“I think you are right,” I confirmed. “It does start with him.”
“So, out with it!” Mare poured the wine, and I started to tell her about meeting Aiden at the bar, waking up in his bed, and then agreeing to go to Florida with him.
Like a good friend does, Mare sat and listened to my story, filled my wine glass when it needed it, and didn’t interrupt unless she needed some clarification. She only stopped me once.
“Skydiving?”
“Yeah.”
“You went skydiving?”
“I did.” I couldn’t stop the smile on my face.
“Holy shit.”
“I know, right?” I giggled.
Mare narrowed her eyes at me.
“I know I’m getting ahead of myself here,” she said, “and normally I don’t like spoilers, but at the end of the day, this Aiden guy is really good for you, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” I agreed quietly, “he is.”
I continued, telling her about my time with Aiden and then the whole fiasco in the parking lot. Her eyes widened at that part, but she didn’t interrupt me again. Once I told her about going back to Miami and finding Aiden in the back bedroom of his house and the story about his son, there were tears in her eyes.
“All that time,” she said when I finally finished, “you didn’t really know what you were getting into. You didn’t know if your suspicions were correct, but you stuck it out. Then when push came to shove, you were there for him anyway even though you didn’t understand until the end.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess that’s true.”
“Damn, Clo.” Mare tilted her head to look at me from another angle. “You’re in love with him.”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but the words wouldn’t come out. An image of Aiden’s laughing, boyish grin and twinkling eyes filled my head, causing my skin to warm. I missed him already, but beyond that? I just didn’t know.
Tears cascaded from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks.
“It’s okay,” Mare said as she reached over and hugged me. “He’s in love with you, too.”
I grabbed a tissue and wiped at my face.
“You can’t know that.” I narrowed my eyes at her as I blew my nose.
“Oh, yes I can.”
“You haven’t even met him.”
“I don’t need to,” she said. “No wait—yes, I do, but not to confirm that. It’s obvious.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I stood up and walked across the room, dismissing her comments with a wave of my hand. I couldn’t be in love with Aiden Hunter—it was just too soon. He certainly wasn’t in love with me.
“You don’t see it, do you?”
“See what?”
“Even that friend of his—Redeye—he could see it. All his friends could, so why can’t you? Why else would they have put up the money for a ticket to fly you down there? They knew you loved him or else you wouldn’t have agreed to go back after all the misunderstandings. They knew you could get through to him because they knew he was in love with you, too.”
I shook my head, but her words were difficult to deny. I turned away from her and found myself looking at the plastic faces of my superheroine collection. They all seemed to be grinning at me with amusement and possibly even psychic knowledge.
“I’m not ready for that,” I finally said. “He lives a thousand miles away, and I’m completely jobless right now. Isn’t that why you came over here anyway?”
“Yes, it is,” Mare said as she coaxed me back to the couch and refilled my glass. “As long as you are in denial, we might as well talk about that. Now, what happened at work?”
“I told off my boss,” I said with a shrug and then quickly gave her the details. “I couldn’t put up with his crap anymore, so I quit.”
“No backup plan?”
“Not really.” I ran my hand through my hair, getting my fingers tangled up in it. “I talked to Nate’s recruiter, and he’s going to get some interviews lined up for me, but I don’t have a real plan, no.”
Mare leaned back against the couch and looked at me for a long moment.
“You really are different,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“The Chloe Ellison I know never would have done that,” Mare explained. “She never would have given that jerk a piece of her mind, and she never would have walked out of a job without another one lined up.”
I slumped. She was right.
“I fucked up,” I said.
Mare laughed.
“The Chloe I know never says ‘fuck’ either.”
I pursed my lips and scowled at her.
“I do…sometimes.”
She laughed again and evenly distributed the remainder of the wine in our glasses.
“You didn’t fuck up,” she said. “You stood up for yourself, and I’m proud of you.”
“You are?”
“Definitely.” Mare tipped the glass to her lips, peering at me over the edge. “I’ve told you before about saying what’s in your head. You’re always so concerned with other people’s opinions and reactions that you never do it. You keep it locked up inside.”
“I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings,” I explained, fully aware of how many times we’d had similar discussions. “You have to think before you act, and that includes opening your mouth.”
“Don’t you see, Clo?” Mare said as she leaned forward. “That’s exactly what you weren’t doing with Aiden. You took a lot of risks and came out okay on the other side. Not just okay, but better for it—stronger. Don’t you see that leaving your job is just another one of those risks?”
“And you think I’ll be stronger for it in the end?”
“I do.”
“And poorer,” I pointed out.
“I bet you have some reserves stashed away somewhere,” Mare said, eyeing me.
She was right. I did. I’d read an article years ago about having six months of living expenses tucked away in case something unexpected were to happen. I really did have plenty of time to look for another job before I was in danger of losing my condo or anything like that.
“Fine,” I said. “You’re right—I’ll be okay for a while.”
“So what are you going to do now?” Mare asked.
