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Aiden got the girls fed and bathed before Corbin showed up at his house. From the sympathetic expression on his face, Corbin had been completely filled in on all of the sordid details. There was only one person who could have clued him in and Aiden wasn’t sure if he wanted to thank Rose or wring her neck for sharing his secret. Honestly, he knew Corbin would always have his back, and having someone to talk to would be a great help. In just two short hours, Aiden had worked through his self-pity over his wife walking out on him and had already moved straight on to anger. He just hoped he could get the girls to bed before he took his newfound feelings out on them. It wasn’t their fault their mother had up and left him and he needed to remember that.
He met Corbin at the front door and held it open for him. “So, I’m guessing your mother filled you in?” he questioned, already knowing the answer before Corbin nodded his head.
He shot Aiden a sheepish grin, “Don’t be mad at Mom, AJ,” he said. “She’s worried about you, man. You know she thinks of you as a son and hell, your girls might be the only grandchildren that woman might ever get. I’m not ready to settle down and have any of the little beasties myself.” Corbin grimaced and shuttered from just the thought of having kids and Aiden laughed. His best friend never seemed to understand why he wanted to settle down and have a family. When Aiden and Allison announced she was pregnant, Corbin’s first question was whether or not she was going to keep the baby. Looking back now, that might have been the first clue he had that his wife and his best friend weren’t going to be each other’s biggest fans. Aiden had to run quite a bit of interference back then. After the girls were born, they both seemed to settle down and Aiden could let his guard down a little.
“You’re not here to say you told me so, are you?” Aiden grouched. “If you are, you can just turn right around and leave.”
Corbin held his hands up in defense, “Naw, man. I’m here to tell you I’m sorry you and the girls have to go through this. I love you like a brother, man. I would never want for any of this to happen no matter what differences I had with Alli,” he offered.
Aiden smiled at the nickname only Corbin call his wife. “You know she fucking hated when you called her that, man,” Aiden said.
Corbin’s wolfish grin said it all. “I know. It’s mostly why I did it,” he admitted. “How about a beer?” he asked, holding up the six-pack he had hidden under his suit jacket.
“Sure,” Aiden agreed. “Make yourself at home. I’m going to tuck the girls in and I’ll be right back down,” he said. Corbin pulled his tie loose and by the time Aiden got back downstairs, twenty minutes later, his friend had stripped out of his dress shirt and was just wearing one of Aiden’s t-shirts and a pair of his gym shorts.
“I hope you don’t mind me borrowing some clothes,” Corbin said.
Aiden laughed. “No problem. Although I’m afraid you’re going to stretch out my shirt,” he teased. Corbin worked out daily and he was bigger than Aiden, always had been. His arms alone looked like two of Aiden’s put together. The women in town seemed to appreciate Corbin’s gym efforts and loved the tattoos that banded his arms. Corbin usually kept them hidden under his dress shirt and jacket but when they would all casually go out for drinks, he basically had to turn women away left and right. Women fell for his good guy persona wrapped up in his bad boy image. Aiden had never seen the appeal of tattoos, even if the women seemed to go a little crazy over them. He had one tattoo on his upper arm of a shark wearing swim trunks and sunglasses. Aiden usually kept it secretly tucked away under his suits during the day, but it was his harsh reminder of a drunken bad decision made with Corbin while they were pledging the same fraternity in college.
“I ordered pizza too. I haven’t had time to eat all day and I’m starving,” he said. As if on cue, the pizza delivery guy showed up with Corbin’s extra-large meat lovers’ pizza that made Aiden’s mouth water. He paid the delivery guy and they both settled in the family room with their beer and pizza. Aiden could feel Corbin was holding back with him like he was keeping his hand close to his vest.
“All right, man let’s have it. I know you’re dying to say your peace, so spill it,” Aiden insisted.
“I really don’t have anything to say you haven’t heard before, man. I hate to say, ‘I told you so’,” he lied.
