Exposure & Shutter Speeds

| 16 |

Henry.

What was I doing? Could I get any more cheesy? Shit! I'm doing a great job of scaring her off - again! I internally berated myself. I watched as Beth's eyes grew wide, and I heard a sharp intake of breath. I held her eye contact, and she slowly started to relax into the chair again.

I grinned. She wasn't planning on running - yet.

The waitress came over and asked us for our order. I grabbed a large long black and a cinnamon scroll, and Beth ordered a latte and another scroll. I turned to face Beth again.

"Okay, let's start with an easy one. Do you have any siblings?" I asked Beth.

She laughed nervously. " I'm not so sure easy is the right word for that question in my situation. Are you only counting blood siblings or siblings by marriage?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

Unfazed, I replied, "Both works for me."

"Well, you've met my only blood sibling, Addie, I mean Addison. She's my younger sister. Then I have 2 step sisters and 1 stepbrother. Both my parents remarried after their divorce. Christmas is a fun time these days."

"Are you close with any of them?"

"Only Addie. She and I weren't always close though. We sort of came together when our parents split. It was an us-against-them situation. When we where younger we'd have all out screaming matches, fist fights and throw objects at one another regularly. I don't see my stepsisters and my stepbrother is a fair bit older. It's just awkward." She replied, off on a tangent.

"Do you have any siblings?" Beth asked.

"3. Two brothers and a sister, and they are all younger than me. I had my hands full. Even now they are still causing grief!" I replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Beth asked.

I sighed, and rubbed he back of my neck, not quite wanting to air my dirty laundry just yet. "Let's just say Connor doesn't have the squeakiest clean reputation one could have. He claims he's back on track, but this has happened before. Michael is on the straight and narrow - he's the one who's getting married remember? And Anna is the baby of the family, so we all worry about her as a collective."

"Poor girl! Growing up with three older brothers would have been a nightmare! I dare say it still probably is!" Beth smiled at me, her eyes where warm and danced with humour in the firelight.

"Okay, question number two -"

"Hey!" Beth exclaimed. "You just asked me three questions in total! That takes us to question four!"

"Follow up questions don't count! So, question two-"

She smacked my arm. "No way Mr...."

"Winters." I filled in for her.

"No way Mr Winters! You're at question four."

"How about we compromise? Let's forget those pesky follow ups, and meet half way at question two?" I threw back at her, winking.

She raised her eyebrow again. "You obviously don't know how to compromise, big shot, but where I come from that's definitely not what it looks like!" Beth retorted, her eyes flashing with mirth.

I laughed at Beth, and saw something flash in her eyes. Hmm. Curious.

"Okay! Okay! How about we class them as half questions, so we'd be at question three now?" I said, putting my hands up in mock surrender.

"Fine, I concede. Question three it is." She laughed back at me.

Our coffee and scrolls arrived, and Beth took a sip of her latte. The froth stuck to the top of her lip, highlighting their shape. I inwardly groaned at the thought of licking it off for her, just as her tongue darted out and wiped it off. She let out a contented sigh.