“Work on finding another job, I suppose.”
“I meant about Aiden.”
“Well, he was asking me to come down for the weekend. I thought I’d have too much work to do, but I guess that’s not an issue now.”
“So you’ll go see him again.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess I will.”
Telling my mother about Aiden didn’t go as smoothly as my conversation with Mare. She was furious about all the dangerous things I had done, the risks I had taken, and kept repeating the same phrase over and over again.
“You jumped out of a plane, Chloe? A plane?”
I sighed again.
“I’m fine, Mom,” I reminded her.
I told her about Aiden’s son but decided it was not in anyone’s best interests to tell her about all the tattoos and the assumptions I had made about him while I was down there. She was mad enough as it was, and I didn’t need her flipping out on me more than she already had.
“You have to promise me,” she practically yelled into the phone, “promise me you will never do anything crazy like that again!”
I opened my mouth with my agreement on my tongue but then paused. I didn’t have any desire to go skydiving again, but what if Aiden came up with another activity? If he suggested bungee jumping or parasailing, I would undoubtedly agree, and I wasn’t going to lie to my mother about it.
“I don’t have any current plans to do anything crazy,” I told her. “That doesn’t mean I’ll never do anything exciting again.”
“This is beyond exciting, Chloe Ellison! You quit your job, for goodness’ sake! What in the world were you thinking?”
I bit my tongue, holding in the words I wanted to use. I didn’t want
a prolonged argument with Mom, and I didn’t want her to worry about me. I needed to just tell her I was wrong. Maybe I could see about getting my job back.
Alarm!
My body jerked in response to the internal alert. Had I learned nothing in the past few weeks? I didn’t need that job—I could always find another one. I wasn’t wrong to quit. Had I taken a risk? Yes. Was I afraid? Yes. But wasn’t that all just a part of life?
This time, I listened to the alarm in my head.
“Here’s what I was thinking,” I said. I kept my voice calm and controlled. “I was thinking that the stress my boss was putting on me wasn’t worth the job and that I’m a highly skilled professional that lots of companies would want to hire. I was thinking I might even take a couple of weeks off to go to Florida and get to know Aiden a little better because I think he’s been really good for me. He’s sweet and he’s kind and he’s a fantastic cook. He’s taught me how to live life without being afraid of everything, and I really needed that. He’s also just now starting to deal with the loss of his son, and I’m going to be there for him while he works through it.”
I took a deep breath.
“Now if you don’t like that, I’m sorry, but it’s what I’m going to do. I hope you are still planning to come for Thanksgiving because I’d like to invite him to join us.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone for far, far too long. I checked the phone, but we hadn’t been disconnected.
“Mom?”
“I’m here,” she replied tersely. “Just give me a minute.”
I bit down on my lip and held my breath. Finally, she spoke again.
“Is he really good to you?” Mom asked quietly.
I let my breath out in one big burst.
“Yes, he is,” I confirmed. “He really is.”
“It sounds like he has a lot to work through,” she commented.
“I know he does. I think he’ll be okay, though, eventually.”
“I hope you are right.” I heard her sigh again.
“So, we’re good?” I asked tentatively.
“It’s your life, Chloe,” Mom said quietly. “I don’t have to like all of your choices, but I will respect them.”
“I hope you’ll give my choice in Aiden a chance.”
I heard her sigh.
“I will, dear,” she said. “You better invite him to Thanksgiving because I have quite a few questions for him.”
“I suppose I can’t begrudge you that.”
“No, you can’t,” she agreed. “Now I have to get my flight arranged. It sounds like you do, too.”
“Thank you, Mom.”
“You are welcome, dear. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I hung up the phone. The call had lasted much longer than I had anticipated, and Mare’s wine was catching up to me. I ran off to the bathroom. When I was washing my hands, I looked at my face in the mirror.
I was smiling.
“You really are learning a few things, aren’t you?” I asked my reflection. I nodded to myself, just to solidify my feelings. “It’s about fucking time, too.”
I giggled and then went back to the living room to call Aiden to let him know I was coming for the weekend after all.
And with that, my life started to fall back into place.
NINETEEN
I lay on my back in the jeep, panting.
“Is this going to become a habit after all of Redeye’s parties?” I asked, wondering if I was going to have to add a package of wet wipes, tucked away in one of the back corners.
“Depends on if there are shots,” Aiden replied.
“There are always shots.”
“I guess you have your answer.” He rolled to his side, propped himself up on his elbow, and gazed down at me with a drunken grin. There was still sweat covering his neck, leaving little droplets making trails through the ink on his chest.
Cool air blew into the back of the jeep, and I shivered. I grabbed the blanket Aiden had so thoughtfully tossed in the back of the jeep before we left his house—as if he knew this was going to happen again. I pulled it up to my chest and wrapped my arms around myself.
“You’re beautiful,” Aiden said as he reached out and ran his fingers over my arm. “I’m so glad you came back.”
“I’m glad I’m here, too.”
