(Hidden Conversation)

NOW

(Evan)

Waking up with Adena in my arms was something I could get used to. My fingertips caressing every inch of bare skin I could find as the sun filled the bedroom. I had been through too many lonely nights and lonely mornings in the apartment and in my life. Not that I was ever truly alone, but there was a difference between waking up next to a woman you met the night before and waking up to a woman that had stolen your heart.

Adena had this power to slow down time. I didn’t rush right out of bed and start to think about what I had to get done. I didn’t think about the shop. The orders. The business itself. What I did think about was what Adena had told me. Not having a job. Losing her sister. Feeling so lost. I wasn’t going to be able to instantly save her from all that shit. I knew Adena. She would want to do this all on her own. What I would do though was be there for her. Right by her side for whatever happened next.

Hell, I was in the same boat as she was. Winston’s words penetrated my brain deeper than I thought. Did I really want to end up at the shop for the rest of my life? Even if Uncle Davey thought about selling the business or giving me the business, is that what I wanted?

My fingers moved down and over the crest of Adena’s ass. I put my hand there and held tight, pulling at her. She moved a little, groaning, her legs still clutching to my leg. I felt her… all of her… and I smiled.

She finally opened her eyes and smiled when she looked at me.

There was no good morning or any of that crap. We just stared at each other. Probably wondering the same damn thing. Why did we wait so long for this?

Adena moved her left hand and slid it up my chest. She went all the way to my face and stopped. She lifted her head and licked her lips.

“Evan… can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can, sweetheart.”

“All of this between us. I mean, right now. Is it all because of Anna?”

I sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t know how to fairly answer that, Dena. I can’t say no… but I won’t say yes…”

“Right,” she said. “I mean, in a month from now…”

“Stop,” I whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She smiled. I touched her face, stroking the corner of her mouth. “You’re beautiful, Dena. You really are. I think we both know this has been a long time coming.”

“True.” She kissed my chest. “So dare I ask about breakfast? I mean, can I assume you actually went to a store and bought food?”

I laughed. “Not a chance in hell, sweetheart.”

“Great.”

“But I’ve got you covered.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” I said. I grabbed the covers and threw them off our nude bodies. “You need to get dressed first.”

“I don’t like this already,” she teased.

I rolled toward Adena and hovered over her. “Let me correct myself… you’re my breakfast, Dena. When I’m done with you… then I have somewhere to take you…”

* * *

“Uncle Davey told me about this place,” I said as I held the screen door open.

It was like stepping into someone’s house. Which was exactly what you were doing.

The old woman who owns the place was named Josephine. When her husband died twenty years ago, she decided, instead of selling the house and moving to Florida, to turn the house into a little breakfast place. She lived upstairs where the second floor had been converted into an apartment. And the first floor was the restaurant. Her niece, Margie, ran the place since Josephine was pushing ninety.

“Evan,” Margie said as she grabbed two menus off the counter where four people sat, sipping coffee.

“I don’t need a menu,” I said to Margie. “You know what I want.”

“What about your friend?”

I slipped my hand around Adena’s waist and pulled her close. “She’ll have the same as me.”

“Then I’ll bring the coffees first,” Margie said.

Adena looked at me. “What did you order me?”

“Food,” I said.

I took her to my favorite table in the corner near the front window.

The little restaurant sat on the top of a hill. The angle from the table was really something. To see all these old buildings cascading down the hill and turning, looking as though they were connected. Old buildings that used to have a better life and a better purpose. Faded signs for a furniture store, a lamp store. Even a shoe repair shop. Some of the stores were left empty and boarded up. Others were replaced with more modern things like a laundromat and a few lawyer offices.

I sat sideways with my back against the wall.

Margie brought us coffee and reached into her apron and threw some creamers and sugar packets on the table.

“How have you been?” Margie asked.

“Good. Busy. Keeping an eye on the old man.”

“Good luck with that,” she said. “Who’s your friend?”

I looked at Adena. “See, she’s jealous of us, Dena. I sort of promised my heart to Margie a few years back.”

“Did you now?” Adena asked.

“To be fair,” Margie said, “he was still drunk from the night before and had no money to pay for breakfast.”

“You came here drunk?” Adena asked.

“Not the first one to do that,” Margie said. “Not the last, I’m sure.”

“So, yeah, me and Margie here…”

“Hey, I get it,” Adena said. “Don’t let me impose. I just want something to eat.”

Margie laughed. “Well, I guess you’re lucky.”

“Me?” Adena asked. “Why’s that?”

“I’ve never seen Evan with someone here,” Margie said.

“Really?” I asked. I had the feeling like my cheeks were going to turn red but they didn’t. I didn’t blush. Fuck that.

“It’s true,” Margie said. “He comes in here alone. Sits right here. Eats. Drinks coffee. Stares out the window like a poet. Then he leaves.”

“Is that so?” Adena asked me.

“Margie, I think you’ve said enough,” I said.

Margie looked at Adena and winked.

As she walked away, Adena gave me a look.

“Stop that,” I said. “You know how I feel about you. Plus, this is my secret place. And I have intentions.”

“What are those intentions?” Adena asked.

I reached for her hand. “This is my secret, Dena. Right here. This is my life. So tell me about yours. What happened with the bakery…”

Adena lowered her head.

I expected her to argue a little. But she didn’t. In what felt like the longest sentence without a breath, she told me what Anna had done at some wedding. Drunk. Fucking someone from the wedding party in the bathroom. Causing a scene. Almost ruining the wedding cake. Making a big scene. Sadly, that was just how Anna always was.

Margie brought us each a giant stack of golden brown pancakes.

Adena’s eyes went wide.

“See, this is why I don’t need breakfast foods in my house,” I said. “I’ve got this place.”

“I’ll be back with the sausage and the bacon,” Margie said.

“More food?” Adena asked.

“I’m a growing boy,” I said with a wink. “So the wedding did your business in?”

“It was the beginning of it,” Adena said. “Everything was just a mess. People were quick to talk about Anna and what happened. I tried to fix the wedding cake where she grabbed a piece but it was obvious it looked bad. All of it reflected on me. I got so mad at Anna I refused to talk to her for weeks. I sank into a depression. She got into trouble and I had to use the business to help her. Everything I built and worked so hard for… it started to teeter.”

“People still liked what you did though, right?”

“Yeah,” Adena said. “They did. I just couldn’t keep up. The business. The money. Anna. It was like having a bad child or something. I would be awake at one in the morning, dragging her from a bar with some guy trying to have his way with her. Then I’d get her home, settled, and an hour later it would be time to go to the bakery. It just…”

“Got to be too much,” I whispered.

“Yes. So I just let it all go. It collapsed and when I realized I needed money I went to Mary Anne’s bakery. The worst part was she got most of my customers. So I kept dealing with the same people. Knowing what they wanted and how they wanted it. But I was getting an hourly wage to do it. Not that it was a money thing…”

“Of course not,” I said. “I get it, Dena. That’s fucking terrible. All of it. So what’s the plan now? Where do you want to go now?”

“I don’t really care at this point,” she said. “I want to finish these pancakes.”

“You got it,” I said. “Pancakes, now. Life, later.”

Adena smiled.

Right then I wanted to tell her I loved her.

But it wasn’t the right time.

She still needed to know one more thing about her sister… and myself.