‘Whatever,’ Alex replied, tapping her card against the machine. ‘Right now I’m just looking for any excuse not to be as attracted to you as I currently am.’
Alex pursed her lips, realising that saying that out loud was a huge mistake. Aiden laughed while the woman on the checkout quietly sniggered. Taking two bags each, they made their way back to Erin’s car.
‘Maybe we could take a walk,’ Aiden suggested as they loaded up the boot. ‘Just along the seafront…’
‘These ice lollies will melt,’ Alex replied. ‘Besides, Erin’s expecting us back soon. They’ll be wanting this bread.’
Aiden slammed the boot closed and sighed. ‘I don’t want to go back. Not yet.’
‘I know. Neither do I but—’
‘The guilt I feel…’ he said, his voice trailing off. ‘God, I feel like a huge piece of shit.’
‘Me too,’ Alex agreed. ‘And the more I get to know you, the more conflicted I become.’
‘I need to tell Tara we’re finished,’ Aiden said, resting against the car. ‘She deserves better. How can I keep pretending that everything is fine when… I should never have come on this trip; I should have told her when she first suggested it.’
‘Don’t do that because of me,’ she pleaded. ‘It would just be a waste.’
They climbed back into the car, neither ready to leave yet.
‘A waste how?’ he asked. ‘After I tell her, then we’re free to—’
‘What, Aiden? What do you think will happen? We’ll suddenly embark on some great romance? That all roads are now clear for us?’
Aiden looked confused. ‘Well, why not?’
‘You don’t get it, do you?’ Alex sighed. ‘After you guys split up, you will be my friend’s ex-boyfriend and that’s all you can ever be!’
Aiden sank back into his seat. He looked wounded.
‘Do you know what’s been the hardest part in all of this?’ he said. ‘Getting to know you. Not just the physical attraction, but genuinely getting to know you. Discovering all the parts of you that make you amazing, everything I’d look for in a woman, and knowing that I can’t do a thing about it.’
‘We have to be realistic,’ she said. ‘I cannot start seeing you, Aiden… or worse, what if Idostart seeing you and I have to lie about it to everyone? What if one day we fell in love and—’
‘What if that day is already here?’
Alex shook her head. ‘You can’t possibly mean that.’
He turned to face her, resting his head against the seat. ‘I have never, ever felt this way about anyone,’ he insisted. ‘And, yes, I am aware how ridiculous that sounds given that we only met three days ago.’
‘Exactly!’
‘Then tell me that you don’t feel the same because I see the way you look at me.’
Alex flushed. She wanted to tell him that this was nothing more than a fleeting attraction, that this string of coincidences meant nothing. People met all the time; it didn’t have to lead to anything. But what was the use of another lie?
‘I do feel the same, Aiden, you know I do!’ she exclaimed. ‘But it doesn’t matter how I feel!’ She pushed her hair behind her ears and sighed. ‘This is too hard. We should go.’
As she shifted the car into reverse, Alex felt Aiden place his hand over hers.
‘It matters to me.’
She upturned her hand and interlocked her fingers with his, neither saying a word as she rested her head on his shoulder. Alex wasn’t sure how long they sat in reverse in the supermarket car park, but it was long enough to realise that she just might love him too.
