That smile, it peeked at him from over her glass, and spoke of a different kind of happiness. Rufus returned it and he drank half the glass in one swallow, the taste much sweeter than the beer he'd had before running into Miss Lockhart.

It appeared their gentle truce was over and Miss Lockhart began to speak. But it wasn't what he had expected. It was only what he had hoped for. For half a moment Rufus almost wondered if he were dreaming, if any of this had really happened. But he smiled at her instead. "No, I am sorry. I am in part to blame. " He sighed heavily. "I never meant to lead you on. " But now that she was here.... he wasn't quite sure what he intended this time, for surely it wasn't only friendship. "Miss Lockhart, I -" Rufus who was never at a loss for words had no idea what he had been about to voice or how to go about doing so. Maybe the simplest of truths was the way to go about it. Start there and maybe they could figure this whole mess out. "I'm glad to see you. " He admitted with a sweet guileless smile.