“Come on, let’s go to the back where the bar is. That definitely deserves a shot or two.”
Chuckling at Leo’s enthusiasm, I shook my head. “Since I’m driving home, maybe I could beg one of you to make me a coffee?”
“Fine. You’re no fun.” Leo gave me a pout but went behind the counter.
I could see Sanders giving me surreptitious glances, which made my heart flutter. “So, did you guys finish shutting down out here? I interrupted your dancing and singing… I mean your cleaning.”
Sanders blushed again but nodded. “Yeah, we were about done.”
“Good. So, is this drinking at work thing a tradition with you two?”
Sanders snorted. “No. Well, I mean, we’ve done it several times, but we haven’t in a while. I haven’t had time.”
Leo returned with my coffee in hand and an exasperated look on his face. “Because you’re too busy. You do too much.”
I agreed but didn’t say it out loud. It was something Sanders and I would need to discuss at some point. “Sounds like you’re a good friend.”
Sanders smirked. “Yeah. He is a good friend. And, it turns out, a pretty good bartender. You can tell us what your plans are with the bookstore while we get drunk.”
I followed them to the back where it turned out there actually was a makeshift bar equipped with a blender and various bottles to mix several different kinds of cocktails already set up. I couldn’t help but laugh, wondering if they kept these supplies here at the ready, should the mood arise. These boys were something else.
I sat at the table in the breakroom, observing the way they interacted with one another as they both tossed back a couple of shots before moving on to mix some other drinks. There was a lot of teasing, smiles, and laughter. I was happy Sanders had a friend like Leo, someone to help him take life a little less seriously. And the sexy smiles and little glances Sanders kept tossing my way were about to do me in.
Finally, they both turned, brandishing what appeared to be very well-made margaritas in actual margarita glasses. They really went all out. Leo sank down into one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs and raised his glass. “To new neighbors.”
“To new neighbors.”
Leo raised his glass. “To new Daddies!”
Laughing, I raised my coffee cup while Leo snickered at Sanders’s narrowed gaze. The boys took very long, very satisfied drinks. Sanders slowly made his way toward me, and I couldn’t help but reach out to grab his free hand and tug him gently into my lap, nuzzling into his neck and breathing him in. Goddamn, I was a lucky man.
“So, any big plans for the bookstore, or are you going to keep things the same?”
The question came from Leo, but I couldn’t help but smile as Sanders’s gaze met mine like it was an answer he really wanted to hear. “I’ve got some ideas. I’d like to renovate a bit, so I’m just trying to sort out what I want to do, how to go about it, and if I want to try to stay open while it’s happening or shut down until everything is complete.”
Sanders’s eyes popped wide. “Shut down? What are you thinking of changing?”
As I watched, Sanders leaned back into me and nearly downed half his margarita as he waited for my answer. The boy was going to be well and truly sloshed in no time at all. “Well, I like how Dani has it arranged, so the overall set up won’t change too much, but I’d like to put in new floors, fix up the bathroom, upgrade the shelving a bit, paint, that sort of thing. Nothing huge. I just think with a new owner it needs to have a new feel to it.”
Sanders’s gaze was a bit schmoopy, and the adorable smile on his face when he looked at me melted my heart, his words just as sweet. “I can’t wait to see what you do with it. If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.”
“I will. Thank you.” I couldn’t help but grin at Sanders’s offer. I could tell he hadn’t made it lightly. Sanders seemed like the type of man who would offer help to anyone he thought might need it and then follow through on every promise he made. “Now, if only there was some kind of secret pass-through so I could get my coffee and croissants that much quicker.”
Leo snorted. “Like some kind of sideways dumbwaiter? Or just some random hole in the wall?” He laughed and tossed back the rest of his drink. Standing, he grabbed Sanders’s now empty glass and poured them both another after salting the rims again.
The earnest expression on my boy’s adorable face had me carding my fingers through his hair. “I’m always happy to bring you coffee and croissants.”
Leo took that moment to shove another drink into Sanders’s hands, “Here, you need this.” Sanders glanced up at Leo in surprise and then down at the drink he had in his hand and nodded. “Mmm, yes. I definitely need this.”
I watched, amused as he paused long enough to take a huge gulp before continuing, “So a hole in the wall… hmm…”
I actually gave it some thought. “Now that I really think about it, it’s probably not a bad idea. Putting a walkthrough of some sort between Quixotic and The Little Bean might actually bring us both more business.”
Sanders perked right up. “Oh! Like… Narnia!” Sanders’s eyes went wide with wonder. Leo burst into a fit of giggles prompting Sanders to do the same, and I couldn’t help but join in.
“Narnia?”
Sanders nodded, hiccupped, and nodded again. “Like…like…you know how the doors open wide into a land of a make-believe world? That’s kind of like books, right? Like people read books and are kind of transported to the setting of those books?”
I felt like my grin was splitting my face. A drunk Sanders was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen. And damned if his explanation didn’t kind of make sense. “So that would make the café like home? After people walk into Narnia, they then go back home, right?”
Sanders grinned a kind of sappy grin, and his eyes kind of drifted off to the side like he was imagining it. Then he frowned. “But the café doesn’t look like home. I mean, I’ve always wanted to make it cozier, you know? Like with couches and stuff, but that’s always seemed like it was far off in the future when I had more time and more money and just…more, I guess.”
Leo waved his hands in the air to get our attention, a bit of margarita sloshing out of his glass. “So, like this?”
I’d been so wrapped up in Sanders, I hadn’t even noticed that sometime during our conversation, Leo had stepped away and gotten a couple of pieces of paper and a pencil and had been drawing. And okay, the lines were a little squiggly and not all of it made sense, it was a very, very rough, or perhaps more accurately very drunk picture of the inside of the café and on the other page, the bookstore. But what I noticed most was the huge opening in the wall between both shops. And as rough as it was, the idea had some appeal.
I thought about it logistically and wondered if it was even possible. The wall between the shops had to be load bearing, and who the hell knew what kind of city ordinances there would be for something like that. It would take quite a bit of work, but it could probably be done. I glanced over at the drawing—which now had stick figures holding coffee cups and books in their hands—and chuckled.