"Alexander?!"
He stepped closer to her and studied her, a concerned frown on his face.
"Are you alright?" He carelessly dropped his bag onto the ground and bent down. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Jackie just couldn't wrap her mind around it - he was standing in front of her, alone, without a fit blonde attached to his arm!
"Jackie?"
She greedily noted all the little details about him. His hair was slightly wet around his face, curlier than usual on his temples. For once he wasn't wearing jeans, but some sort of soft black bottoms; a hoodie; and a quilted gilet.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Milly said you were sitting on the bus stop," he said. "Is it your migraine? You look like the last time. Your eyes are the same strange colour."
"Mi-Milly said I was here?!"
"In a way," he answered with an unreadable expression.
"What does it even mean?!" Jackie squawked.
He, of course, ignored her question; and she defeatedly agreed that, indeed, she had a headache. That wasn't even a lie.
"Would you like me to call you a cab?" he asked. "Can you get up?"
"I–" Jackie truly had no answer for him. "Where is Milly? Shouldn't you go to her?"
"She already left," he answered, straightening up. "I'm ordering a cab for myself. Could I give you a lift back to Fleckney?"
"But wasn't she– Wait, sorry, it's none of my business," Jackie muttered.
She gave it a thought. Now that the shock of finally having him so close had stepped back a tad, she remembered why she couldn't go back to Fleckney yet. She had nothing to wear to work on Monday.
"You know what, you go ahead," she said, trying to sound nonchalant. "I don't think it's going to be as bad as the last time. I'm just hungry. You see, I was going to Abernathy, there are a couple of shops I need to visit there. So, I'll call myself an Uber, and I'll be OK."
"Alright." He immediately backed off from her - but his intent gaze was still boring into her. "Should you eat before you go?"
Jackie reminded herself that she needed to say her p's and q's and let him go. Meanwhile, a small whinging voice in her head pointed out that she hadn't been that close to him in six weeks; and that if she wanted to pick up his - large, scorching, calloused - hand, she wouldn't even need to get up; and if she wanted a hug, she could just ask. Hadn't he said that she didn't need to stay away from him?
She realised she'd been blankly staring at him; and in a panicked attempt to hide it, she blurted out, "Would you like to join me?"
And at the same time, he said, "I'll be going then."
And of course, she cried out, "Oh sorry, you should! I won't hold you back!" while he answered, "I'd love to."
It took her three booming heartbeats, first, to snort and then to start snickering. It felt like she hadn't laughed since that morning - or least, not as full-heartedly.
"Do you know any good spots around here?" she asked.
He nodded and stretched his hand to her. His palm was as warm and comforting as she remembered.
***
The Cock & Hound looked like an illustration to an encyclopaedia article for an English pub - with its traditional flock wallpaper, wooden furniture, and a fireplace.
"Alexander Fergusson, you wanker!" a massive man behind the bar hollered and rushed out.
Jackie saw Alexander brace himself for the impact - and then he was grabbed, picked up, shaken, and twirled. After his eventual touchdown, he turned to Jackie.
"Kadir Ilmaz," he introduced the man, who was already squishing Jackie's hand, grinning from ear to ear.
"Jocelyn Burns," she answered.
"Pleasure, pleasure! Please, come in! I'll get you the best booth!" He was now pulling Jackie after him into the depth of the pub. "You've got to try my peri-peri wings! And risotto today is a–" He folded the fingers of his left hand into a 'pinecone' and kissed the tips.
Jackie threw an amused glimpse at Alexander who was silently following them. Another bartender called to Kadir, only to receive a roaring 'Sod off!' in return.
"You should treat your staff better, Kadir," Alexander said, and the landlord burst into infectious laughter.
"I pay them well, and they know I mean well!" He let go of Jackie who eagerly slid onto a comfortable bench. "Not everyone has your natural charisma," Kadir teased and smacked his massive hand between Alexander's shoulder blades.