“You’d fucking love to tell me you were right. In fact, I’m betting you love saying those words to me more than you love pussy and that’s a whole fucking lot,” Aiden teased. Corbin stroked his beard and looked over at Aiden as if he was trying to decide if he was right or not.
“Well, you’re not completely wrong but I guess it just depends on the pussy,” Corbin joked. Corbin and he might have been the same age but his best friend was always taking lead when it came to their relationship. He seemed to think Aiden needed protecting, being smaller than him growing up, and who knows, maybe he was right. It sure felt good to have Corbin in his corner no matter what he was up against. It was one of the reasons Aiden chose to go to the same college as him, not ready to part ways with the person who stuck by him through thick and thin. Corbin was basically his brother and he wasn’t sure what he would do without him.
“So what now?” Aiden asked. “Allison left me with two little girls who are probably going to grow up without a mother. How do I fix that?” Aiden took a swig of his beer and tossed his half-eaten pizza back into the box.
“You don’t fix it, man. You be the best dad you can be and show your girls when life gives you shit, you find your shovel,” Corbin growled. “How do you know Alli won’t be back, AJ?” he asked. Yeah, he hadn’t gotten to the best part of his day yet—the part where Lucy handed him her backpack and told him Mommy left something inside for him. Allison apparently told the girls to wait to give him the letter she wrote until they were home from Connie’s house. He had to hand it to his wife, she sure knew how to bring the drama. At least he could read her letter in the privacy of his own home and this time, when he finished reading it, he could just tear it up and throw it away. His poor phone bore the extent of his anger at her earlier text and now he was going to have to run out and pick up a new one in the morning.
“Allison left me a letter with the girls. She told them to give it to me when we got home from Connie’s,” Aiden admitted.
Corbin whistled, “Wow, she had this all planned out, didn’t she? What did it say?” he asked.
“Basically, she said she wasn’t cut out to be a wife or mother and she wasn’t willing to spend her life wondering, ‘What if?’. She told me to text her when the divorce papers were ready to be signed and she didn’t want anything but the money that was promised to her when she signed the prenup.”
“And how much is that?” Corbin angrily barked.
“One and a half million.” Aiden shrugged.
“Fuck, man,” Corbin swore. Aiden didn’t hide his smile. Corbin seemed angrier than he did about the day’s events if that was even possible. Honestly, Aiden just felt numb about the whole thing now. He wasn’t sure that was going to change any time soon either.
“It’s only money, man,” he said. He meant it too. He’d pay just about any amount to have Allison be a part of the girls’ lives but he knew once his wife made up her mind, there was no changing it. She chose to walk away from him and his daughters and now, the three of them would be the ones paying the price.
“How about you take some time—you know figure out just what you and the girls need. I’ll handle the majority of the work stuff and that way you have time to focus on your family and politics,” Corbin offered.
“I can’t just dump the company on your lap, man,” Aiden said. “I’ll handle my own shit but I’m going to take the next two weeks off. I need to figure out the girls’ schedules and make sure they are both all right with everything that is changing. Maybe we’ll take a quick trip somewhere, get out of town for a few days—you know the whole change of scenery thing?” Aiden didn’t really have a plan but as far as ideas went, a little family trip sounded like a good one.
“That sounds like a good plan,” Corbin confirmed. “Get the girl’s minds off of missing Alli and you can take some downtime.”
“Right. I’ll have Rose book us something in the morning,” Aiden agreed. Corbin shot him a concerned look and Aiden chuckled. “Don’t worry, man, I’ll be fine. Allison made her decision and we will just have to live with it. Life marches on, as your mom likes to say.”
“Yeah,” Corbin agreed. “I always hated that expression I just never had the balls to tell her,” he admitted. Aiden threw back his head and laughed and for the first time since getting Allison’s text, he felt normal, as if everything was going to be all right. He just wished he believed it because Aiden wasn’t sure anything would be right ever again.
Zara
