Life, Love & A Little Coffee

Chapter Nineteen: Fireside Confessions

Dinner could only be regarded as somewhere between shitty and agonizing. Awkward silences and glances made their way across the table, bouncing from one person to the next throughout the meal. Throat clearing and pushing food around on the plate were the only sounds made until all three gave up the charade.

"I think I'm gunna go upstairs and do my homework," Peter spoke after a good five minutes of no one saying a damn thing. He grabbed a flashlight from the table, and a battery-operated lantern, which was just an extra large, glorified flashlight. "If I need some help?"

"Just let me know," Tom responded.

The second Peter disappeared from sight, Ada stood from the table. "I'm going to go-"

"Not so fast, little missy," Tom warned.

Ada lowered herself back down. "Little missy?" She had to battle to suppress her amusement, though she didn't fight it very hard, and Tom noticed. It was the least uncomfortable moment they'd shared since sitting down.

The power flickered several times, disappearing only to reappear moments later before going off completely. Some candles were already lit on the table, so the room wasn't altogether dark.

Tom looked up and Ada had to scold herself for noting how his tanned skin glowed in the golden light of the flickering candles.

"Let's go talk in the living room," Tom suggested, breaking Ada's thoughts.

She nodded, though that was the last place she wanted to talk. Out in the storm would have been better. At least there she wouldn't have to see the firelight dancing off his skin. But seeing as that wasn't an option, given the storms increased wickedness, Ada stood and went over to the cooler, where she'd slipped in a few wine coolers, and grabbed herself a bottle and Tom a beer.

She walked in silence to the living room and twisted off the cap to her wine cooler. One sip after another, she called on her liquid courage to get her through this conversation; the cold to temper her heated body and the smell to dissolve the scent of burning wood or the permanent smell of coffee and chocolate that resonated from Tom's body. Of course, next to the fire she could attribute her rosy skin on the heat.

Ada pulled the bottle from her lips and noticed she'd drank more than she should; all of it. But she had zero intention of having this conversation sober.

"Whoops."

She turned to Tom and smiled, and he just shook his head.

"How many of those does it take for you to get tipsy?" he questioned.

Ada thought back to last summer. "Three? But that's usually when I go a while without drinking, and it hits me more than it should. So it's probably more like four or five."

"You get two," Tom told her. "At least until we've made it through this conversation and things are back to normal."

"You and I are anything but normal," Ada said as she plunked herself on the couch in front of the fireplace.

Tom exhaled. "Apparently. The right kind of weird, then. Did you want a second one?"

It was tempting, but Ada had a feeling that she'd drink it just as quickly as the last and the speediness probably would cause her to get prematurely drunk. So she shook her head and Tom sat down next to her.

"So Peter."

Ada smiled wickedly. "We need to get rid of him."

Tom turned and looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "What?"

"He knows too much."

"Are you drunk already?"

Ada looked down at her empty bottle, which Tom then took out of her hands. "No. Just trying to make a joke. I'll admit that it didn't turn out great."