They stopped at an all-night grocery store to grab a few things before making their way back.

It was dark by the time they returned to the cabin. A slight chill was in the air, the toads were croaking and the crickets were chirping away at an almost obnoxious volume. Still, he didn't mind it too much.

Now that Tom was living in an apartment downtown, the sounds of nature were a rarity in his life. As loud as it was, it was also nice.

The sound became twice as loud once he stepped out of the car and Tom turned on the flashlight app on his phone for a better view of the path leading to the cabin. Ada grabbed her bags from the backseat and followed him down the dimly lit stone walkway.

They reached the door and Tom directed the flashlight toward his key ring, looking around until he found the right one. After opening the door, Tom felt around for the light switches until the small living room and the dining room came to life, along with the light for the porch.

He allowed Ada to walk passed him into the house before turning right back around to grab the rest of the bags from the car, swatting the mosquitoes from his skin the entire time. This place had a lot of beauty being so close to the water, but also had too damn many bugs.

Still, it was a small sacrifice for solitude and Tom had been waiting for a time to be alone with Ada without someone showing up and putting it to an abrupt end. His intentions were mostly innocent, but he wanted to stray from that innocence at least a little without having to worry about Jeff yelling at him to knock it off. He was just hoping that his family's routine hadn't change since they retired. Even if it had, they would have been there by now if they were taking a weekend trip.

Tom dropped his bags on the table next to the door, noticing Ada was nowhere to be found. As he walked around the cabin, Tom saw his parents had done redecorating since he'd last been here. It felt strange considering this place hadn't changed for as long as he could remember.

All the knick-knacks collected throughout the years were absent from the shelves, instead replaced by books or small pieces of artwork. His niece and nephew's drawings from when they were younger weren't on the fridge. Family photos weren't on the wall.

Tom grabbed his cell phone from the pocket of his jeans and typed in his parents' home phone.

His mother picked up on the third ring. "Honey, is everything okay?" Although her voice was tired, the words came out of her in such a fast pace, they were stumbling over each other.

It didn't occur to Tom that it was a late hour and when he did call them, it was mid-afternoon on the weekend. Although his mother couldn't see him, Tom shook his head anyway, moving the phone from his left hand to his right. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for calling so late, but I'm at the cabin-"

"Oh, honey, you didn't make a mess of it, did you? I think a young couple is looking at it tomorrow afternoon."

"You put it for sale?"

"None of you kids ever use it anymore. And now that we're retired, I don't know. It just felt like it was time to let a new family make memories there."

Tom let out a sigh before rubbing at his mouth with his free hand. As he looked around the cabin, he saw nothing of his family. It was like they were erased from existence there. He supposed it was so other people could imagine their kids artwork on the fridge and their family photos on the wall.

He was hoping to share this piece of himself with Ada, his family memories and his childhood. But all this was was a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

He was disappointed, but not mad. With his father's arthritis, he wasn't able to enjoy fishing like he used to. And with his mother unable to talk them all into family vacations anymore, he supposed the cabin lost the happiness it once gave her. The last time they'd all been together there was his second year of college.

Maybe it was time to just let go.

"I'm only here for the night, so I'll clean up before I leave in the morning."

"Is Liz there with you, honey? Are you two working things out?" His mother's voice was hopeful.

"No, Mom," Tom said in a heavy breath, "Liz and I are done. I signed the papers a few days ago."

While they were easy enough words to say aloud, they weren't so easy saying to his mother. His mom loved Liz like she was her own and had more in common with her than she did with her own daughter.

He knew for a fact they still talked after Tom moved out because his dad more or less admitted it to him in one of their phone calls. He only hoped that Liz knew better than to tell her about Ada, which was not a conversation he looked forward to having with his parents.

Just as Liz would always have a special place in his heart, Tom accepted she'd have the same with his mom.

"Listen, I'll let you get to sleep. Call you next week."

"Alright, honey. And I'm sorry we didn't tell you. We were going to invite you all there for Fourth of July and tell you in person. If it hadn't already sold, of course."

That's all his mom wanted, to have their family back together for more than just a holiday dinner. "We should all try to get together this summer. I'll talk to Chris and Samantha and see if we can't all set up a free week in the next few months."

Tom said his goodbyes and hung up, then went down the hallway toward the bedrooms to find Ada. A light was on in his parents bedroom and the door to their private bathroom was closed with light showing from underneath.

"My parents put a price tag on my childhood," he announced loudly enough for Ada to hear, then plopped himself down on the bed.

"And what is the price tag?"

Tom hadn't asked, but knew the property was worth a hell of a lot more than they'd paid for it. A storm had hit the area when he was in his teens, taking with it most of the houses that lined the river. Theirs was one of three that survived the storm. People could no longer build so close to the river, but the cabin was grandfathered in. Though it was a small three bedroom sitting on only two acres, it was still prime property.

He wouldn't be surprised if they got close to half a million for it. "No clue," he said. Tom noticed Ada's shopping bags were tipped over on the floor next to the bathroom, empty. "Whatcha doing in there?"

"Trying on what I bought tonight," she called back to him. "If any of this doesn't fit, I can return it tomorrow. This one seems too tight. I think she recommended the wrong size."

If Tom could avoid going back to that mall, he would. Ada was a quick shopper tonight, but they were also in a rush. He didn't mind taking her out shopping, but malls had this generic feeling for him, making shopping at them feel like time was moving at a snail's pace.

"Want my opinion on it?" Tom asked, hoping he'd be able to say it wasn't too tight so they wouldn't have to go back.

There was a long pause before Ada answered, her voice small and slow as she spoke. "I don't know."

