The chime of the door opening caught Raeger's attention from cleaning the counter. His soft gaze was met with a youthful presence-a new face. He straightened himself and set the damp washcloth aside.
"Hello. Are you Raeger?"
The young lady gingerly walked towards the front counter, her baby blue eyes meeting his. Her blue eyes seemed to stand out in contrast to her dark truffle colored hair, which rested gently on her light skin. Raeger smiled and met her from the other side of the counter. "I am. What brings a beautiful face like yours into my little restaurant?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly, but her kindness still showed as she let out a nervous chuckle. "Oh, well, Eda has just said that I should say hi to everyone in town." Her blue eyes averted his now and were taking in the space of the building. "I just came back from visiting Maurice and his family at the Inn. They mentioned you and your restaurant, but they didn't say you were such a charmer," she smirked, returning her gaze to him with a twinkle of playfulness. This caught Raeger off-guard and he found himself feeling sheepish. He didn't expect her to be teasing him, and he didn't really think of himself as a charmer, per se.
"I-I like to think that I'm just incredibly nice," Raeger tried to play off his sudden embarrassment with a smile.
"Sure..." the brunette smiled, looking right through him. While he did like to compliment people and make them feel welcome and wanted, he did think that she was rather easy on the eyes. She wasn't exceptionally beautiful, but certainly not a mess as she clearly took care of herself. Her clothes looked rugged and dirty-granted she is a farmer, but it in no way detracted from her beauty. Raeger quickly caught on that he was staring at her round eyes, and cleared his throat, regaining his composer with a controlled smile. "Well Miss Sassy Pants, what do they call you?"
"Anaise," her eyes shone brightly as she smiled warmly.
"That's a beautiful name," Raeger replied, his expression illuminated a bit.
She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "You're unbelievable."
"No, I mean it!" He laughed a little, realizing that he probably sounded redundant by now. "I really do think it's a beautiful name. It reminds me of one of my favorite spices: anise." They smiled at each other for a few heartbeats before Raeger finally spoke again, breaking the silence. "Would you care to have anything to eat?"
"Oh, no, thank you. I should really get back to Eda's by now. She'll have dinner waiting for me soon. Next time?" Was that hopefulness in her tone?
"But of course!" She smiled once again and made her way towards the door. Raeger called out to her, "Feel free to stop by for some delicious eats!"
She turned her head to flash one last grin before leaving, "You better have something good waiting for me when I return. I'm counting on you!" And with that, the door's bell signaled Anaise's disappearance. Raeger let his shoulders relax and sighed. Wow, he had no idea that he was this stiff. He turned back to the kitchen counter that he was cleaning before and stared into the sink. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this way. He secretly wished they'd become close friends.