Until June

Chapter 11

Adam's co-workers at The Dot were surprised to see him walk in on Saturday afternoon. However, Fiona was holding onto his hand as he walked to a table and sat down. It was clear that he wasn't there to work while on vacation.

"Hey, Adam," Mollie, a freshman at Toronto University who worked weekends at The Dot, said as she walked to the table.

"Hey," he said. "Uh… have you met Fiona?"

"I feel like I have! Great to finally meet you." The two girls shook hands. "I was beginning to think you didn't exist. You know, if Pete didn't know you..."

"Mollie," Adam interrupted. "Can you bring us drinks, please?"

"Sure." She scribbled onto her pad. "Adam, usual?"

He nodded. "Fi?"

"Chai Tea," Fiona said.

Mollie nodded and walked away.

"She's cute," Fiona said after Mollie was out of earshot.

"Is she?"

Fiona looked at Adam. "Oh, you haven't noticed?"

He shrugged, not taking his eyes off Fiona. "Not really."

She smiled as she leaned forward to kiss him.

"You're Adam, right?" a voice suddenly asked.

Adam moved away from Fiona to see a girl, no older than thirteen, standing near their table. "Um… yeah," he said. "Do I know you?"

"No," the girl said. "But my sister loves you!"

Adam's eyebrows went up in surprise while Fiona's eyes narrowed in confusion.

The girl smiled at them. "Can I have your autograph?"

"Uh… I think you have the wrong guy," he said.

"No, I don't. You're Adam. And you're Fiona Coyne." The girl pulled a folded up sheet of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it before putting it on the table.

Fiona looked at the paper and rolled her eyes when she saw the article about her, Adam and Nate. "Oh my God. Really?"

Adam looked at Fiona and rubbed her back softly. "Do you want to go?"

She nodded as she grabbed her purse and stood up. As she left, he pulled out his wallet and put money on the table to pay for the drinks they hadn't received.

"Wait," the girl said as Adam began to rush after Fiona. "Can you sign this?" she asked, holding up the article with a pen.

"Yeah, fine." He grabbed the pen and paper from her and quickly wrote his name before handing it back to her. He didn't look at her as he rushed onto the street.

He ran to catch up to Fiona, who was already halfway down the block. "Are you ok?" he asked as he finally fell into step next to her.

"I can't believe that!" she huffed. She stopping walking and turned to him, he was relieved to see that she looked more annoyed than anything.

"She's just a little girl, Fi."

"Her sister loves you?" she quoted. "She wanted your autograph, Adam."

"Ok, that's weird but this is a small town. Not a lot happens here."

"Yeah, if you don't count the drug rings, shootings and stabbings."

Adam shrugged. "She must go to the middle school."

Fiona rolled her eyes and smiled as he put his arm around her.

"You're just upset because she didn't ask for your autograph," he teased.

0o-0o-0o-0o

When Adam and Fiona arrived back at his house, they were both in slightly better spirits. They were both smiling, holding hands as they walked onto his porch and Adam opened the door.

Though they'd talked on the phone nearly every day, it was nice to catch up on events in each other's lives, which is why they opted to walk to the house instead of taking a cab.

"And this one time Pete broke the sink and Mollie was wearing white," Adam said, continuing the series of stories he'd been telling about working at The Dot. "The water sprayed up…"

He was cut off when his father called him as he closed the door. "Adam, is that you?"

"Yeah. It's us." He and Fiona walked into the living room, where his parents were both waiting.

"We had kind of a long afternoon," Adam said. "Whatever it is…"

"We talked about this summer, Adam," Audra said.

He looked between his parents. "The summer?" His hand tightened around Fiona's.

"We called Fiona's mother to accept her invitation to stay in New York with her family while you recover from surgery."

Adam smiled. "Surgery?" he breathed as Fiona hugged him tightly. "You're… you're letting me get the surgery?"

"Well, I can't keep you from being who you are," Audra said, looking at Fiona.

Adam's smile grew wider as he pulled Fiona to him and kissed him, not caring that his parents were in the room.

Omar cleared his throat. "Adam, I'm not done," Audra said when the young couple's attention was brought back to them.

Adam released a breath as he waited for the catch.

"The Coynes are being very generous, and always have with you."

"My mother adores Adam," Fiona told her.

Audra smiled before she continued. "You will pay them back, every cent. With your money, not Fiona's."

"That's really not necessary," Fiona began, but Adam interrupted her.

"Yes, it is," he said. He turned to look at her. "Your parents have been amazing. I owe them everything. I'm paying them back, Fi."

He spoke with such conviction that she couldn't argue with him. "Ok." She couldn't resist bringing her lips to his again. She knew for the first time in his life, he actually felt like a man.

To be continued…

AN: well, now Adam knows better than to go to The Dot on his days off. Thank goodness he'll be out of the country soon...