Chapter 23: Easy Favor

“Oh Tres, I’m so happy to see you,” she said, “I was starting to think that you would never get here before closing time!”

She hugged him and whispered in his ear, “You are Tres, my boyfriend. Please play along.”

He whispered back, a little weak in the knees after that earthquaking kiss she had planted on him, “Faye asked me to check in on you. I’ll follow your lead.”

Henry had to acknowledge that there was a boyfriend, but he wasn’t happy about it. He sat the teddy bear in one of the chairs with the heart shaped box on the table before him and put the locket around the teddy bear’s neck. Lastly, he put the flowers under one of the big teddy bear’s arms. “Please excuse me. My name is Henry.” He fixed his glasses and asked, ”Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

“Tres. I am Tres and I am here to pick up my girlfriend, Rachel.”

All three of them were surprised but Henry was also very upset. He turned his anger to Rachel in an effort to get clarification and maybe also some support for how their relationship had progressed over the past few days.

“Where was he at the pub when I bought you drinks, when I sat with you and invited you on a date, when I took you out to dinner for a genuine Italian meal?”

Rachel had no idea what to do or say at that point. She had not planned things out past the passionate kiss. Afterwards, she had her own challenges coming back down to earth. Thank God Tres, her “boyfriend”, was a master at thinking on his feet.

“I was working. I travel a lot for work. I was working out of town. Thank goodness I can trust my girl to do nothing that would ever be construed as cheating. She told me about you each time when we had our nightly ‘pillow talk’ via FaceTime. You must be the older gentleman she befriended. She mentioned how lonely you seemed and how she agreed to keep you company as a neighborly, good deed and as a newcomer to Clovelly.”

“Yes, Tres. He’s the one.”

“She had no intention of dating you. She had me. I do hope that you didn’t get the wrong idea.” Tres extended his hand to shake Henry’s.

Tres continued, “How old are you anyway, 30? If you knew my Rachel, then you would know that she never could be romantically interested in an older gent. Especially that much older. I’m 25 and she’s 21 and it took some convincing on my part to get her just to go out on a date with me,” “Tres” chuckled as he held and squeezed Rachel’s hand.

Henry took off his soda bottle thick glasses and cleaned them with his handkerchief. He looked at both of them once without the glasses and then again with the glasses on. He shook his head in disbelief.

“I don’t believe that for one minute...why did she come out with me? How come she didn’t tell me about you? I’m confused.”

“Sir, I’m back in town for the long run now. I am so grateful that you both were able to be a little less lonely together. Sorry about any misunderstanding. What a shame that you mistook her kindness for something more. It’s getting late; try to get home safe and sound.” At that Arthur walked him out and held the door open for him to go.

“Mmmrhumph,” Henry grumbled as he left the bakery, not sure what happened, but already back alone in his little world and out of their hair.

After Henry left, the teddy bear was the only “customer” left in the bakery. Rachel locked the door right away and hugged Arthur, now released from the role of “Tres for a day”.

“Thank you. I don’t know how to repay you. I could’ve talked to him until I was blue in the face and he never would’ve left me alone. Thank you so much.”

“Hey. I was happy to help. But really, it was my pleasure, believe me.”

“You pled my case with zeal and won my freedom from an infinite number of future disastrous dates with him.

“You know that he’s a gossiper at the pub. Poor soul, he’s a disabled war veteran. By this time tomorrow, however, everyone in town will know that we’re dating.”

“That’s small town living for you.”

“In his defense, something this exciting doesn’t happen everyday. Then there’ll be the questions about when we are going to get married, have kids...the list goes on.” Arthur smiled.

“Well, I’m game if you are,” Rachel beamed. “I had no idea that he would be so challenging to detach from. I was just being friendly, believe me.”

“Oh yes, definitely. But look at it from his point of view. For people in this village, you and now ‘us’, we are big news. Someone new in town marks possibility even hope.”

“Again, thank you so much. I owe you for the favor.”

“And again, it was an easy favor to perform. Believe me when I say that the pleasure was all mine. I did not mind a bit. I don’t know if you know it or not, but you are quite the kisser. You practically knocked me off my feet with that solid shot of amazing affection. And then calling me Tres, a name that only family and old friends call me. It was a pleasant experience.”

“Really?”

“Really. That kiss was so convincing that it alone could have turned a jury of my peers in my favor.”

They both realized that they were holding hands and smiled at each other. Rachel gently squeezed Arthur’s hand then he released it and pulled her in to hug her tightly.

Rachel did not want him to ever let her go, but they could not stay in the bakery all night with the lights on.

“I’ve...got...to...turn of the lights and lock up, Arthur.” She knew if she stayed in this position with Arthur much longer, another kiss would be the start of so much more. “Are you able to give me a ride home?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I mean earlier you said...”

“Rachel...I know what I said and once again I am asking your forgiveness if you’ll accept my apology. I hate that I am always apologizing, but here I am again doing just that. You are fantastic and I can be a real jerk when it comes to talking about my parents and how life played out after their divorce. Let me make it up to you by taking you out, here or to London or anywhere. There aren’t many choices for fine dining in Clovelly that you haven’t already experienced.”

“Nope. Bakery, pub, and restaurant, that ‘s the extent of my fine dining experiences here.”

“We’ll just have to date to keep up appearances. There is one place that is on the edge of town that I doubt you have tried or even noticed. It’s a bit of a hole in the wall, but the food is excellent and it stays open late.”

“Sounds great, Arthur. I’m looking forward to it. But what will my boyfriend Tres say?”

They laughed on the outside, but inside they were both concerned about pretending to be a couple. They were just starting to have real feelings for each other. A pretend relationship could confuse them. Separating the real from the pretend could leave them with a mess. Or worse, one or both of them could get hurt in the end.