Life, Love & A Little Coffee

Chapter Eighteen: Something Wicked This Way Comes

The frigid wind pricked Ada's skin as she went outside to swing the open sign around. She'd only taken over for her Nonni at her parents' shop an hour ago, but not a single customer had come in since that time. It wasn't more than a few minutes after Nonni left to go out with friends that the sky blackened and the temperature plummeted.

The storm that was meant to hit half the state but just barely miss their small town shifted just enough to include them. There were already power outages being reported from the path it had come from, and people were being ordered to stay inside. The photos they'd been showing on the news made Ada close early and prepare. With branches on power lines, houses, and cars, Ada had little interest in walking from the shop back to the house as it grew closer.

She'd already sent Peter ahead of her to collect the flashlights and candles, and fill the bathtubs with hot water. Peter always appreciated a good storm, never showing fear at all. He worried for their grandmother, but Ada reassured him that Nonni was driving away from the storm rather than toward it and would get the town they were heading to without getting hit. Their night would still be ruined as events were being cancelled pretty much everywhere.

So Ada closed out the credit card batch, put the money in the safe, and locked the door behind her. A branch of a tree near the house snapped off and fell by the porch, so Ada quickened her pace. No matter how cold and windy it was getting, she had to take down the hanging baskets in the backyard and front porch or they wouldn't survive the night.

With nothing more than a sundress on, Ada dropped her chin toward her chest to shield herself from the wind and rushed the best she could considering she was wearing wedges. The outfit made perfect sense this morning. She brushed the skirt of her dress down repeatedly as she scrambled about the yard, collecting the baskets. Not that it mattered with no one around, but she was cold enough as it was without adding to it.

She managed two baskets in each hand and kept her head down as she rushed down the brick path that led to the front of the house. Her skirt flew up once again as she climbed the steps and saw a pair of legs in front of her just before a pair of hands seized the baskets from her grasp.

Ada's now free hand flew to her chest as she peered up and saw Tom standing in front of her. She turned to see his car in the driveway beside her own, not having seen it as she walked passed. Her gaze drifted back to him only for a moment before settling back to her skirt, which she brushed downward, feeling her cheeks turn hot at the realization she'd just flashed him. When Ada forced her eyes back to him, she saw him trying to hold back a smile and failing.

"You're here," she said, stating the obvious as she removed her hair from her face, only for it to blow right back to where it was. She took a few steps closer to the house in a failed attempt to block herself from the gusts.

Tom set the baskets on the ground next to her, but his eyes remained fixated on her blushing face. "I am."

"Why?" She hadn't meant it to sound unkind, but considering they weren't meant to be alone together and were supposed to keep their distance for another couple of weeks, this was going against every rule they were instructed to follow.

Tom shrugged. "Storms scare me. Didn't want to be alone."

Thunder roared in the distance and Ada heard the snap of a branch as it split away from a tree nearby. The sky made it appear to be dusk rather than almost five in the afternoon.

She crossed her arms and rubbed at them with her hands. "You don't look that scared," Ada noted.

"I keep it all inside," he said with a mischievous grin. "Why don't you go in the house and do what you gotta do and I'll finish grabbing the baskets and bring in some firewood."