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47
AARON
Aaron waved goodbye as his parents backed out of the driveway in his dad’s rental car. He turned and went back in the house. Dani lay on the sofa, flipping through one of her comics.
“Where’s your mom?”
“I think she’s upstairs.”
Aaron jogged up the steps, heading to their bedroom. Brynn had been quiet the last few days, and she’d kept her distance from him. He needed to check in with her. Having his parents there might have been too much for her. Or maybe she’d been triggered somehow?
He cracked the door open and froze. Brynn sat on the bed, her hands clasped in front of her with her head bowed.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She didn’t even bother looking up, her mouth set in a grim line. “Did you lie to me?”
Her words were a direct shot to his chest. “What?”
Her chin tipped up as she squared her shoulders. “You heard me.”
“No, Brynn.” He clenched his fists, his head spinning. “I haven’t lied to you. Do you want to tell me what this is about?”
“You promised me you’d respect my boundaries.”
He nodded, his mind searching for any clue as to what was going on.
“You said you’d be honest with me. And when we agreed on things, I believed you when you said you would let me do things my way.”
Aaron squeezed the back of his neck. “Did I cross a boundary? Was having my parents here too much?”
Her gaze turned sad as she stood, pulled a folded piece of paper from underneath her, then handed it to him.
Aaron reached out, opening the document, his gaze scanning the bank statement. His breath caught in his throat, realization dawning. “You mean the dresses.”
“Let’s not forget the car.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“I want to clarify, you’re upset because I paid for these things?”
She scoffed. “I’m hurt because you promised me I could, but you tricked me. You used my friend to do it. And what’s worse, I was proud I could do something like buy a car on my own. You took that from me.”
Aaron sat down on the bed and ran a hand over his face. “Brynn, I knew you couldn’t afford the dresses. I wanted you and Dani to have something special. The owner of the boutique is a friend, so I called in a favor. It wasn’t meant in malice.”
She sat next to him. “But do you know how that makes me feel? How I can feel betrayed by that?”
He sighed. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I was only trying to help.”
“I understand that. But we agreed, and then you went behind my back after I trusted you. And I can understand that we didn’t really know each other well then, but just recently we got the car.”
“You needed something safe and reliable and there was no way you could afford it on your own.” He grit his teeth.
She couldn’t be mad at him for protecting her. “So tell me that. Talk to me. Don’t trick me and go behind my back,” she argued.
“You wouldn’t have listened. You want to do everything yourself—and I respect that. But when it comes to safety, I just . . . I knew I could fix this, so I did.”
“Can you see how I feel betrayed by this? I trusted you and you lied to me. But what’s worse is you manipulated me.”
“That’s not fair. I put a few grand down on a car; it was a gift. How can that be manipulation?” He stood, pacing the room. “No, this is bullshit.”
