She could have not seen his face for a million years and not forget it. The
rugged, almost sharp angles of his face, the deep smooth brown of his eyes
and the way his lips curved when he smiled, were drilling into her brain
forever. It was torture.
He limbered slowly by her café on the corner almost everyday, gazing through the wide windows, glancing at the glossy bar and tables of beautifully crafted chestnut, at the large sleek white dog that contented itself by sleeping at her feet and looking up lazily when someone entered the café.
He passed by now as Peony Ellis watched him and ran a wet rag over the counter of the bar and nudged the great sleeping dog with her bare foot. There was a slow song embedded with soft violins and a woman's voice that sounded like whiskey warned by a heath fire.
Peony sometimes took the pleasure of matching her voice with the woman's, but not that morning. She poured herself a cup of coffee of which the beans she had just ground and sipped it absently without adding the heavy cream she kept chilled in a deep silver dish.
The dog looked up and let out a low rumbling whine when the door eased open. "I'm sorry but I don't open for another twenty minutes" She called out without lifting her eyes from the last dregs of the black coffee. "I can wait" The voice responded and she looked up and was met with Roux Callahan's dark eyes.
She surveyed him for a long while before shrugging. "Suit yourself" She murmured and disappeared behind the swinging doors for a minute and returned with a tea cup and the kettle of coffee that was slowly puffing fragrant clouds of white steam into the cool air of the café. "The best I can offer you know is coffee" She said as she set it in front of his with a 'clink'.
"That's fine" He said, his accent deeper then her own, but both carrying strong roots back to the Emerald Isle. He tilted his head to the side and listened to the girl with the break-your-heart-voice. "Do you still sing Peony? You had such a lovely voice"
Peony pinned him with her eyes the color of the richest chocolate liqueur. "Sometimes" She said calmly. "I'm not a fool, I recognized you the first day you stepped off the little boat from our pretty hometown" She refilled her cup and shook her head.
"It's my hometown Roux, you gave it up. Seems you've given a lot up since you packed your bags and never looked back at anything at all" Roux sighed a little darkly. "You left as well Peony, to open up your little Café Gealach. Moon Café is it not?" Peony eyed him steadily for a moment. "Nice to see you haven't forgotten your Gaelic". "I haven't forgotten quite a few things, like how complicated things got after-" Peony raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, daring him to finish the sentence.
"Yes," Peony agreed. "Things tend to get complicated when you walk out on someone when they needed you, but what do I know?" "I didn't walk out!" He declared a little too angrily. "Oh then it must just be my silly female mind, because what you did Roux, seemed an awful lot like walking out" She replied in an equal amount of anger. "Oh come on Peony, we all know that your mind is a damn steel trap". The dog had now woken up completely and was now barking in time with the heated argument.
Roux slammed a balled fist onto the top of the bar's counter top when enough force to make the thick silver dish dance and spill some of the creamy white liquid onto the surface. Peony heard a resounding crack and winced. "Nice to see you again Peony" He said in a tightly controlled voice. He rose from the bar and let the door of the café slam behind him. Peony stifled a scream and threw a teacup encrusted with dusty violet enamel flowers where his head had been just a second ago. She watched the white ceramic soak in the cold coffee and sighed as she went for the brook in the back of the bar and began to swipe at the pieces as she as she seriously considered closing the café for the day.
Peony probably would have, but she hated letting Roux know that he had gotten the best of her. She and Roux had gone as far back as to wearing nappies together, but as they got older, things definitely took on a different twist in their relationship. When they got older, Roux began to notice things about Peony he hadn't noticed before, like how the peach freckles spanned out like whiskers across her lily-white skin, or how the sun managed to catch her rose gold hair just right. And as more time went by, he decided that it was right to act upon his impulses.
The music had changed and now a lonely piano was thumbing out the lovely rhythm of 'Pretty Ballerina". She hummed along with the piano absently and the sleek dog beg an to move about the café, sniffing at her empty food dish and prodded her wet nose at Peony's leg in hopeful affection. She ran a hand over the dog's smooth fur and ran her fingers over the long somewhat floppy ears that had dragged on the dusty floor when Aingeal was only a puppy.
