"Brendan Brady, will you marry me?"
"Yes."
The dough ring goes flying and Ste fumbles awkwardly to catch it. "What are you doing here?"
"Yes."
"What about the emergency at the club?"
"Yes."
Ste gets irritated then. "What, this? This is just… I wasn't serious." He plucks the dough-diamond from the ring, squishes it between his fingers.
"Yes."
"You know that I'm still married to Doug, right?"
"Yes."
"You know I didn't mean that, don't you?"
"I do."
Ste swallows, gulps even. He actually starts shaking when Brendan closes the gap between them, rounds the counter and makes the space behind the register seem awfully crammed all of a sudden.
He barely manages a half-hearted "Wha…" before Brendan leans into him and kisses him. It's chaste, just a peck, and it's over before it even started.
"Forgot my wallet." Brendan pushes past him into the kitchen, grabs his wallet off the shelf above the stove and is by the door in what feels like two strides and a thousand frantic heartbeats.
"Oh, and Steven…" He turns, doorknob already in hand. "Should you ever ask in earnest… you know my answer."