Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Discussion Stemmed from Horror

After making dinner for Olivia and I, I put her to bed and flipped through the book she was reading. It had been a while, but the vague memories I had of the story were coming back.

"Maybe I should monitor what she reads…" I mumbled as put back the book.

"Looking for a book?"

I turned to face Vinny, "Putting one away, you?"

"Looking for one." He responded, "Any recommendations?"

"Depends are you looking for anything in particular?"

He shook his head, "No."

"Well, given the time of year, I'd probably recommend something in the horror genre."

"Why?"

"Tradition." I responded simply, when he looked at me oddly, I added, "I guess traditions are different for everyone, this time of year was always filled with ghost stories for my family. There's actually a lot of supernatural elements to Christmas, it's really rather interesting if you look into it." I stopped myself before going on a tangent, "But anyway, if you're not looking for horror, there's always science fiction…"

"What horror novels would you recommend?"

Vinny's POV

Truth be told, I wasn't looking for a book; I just wanted to talk to her. Books were always the easiest conversation starter and I usually enjoyed the books she'd recommend. This time she recommended Frankenstein, The Woman in White, A Christmas Carol, and a few other novels. With each one, she described the in full to the point where I really didn't have to read the book. Although, reading the books themselves was never as enjoyable as listening to her talk about them.

"Which one is your favorite?" I asked her.

She paused for a moment and then replied, "A Christmas Carol, I've always liked its messages about forgiveness and making peace with your past."

I looked at her blankly, debating whether or not to bring up the situation we had found ourselves in. We hadn't really discussed what had happened between us outside of the brief conversation we had after I had found out about Olivia and there wasn't much to that conversation. I didn't want to bring up what had happened, but if I didn't, would she? We had been avoiding the topic for months now. Deciding to bite the bullet, after a few moments of awkward silence, I spoke up, "Tia, we need talk about what happened between us."

"Do we?" She replied hesitantly.

Knowing this was a conversation neither of us wanted to have, I simply nodded and said, "Yeah."

She sighed, sitting down next to me, "Where do you want to start?"

I thought for a moment, not expecting her to ask that, and then answered, "I think we should start with the night you left."

"Okay."

"That wasn't the way I wanted you to find out."

"Why didn't you just tell me in Atlantis?" She asked, "You were telling me about Rourke and your business with him. Why not just tell me then? I probably would have taken it better then."

"Would you have?"

"Okay, not by much, but I probably would have let you explain your reasoning then." She responded, "Which you don't have to, I know if you hadn't agreed someone else would have been hired on or Grandfather would have had Branson go with me. There wasn't going to be a situation where I actually went on my own without someone looking after me. I was more upset about you lying to me, than what you did."

"I made that deal right after I met you and didn't think about it again until we left for Atlantis." I told her, "There wouldn't have been time to find anyone else and like you said earlier if Branson had come with you, you wouldn't have had any time alone."

"And as much as I like Branson, I do enjoy my alone time." She said, "I also wouldn't have gotten to know any of you the way I did." She then corrected herself, "I wouldn't have gotten to know you the way I did. We probably would have stayed the same way we were before we left, which would have been a shame."

"Why Mole?" I asked, "Why was he the first person you reached out to?"

"I knew I could trust him." She answered, "I also needed his skills."

"Has anything-" I started.

Seeing where I was going with my question, she spoke up, "Not in that way, he is my business partner and one of my closest friends, but I've never seen him like that."

"You were waiting for that question."

"I was." She laughed lightly, "It usually comes up whenever Mole or I talk about our work or friendship. You're not the first to ask. A single woman with a kid starting a business with a man whom she isn't married to isn't common."

"I was surprised you didn't start the business with Miss Corey."

"That wasn't what Anna wanted with her life, so I didn't want to ask that of her." She responded, "She also wouldn't have tried to talk me out of some of the things I was doing at the time and I didn't want to deal with that. I didn't want to be told I was wrong. Even though, after even I knew I was not fully in the right for what happened."

I remained quiet for a moment letting her words continue to sink in, that was not the route I thought this conversation would go. After gathering my thoughts, I pointed out, "You weren't wrong for what you did."

"I was for not telling you about Olivia." She pointed out, "I should have told you around the time I found out and I didn't."

"And I could have told you I was being paid to look after you." I pointed out, knowing it had been better to leave it at that. I should have told her before our relationship escalated. I shouldn't have let anything happen without telling her everything.

Tia's POV

I had to admit it would have been nice if I knew, things might have turned out differently. Although same could probably be said if I had told him about Olivia. Neither of us were completely in the right, but mine involved more than just the two of us. Because of my overreaction, he's missed out of the first five years of his daughter's life.

We sat in silence for the next few moments with one unanswered question looming: Where do we go from here?