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“Okay,” he replied. “I’ll be in touch.”
I hit the End Call button and stood there, leaning against the wall with a stupid smile on my face. I didn’t know Lina and Robbie were watching me until Lina spoke.
“So that went well,” she said.
Robbie was smiling and he waggled his eyebrows. “The Austrian rose worked, huh?”
I wanted to tell them both to shut up, but I was too busy trying not to smile and laugh. “It might have done,” I admitted. “Now I need to find a different flower to give him on our date.”
Lina made a high-pitched sound and did a little jumpy dance. “Date?”
“Lime blossom,” Robbie said.
“What does that mean?” They knew about this floriography thing with Linden. I mean, we all had a good understanding of the meaning of flowers, but we weren’t up to speed on the Victorian ones Linden had referred to.
“Fornication. Well, it kinda means you want to get vulgar with him. There isn’t really an olden day Victorian one forI want to dick you downbut it’s a broad meaning?—”
I put my hand up. “Uh, no. But thanks. I... I don’t think that’s the message I want to give.”
He gave me the kind of side-eye only another gay man could. “I saw how he was looking at you. That boy wouldn’t mind getting vulgar, if you know what I’m saying.”
I laughed. “Yeah, thanks.”
Lina gripped my arm. “A date though. I’m so excited for you. What are you going to wear? Where are you taking him?”
I tried to get my head around any of what had happened today. “Uh, he mentioned a coffee place on the wharf,” I said with a shrug. “It’ll just be casual, I guess. God, I don’t know. It’s been...” I tried to remember. “A really long time since I’ve been on a date.”
She looked at my hair from several different angles. “Well, a haircut might help. And a new shirt. Something that all the cool kids are wearing these days.”
I loved Lina. She’d been my very first employee and had been with me every step of the way of growing my business. She wasreally like a second mum to me, so her telling me to get a haircut was probably par for the course. But I wasn’t sure about the shirt idea...
I looked down at myself. “I don’t think I need a new shirt?—”
“Yes you do,” Robbie said a little too quickly. “How many shirts do you own that aren’t a work uniform?”
I did a mental flip through my wardrobe.
“That you bought in the last three years?” he added.
“Oh, well . . .”
“Exactly.” Robbie sighed. “I’ll take you. When is this date?”
“Saturday.”
“Plenty of time.”
Lina smiled up at me. “Now, about that haircut.”
It seemed there was no getting out of this.
“Well, the hair salon on the next block is out of the question,” I said flatly. “Maybe I could go to one of those walk-in places.”
Robbie let out a horrified gasp. “Dear god, man, no.” He took his phone out, scrolled for five seconds, pursed his lips, and put his phone to his ear. “Hello, Charlotte, darling. This is Robbie. I have an emergency haircut for you...” He scrutinised me for half a second. “And an eyebrow overhaul... Yes, Thursday night?” He looked at me as if he was asking but he didn’t even give me time to object. “Perfect. We’ll see you then. Yes, love you too.”
He pocketed his phone. “Done. Thursday night, seven o’clock. We’ll get you an outfit on the way. And there’s a little hole-in-the-wall dumpling place next door. You can buy me dinner.”
Okay then.