There was a musical jingle at the door when the top of the door hit he little silver bell. She looked up annoyed that it might be Roux, coming back to finished what he started. But the man who stood nervously in the doorway was not Roux, and this fact alone instantly put the man in good light. His hair was black and curly as it framed his narrow face and silvery-blue eyes. "What can I help you with darling?" She called out to him from behind the bar, as it seems that he had not seen her. He was wearing a starched black priests outfit, though he looked far too young to be wearing it. "I am Pere Henri" He said more then a little nervously and took a few steps towards the bar. "Pleasure to meet you Pere Henri." She said as she held out a hand that was decorated by silver rings encrusted with various precious stones. "I'm Peony Ellis"
He stared at it for a moment as if he had never seen a hand before and had no idea what to do with it. He finally took hold of it and was amazed by the softness of the lean tapered fingers. "May I get you anything to drink?" She said as she began to fetch more glasses, as the café was about to officially open. "Hot water with lemon?" He asked, his throat was going a little dry looking at the woman with ivory skin and lips that looked like sin. "Hot water and lemon it is" She said and began to boil the water, vaguely aware that he was starring at her back. "You're Irish" Pere Henri said, but this was more a statement then a question. "I am, yes" She said as she poured the boiling water over the freshly cut lemon.
She slid the glass towards him and he drank it without thinking about he effect the hot water would have on his throat and tongue. "There is another man from Ireland who resides here" Pere Henri said as he poked at the remaining lemon in the bottom of the glass. "Roux Callahan?" Peony asked a little too sharply and made the more man jolt in his seat. "I'm sorry. " Peony sincerely apologized. "Is this mans name Roux Callahan?" Pere Henri took a minute before nodding. "I believe he is. Do you know him?" He asked, interest sparkling in his eyes that may have been a size too big for his head.
"Roux and I go a long way back to when we where born in Ireland" Pere Henri nodded and offered a smile that Peony found totally endearing. "Um," The poor Father began uncertainly. "I would like you invite you to worship with us in a midnight Mass on Saturday, actually it would be Sunday if we start late, I get a fright sometimes when I am up in the balcony, but-" It took Peony a minute before she realized that Pere Henri wasn't fishing for compliments as soon men did, but was genuinely nervous around her.
"Father," She said softly and put a hand on his that was lying on the bar. He made a quick jerky movement as if she had just shocked him and looked at her with his wonderfully big eyes. "I would be delighted to attend". He smiled nervously and ran his fingers of his free hand along the starched collar of the clothes as a odd warmth began to spread to the rest of him, starting from where Peony's hand rested still on his. She drew her hand back as he rose and did a funny sort of little bow. "I must go now" He said, and casting a look to Aingeal who was eyeing him with interest from the floor, turned and walked out the door, the little jingle echoing in the almost empty café.
He limbered slowly by her café on the corner almost everyday, gazing through the wide windows, glancing at the glossy bar and tables of beautifully crafted chestnut, at the large sleek white dog that contented itself by sleeping at her feet and looking up lazily when someone entered the café.
He passed by now as Peony Ellis watched him and ran a wet rag over the counter of the bar and nudged the great sleeping dog with her bare foot. There was a slow song embedded with soft violins and a woman's voice that sounded like whiskey warned by a heath fire.
Peony sometimes took the pleasure of matching her voice with the woman's, but not that morning. She poured herself a cup of coffee of which the beans she had just ground and sipped it absently without adding the heavy cream she kept chilled in a deep silver dish.
The dog looked up and let out a low rumbling whine when the door eased open. "I'm sorry but I don't open for another twenty minutes" She called out without lifting her eyes from the last dregs of the black coffee. "I can wait" The voice responded and she looked up and was met with Roux Callahan's dark eyes.
She surveyed him for a long while before shrugging. "Suit yourself" She murmured and disappeared behind the swinging doors for a minute and returned with a tea cup and the kettle of coffee that was slowly puffing fragrant clouds of white steam into the cool air of the café. "The best I can offer you know is coffee" She said as she set it in front of his with a 'clink'.
"That's fine" He said, his accent deeper then her own, but both carrying strong roots back to the Emerald Isle. He tilted his head to the side and listened to the girl with the break-your-heart-voice. "Do you still sing Peony? You had such a lovely voice"
Peony pinned him with her eyes the color of the richest chocolate liqueur. "Sometimes" She said calmly. "I'm not a fool, I recognized you the first day you stepped off the little boat from our pretty hometown" She refilled her cup and shook her head.
"It's my hometown Roux, you gave it up. Seems you've given a lot up since you packed your bags and never looked back at anything at all" Roux sighed a little darkly. "You left as well Peony, to open up your little Café Gealach. Moon Café is it not?" Peony eyed him steadily for a moment. "Nice to see you haven't forgotten your Gaelic". "I haven't forgotten quite a few things, like how complicated things got after-" Peony raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, daring him to finish the sentence.
