Life, Love & A Little Coffee

Chapter Forty-Six: Cocoa & Confessions

Ada hadn't been trying to seduce him. Not really. But she couldn't help but take pleasure in his reaction. No man had ever looked at Ada the way Tom was looking at her before her phone rang. Not even close.

It made her feel beautiful, desirable, needed, wanted.

The only guy she'd ever dated had been Scott. He was kind and attentive to her and surprisingly great. She hadn't even wanted to date him in the first place, but their groups of friends forced them together and she didn't regret it.

Most thought they broke up because Scott had transferred, but the truth of it was they'd broken up months before that and told nobody. Scott was gay, unbeknownst to his friends and family and to her, until the point where they lost their virginity to one another.

He was a great friend; one of the best. But despite their two years together and for obvious reasons, he never looked at her the way Tom did.

Although it was not her intention to seduce him while she was trying on the 'clothes' and just wanted to find out what in the hell she bought in the five minutes she was in that store, she hoped he was seducible as soon as she opened that door.

Unfortunately, it seemed her dad had this uncanny ability to bring things between them to a screeching halt, no matter the distance.

As soon as Ada ended the call with her dad, she left it behind and left the room, going down the hall until she found Tom in the kitchen, making the hot cocoa they picked up at the store. She expected him to be making it the lazy way in the microwave, but had the milk simmering in a pot on the stove.

"Look at you," Ada said before she hopped onto the counter by his side.

A smile played at Tom's lips, but he kept his eyes on the milk, stirring it around with a metal ladle. "My mom's Italian. She used to make us hot chocolate, European style, when we were kids. She'd have a fit if she saw me making hot chocolate with powdered mix in her kitchen."

"I'm guessing she'd be too distracted with you stirring it with a giant ladle to notice," Ada quipped.

Tom let out a quiet chuckle. "Not a lot of utensil options here anymore." He paused for a moment, the ladle resting in place before he continued. "Still can't believe they're selling this place."

"Family vacations aren't easy once your kids grow up and have families of their own. They probably just figured there wasn't much of a point in having a vacation house without the family there to enjoy it with them."

"I guess," Tom mumbled in mild agreement. "Do you guys ever do the family vacation thing?"

Ada always wished they had. Britt and her parents went on them all the time and she couldn't help but be envious. "I don't think my dad knows how to take a vacation. Plus, in winter we try to cut down on spending because there isn't much for business. And when the weather is nice and we have more income coming in, it's too busy to go anywhere.

"My mom wants to take a vacation soon, though. She says she's reached that age where she deserves one. That and I think she feels like she's running out of time to enjoy it."

Tom's spoon didn't slow down completely this time, but went from a soft rhythm to an awkward, slow motion pace.

She kicked herself for bringing it up. Ada wasn't blind or stupid. Huntington's disease was something which weighed on Tom's mind, even if he didn't say it. And ever since her sister had arrived in town, ever since that afternoon in the kitchen when it all sank it, it'd been weighing on her own mind as well.

Their fates were not a certainty, but maybe that was the problem. She thought not knowing would be easier, that she could live a life with a certain freedom rather than be tied to this one thing for the rest of her years.