“Aiden, I don’t know. It wasn’t something I had considered, and it’s just taken me a little by surprise.”
He nodded and pulled my hand up to kiss it.
“Please tell me you’ll think about it?”
“I’ll think about it,” I said.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
He pulled me down to lie next to him on the bed and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I lay my head against him and tried to imagine what it would be like to live with Aiden all the time. I knew there would be pitfalls; living with someone was never easy. Even having a roommate could be tricky, and both Aiden and I were used to living alone.
What would he think about my superheroine dolls?
On the other hand, Aiden was also going to need someone to help him out when he came home from the hospital. The doctors had already told him that. He could be released in a few days, and I had been talking to Redeye about scheduling all of his friends in shifts. If I moved in with him, they wouldn’t have to do that.
Still, it was a risk. What if we found out we didn’t get along with each other on a more permanent basis? Would all of my things even fit in his house? He probably had bad habits he’d managed to keep from me when I was just visiting, but those would become apparent if we lived with each other. What if he left the cap off the toothpaste, used my expensive conditioner on his beard, or left toenail clippings on the floor? Worse yet, what if he rescinded his agreement to continue counseling? It was a big risk.
Then again, what was life without risk?
With Aiden back at home and Nate’s recruiter calling me to set up interview appointments, I had to return to Ohio to figure out what my next move was going to be. All the flying back and forth was getting to me, not to mention carving into that nest egg I hoped would keep me going until I found a new job. Redeye kept trying to slip me additional money for flights, but I had been adamant about refusing his help.
I couldn’t mooch off of Aiden’s friends. I wanted to be with him as much as I could, and they were there for him when I couldn’t be. Lo came up with a list, and everyone was planning to take turns helping Aiden out while I was in Ohio.
I still hadn’t answered him about moving. As much as the idea intrigued me, at some point I had to leave excitement and adventure off to the side and think about real life. I needed a job—a job that would pay well enough for me to be able to afford all these flights.
At least I was racking up the frequent flier miles.
I spent some time at Thirsty’s catching up with Mare and our friends. They’d all heard most of the story by now—Mare had spilled the beans right after I called her from the hospital. They all wanted to know everything about Aiden and why I hadn’t told them what was going on. It felt strange to talk to them about him, and I realized I had hidden him from them on purpose because I was afraid of how they would react.
I still had a lot to learn.
The job hunt was in full force, and it seemed I had sent resumes and cover letters to every company with an opening. I’d had a couple of interviews, but nothing seemed to fit quite right. The money wasn’t enough or the drive was too far. In the meantime, I found out my boss had been fired over the server upgrade fiasco, and I could apply for his position.
I didn’t. It felt like moving backwards.
I did a few phone interviews the recruiter set up for me. Eventually, one of them called him back.
“It’s the perfect opportunity,” Brian said. “The salary is right in your range, and the job description practically matches your resume word for word. You impressed them over the phone, and they said they want you.”
“Which one was this?” I paged through my interview notes as Brian gave me the company name. I remembered the woman I had spoken to but couldn’t seem to find the company’s address. I’d liked her when we spoke over the phone—I definitely recalled that. We’d laughed when we realized we were both into superheroines.
“There’s only one catch,” Brian said.
“What’s that?” I braced myself, waiting to hear the worst. I wasn’t sure it was going to matter—I needed the job. I couldn’t go forever without a paycheck.
“The company is located in Fort Lauderdale,” he said.
My heart began to race.
“Fort Lauderdale,” I repeated, “as in Florida?”
“Sunny Florida, yes. You would have to relocate.”
“Where is Fort Lauderdale?” I asked. I pulled up Google Maps on my laptop and started to search.
“Just north of Miami, on the eastern coast of Florida.”
“You’re kidding,” I said. I stared at the map on my screen. I located Golden Beach, where Aiden lived, and found it was only a half hour drive to Fort Lauderdale from his house.
“Not at all,” he replied. “They want you to start right away if you can. They’ll pay all your moving expenses.”
I started to laugh.
“Is that a good laugh?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, it is. I’ll take it. I’ll definitely take it.”
You never realize how much stuff you have until you try to move it into an already occupied house. Even though I’d sold a lot of my furniture before the move, I still had a ton of items that needed to find a new home in an already engaged space.
“Where do you want this?” one of the moving men asked as he hauled in my bookshelf.
I hadn’t even thought about it, but as I glanced around the full living room, I knew there wasn’t a place for it.
“I have no idea,” I said.
Aiden maneuvered his way through boxes, holding on to his side as he went. He was supposed to be using a cane to get around, but he’d left it by the front door and refused to use it when there wasn’t a doctor around to insist.
“Put it in the bedroom down the hall,” he said. He pointed toward his weight room.
“Aiden, there’s no room for it in there.”
“There is now.”
I went back to the room to see that it had been completely cleared out. All of the weights and training equipment were gone.