"Yes," Peony agreed. "Things tend to get complicated when you walk out on someone when they needed you, but what do I know?" "I didn't walk out!" He declared a little too angrily. "Oh then it must just be my silly female mind, because what you did Roux, seemed an awful lot like walking out" She replied in an equal amount of anger. "Oh come on Peony, we all know that your mind is a damn steel trap". The dog had now woken up completely and was now barking in time with the heated argument.
Roux slammed a balled fist onto the top of the bar's counter top when enough force to make the thick silver dish dance and spill some of the creamy white liquid onto the surface. Peony heard a resounding crack and winced. "Nice to see you again Peony" He said in a tightly controlled voice. He rose from the bar and let the door of the café slam behind him. Peony stifled a scream and threw a teacup encrusted with dusty violet enamel flowers where his head had been just a second ago. She watched the white ceramic soak in the cold coffee and sighed as she went for the brook in the back of the bar and began to swipe at the pieces as she as she seriously considered closing the café for the day.
Peony probably would have, but she hated letting Roux know that he had gotten the best of her. She and Roux had gone as far back as to wearing nappies together, but as they got older, things definitely took on a different twist in their relationship. When they got older, Roux began to notice things about Peony he hadn't noticed before, like how the peach freckles spanned out like whiskers across her lily-white skin, or how the sun managed to catch her rose gold hair just right. And as more time went by, he decided that it was right to act upon his impulses.
The music had changed and now a lonely piano was thumbing out the lovely rhythm of 'Pretty Ballerina". She hummed along with the piano absently and the sleek dog beg an to move about the café, sniffing at her empty food dish and prodded her wet nose at Peony's leg in hopeful affection. She ran a hand over the dog's smooth fur and ran her fingers over the long somewhat floppy ears that had dragged on the dusty floor when Aingeal was only a puppy.
There was a musical jingle at the door when the top of the door hit he little silver bell. She looked up annoyed that it might be Roux, coming back to finished what he started. But the man who stood nervously in the doorway was not Roux, and this fact alone instantly put the man in good light. His hair was black and curly as it framed his narrow face and silvery-blue eyes. "What can I help you with darling?" She called out to him from behind the bar, as it seems that he had not seen her. He was wearing a starched black priests outfit, though he looked far too young to be wearing it. "I am Pere Henri" He said more then a little nervously and took a few steps towards the bar. "Pleasure to meet you Pere Henri." She said as she held out a hand that was decorated by silver rings encrusted with various precious stones. "I'm Peony Ellis"
He stared at it for a moment as if he had never seen a hand before and had no idea what to do with it. He finally took hold of it and was amazed by the softness of the lean tapered fingers. "May I get you anything to drink?" She said as she began to fetch more glasses, as the café was about to officially open. "Hot water with lemon?" He asked, his throat was going a little dry looking at the woman with ivory skin and lips that looked like sin. "Hot water and lemon it is" She said and began to boil the water, vaguely aware that he was starring at her back. "You're Irish" Pere Henri said, but this was more a statement then a question. "I am, yes" She said as she poured the boiling water over the freshly cut lemon.
She slid the glass towards him and he drank it without thinking about he effect the hot water would have on his throat and tongue. "There is another man from Ireland who resides here" Pere Henri said as he poked at the remaining lemon in the bottom of the glass. "Roux Callahan?" Peony asked a little too sharply and made the more man jolt in his seat. "I'm sorry. " Peony sincerely apologized. "Is this mans name Roux Callahan?" Pere Henri took a minute before nodding. "I believe he is. Do you know him?" He asked, interest sparkling in his eyes that may have been a size too big for his head.
"Roux and I go a long way back to when we where born in Ireland" Pere Henri nodded and offered a smile that Peony found totally endearing. "Um," The poor Father began uncertainly. "I would like you invite you to worship with us in a midnight Mass on Saturday, actually it would be Sunday if we start late, I get a fright sometimes when I am up in the balcony, but-" It took Peony a minute before she realized that Pere Henri wasn't fishing for compliments as soon men did, but was genuinely nervous around her.
"Father," She said softly and put a hand on his that was lying on the bar. He made a quick jerky movement as if she had just shocked him and looked at her with his wonderfully big eyes. "I would be delighted to attend". He smiled nervously and ran his fingers of his free hand along the starched collar of the clothes as a odd warmth began to spread to the rest of him, starting from where Peony's hand rested still on his. She drew her hand back as he rose and did a funny sort of little bow. "I must go now" He said, and casting a look to Aingeal who was eyeing him with interest from the floor, turned and walked out the door, the little jingle echoing in the almost empty café.