Chapter Text
The City was easing into early evening, the frenzied energy of the day waning as the sinking sun painted the buildings and trees with warm tones of yellow and red. April tossed her phone and keys into her clutch and grabbed a sweater on her way out the door to meet Charles. He’d been very coy about where they were going tonight, saying only that it was a special surprise. She’d been burning with curiosity ever since, but he refused to give her any hints no matter how much she pestered him.
Charles was already waiting on the sidewalk in front of her building when April exited the elevator into the lobby. His face lit up when she pushed the glass door open. She offered him a warm smile which he answered with a shy wave and smile of his own.
“So, where’re we going?” April said as soon as they started walking, unable to hold back from asking again any longer.
“I got us into Anastasia’s!” he said excitedly, seemingly relieved to finally be able to reveal his secret. “Their tasting menu changes daily. They say Chef Jensen has never served the same menu twice!”
Charles’ enthusiasm was infectious, yet all April felt was a pang of disappointment. “Oh,” she said, feigning enthusiasm.
He must have heard the note of dismay in her voice because he stopped walking. “What’s wrong?”
“Ah nothing,” she said hastily. “Just, you said you had a surprise for me.”
“Well, yeah. Been on the waiting list for over a month to get this reservation. Wasn’t sure it’d come through in time for our date. But if you don’t want to. . .”
“No, it’s fine. I just . . . Think I was expecting something else.”
“Like what?”
“I’m . . . not sure,” April gave her head a small shake. “Forget I said anything. This sounds wonderful, thank you.”
Dinner was wonderful. As usual, the food was beyond anything April could have ever imagined. It clearly meant a lot to Charles that they’d been able to get a table tonight. He’d made it clear during their walk over that he saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity, so she was happy, for his sake, that the reservation had come through. Still, as he walked her back to her apartment afterward, she felt the doubt and guilt she strived to keep hidden creeping up on her again.
***
Irma walked into April’s office carrying a cardboard drink tray with two to-go cups. April, engrossed in the story she was working on, didn’t look away from her computer as she approached the desk.
“Here’s your coffee, April,” she said, pulling one of the cups out of the tray and setting it down beside the mousepad.
“Thanks.” April reached out to pick up the cup without looking and took a sip.
Irma slid the other cup free and leaned across the desk to drop the now empty tray in the trash can. “So. How did your date with Charles go?”
April finally looked away from her computer screen and raised an eyebrow. “Really, Irma?”
“Hey, I led with coffee,” she said, taking a sip of her own drink. “You guys’ve been dating for a little while now, and since I set you up, feel like I have a vested interest in knowing how things are going.”
“Irma, I keep telling you, I am not dating Charles,” April said in exasperation.
“You keep saying that, yet the two of you have gone out together at least once a week since you first met. What else would you call it?”
April made a vague gesture that didn’t quite acknowledge her point. “It was fine. We went to Anastasia’s. Had the five-course tasting menu.”
“Oooh, that sounds nice!”
“Yup, it was,” April said, far less enthusiastically.
“And yet, you don’t sound all that excited about it.”
“Well . . . last week we went to No. 7 Park Hill. And the week before that we went to Marisco.”
“Oh no, he takes you to fancy restaurants,” Irma deadpanned. “How terrible.”
“What I mean is . . . That’s all we do. It’s . . . Kinda boring. I sometimes wonder if he’s actually interested in me or just wants a friend to go out to dinner with.”
“Have ever suggested you guys do something else?” April looked away. “How do you feel, April?” Irma asked seriously.
“I –“ April sighed. “Am not sure. He’s a good guy but I just don’t know if he’s what I’m looking for.”
“Then what are you looking for?”
April leaned back in her chair, twisting her cup in her hands. She’d been avoiding asking herself that very question. Charles was sweet, charming, attentive. The smart choice; the safe choice. There was a time not long ago when that’s exactly what she would have been looking for. Yet lately. . . Lately a quiet voice had been whispering in the back of her mind, questioning if that had ever really been what she wanted. And accusing her of settling.
“Mm. This is kind of a heavy topic for first thing in the morning.” She held up her cup. “I’m only on my second cup of coffee.”
Irma nodded and gestured to the computer monitor with her own cup. “So whatcha working on?”
“Break in at a chemical manufacturing company, AlphaGen Industries,” April set her cup down and turned back to her computer. “Some canisters of PXML-9 were stolen. Police are baffled how the thieves got in or out since there’s no sign of forced entry and security logs show no keycards swiped after close of business. The theft was only discovered when an employee came in for their morning shift and saw it was missing.”
“Inside job?” Irma suggested.
“That’s the most likely explanation, and how City PD is treating it. But the company president is insisting nobody who works there could possibly be behind the theft. And he has a relative on City Council who’s pressuring the Chief of Police to do a thorough investigation.”
