Finding Katie

Chapter 7

Katie

The pub was entirely dark wood and green leather. The door stood open in the heat, but the stale air inside still held the distinct smell of beer and male. A tall bar ran all along the back wall with glasses and taps and bottles lined up, but as it was a Tuesday evening, the place wasn't too crowded.

Ben's hand at the small of my back steered me towards a table to one side of the room in front of a large flat screen TV that was showing the green of a football pitch with players in red and blue chasing a ball.

His touch was light, barely there, and the fabric of my shirt was between the skin of my back and his fingers, and yet I felt the warmth from his touch as if he was touching me skin to skin.

But I stomped on the sparks and focused all I had on my task and the three men sitting at the table we were nearing. Neither of them were looking at the TV. They'd been staring at Ben and me since we had entered the pub, their grins only growing wider the closer we came.

All three of them stood when Ben and I stopped by their table.

"Hi, guys," Ben said. "This is Katie."

"Ben, mate," the tallest of them, a black man with close cropped hair and thin-rimmed glasses, clapped Ben on the shoulder, "you could've warned us." He turned to me and with a crooked smile held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Ezra."

Smiling back, I shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ezra."

The other two eagerly introduced themselves as Liam and Hugh and swiftly made room for two more chairs at the table. All three were of similar build to Ben; tall and broad-shouldered, and all three of them were in suits and ties. More lawyers, if I had to hazard a guess.

Which was about the last sort of company I had any wish to keep, but I made sure to smile as we sat and keep my stance relaxed.

None of them were old enough to have been avidly following the news sixteen years ago, but as with Ben, I couldn't afford to make them the least bit suspicious and trigger a long-lost memory of an old news story.

There was no danger of that right now, though. I glanced at them and had to silently clear my throat not to laugh. If they were suspicious, it wasn't about my background. All three of them were still beaming, their eyes ping-ponging between Ben and me.

Until Ben sighed and shook his head. "Way to play it cool, guys."

They only laughed, and Ezra swerved a finger between us. "So, you two are together?"

I smiled at Ben. And remembered to flick my hair over my shoulder as I leaned a little closer to him. "Well, we're starting with dinner. I owe Ben."

He smiled back at me. "Tomorrow?"

My smile grew. I didn't have a lot of time, and his eagerness meant I didn't have to push. "I'd like that. I know the perfect restaurant. I hope you don't mind that it's fairly casual."

Hugh almost choked on the sip of beer he'd just taken, and Ben's friends started laughing as Liam whacked Hugh on the back.

"Ben doesn't do casual," the younger man stage-whispered.

Ben rolled his eyes, but he was chuckling as he rose and asked me, "Pint?"

"A half, thanks."

He went to the bar, and I looked after him over my shoulder. His friends were right; even this late in the day, Ben still looked immaculate which was rather impressive considering the warm weather and his three-piece suit.