of the sunlight through the trees at the park. Mira wanted desperately to capture that kaleidoscope but so far she’d done it no justice.
Rex handed her sketchbook back reverently.
“They’re good, really good.”
“Really?” Mira beamed out of every essence of her being.
He nodded “I’d like to see more.”
And she believed him.
“Meet you in the lobby at seven tonight?”
“Perfect,” Rex said with a tone of conviction that promised so much more, and it was like someone had set off a whole fireworks display inside Mira.
Конец
