Page 4 of Holiday Hater

“Mommy!”

“See!” She turns in time for a blur of dark hair and pink floats to collide with her side. “What’s up, Nugget? Say hi to Blair.”

“Hi, Blair!” The cheeky little girl smiles politely but obviously can’t turn back to her mom quick enough. “Mommy, can I go stay at Lydia’s tonight? Her mom just offered to let me stay and walk to school with them in the morning.” The little girl grins innocently, revealing uneven teeth and a large gap where one obviously fell out recently.

“Looks like someone can come for drinks tonight after all!” Blair grins devilishly as Silvi is dragged across the pool to the waiting lady, obviously Lydia’s mother.

“Don’t get your hopes up!” Silvi calls back but Blair is already planning the bar with Oliver as she ties her cover-up.

“I’ll meet you boys at the bar with Silvia.” She pecks Hank on the cheek as she stands up, smiling at me politely as she turns to go get changed to go to the bar, I assume. Am I meant to go get changed? I look down at my combat shorts and t-shirt. This is going to have to do. I don’t really have time to run back to my mate’s place and change.

I watch as Silvia, who I now know her to be, leads her daughter back into their apartment. I wonder if she will actually come for drinks. I don’t mind going with Blair and Hank, but it will be far more interesting if she comes. What if she doesn’t? Will she be back out on her laptop again tonight?

“You look like you’re thinking way too hard there, mate.”

I glance at Oliver, completely caught red-handed lusting over Silvia. Did he notice?

“She’s a good girl, very quiet and keeps to herself. So don’t go near her if you’re thinking of only getting some tail. She’s way too good to be treated like that.” The warning is as clear as day. How did we go from investment advice to women advice?

“I’m not that type of bloke.” Or am I? “I’m focused on working anyway. I’m not looking to get caught up in women in any degree at the moment.” I wouldn’t mind getting tangled up with her. My mind is still imagining tracing her soaking wet hips through the cotton of her cover-up but I’m not about to admit that to Oliver.

“Well, if you do go getting near her, be respectful to the fact she’s a single mom and the closest and best source of coffee around here.” He stands up from his chair, tucking it up neatly to the table after he does.

“What do you mean?” I hand follow him as he plots a dry path across the pool.

“She owns the coffee shop. I’m surprised you didn’t recognize her from inside. She works in there a lot.”

Now that is not what I expected. She’s a businesswoman? Shit, that’s hot. What can’t this woman do?

“I haven’t actually been in there yet.” I normally just drink bottles and bottles of water. It’s usually just in the morning that I will touch a cup of coffee and that’s normally the dried instant stuff out of the jar. I thought all coffee pretty much tasted the same.

“You should, it’s good coffee.”

I bet it’s an amazing cup of coffee if you get to drink it staring at her. The image of drinking a cup of coffee with her after a morning of endless sex is enough to cause a semi in my shorts.

What’s gotten into me? I don’t normally lust after girls I have just met, and I don’t usually start having thoughts until the woman has verbalized that’s what she is after.

“I’ll make sure I get a taste.”

He takes no notice of my comment as he leads the way down the quiet sidewalk. I’ve worked quite solidly for the last few weeks so it’s nice to have a sense of normality and going out for drinks, even if it has turned into some kind of informal double date. Oliver and Blair are surely going to leave us alone; however, I don’t even know if Silvia is interested. I could be reading the blush all wrong. After all, she is different than any woman I’ve ever dated before. She is far more accomplished and undeniably more mature. Will she even be interested in me?

Chapter Five - Silvia

It’s hard not to feel self-conscious. I feel as though he can see every tiny detail about me with the way he has been staring at me all evening. This is only because of what happened the other night. He has acted nice but he must be mad. However, how was I supposed to know he was there? Thinking about it, it seems stupid that I didn’t see him. It’s not like it was pitch-black, but I wasn’t looking because there is never anyone there at that time of night.

Blair is easy to focus on as I listen to her talk about her plans for her children’s books. It’s amazing how dedicated she is to them. I’m so focused on talking to Blair, in an attempt to keep calm while being around Noah, that the hours tick by and with each one that passes, I find myself getting more and more comfortable with him sitting across the table from me.

“So, Silvia, Oliver said you own the coffee shop.” His voice seems to stand out from everyone else’s. It’s smooth, slightly cocky, and lilted with the hint of a mystery accent.

“I do. After my child, it’s my biggest overhead.” I take a gulp of the fruity drink I’d ordered off the menu blindly. It reminds me of the juice that I buy for Lila at home, except I know there is alcohol in this. It goes down so smooth that it’s hard not to chug.

“That’s a big business to run.”

If he continues to state the obvious, I’m going to have to assume he isn’t the sharpest tool in the box. “I’m a big girl.”

The voices filling the bar with a pleasantly social atmosphere dull behind the music of a band stepping up onto a low platform stage. It’s what I would call boozy pop music, which is all the classics played in the bands own style which drunk or soon to be drunk people love and fall over themselves for, literally.

“Oh!” Blaire jumps around in her seat, reaching for Oliver’s arm as she springs to her feet and heads toward the stage. “Dance with me!”

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