“Ooh, political intrigue! That seems like a conflict of interest, somehow.”
“Yeah.” April made a face. “In which case, Vernon should be the one following this. Thinking of asking Burne if I can pass it off to him.”
“Mmm, good plan,” Irma agreed. “Now, back to Charles.” April groaned dramatically. “Sorry! This is important, though. That double date I’ve been trying to plan forever – Friday works for me and Matt.”
“And you want to know if it works for me and Charles,” April filled in. Irma smiled at her innocently. “I’ll ask him.”
“Thank you!” Irma spun on her heel and left the office, a noticeable bounce to her step.
April dug her phone out of her purse, sent Charles a quick text, then set her phone down on the desk and went back to working on her story.
***
“Up for movie night Friday, April?” Michelangelo asked, sliding a slice of pepperoni pizza out of the box on her coffee table. “It’s your turn to pick what we watch.”
“And please pick something good,” Raphael said. “Preferably with explosions, or at least humor. Still haven’t recovered from that period romance Irma made us watch.”
“Dude, that was so long ago,” Michelangelo muttered. “And it wasn’t that bad.”
April looked at the two of them apologetically. “Uh sorry, guys. Rain check? Irma’s been desperate for us to go on a double date with Matt and Charles and we finally planned it for Friday night.”
“Ugh, Charles again,” Raphael grumbled. “Are we ever gonna get to meet this guy?”
“I . . . Didn’t realize you wanted to.”
“Well, he has been taking up an awful lot of your time, lately.”
“It hasn’t been that much,” she insisted.
“April, ignore him,” Leonardo said from his spot on the floor beside the table. “He gets grumpy when he’s not the center of attention.”
Raphael held his hands up. “Just sayin’, he’s going to be a big part of your life now, we ought to get a chance to meet him.”
“I don’t know if he is,” she said quietly, toying with the piece of pizza crust on her plate.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Donatello asked.
“Mmm,” April ran a hand through her hair. “Nothing, never mind. Thinking about something Irma and I were talking about this morning. Anyway, Donatello, what do you know about PXML-9?”
“Flawless topic change there, April,” Raphael drawled. April followed Leonardo’s advice from a moment ago and ignored him.
“Not much, really,” Donatello said. “I know it was developed through a grant-funded project to create a new form of biodegradable plastic. Why?”
“Story Burne has me working on. Robbery at a chemical manufacturing company, canister of PXML-9 was stolen,” April said. “City PD is thinking inside job since they can’t figure out how the thieves got in. Just curious what they might want with it.”
“Sorry I can’t be more help here, but I can look into it for you.”
“Mm that’s okay.” April flipped up the lid on box of cheese pizza and slid another slice onto her plate. “City Hall is getting involved – or rather one city councilor in particular. I’m hoping that means I can pass it off to Vernon so it won’t be my problem anymore.”
***
April stared dully at the sidewalk ahead of her as Charles walked her back to her building after their double date with Irma and Matt. He was chatting animatedly about the black truffle gnocchi he’d had for dinner – apparently it was the head chef’s specialty dish, and she’d used it to win a TV cooking competition show a little while back – but April was only half listening. She found herself wishing Irma and Matt hadn’t left them at the restaurant to go back to Matt’s apartment so she might have something else to discuss besides tiny potato dumplings. Talk about gnocchi eventually evolved to a discussion of the chef’s other restaurant in the City and then to the one she was planning to open in Europe next year.
“Mmhmm,” April said in response to some point he’d just made. “That’s great.”
“April, are you alright?” Charles asked seriously, slowing to a stop. “You’ve been really distant lately. Is something wrong?”
“Ah,” she grimaced, embarrassed at being caught not paying attention. She started to reassure him that everything was fine when the conversation she’d had with Irma about being bored and questioning what she wanted floated through her mind. “Just . . . All we ever do is go out to eat.”
“Is that not. . . Is there something wrong with that?” April’s guilt flared again seeing the hurt and confusion on his face.
“No, no not at all!” she said quickly. “The food is always amazing, and many of the places we’ve gone to I’d never even heard of. But it might be nice, maybe one time, to do . . . something different.”
“Like what?”
“The’s a carnival in town this week,” she suggested after a bit of thought. “I don’t have to anchor Tuesday night. Why don’t we go?”
“A carnival, really?” he said skeptically. “Haven’t been to one of those since I was a kid.”
“All the more reason we should go!” When he still looked uncertain, she gave his arm a squeeze. “C’mon. Step out of your comfort zone a little bit!”
Charles blew out a breath. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do it. Meet outside your place Tuesday?”
April smiled brightly at him. “It’s a date."