Page 15 of Change of Plans

My jaw dropped a little. How was it humanly possible that this amazing, adorable man and I were on the same page?

“Are you free tomorrow night?” Diccon asked. “I know it’s kind of short notice, but I’m free if you are.”

“I’m free, I’m free,” I said, heart beating so fast it made me dizzy. “I’d love to go out with you.”

“Great.” Diccon’s smile was luminous. And of course someone came into the café at just that moment to interrupt everything. Diccon glanced to the door, waved at the newcomer, and said, “I’ll be there in two seconds.”

“No problem,” the middle-aged woman said, walking up to the counter to study the menu.

Diccon stood, but his attention was still on me. “Give me your phone number and we’ll coordinate something for tomorrow night.”

I gave him my phone number and put his into my phone. I couldn’t believe I had his number at last. “I’m not too fancy, so whatever you want to do is fine with me,” I told him.

“We’ll come up with the best first date ever,” Diccon said as he backed away from the booth. “Although, you could consider last night to be our first date, really. Or maybe the first time you came in for coffee.”

I was more than fine with that.

As Diccon and I both returned to our work, I actually smiled. Maybe I wasn’t such a disaster after all. Maybe changing my usual plans had finally led to something good instead of trouble.

CHAPTER 5

Diccon

Finally, I felt like things were starting to get somewhere with Theo. He really was awesome, maybe even more so because he didn’t think he was anything special at all. He’d dropped just enough hints that I guessed he’d had some romantic missteps in his past, and maybe he hadn’t had the supportive family that I’d had.

Whatever the case, I was dying to learn more, to learn everything about him.

We made arrangements over text—and boy was I happy to have his phone number at last—to have dinner at a new and reportedly quirky BYOB near the Keswick section of town called Closed Mondays.

“Who names their restaurant Closed Mondays?” Brian asked as he helped me go through my closet to find the best combination of skinny jeans and nice shirt that I could make to look as hot as Theo deserved.

“Someone who doesn’t want to keep repeating their opening hours all the time?” I suggested with a laugh.

Brian chuckled. “I guess it’s memorable.”

“It will definitely be memorable after tonight,” I said, grinning as I picked a soft pink Henley to pair with my black jeans. It was a little bit of a risk, since I didn’t know how much Theo wanted our outing to scream “I’m on a gay date”, but I was willing to take a chance, because the combination always made me feel sexy.

“So you’re planning for this to be more than just a little bit of a date?” Brian asked, one eyebrow raised.

I met his look with a knowing one of my own. “It’s not like Theo and I have only just met. Haven’t we been dancing around each other for months now? I’m perfectly okay with not taking things slow, especially after that kiss the other night.”

“Yeah, you still haven’t given me all the juicy details about that,” Brian said, examining something on my dresser so he could politely look the other way as I ditched my work jeans and slipped into the black ones.

“You don’t want all the juicy details,” Sam’s voice sounded from the hall.

Brian snapped straighter and moved to open the half-shut door all the way. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, his enthusiasm for talking to my older brother just a little bit too obvious.

Sam backtracked to answer Brian as I put on the shirt. “They were making out in the corner of the performance space where plenty of people could see them,” he said.

“Oh yeah?” Brian leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, looking momentarily cooler than I knew he was. But he always did that when Sam was around. “With everyone watching?”

“We weren’t exactly watching,” Sam said, glancing into the room at me as I settled into my shirt. He focused on Brian again with maybe a bit more interest than he probably thought he was showing. “They were discreet, but boy were they sucking face.”

“Really?” Brian laughed, glancing to me before going right back to Sam again. “I can imagine Diccon getting sloppy in public, but I’ve seen Theo every morning when he comes into the café. He doesn’t seem like that type at all.”

“It was pretty epic,” Sam said. “Until Theo bolted.”

“It’s all been sorted out,” I reassured them, grabbing my wallet and cell phone from my dresser and tucking them into my back pockets. “And Theo’s reasons for leaving so suddenly are none of your business.”