"That was sarcasm," Alexander pointed out to her, sitting down.
"Really?" She gasped in pretend shock. "Well I never!"
He gave her a funny grumpy side glance.
"This one here, he's a charmer, heh?" Kadir said to Jackie. "It took me ages to figure out that he's not plotting to do me in, and that's just the unfortunate shape of his clock." He barked another jolly chortle. "Alright, I know this one's sober. What about you, Josy?"
"I'm all sorted for drink as well," she said. "But I'm starving. You said something about wings and risotto, innit? And–" She picked up the little cardboard stand with specials from the table. "A crispy squid."
"Ace!" Kadir clapped his hands in delight. "And for you, mate?"
Alexander ordered a house burger 'the usual way,' so Jackie assumed they were aware of his food sensitivities here.
"How do you know Kadir?" she asked, when the landlord left to the back.
"Same suppliers," he answered. "And I still had some connections in Syria, so I could help him with papers for his relatives a couple of years ago. Nothing big. Don't let him tell you otherwise. He exaggerates."
Jackie eyed him up.
"I know that you simply don't think that it's important enough to elaborate, but you're creating a properly sexy air of mystery around yourself when you're this taciturn," she joked - and then remembered that she had no right to flirt with him.
She quickly hid behind her glass of Dandelion & Burdock.
"What does 'taciturn' mean?" he asked levelly.
"Saying little," she explained.
He looked pensive, as if storing data in his brain.
"That was so inappropriate. I'm sorry, Alexander," Jackie mumbled sheepishly.
That made him do a double take.
"Why?"
"Because we aren't in a relationship, and I said 'sexy,' and–" She could see that he sincerely didn't understand. "Nevermind."
Thankfully, Kadir appeared from the kitchen with several of their dishes. Alexander got up to go to the bar to pick them up, but got yelled at; and soon their table was covered with plates. There were two additional large platters of assorted sharers.
"Heavens, that's a lot of food," Jackie exhaled. "I always order too much when I'm hungry."
She dunked a ring of crispy fried squid into the Korean BBQ sauce and bit a half. She chewed and hummed in ecstasy.
"I can share some of yours if you want," Alexander said.
"Woah, for real?" Kadir, who was sneaking in yet another complimentary starter to their table, exclaimed and crossed his arms on his chest.
Jackie froze with the second half of the squid lifted above the sauce she'd just dunked it in.
"So I didn't need to split everything onto separate plates? And that's the bloke that didn't want to eat my mercimek çorbası after I tried it?! With a clean spoon!" He huffed and puffed and made a few expressive hand gestures. "A chef always tries his cooking, Iskender!"
Jackie was getting a distinct impression that this wasn't the first time they were performing this skit.
Looking him straight in the eyes, Alexander stretched his hand to Jackie's plate with the squid, plucked a crispy ring, dipped it in the sauce, and sent the whole thing into his mouth.
"Oh that's how it is then?" Kadir growled theatrically. "Well, afiyet olsun, you wanker!"
He stomped away, and then quickly glanced at them over his shoulder and winked at Jackie. She tittered and then looked at Alexander.
"He's right, though," she said. "You shared toast with me too."
"It's because we had sex," he deadpanned - and Jackie almost choked on her food. "Actually, no," he said and paused, in the familiar manner, which, as Jackie knew now, meant he was 'shuffling through his mental files.' "It's just you."
She told herself that under no circumstance she could ask him to clarify and expand on that.
"Just me?" she whispered.
He met her eyes. Jackie held her breath.
"Can I kiss you?" he asked.
Suddenly she couldn't remember why she was supposed to refuse him. He put down his burger and wiped his hands on the napkin. Jackie watched him like under hypnosis.
"Jackie?"
Jackie decided that if she was doing a wrong thing, she might as well be hanged for a sheep, as the proverb went. Her fork landed on the plate with a clank; she shifted to him, cupped his jaw with both hands, and kissed him.