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Aiden turned his head slowly to see Brooke standing behind him, the strangest of expressions on her face. Her chest was high, as though she was holding her breath, her eyes wide as his gaze caught hers.
She looked scared. But why? Did she think he was going to say anything about their past to this Nick guy?
A young boy ran up to her. Fresh faced and with a dark mop of hair covering his brow. Aiden could tell from the way he leaned against Brooke, his hand curled into hers, that the child was bashful.
“Hello, Brooke.” Aiden nodded. There wasn’t a cell in his body that didn’t feel awkward. Even his stance felt wrong, as though he was standing on a ship and could stumble to the side and fall into the ocean at any moment. He looked down at the kid again. He had her features, soft and expressive. Her hand fluttered up to her neck, and he noticed it was shaking.
“Aiden.” She was breathless. “It’s good to see you again.” Her free hand tightened around the boy’s palm. “This is Nick. Nick, this is Aiden, an old friend.”
The boy let go of his mother’s hand, and reached out for Aiden. “Hello, sir, it’s good to meet you.” His smile, when it appeared, was as expressive as Brooke’s.
“He’s your son?” he asked her.
Brooke nodded but said nothing.
“I didn’t know you had a son. You didn’t mention him at the resort.”
“I was too busy trying to save the dog,” she said, her voice low.
Aiden shook the little boy’s proferred hand, and the kid’s touch sent a shiver through him. “How old are you?” For one crazy moment, he imagined what he’d do if Nick was ten. The urge to laugh came over him. There was no possible way this kid could be his son.
But what if he was? What if?
“He’s eight.”
That was that. No possibility at all, even if his hair was as dark as Aiden’s. He tried to swallow down the feeling of disappointment he knew shouldn’t be there. It’s not as though he needed more complications in his life. Brooke had clearly moved on since he’d left, and so had he. “Is your husband here too?” he asked her, looking behind her shoulder.
“I don’t have a husband,” she said quickly, her gaze dropping to look at Nick’s head. Aiden got the message – don’t ask questions.
“Well, it’s good to see you both.” He breathed in, feeling the rush of air force its way past his tight chest. It really was good to see her. She was wearing her hair down, the silver-gold waves hanging past her shoulders. Though she’d applied light makeup, he could still see the line of freckles dotted across the bridge of her nose. God, he remembered those freckles, remembered tracing them with his finger. Not just the ones on her face, either.
“Okay, I think it’s time to put the steaks on the grill,” Lucas said, as the flames in the grill died down, leaving a shimmering heat in their wake. “Babe, can you bring the meat out from the refrigerator?” he asked his girlfriend, his eyes soft as he looked at her.
“Sure.” She glanced at Ally and Brooke. “You guys want to help me make the salads?” she asked them. “Nick, come in and grab a drink,” she suggested. “I have some sodas in here too.”
The three women headed into the house, closely followed by Brooke’s son. As Aiden watched them disappear through a door on the far side of the home, he lifted his bottle and took a big mouthful of beer.
For the second time in his life, it felt as though he’d been hit by a hurricane, threatening to break up everything he’d ever worked for.
Like last time, it’s name was Brooke Newton.
* * *
“Are you going to tell him about Nick?” Ember asked when the little boy had taken his soda and headed back outside to join the men. She was chopping up salad ingredients on the wooden counter in her small cottage kitchen, scraping them from the board into a huge glass bowl.
Ally reached into the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of wine, pouring it into three glasses.
“Not for me,” Brooke said when she tried to pass one over. “I’m driving, remember?”
“I thought you might need it.” Ally’s eyes met hers. Her sympathetic look twisted Brooke’s gut.
“I do. But I can’t.” Brooke leaned on the counter, watching her friend work. “And yes, I guess I’ll have to tell him some time. First I need to figure out what to say.” She took a ragged breath in. “I’m scared,” she told her friends. “About what he’ll do if he knows the truth.”
Ally reached out and wrapped her hand around Brooke’s. “Of course you’re scared. It’s natural.” She twisted her lips, thinking for a moment. “Are you sure he needs to know?”
“Yeah, I really think he does. Even if he walks away, at least I’ll know I did the right thing. Part of me regrets never telling his mom when I had the chance. Did you know she died?”
“She did?” Ally was wide-eyed.