He ran his hand up and down my arm, warming it with friction. I reached behind his head and pulled his face to mine, nipping at his bottom lip with my teeth and wondering how long this was going to last.
I didn’t want it to end.
“Still worried about the job?” Aiden asked.
“Not as much. It will work out eventually.”
“Is it okay if I hope it doesn’t?”
I looked up, expecting to see his characteristic smirk, but it wasn’t there. He was completely serious.
“Why would you say that?” I rolled to face him and leaned against my elbow in the same fashion as he.
“Because it means you might stay here longer,” he said with a smile that didn’t make his eyes twinkle.
I stroked the side of his face.
“With your cooking, how can I resist?”
Aiden laughed and hugged me against his chest.
“I can’t drive,” he stated. “I’m still fucked up.”
“Me, too,” I said.
“I guess we’ll lie here a while.” Aiden grabbed the edge of the blanket and scooted up against me, wrapping it around us both.
“Seriously, are you two at it again?” Lance called from the sidewalk. I could hear his girlfriend, Jennifer, laughing, too. At least I remembered her name now. “Get a room already!”
“This is better than a room!” Aiden yelled back. “Now fuck off!”
Everyone laughed.
“What’s the plan for today?” I asked as I cleared away our breakfast plates.
Aiden sipped his coffee as he tapped the back of one knuckle on his laptop.
“Well, nothing in particular,” he said. “I could use some help picking out a head-shrinker.”
I looked at the screen to see a list of local psychologists specializing in grief counseling.
“You know they don’t really prefer that term,” I informed him.
“Tough shit,” he replied. “I said I’d do it. That doesn’t mean I think it’s going to help.”
“Thank you for trying anyway.” I kissed the top of his head.
We went through the list until we found one with a profile Aiden thought sounded right. It was Sunday, but he wanted to go ahead and leave a voice mail.
“Uh, okay,” he said into the phone. “My name is Hunter, and my girlfriend says I need to talk to someone about some shit, so, uh…yeah…call me back sometime.”
He left his number, hung up, and tossed his phone onto the kitchen table.
“Really?” I rolled my eyes at him.
“I figure it’s best if she knows what she’s getting into,” Aiden explained. “I’m a cranky son-of-a-bitch.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“I can be,” he argued but didn’t meet my eyes as he spoke. “I don’t want to do this, Chloe. I will, but I don’t want to.”
His hands were shaking a little, just enough for me to notice. I stepped up beside him and placed my hand on his shoulder.
“Do you want to talk to me about it?” I asked softly. We’d spent some time talking about Cayden over the last day, but it was clearly painful for him.
“No.” He leaned back in the chair and rubbed the heels of his hands in his eyes. “Not today.”
“We need to find something fun to do, then,” I suggested. “Maybe we need to ride a whale or go skinny dipping with piranhas.”
That made him laugh.
“Maybe slightly less adventurous,” Aiden said with a smirk.
“Outside sounds good. Maybe start with a walk on the beach?”
“Don’t you have enough shells by now?” Aiden got up from the table and place
d his coffee cup in the sink.
All right, he had a point. I’d found one of his empty moving boxes and nearly filled it with shells I had found in the sand.
“Well, it would be nice to do something outdoors,” I replied. “What were you thinking of?”
“There are a few indoor games I know.” Aiden waggled his eyebrows at me.
“You have a one-track mind!” I accused.
“Hide the cock is a great game.” He wrapped his arms around me and backed me into the wall separating the kitchen from the living room. He found my neck with his lips and started running kisses up to my ear. “I know just the place, too. You’ll never find it.”
“I have the feeling I’ll be able to tell where it is.”
“I can be very sneaky,” he said.
“But not very subtle!”
His hands trailed up my sides, and he started wriggling his fingers, tickling my sides. I was insanely ticklish and immediately pushed at his hands and tried to escape.
“Stop it!” I screeched, but I couldn’t stop laughing. I ducked under his arm and ran for the living room. There were too many boxes around to move very quickly, and he was right behind me.
“Not a chance!” Aiden grabbed me around the waist and tackled me to the ground. I landed safely on the carpet with his arms wrapped around me.
In the kitchen, Aiden’s phone went off, but he ignored it.
Aiden rolled me onto my back, and his mouth was on mine a moment later, but he kept tickling me while simultaneously trying to push my shorts down. I kept screeching. He paused for a moment to let me catch my breath, and I heard the distinct sound of tires on the stone driveway as the phone began to ring again.
“Cut it out!” I squealed as he managed to get his hand into the front of my shorts. “Your phone is ringing, and someone’s here!”
“Don’t care,” he said. His fingers were sliding between my legs, rubbing against my clit and causing me to feel lightheaded.
“Aiden!”
The phone rang again. I couldn’t hear anyone coming to the door and wondered if I had been mistaken. Maybe someone was just turning around in the driveway.
“Are you going to get that?” I giggled and pushed at his shoulders without success.
“Nope,” Aiden said. “I have better things to do.”