From Foes to Flames

From Foes to Flame-part 15

Chapter 15

Adeline

When I wake up in the morning Matao is still asleep next to me, somehow, I manage to climb out of bed without waking him. I go downstairs to get breakfast and Linda and River are eating. "Good morning, Adeline, did you sleep well? Matao didn't make you sleep on the floor, did he?"

"No no he didn't" I chuckle "I slept amazing thank you, good morning River" he had a mouthful of food, so he just smiled and waved.

"Help yourself to anything" Linda tells me. I walk to the cupboard and grab the cereal I have been eating and some milk. I put myself a bowl and offer Linda some as well, but she declines. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yes yes of course" I reply not wanting to be rude.

"Matao can be somewhat fragile sometimes and I really don't want him to get hurt. By the way he talks about you I really do think he loves you" loves? That was unexpected "if you hurt him, he is going to be the same as he was after his dad left and I can't let that happen again. So, if you are going to hurt him now would be the time to leave."

"Linda... I think I love him." I say quietly. She looks at me shocked by what I just said and to be honest I am too. She doesn't say anything after that, and I keep eating my breakfast. About ten minutes pass of silence before Matao finally comes downstairs. "Good morning" I say happy that the tension is gone.

"Good morning beautiful" he says as he walks past me "morning mum" he gets himself some cereal and sits at the bench next to me.

"Good morning, I'm off for work please take care of River for me, maybe take him out today" Linda tells Matao before walking out of the room.

"So, beautiful?" I ask with a laugh.

"Yes, very beautiful" he replies and leans over to kiss me on the cheek. I blush immediately and he leans over to kiss me on the lips, River starts giggling mid kiss.

"I'm still here" he laughs. Matao quickly moves away and keeps eating.

"So, what do you wanna do today bud?" Matao asks. Already planning the day, I see.

"The bowling place just got redone can we go there?" He asks eagerly "only if it's okay with Adeline of course" he says as he looks at me with a grin.

"That's more than okay with me, but only if you're okay with loosing" I say and wink at him.

We get ready and drive to the bowling alley, I sit in the back with River, and we talk about all the things he likes while Matao drives in the front. "I'm starting to think you like River more than me" Matao says with a laugh, I look up and he's looking at me through the mirror. He winks at me before looking back at the road. Once we arrive, we get shoes and a lane. "I got bumpers for us".

"That might be a problem for me, I'm pretty good without them. What about you?" I challenge him.

"Oh, you're on" he says before changing the settings on the machine. We do it in order of age, River first, me, then Matao. River bowls and takes out 4 pins. I get a spare on the first round, and so does Matao. We go through another round with River progressively getting better while Matao and I challenge each other. "You're not gonna win" he whispers before I go up for my next bowl.

"Watch it looser" I chuckle before bowling the ball, strike. I lift my arm into the air and pretend to kiss my muscles while I walk back to my chair. "Take that". I watch closely as he bowls and gets a spare. We are down to the last round and River takes his turn, when the ball reaches the end, it takes down all the pins and he jumps about excited. I scoop up River and we jump around cheering, I put him down and tell Matao "you're so going downnnn". He nods as I pick up my ball and watch it roll down the lane... Strike! "Whooooooo" I cheer as I come back over to my chair. Matao gets his ball and bowls it, he gets five. "Ouch" he picks up another ball to take his last turn, there is four pins on one side and one sitting alone on the other side. Everything goes in slow motion as he bowls the ball. I watch it roll down the alley towards the four pins and he takes out all of them. Except the one pin on the other side. He admits defeat as River cheers for me.

"Good job" Matao says as he takes of his shoes. "Do you need to go to the toilet before we leave bud?" He asks River, he nods and jumps up "c'mon, i'll be right back".i watch them walk towards the toilets as I return our shoes.