“I can see how that would get dark pretty quickly.”
“You’re not kidding. With Dax stepping up to be today’s responsible adult, you and I have a night off from Harrison, Dax, Franz, and all the other bullshit.”
Sounds good to me. “What’s the plan?”
“I’ll cook you a fabulous meal. We curl up on the sofa and watch whatever movie or show you want to see, then we cuddle the fuck out of each other in bed later…or…whatever,” he jokes, but I catch the vulnerability in his eyes before he looks away and starts to fuss around at the refrigerator.
“Sounds perfect, but only if we do it together.”
“Uh…that’s a given, right?”
“I mean all of it. The lot: cooking, cleaning up, chilling. I want to help. If I sit still with nothing to do, I’ll get nervous.”
“Then I’ll put you to work.” Aiden rummages through the refrigerator and huffs. “Okay, first task, should you choose to accept it, fetch me some tomatoes?”
“Do you have a store around here? Point me in the right direction.”
Aiden laughs and points straight upwards. “Take the stairs up and onto the roof.” He gestures to a wrought-iron spiral stair tucked into the side near the kitchen. “The greenhouse is unlocked. Pick a large handful from the vines and grab some basil leaves, too.”
“You have a greenhouse on the roof?”
“Where do you think we’ll be dining? It’s got the best view of the sunset.” He checks his watch. “Which means we have less than an hour if we want to catch it, so light a fire under your arse, Tiger. I’m gonna need those tomatoes fast.”
Laughing at his cheek, I ascend the spiral stairs, passing a huge mezzanine bedroom, and open the heavy steel door at the top. The fact that he keeps this unlocked is testament to the building’s security being on point. As soon as I step out onto the roof, I see what he means about the view. It’s amazing up here. I can see across the city in all directions. It’s like this place is smack in the heart of it all. I turn around to face the Vale and the four towering sentinels there. Ivy, Laurel, Myrtle and, to the west, with the slowly dying sun reflected off its uppermost floors, is Olive Tower. Like a beacon, it draws my gaze. My eyes zero in on our floor, on the living room balcony and the certainty that Eric Feelan is in there, propped in his recliner as usual. I wonder if it’s quieter now. He preferred us silent but is it colder there now that he’s all alone? Does he miss the kids? Regret his bullshit? Or is he revelling in the nightmare he’s forced us all into?
I don’t want to think about him. I don’t want to waste my time.
I enter the beautiful, mint-coloured greenhouse and stumble back when the place comes alive under a thousand bulbs hanging from string lights across the ceiling. They’re like stars in a glass sky. The light shimmers and refracts across each pane to dance like rainbows across the grey stone floor. Herbs, fruit, leafy greens—flowers—he grows it all here. It’s wild and unkempt but flourishing.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Aiden asks from behind me, his hand on the light switch.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Dax wanted to demolish the building, but this right here—the view and the plants—sold it for me. I parted with all my savings just to stop him from wiping out his past in a fit of rage and grief. Now it’s mine. It’s my future,ourfuture, if you’ll have me.”
I turn to face him. The mood is heavy, and I see he regrets that as soon as he sees my face. I’m not scared of what he’s offering. I’m scared I’m not good enough to accept it. Do I deserve it? I stumbled into his life and have been a constant occupation. Why does he even want me?
“Okay. Too heavy.” He tries to laugh, but I raise my hand to stop him retreating.
“It’s not that. If I weren’t in this situation, my immediate response would be yes. Yes, I’ll share a future with you. Yes, I’ll share your goals and dreams like I know you’ll share mine…”
“But things are just too wide open right now?” he says, but he’s asking too.
“I can’t offer you a future I don’t know I have,” I admit, “but I can offer you tonight, and tomorrow, and every day I get after that. If it’ll do for now?”
Aiden’s eyes sparkle as he bobs his head in agreement. “It’ll more than do.” He steps forward and presses his lips to mine before pulling away with a mock frustration at my empty hands. “Tomatoes, Tiger.”
I chuckle and fetch as many of the luscious little cherry tomatoes as I can find, holding them in my rolled-up shirt. I snatch a couple of basil leaves too and hightail it after Aiden.
For the next forty minutes, we busy ourselves with making pasta. Dancing around each other to fetch and carry, stir, and taste. It feels alien and comfortable all at once. When we’re done, we take our meals upstairs and onto the roof, where Aiden must have set the table before following me into the greenhouse earlier. A steady pocket of heat and comfort surrounds us thanks to a gas heater, and the twinkle of fairy lights becomes a Gaussian glow backdrop to our conversation. While the sun at its lowest point, bathes the sky in rich dusky oranges and dark pinks and night falls like a blanket over the top.
As darkness settles beyond our rooftop, Aiden slides his chair closer to mine, and we eat in companionable silence until night falls supreme.
“Thank you.” I whisper, reaching for his hand.
“For?”
I squeeze his fingers between mine. “For all of it. For everything leading up to today. For always keeping me safe and grounded. For calling Dax out when I couldn’t.” His behaviour stung a little more than it should. Having Aiden at my back today was a perfect example of having him share the burden and trusting him to carry that weight beside me. Just like we talked about.
