Life, Love & A Little Coffee

Chapter Thirty-Five: An Easy Choice

Ada seemed to avoid him for the rest of the school day.

Tom couldn't blame her. She needed time to process, and it wasn't the right place to talk about it. But she couldn't avoid him forever. She didn't work that day, which meant she'd be coming home after Britt dropped her off at the shop. And seeing as his car was broke down at her house, he had an easy excuse to be there, not that he needed one.

So Tom sat in the living room, feeling the watchful eyes of the two semi-terrifying women on him. Rebecca at least watched him from a distance. Stevie just sat in the chair across from him, staring at him with suspicious eyes.

Five minutes of waiting for Ada to get home from the mechanic, he couldn't take it anymore. "What?"

Stevie's expression didn't change, but she dropped her chin down to her fist, which was the first movement she'd made since sitting down. "I'm trying to figure out if you're a douche or not."

"And?"

Her eyes narrowed on him. "You're a douche until proven otherwise. No offense."

"Kind of hard not to take offense to it," Tom admitted, wondering just what the hell was going on inside this woman's head. "But okay."

"Did you screw up with Ada again?" Rebecca asked from the doorway. "You look worried."

Tom didn't know if he'd screwed up with Ada. She should have been the first person he told, but he hadn't expected to say it when he did. The conversation in the classroom had just sort of led him there. "I don't know. Maybe. Hope not."

He turned just in time to see Rebecca cross her arms. "If you did anything to hurt her, know that Jeff isn't the only one who knows how to use that chainsaw."

Why this woman scared him as much as she did, Tom wasn't sure. With Jeff, it was just how they were. With Rebecca, it was a bit terrifying. Probably because of her gentle nature and happy-go-lucky attitude. "Noted."

When the front door slammed shut, Tom stood from the couch and looked back and forth between the two women, hoping they'd get the message. If they received the message, they ignored it.

To his surprise, Ada didn't look as pissed as he expected. She just looked tired and confused. She walked over to stand in front of him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Tom dropped his gaze to the floor. "You would have tried talking me out of it."

"Of course I would have. Maybe you'll feel differently once summer's over." Ada paced in a small circle. "You can still fix this. You can talk to the principal."

"No," Tom said with a shake of the head. "Me not being happy wasn't my only reason for quitting and my primary reason isn't something I'm going to change my mind on."

Ada stopped her pacing and looked at him with those sad green eyes of hers. Once realization hit her, her mouth parted, and she stared at him for an eternity before speaking. "You quit because of me."

He looked over at the two other women in the room, who seemed entranced by the turn of events. "Can you two give us a minute?"

"Yeah..." her sister spoke, "that's not happening."

Tom let out a sigh. "Okay then." Things were going to get awkward with them in the room, but more awkward for the two women than himself.

Tom rubbed the scruff on his face and took a step back, trying like hell to pretend her mom and sister weren't hanging on his every word. "When we kissed on Friday, that started something." He dropped his hand and shoved it in the pockets of his slacks. "And that something has consequences that I accepted before I did it. Kissing you was a choice I made that came with an entire list of other choices I'll have to make."