single and go on being happy about it.
“Don’t waste your time,” Sadie growled, suddenly pissed off. “All men are bastards.”
Sadie pictured Aiden’s bright eyes, devastating dimple, and hair falling into his eyes. Gorgeous. Funny. Sexy.
Still a bastard.
“Did something happen between you and Aiden?” Crickitt asked out of nowhere. Unless Sadie had announced her last thought, but she was pretty sure she hadn’t.
“I called to tell you I can’t do drinks tomorrow,” Sadie told her, hopefully avoiding the topic of Aiden for good. Crickitt asked if everything was okay and Sadie told her the truth—or part of it, anyway—that she had to work late.
But that answer didn’t satisfy Crickitt’s suspicions. “And you and Aiden…?”
Hearing that question, being given the opportunity to make her own future, Sadie decided on a little preemptive strike. Test out what she was ninety-nine percent positive was going to go down when—and if—Aiden called her tonight. She wanted to know if what she feared most happened, if it would crush her as completely as she’d imagined.
She pulled in a breath and answered, “Are no more,” with so much finality, her chest constricted. Yep. That hurt. “It had to end sooner or later.” She hadn’t inhaled yet, and her deflated lungs ached, burned.
Thankfully, Crickitt was interrupted and blurted that she’d talk to Sadie later. Sadie dropped the phone and considered putting her head between her knees. Or in an oven.
Armor up, girl.
Forcing a breath in and another out, Sadie shut her eyes and concentrated on not hyperventilating. Maybe she could talk Aiden out of it. Maybe she could remind him how good they were together, how much fun they’d had—how much more they could have—how they went together like a black enamel oil tank on a vintage 1937 Knucklehead.
Sadie dropped her head in her hands. Pathetic. Weak. She was supposed to be walling herself up, caging her heart in chain mail. Not figuring out a way to get Aiden not to leave her.
You could tell him how you feel.
She could.
She lifted her head, renewed by the tiny spark of hope. She could confess everything. How she pictured her future with him. How she wanted to see him every day. How much she…cared about him.
Tell him you love him.
“I do love him,” she whispered in her cubicle. She put her fingers to her lips and turned to make sure no one heard her. The only sound was rustling paper coming from the far back corner.
She would tell him, she decided. The best defense is a good offense.
And he deserved to know what he was walking away from…and maybe, just maybe, then he would stay.
* * *
Aiden hadn’t expected to be on a flight to Oregon come Sunday morning, but apparently his parents had made more plans than they’d divulged to the rest of the family. After spending most of the day flying across the damn country, and touring and spending the night at the facility his mother wanted to call home, Aiden was convinced.
It was the right place for her.
The Holistic Care Center was known for alternative treatments and medicines. They offered on-site apartments for long-term stay, and his father wanted to move her there for as long as she needed to get well.
Their meeting with a head care director was optimistic. He didn’t make empty promises, but he didn’t squash his mother’s hopes, either. Whether there were really healing powers in the surrounding springs and mountains, Aiden couldn’t be sure, but seeing his mother’s eyes filled with life and hope again was good enough for him.
At the airport, Aiden left his mother to read at the small café. The flight delay was horrendous. Six hours. He looked at the time on his cell phone as he strode to an empty seating area. Just after five. He’d promised Sadie he’d call her today. He thought he’d call to say he was coming over, but that wasn’t going to happen. After what he had to tell her, she’d probably never want to see
“Don’t waste your time,” Sadie growled, suddenly pissed off. “All men are bastards.”
Sadie pictured Aiden’s bright eyes, devastating dimple, and hair falling into his eyes. Gorgeous. Funny. Sexy.
Still a bastard.
“Did something happen between you and Aiden?” Crickitt asked out of nowhere. Unless Sadie had announced her last thought, but she was pretty sure she hadn’t.
“I called to tell you I can’t do drinks tomorrow,” Sadie told her, hopefully avoiding the topic of Aiden for good. Crickitt asked if everything was okay and Sadie told her the truth—or part of it, anyway—that she had to work late.
But that answer didn’t satisfy Crickitt’s suspicions. “And you and Aiden…?”
Hearing that question, being given the opportunity to make her own future, Sadie decided on a little preemptive strike. Test out what she was ninety-nine percent positive was going to go down when—and if—Aiden called her tonight. She wanted to know if what she feared most happened, if it would crush her as completely as she’d imagined.
She pulled in a breath and answered, “Are no more,” with so much finality, her chest constricted. Yep. That hurt. “It had to end sooner or later.” She hadn’t inhaled yet, and her deflated lungs ached, burned.
Thankfully, Crickitt was interrupted and blurted that she’d talk to Sadie later. Sadie dropped the phone and considered putting her head between her knees. Or in an oven.
Armor up, girl.
Forcing a breath in and another out, Sadie shut her eyes and concentrated on not hyperventilating. Maybe she could talk Aiden out of it. Maybe she could remind him how good they were together, how much fun they’d had—how much more they could have—how they went together like a black enamel oil tank on a vintage 1937 Knucklehead.
Sadie dropped her head in her hands. Pathetic. Weak. She was supposed to be walling herself up, caging her heart in chain mail. Not figuring out a way to get Aiden not to leave her.
You could tell him how you feel.
She could.
She lifted her head, renewed by the tiny spark of hope. She could confess everything. How she pictured her future with him. How she wanted to see him every day. How much she…cared about him.
Tell him you love him.
“I do love him,” she whispered in her cubicle. She put her fingers to her lips and turned to make sure no one heard her. The only sound was rustling paper coming from the far back corner.
She would tell him, she decided. The best defense is a good offense.
And he deserved to know what he was walking away from…and maybe, just maybe, then he would stay.
* * *
Aiden hadn’t expected to be on a flight to Oregon come Sunday morning, but apparently his parents had made more plans than they’d divulged to the rest of the family. After spending most of the day flying across the damn country, and touring and spending the night at the facility his mother wanted to call home, Aiden was convinced.
It was the right place for her.
The Holistic Care Center was known for alternative treatments and medicines. They offered on-site apartments for long-term stay, and his father wanted to move her there for as long as she needed to get well.
Their meeting with a head care director was optimistic. He didn’t make empty promises, but he didn’t squash his mother’s hopes, either. Whether there were really healing powers in the surrounding springs and mountains, Aiden couldn’t be sure, but seeing his mother’s eyes filled with life and hope again was good enough for him.
At the airport, Aiden left his mother to read at the small café. The flight delay was horrendous. Six hours. He looked at the time on his cell phone as he strode to an empty seating area. Just after five. He’d promised Sadie he’d call her today. He thought he’d call to say he was coming over, but that wasn’t going to happen. After what he had to tell her, she’d probably never want to see
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