Danilo
Little Bird đŠ
Are you at work?
Me
Yes, these horses ain't going to saddle themselves.
Little BirdđŠ
Why don't I believe you? I didn't know the saddle market was in such high demand.
Me
Do you ride horses?
Little BirdđŠ
Nođ€§
Me
Then you ain't got nothing to comment about.
His long line of laughing emojis made me smile as I stared at the screen of my phone. I was supposed to be working. I was pretty sure Dove was meant to as well but from the moment he sent me a 'good morning' text I had been so deeply engrossed in my phone I forgot I was the man in charge.
I had a pile of emails to respond too but at that moment it all seemed so deeply irrelevant. Yet I couldn't obsess over my phone forever. I guessed the enjoyment of being fancied by someone so young did stroke one's ego. I was turning twenty seven, Christmas and trust me it had been a long time since I had blushed over a stupid text.
What was wrong about me enjoying it for a second?
With a small smile I stood up and walked closer to my window to look at the view. You could see the cafe line from the corner and in front was the staff lunch outdoor area. It was new but I thought it would be nice to have two eating options in case they ever got bored of being indoors the whole day and wanted to enjoy the sun.
A few were seated outside enjoying lunch but a specific one caught my eye. I pressed my body close to the window as if I would get a better view from my nose being squished against the glass, but in my defense it worked.
Dove sat with a boy probably around his age that had a buzz cut and also looked Latino, next to him was a girl with milk chocolate skin and large curly hair. They both seemed so deep in conversation they didn't notice Dove who was staring at his phone with a beaming smile.
He was dressed in a large band tee with large grey jeans and his vans. When he said he dressed down for work he meant that I nearly didn't recognize the boy I met at the office and the one at the university. He made both styles look so effortless.
My eyes just couldn't tear themselves away from him. He looked radiant under the sun and his curly hair was being blown in all kinds of directions by the wind. He didn't seem to mind though as he sipped on what looked like a smoothie.
My smile quickly disappeared when I realized he didn't seem to be eating whilst everyone around him was. There being no bags next to him that could make me believe he had packed lunch which made my stomach turn.
Without thinking anything off it I dialed his number and pressed my phone to my ear.
He jolted when he probably saw my call come through. He looked around nervously and, being completely uncivilized, ignored my call! My ego was terribly bruised but I persisted.
For the second call he only avoided it for a few seconds before he stood up and walked away from his table. My heart thundered in my chest as I watched him lift the phone to his ear.
"Hello," he sounded so terribly shy that I understood why he looked nervous.
"Did you ignore my call?" I chuckled.
He brushed his hair behind his ear and twisted his body cutely as he kicked an imaginary pebble. "No. I was just in the office. You know. Stitching takes a lot of work."
I hummed then placed my hand on the glass to balance myself as I looked down. "I bet it does. You still busy working?"
"Ah," he dragged it out then hugged his waist with his free arm, "depending on the occasion."
"Want to have lunch?"
"Oh wait, I have work. Let me just check my schedule," he lowered the phone to his chest then fanned it about to make it sound like he was rifling through papers. It just sounded like lots of wind. "Seems like I'm available for a few minutes."
"That can't be enough. I'll need an hour."
His entire body became straight as he looked back to his friends then walked a few more feet away from them. He bent his knee on his right leg so his foot went up behind him like a Disney Princess. "I thought selling saddles was high demand work."
"It is," I laughed and didn't miss the way he cutely jumped as he covered his face. "But a man can only text back and forth for so long. As I told you. I prefer communicating by spending time together."
He fanned himself and did a little dance as he nodded as if knowing I could see him. "Depends where lunch is. I have five dollars. I don't know how much I can get with that."
"I'll pay. I invited you and you can pick. Steak or fish?"
"A taco is a lot cheaper. Maybe a sandwich?"
"Little bird, steak or fish?" My tone told him it wasn't up for debate.
"Fine. Steak but nothing expensive please. I'm already in far more debt because of last time."
"You can pay me back with your cute smile. I'll pick you up."
He jumped as he turned to look back at his friends. "Wait, I have work."
"I'm sure it will sort itself out," I chuckled. "I'll be there in five minutes."
"Okay," he let out a breathy laugh before ending the call.
My smile grew tenfold when I saw him hop around as he danced to music only he heard. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy but he looked like he was on cloud nine before he ran back into the building probably to pack his things.
I called for Miley immediately and she was quick to rush to my office. "Give the stitchers off for the day. I'm sure they've done enough."
She blinked, "you want me to send them home at 1pm?"
"Just do as I say Miley. It's a Friday after all," I grinned, "oh and ask finance to send in their checks for a full day."
"Are you sick?"
"No," I laughed.
"You're in a good mood, it's weird," she eyed me down before she headed for the elevator.
As soon as she left I went dashing for the elevator to get down to the ground floor. I ran to my truck like an Olympic athlete and skid out of the parking lot so that I could drive far enough to make it look like I had to drive down here.
Keeping one's identity a mystery was hard work.