Dark as the Night

58

Odessa exasperatedly told them how she'd come out of the restroom to find James chatting up a couple of girls. James glared and explained, "She sidled up to me and loudly whispered, 'the poison ivy on your butt shouldn't be contagious anymore. You should be fine.' The girls didn't want to bet on should." She snickered. "Little cockblock," he grumbled.

Tai gave his dad a pointed look. Odessa just grinned cheekily and patted him on the shoulder.

"I wasn't wrong. The poison ivy should be cleared up. After eight years." She winked when Tai snorted and bumped the fist he held out to her.

"That is a breach of patient confidentiality," James warned with a satisfied smirk. "I'm going to tell Leila you were snooping through my file."

"Who do you think told me about it in the first place?" she met his smug look with one of her own.

Adam chuckled and stood, patting James on the shoulder right where Odessa had. "Good luck with this one," he quipped. Before James could reply, he changed the subject. "I'm going to catch up with some acquaintances I haven't seen in a while. Think you three can man the booth for a couple hours?"

"Yeah, Dad," Tai nodded with a smile. "Take your time." Adam patted his son on the shoulder as well and thanked them, then walked away.

James remained on the edge of the booth, scowling, but Odessa sat down in the seat the elder Adohi had vacated. "Have you sold anything?" she asked, taking Tai's coffee from his hand and sipping. She scrunched her nose at the bitter taste. "Black," she grimaced.

Tai smiled and took his coffee back. "Did you expect hot chocolate?" he teased. "No, we haven't sold anything yet. But there were a couple people looking."

She settled back into the chair and reached out for his coffee, which he handed over easily. She sipped again, trying not to wince. "That's good. I hope they come back. I'd hate for you to spend all the time and work just for nothing to be bought. I'll have to get used to black coffee, so I can just drink yours instead of getting my own."

"Why are you having two conversations at the same time?" James asked as he leaned against the table.

"Is it too difficult for you to follow? Would you like us to slow down and use smaller words, too?" Odessa asked sweetly. James just scoffed but said nothing else.

Tai snorted in amusement and reached out for his turn with the coffee. "Are you ready to start school next week?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm," she confirmed with a nod. "I still need to pick up my uniform, though. The only one close to my size was still too big so Linda, at the tailor shop, is taking it in for me."

Tai glanced at her slight frame and nodded. Since the uniforms were generally handed down at swap meets from the older students, tailoring them wasn't uncommon. His own had needed it in the last few years to accommodate his broad carpenter's shoulders.

"I'm surprised they had any pixie-sized high school uniforms at all," James commented from his corner.

"Just as I'm surprised they have giant-sized uniforms for you," Odessa replied.

"I got lucky. Liam never bothered taking his to the swap meets and he found them in storage when he moved into our parents' room."

"He was the same size as you?" She tried to picture the McKenna brothers side by side. They were the same height, and while quite muscular, Liam was just a little less bulky.