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I could only spot that level of sadness in his eyes because I’d lived it before, right when Aiden left town five years ago. Those demons of sadness were the hardest to rid myself of. It shattered my heart to know that Aiden was sitting in the eye of his hurricane, in the middle of his despair, and not a single person seemed to notice. Not even me.
Yet now that I saw it…
My chest ached. “Aiden…”
“Do you feel bad?” he asked. “For how you ended things between us?’
Yes.
Repeatedly.
All the time.
“You already know the answer to that,” I told him.
“I need you to say it.”
“I feel guilty every single day.”
“Then why did you do it? Why did you let me go?”
“I knew it had to be done. I do wish I could’ve handled it differently. I was young and scared. All I want to do is start with a clean slate with you, Aiden. That’s all.” I wanted him to let me back into his world so I could help walk beside him. I knew depression. I wouldn’t wish for my greatest enemy to walk with that anguish all on their own. Let alone Aiden.
“Clean slate,” he huffed, disgusted by the idea. He didn’t give me another word. His somber look deepened, and he slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans before he turned and walked away.
27
Hailee
The following morning,I was a zombie when I went to work. Kate couldn’t feed me enough coffee to keep me on my toes. I’d spent most of the previous night worrying about Aiden. At least it was a slower day. When Aiden came out of his room, he kept his head down and avoided me at all costs. My sensitive heart ached as I prayed for him to look my way.
Around one in the afternoon, the front door opened and in walked Tommy. His eye was black and blue from Aiden’s fist making contact the night before. Tommy had clearly sobered up and walked over to the front counter as if his tail was between his legs.
“Hi, Hailee,” he said, pushing out a small smile. He raked his hand over his head. “I wanted to stop in and apologize for being a drunk asshole last night. I was out of line. You didn’t deserve that nasty comment.”
The apology was… odd. Sure, Tommy said something awful the previous evening, but truth be told, he’d made much nastier comments throughout the years about others in town. Tommy was known for his rudeness toward people when he drank too much. If anything, last night’s comment was tame for him.
I arched an eyebrow. “Okay.”
That was all I could think to say.
He narrowed his eyes. “So… you forgive me?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He glanced toward the front window and then back at me. “It does kind of matter. I need to hear you say you forgive me.”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I need to hear you actually say it, all right?” he snapped. The thing about assholes was they couldn’t keep their tempers at bay for long. Tommy’s was already slipping out. “Just say it, Hailee.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You can’t force someone to forgive you. That’s not how forgiveness works.”
“Stop being dramatic, okay? Just say it.”
“No.”
“Don’t be a bitch, Hailee. Just say it!” He kept glancing toward the window.