“Where’s your workout stuff?” I asked.
“In the other room,” Aiden replied with a shrug. “I figured you’d need some space, and this room is bigger than the other one, so I had Mo and Lo move the gym stuff. Besides, this room faces the ocean.”
I peeked in and saw that it was true—everything had been moved into the smaller room. All of the boxes that had been in there before were gone.
I walked back into the living room as the moving guy started taking the bookshelf and boxes of books to the cleared-out space. I stood next to Aiden and looked up at his eyes.
“Where did you put the other things?” I asked quietly.
“In the garage,” he said. “I was going to go through them, but…well…”
He licked his lips as he looked down the hall. I reached up and put my hand on the side of his face until he looked back at me.
“Maybe once I’m settled in, we can go through them together,” I suggested.
“Maybe,” Aiden said with a slight nod. He reached out and put his hand on my hip. “I don’t know. Not yet.”
“When you’re ready,” I said, “I’ll be there to help.”
He nodded.
“Thank you, Aiden.”
“For what?”
“For giving me a place for my things.” I reached up with my other hand and hugged him around his neck. “All of this has happened so quickly, I didn’t think about everything.”
“I want you to be happy here,” he said simply. “Everyone needs some space.”
I ran my hands over his shoulders and down his arms, gripping his hands lightly before I reach around his middle and gave him a big hug.
Aiden’s muscles tightened up, and he grunted.
“Oh, crap!” I said, stepping back and pulling my hands away. “I was trying to stay away from the bandage!”
“It’s not that,” Ai
den said. He gave me half a smile. “I was going to show you later.”
“Show me what?”
Aiden grabbed the edge of his shirt and pulled it up as he turned around. The small spot on his lower back that had been devoid of ink was now covered with an elaborate tattoo of a conch shell with “Chloe” scripted over the center of the image.
I blinked a couple of times as I focused on the design. The skin around the tattoo was still red and looked sensitive.
“You…you got a new tattoo?”
“Yeah.” Aiden chuckled.
“For…for me?”
“Yeah, for you. How many Chloes do you think I know?”
I was shocked and honestly didn’t know how to respond.
“The kayak trip was our first real date,” Aiden explained. “You liked that conch so much, and now whenever I see one, I think of you. I thought it fit.”
I swallowed hard, but words wouldn’t form.
“Do you like it?” he asked nervously.
I tore my eyes away from the design and looked up at his face.
“I love it,” I whispered. “It’s beautiful.”
Aiden turned back around, letting his shirt drop before he brought his hand up and cupped the back of my neck. He leaned down close to me and whispered in my ear.
“You are beautiful.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.
“I love you, Aiden Hunter.”
“I love you, too, Chloe Ellison.”
And with that, everything began to fall into place.
EPILOGUE
“Where do you keep the cheese grater?” I called to Aiden.
“In the top drawer, right side of the stove.”
“Found it!”
Living with Aiden was fantastic. Trying to get around in his kitchen was not.
I had no idea how he originally organized the place, if it could be called organized at all, but I couldn’t seem to find anything without asking Aiden where it was hidden. He had pans where I would have put dishes, towels where the silverware ought to be, and spices were apparently supposed to be kept in the garage on a rack near the door.
Moving into someone else’s house was a bit of a challenge. As if there hadn’t been enough boxes around before, now all of mine were added to the mix. At least the room Aiden had cleared for me was finally taking shape as a guest room. There was plenty of room for my bookshelf, and my superheroines now had a great view of the Atlantic. Mom was due for her visit in a couple of hours. Mo and Lo still came over when we needed to move furniture or heavy boxes around. Aiden still wasn’t allowed to do anything strenuous, and the weight room had gone unused.
He claimed he was losing his gains, whatever the hell that meant.
“Okay, now where’s the cheese?” I crammed my head further into the refrigerator, but no cheese was magically appearing. When Aiden didn’t respond, I clambered out and walked into the living room.
He was on the floor, leaning against the couch, with a large box to one side of him. It was full of toys Cayden had played with. Justin had set a goal for Aiden to go through one box a week, but he hadn’t been doing very well with the task. The process didn’t seem to upset him, but he had a memory for every item he came across. He usually decided he needed to keep it all and ended up just putting everything back in the box.
Still, it was a start.
“Aiden?” I said again. “Where’s the cheese?”
He dropped a Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure back into the box and looked up at me, his expression blank.
“What?” he asked.
I knelt down beside him.
“You doing okay?” I asked.
Aiden reached into the box and pulled out a plastic Batman figurine.
“I suppose,” he said unconvincingly. “I was just thinking.”
“About?”
“My Mom, actually.” He glanced up at me. “She never met Cayden.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I sat down next to him and put my arms around his shoulders.
“I was…well, I was kind of thinking about calling her.”
“You were?”
“Yeah, Justin and I talked about it yesterday. The thing is, I have no idea what to say to her.”