Her hesitation intrigued him. Tom had never seen Ada wear anything tight. Form fitting, sure, but only in the last couple of years. Before that she was like him and wore clothes a size too large. The difference was that she did it because she wasn't comfortable with her body, even when her size started going down. He just did it for comfort and because he wanted people to judge him by his mind and personality, not his appearance.

"Come on," Tom pushed, "Lemme see."

After several long seconds, the bathroom door handle turned, and the door crept open.

Ada didn't appear for a full-blown minute, but once she did, Tom sucked in a breath and sent a mental reminder to his heart to keep on beating.

In the bathroom doorway stood Ada, dressed in shear lace dark red lingerie. The neckline dipped between her breasts, giving him a front row show to her cleavage. He had to pry his eyes away from that sight long enough to take the rest in, noticing it only covered her upper thighs, leaving the rest of her incredible body in full view.

His brain went from thinking a thousand things at once to being empty.

When Tom's eyes traveled up to hers, taking their sweet time on the journey, he saw she was looking down at the floor. Ada did not understand how beautiful she'd become, and he loved that about her.

"This wasn't what I bought to sleep in," she muttered. "In case you were wondering."

Tom smiled at the comment before raising himself from the bed and walking a few steps closer. "Good. Cause if you crawled into bed wearing that, sleep wouldn't be happening."

When Ada looked up at him, Tom noticed her blushing cheeks and sparkling eyes. He also noticed with her straightened frame that the fabric covering her breasts wasn't see through, but flesh colored to give the illusion. Tom wasn't sure if he felt relief or disappointment.

"The way you're looking at me, I'm guessing you don't want me to return this one," Ada spoke.

"If you return that, I'm never speaking to you again."

Ada leaned against the doorway and laughed. "Feel that strongly about it, huh?"

Truth was, Tom was hanging by a thread at that moment. Seeing her dressed like that was giving him a hard-on that was almost painful. His brain, heart and lower extremities were fighting with each other until that battle came to an abrupt end with the ringing of Ada's cell phone.

Ada turned and grabbed her phone from the bathroom counter. "My dad is trying to video chat me." The words tumbled out of her mouth so quick they tripped over each other on the way out. "What the hell do I do?"

Seeing Jeff's picture on Ada's phone caused Tom's erection to go limp, and before he knew it, Ada tossed the phone in the air like it'd just burned her skin.

It bounced between his hands a few times and by the time he could catch it, the bathroom door slammed shut with Ada behind it.

Tom was sure having Ada half naked in front of him caused his skin to flush, but there was little he could do about that. He answered the phone and held it out to video chat. "Hey." The word came out as more of a squeaky croak and Tom let out a cough.

Jeff's eyes looked back at him. "Pretty sure I didn't call you."

"Yeah, well, Ada's in the bathroom. Just didn't want you to think her missing your call meant something that it didn't." Tom's words weren't complete bullshit, but they were bullshit enough that he had to force his voice to sound relaxed while his bones felt like they were going to shake right out of his skin.

Ten seconds ago he was battling with himself, trying to avoid temptation of picking Ada up and putting her on the bed. Now he was talking to her father, a man with an array of weapons who showed little shyness expressing his desire to use said weapons to make Tom disappear.

Few things in life could kill a boner as fast as Jeff managed to.

"You better not be sittin' on that bed waitin' for my daughter to join you." His expression was void of emotion. His tone, on the other hand, was a different story.

Tom let out a huff and gave Jeff an exaggerated look, one he had to force on his face just to keep his freak out on the inside. "I'm sitting on this bed because that's where your daughter's phone was, you paranoid son-of-a-bitch."

Jeff glared at him heavily. "Hey, just cause you ain't dead yet don't mean I can't make that shit happen any time I damn well please. I suggest you remember that next time you wanna be a pain in my ass."

At the sound of the bathroom door opening, Tom looked up and saw Ada walk into the room with her hair tied up in a small ponytail and wearing blue pajama pants and a white tank top. Her face was clear of the days makeup and still damp from the sink.

"Are you talking to my dad?" Ada asked him in a higher pitched, upbeat voice.

She knew damn well who he was talking to because she stuck him with the guy, but Tom played along, pretending that Ada hadn't run out of the room when Jeff called.

"Yup. Wanna talk to him?" Tom didn't wait for her answer before handing the phone over to her, eager to hand over the problem to someone else.

Ada put a small smile on her face and talked to her father, playing innocent to a tee. She calmed down his mood with grateful comments for letting them go on this trip and chatted away with him about how their trip was going so far.

While she did this, Tom went into the bathroom and saw the pile of clothing on the floor. 'Clothing' was very much a stretch, and it appeared as if Ada had bought out a lingerie store. Most of them fit Ada's personality, a mix between sweet and seductress.

The bathroom looked like the dressing room of a classy porn movie, one with a real storyline starring the girl next door. To say Tom was desperate to see her in every one of these was the understatement of the century.

As he looked out toward the bedroom, toward her, Tom wondered how he could be this fucking crazy for her, how he could need her as much as he did. But he knew how. The kiss they shared happened a week ago, to the day, but he'd been falling for her for so much longer.

His ex was right. When Tom's marriage was falling apart, he wasn't going to the coffee shop to escape his shitty reality. He went to see her. Not just because Ada had the uncanny ability to improve his moods even on his worst days, but because he couldn't seem to resist being around her. Ada was magnetic, and Tom never tried to fight it.

He'd fallen back then and just wasn't ready to admit it. And it was probably love before they ever kissed.

The more he thought about, the more tainted his memories with Liz became. Because for the last four years, his dream girl had been under his nose as he lived with a woman he thought was the love of his life.

That was why he hadn't fought to keep his marriage. These last several months it had become impossible to ignore what was right in front of him.