As quick as that, Charles was up from his seat and over at the bar, having a word with the barman. He appeared to be having an almost showily surreptitious conversation with the man -- whether for Susan's benefit or the man's might be hard to say, but all evidence pointed to the latter, considering that when the man disappeared into a back room for a moment, Charles threw a quick look and a wink over his shoulder to Susan.
Whatever twin-magic he'd worked, Charles returned to the table with a grubby checkered cloth in which was wrapped the queen of all cream-cheese-and-marmalade sandwiches, made to the specifications he'd just mentioned: a thick crusty dark bread, probably what the barman himself liked, spread thickly with cream cheese and with a tart golden citrus jelly. It was in fact bitter orange marmalade (https://www.jollygrub.com/OnLineStore1/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=195&zenid=9cde4c3bf87269f02aadc53d53c74b03), which Charles believed made the cream cheese seem sweeter. He'd become a connoisseur of marmalades.
"There." He placed it on the table before Susan with a triumphant expectant air. "I'm throwing down the gauntlet."
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Whatever twin-magic he'd worked, Charles returned to the table with a grubby checkered cloth in which was wrapped the queen of all cream-cheese-and-marmalade sandwiches, made to the specifications he'd just mentioned: a thick crusty dark bread, probably what the barman himself liked, spread thickly with cream cheese and with a tart golden citrus jelly. It was in fact bitter orange marmalade (https://www.jollygrub.com/OnLineStore1/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=195&zenid=9cde4c3bf87269f02aadc53d53c74b03), which Charles believed made the cream cheese seem sweeter. He'd become a connoisseur of marmalades.
"There." He placed it on the table before Susan with a triumphant expectant air. "I'm throwing down the gauntlet."