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Anya ran back in our direction and flung herself around my legs. I smoothed a hand along her downy soft hair. “I hope you feel better soon,” she told me. “Thanks for catching me.”
Paige waved a hand in front of her face, and her eyes were suspiciously bright. Mine probably were too. Aiden was staring at the ground.
“Anytime,” I told her. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
When Anya disappeared back into the house, Aiden finally, finally made eye contact with me. My stomach flipped featherlight at what I saw.
I blew out a slow breath because we both seemed to have lost the ability to pretend anything after what happened in his bedroom.
Paige glanced between us, her eyebrows popping up. “I’m, uhh, just going to get in the car. Aiden,” she said, waiting until he looked at her to continue, “thank you for taking care of my girl.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome.”
“I’ll be right there,” I told Paige.
She squeezed my hand, eyes warm and understanding. Honestly, there was no conceivable way she could understand shit because I’d told her so little. That was always my problem. Hold it just long enough that it pressed the seams of my skin to bursting.
I’d done it with my mom leaving.
I’d done it with Paige showing up.
And now I was doing it with Aiden.
All the big things, the changes that I hadn’t seen coming, the pieces that made me who I was. And now, I knew, he was part of that. Even if he may not be able to say the same.
Neither one of us spoke for a moment after Paige left us alone.
“I’ll probably take a day or two off work,” I said quietly.
His brows lowered.
“I’ll go crazy sitting at home.”
Aiden sighed, briefly moving his gaze to the car where Logan and Paige weren’t even pretending not to watch us. “I’d feel better if you took the whole week. Definitely no teaching.”
“I’ve already got my classes covered.” I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt because I had nothing to do with my hands. “If I take this whole week off, that means I miss most of the next two weeks.”
He tilted his head. “Why?”
“My sister’s wedding. It’s on the calendar.” I sighed. “And the—” My voice cut off because it wasn’t like I owned the self-defense class. But it was important to me. To him, too.
I saw in his face that he wanted to ask, in the way he opened his mouth, in the searching way he watched me. But no words came out, and the searching stopped when he turned his attention to the car again.
Standing in the silence with him no longer felt tolerable, and that realization could so easily turn to frustration, to anger, if I let it.
He wanted me. I knew he did.
“Thank you, Aiden,” I said.
His jaw clenched. And nothing.
Right.
“You’re welcome.”
There was so much I wanted to scream at him in the wake of that. In the wake of those bullshit, politely spoken phrases. I wanted the Aiden who sat in the dark with me. But instead, I chose to protect what was left of my energy after a really draining twenty-four hours, and I walked to the car with my head high.
Once I was buckled in, Paige turned around and gave me a look.