“Maybe you could just start with hello,” I suggested.
“Yeah, that’s what he said.” Aiden leaned his head against the top of mine. “It just doesn’t seem like enough. I haven’t talked to her in eight years.”
“That does make it difficult,” I agreed, “not impossible, though. I think dialing the number might be the hardest part.”
“Yeah, it is.” He lifted his head and placed the figurine back in the box. “What were you asking me before?”
“I was trying to find the cheese,” I said, remembering.
“I think I used the last of it.”
“Ugh!” I sighed stood back up. “I guess I’m heading to the store.”
“Cool,” Aiden said. “There are a few things we need, so I started a list. It’s in the bathroom.”
“In the bathroom?” I crossed my arms as I stared at Aiden.
“Yeah, it’s a great place to think.”
“About food?”
“Well…sure! I mean, it’s the logical end, ya know?”
“You are not right in the head.”
“Never claimed to be!” He grinned as I tossed my hands up and went to find the list.
With my purse in hand, I climbed into the jeep and headed to the supermarket. Driving the monster vehicle around had been a bit of a challenge at first, but I was getting the hang of it. It just didn’t having the turning radius I was used to, and I kept hitting curbs.
After parking successfully for once, I headed inside. I looked over the list as the cart I had chosen wobbled down the aisle on a bad wheel. I probably should have taken it back and chosen another one, but I wanted to get back to Aiden as quickly as possible. He wasn’t quite healed yet, and I didn’t like leaving him alone for too long.
I gathered up zucchini, mushrooms, spinach for a salad, and more eggs. Damn, Aiden ate a lot of eggs. Toothpaste was on the list, so I headed over to the pharmacy section of the supermarket. There was a green toothbrush just like the one Aiden had for me that first day, and it made me smile.
I glanced around, wondering if we needed anything else. I wasn’t even sure where Aiden kept extra toilet paper, but figured I should get some. Men just didn’t seem to stock up on the same things women did.
Then I stopped.
Alarm!
I focused on the display in front of me and felt my heart rise into my throat. Silently, I counted. Had it been the fifth of the month? The sixth? It had been almost two weeks since I moved down here officially…what was the date today? No wait…that was last month, not this month. This month was…was…
Oh, shit.
Leaving the cart in the aisle, I walked up to the pharmacy desk and picked up a little blue and white box. I bought it and headed straight to the restroom.
By the time I returned from the restroom, my cart had disappeared, and I had to do all the shopping again.
I sat in the jeep in the driveway, gripping the wheel with my hands and trying to come to grips with the thoughts in my head.
It wasn’t working. I couldn’t even decide how I felt about it. Everything was still so new, so uncertain. Major life changes were also major stressors, and those would impact a relationship. I’d just moved, just changed jobs, and Aiden was still recovering from a bullet wound.
I rubbed my hand over my stomach.
Had he saved more than one life?
I opened the jeep’s door and walked slowly over the driveway stones, staring at my feet as I went. I unlocked the front door and stepped inside. Aiden was on the couch, watching The Avengers. The box of toys was off to the side, apparently abandoned. He looked half asleep but glanced up as I came through the doorway.
“Hey, babe,” Aiden said as his eyes met mi
ne. “Where are the groceries?”
I glanced back at the front door as if I expected them to be walking in on their own.
“Uh, I left them in the car.”
He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head as he looked at me.
“Do you need help with them? I’m allowed to lift stuff now if it’s under twenty pounds.”
“No, I can get them.” I walked slowly into the room, still staring at my feet, and sat down on the couch. I motioned toward the television. “Um, can we turn that off a minute?”
“Sure,” he said. He grabbed the remote from the floor and paused the movie. “What is it?”
I could hear my heart pounding. I found I was unable to look him in the eye as I tried to figure out what words I should use. While in the car, I’d played it over in my head so many times, so many scenarios, so many outcomes.
I really didn’t know how he was going to respond. He was only now beginning to recover from losing his son, and there was no predicting how he would react to this. I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about it yet.
“Chloe?” Aiden prodded. He gripped my thigh with his hand. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
I licked my lips. There was no getting out of it now—he knew something was up.
“I have something I need to tell you,” I said slowly.
Aiden stilled. His arms and legs tensed.
“When I was at the store, I, uh…” I trailed off, the words still not coming. Was it best to just blurt it out? Ease into it? Come up with some other topic altogether and try again in the morning?
No, I couldn’t do that. I had to get this out.
“I thought something was a little…well, a little off.”
“What do you mean, off?”
“I hadn’t been paying attention,” I said quickly. “With you in the hospital and everything, I just wasn’t keeping track. I didn’t realize what it was at first, but then I checked, and…”
I was babbling.
“Chloe, for Christ’s sakes, spit it out!”
Deep breath. In. Out.
“I figured out I was late,” I finally said, “like, really late. Over a month. So I took a test.”
Aiden’s eye’s widened, and his face paled.