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Maybe if she’d been another kind of mom, she’d feel upset at him wanting her to leave him with Aiden. Jealous, even. But she couldn’t help but feel her heart swell at the sight of Nick standing next to his six-foot-two lookalike, knowing their relationship was filling the holes in Nick’s soul Brooke never could.
“I’m about to leave,” she told him. “Have a good time and do what Aiden tells you to. And brush your teeth, otherwise they’ll rot with all that sugar.”
Aiden looked at Nick and then back to Brooke. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She nodded, keeping the smile plastered on her face. “Yep, I’m all good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye!” Nick waved absentmindedly and dropped to his knees, rifling through his bag, no doubt looking for his swim shorts.
Aiden caught her gaze one last time. There was a question behind his eyes she didn’t know the answer to. A softness, too, and it made her want to melt. She needed to go, before she made an idiot of herself. Time to head home and pour herself an ice cold glass of water – or take a cold shower.
“Goodbye honey. Bye Aiden.” Lifting her hand in a brief wave, she turned and all but ran back to her car, not sure whether to be happy their first encounter had been so civilized.
* * *
Her apartment was eerily quiet. The small table she and Nick ate their meals at – and she did her work on – was completely bare. Her project was finished, and all the housework was done. For the first night in forever she had absolutely nothing to do.
It should have felt like heaven. Wasn’t this what she’d been longing for? Some peace and quiet, time to relax without the pressure of her academic work bearing down on her? But now that she had it, she felt so lonesome it actually hurt. As though there was a hole inside her nothing could fill.
Leaning on the kitchen counter, she wondered what Nick and Aiden were doing now. It was almost nine – Nick should have crashed and burned, in spite of him wanting to stay up as late as he could. Maybe Aiden was sitting out on the deck, staring out at the ocean as the sun slowly slipped below the water line, leaving the inky black night to creep in. Or maybe he was watching a movie – not the chickflick sort she’d intended to watch; he’d always preferred action to words.
She’d planned on leaving whatever happened between them up to fate. But what if fate made the wrong decision?
Had it been fate that pulled them apart after her father discovered them in a compromising position? Was it fate that led her to being pregnant at the tender age of eighteen? Or was it their decisions, as bad as they were, which led them to the spot they were in now?
Her thoughts felt as though they were punching at her skull, trying to force their way out into the world. She started to pace her small living area, from the kitchen space to the glass windows at the other end of the room and back again.
Hadn’t she been complaining about not being trusted to make her own decisions, first by her parents and then by Aiden? So, why was she afraid to make a decision about the two of them now? Because leaving it to fate was pretty much removing herself from the equation. Giving control over to somebody – or something – else.
Did she really want to do that? She was only beginning to take control of her own life.
Leaning her head against the cool glass, she stared out of the window and into t
he encroaching night beyond. Through the ghost of her reflection in the glass she could see the lamplit streets and the dark outlines of houses with their yellow square windows, lit from within like a child’s Christmas scene. She pulled her phone from her shorts pocket and swiped it on, smiling as the photo of Nick playing at the beach flickered to life.
She’d asked for control, she’d demanded to make her own decisions. It was time for action.
Pulling up her message app, she quickly found Aiden’s contact, and swiped her finger across the keyboard like a pro.
I wanted to check that everything’s okay with Nick. And with you. I miss you. xx
* * *
“I didn’t expect to see you here on a Sunday.” Brecken Miller craned his head around the office door.
Aiden looked up from the spreadsheet he’d been working on, his eyes blinking against the sudden onslaught of daylight flooding through the open door. “I could say the same thing about you.”
“I left a couple of tools here, and I need them back at the house,” Breck told him, leaning on the side of the door. “I saw some movement up here. Wanted to make sure we didn’t have a break in.”
“I need to get these projections over to the head office before tomorrow.” Aiden inclined his head at the laptop screen.
“And you can’t do them at home on your deck?”
“There are too many distractions there.”
The truth was there weren’t enough. After Brooke had picked up Nick this morning, he’d been unable to sit still. He’d tried to talk to her, to ask her about the message she’d sent him – and the fact she missed him – but she’d smiled and told him she’d see him soon.
It was killing him not to call her, and if he stayed at home he probably would. But he’d made a promise that he wouldn’t take control from her and make any decisions for her, and he intended to keep it. Even if he had to sit on his hands all night.
