Creed stood there on the front stoop. His leather coat zipped closed and his right hand tucked into the pocket while his other hand held a paper bag. “Hey,” I said, unsure of his reason for being here and seriously hoping he hadn’t brought Stormie.
He held up the bag. “I brought wine,” he said, as if that explained everything. I glanced around for any sign of the blonde.
“Stormie?” I asked, not wanting to invite him in and have her pop out of the dark to follow.
“She needed to get home,” he replied.
I stepped back then and let him inside. Once he was in the house, I closed the door quickly to keep any more heat from escaping. “I’ve already opened a bottle of wine if you want a glass,” I told him and headed toward the kitchen. Seeing my sandwich on the table reminded me of my meal. “Are you hungry? I didn’t cook but I have sandwich supplies.”
I heard a low chuckle. “I’m good for now,” he said, as he took the bottle of wine he brought out of the bag and placed it on the bar.
I sat back down in the chair beside the fire and took a sip from my glass.
“Glasses?” he asked me and I realized I had been in a hurry to get warm I had forgotten about getting him a glass for his wine.
“Sorry,” I said and pointed at the cabinet directly across from him. “In there.”
He got his glass and walked over to the table to sit down and pour himself a glass from the open bottle in front of me. “Tell me about your job,” he said, leaning back in the chair. He hadn’t taken his coat off. I was about to offer to take it but figured he knew where the coatrack was, so he must still be warming up.
I finished the bite of sandwich in my mouth then beamed at the chance to talk about my new job with someone who wanted to listen. “It’s perfect. I didn’t expect to get such an amazing position when I went in this morning. I thought I was interviewing for a job that would be more along the lines of errand girl. I have a degree, but my list of qualifications stops there. This is my first real job. Anyway, lucky for me, the reason the position was available and they were willing to interview someone with such limited experience is because the Archivist, Albert, isn’t the easiest guy to work under. They can’t keep an assistant for him. He runs them off. However, Albert has nothing on Honey. I was raised to deal with difficult. Besides Albert isn’t that bad. He’s demanding, sure, and you better listen when he speaks because if you don’t hear him the first time, you’re screwed. He doesn’t like being asked to repeat himself.”
I stopped to take a drink of my wine and Creed looked like he was enjoying his glass as well as my description of my new job. So I continued.
“Today he was uncrating a new exhibit from Italy. There were pieces I had studied but never seen, except one. I saw it when I went to visit my father in Rome one time. I knew the pieces and my knowledge and art nerdiness finally paid off. Albert warmed to me before the day was over. He didn’t have to tell me names of the artwork or go into detail over how to uncrate them. We worked well together in the silence. I felt like I was in a dream most of the day.”
I finally stopped and just smiled at how ridiculous I must sound to someone who wasn’t obsessed with art the way I was.
Creed set his glass down and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “Albert would be an idiot to lose you. I’m happy you got your dream job. Especially here in Portsmouth. Your Gran would be proud of you.”
I hadn’t thought about that. Gran would be thrilled over my new job. She would have made me a massive dinner complete with vegan mac and cheese. Tears stung my eyes at the thought, and I blinked them back. It was embarrassing to cry over something like that now.
“I’m sure Griff is happy you found a job you love so quickly,” Creed said, reminding me that I had a boyfriend who still hadn’t texted or called me back.
Frowning, I picked up my wine and took another drink. I was sharing my good news and celebrating over drinks with Creed. Not Griff. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. I set my glass back down onto the table gently and lifted my gaze to meet Creed’s. “Yeah, he’s thrilled,” I said, instead of admitting he hadn’t called me back yet.
Creed lifted the almost empty bottle of wine. “Want the last little bit? I can open the bottle I brought.”