Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 112892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
This was worse than I'd imagined. I'd thought maybe he'd be embarrassed, maybe a little awkward, but this... this felt like rejection. He was obviously disgusted with himself for what happened at the party. But I’d behaved the same way he had, so was he disgusted with me, too?
There was a rusting porch swing in front of the living room window, and I padded over and sat down, wincing slightly as the edge of the seat pinched my bare calf.
I slipped my shoes back on and waited. Maybe when Diego was done getting Liam back to sleep, he’d grab the baby monitor and come join me out here.
But he didn’t.
Instead, after about five minutes, my phone vibrated. It was a text from him.
Stay there. Aaron’s on his way to pick you up. Don’t go walking around in the dark.
I bit my lip as I read and reread his text. Okay, he wanted to make sure I got back to the house safely. He was a kind-hearted, responsible man, and I wouldn’t have expected anything else from him. But the ache in my stomach made me wonder if anything was ever going to be the same between us.
The little dots under his text indicated that he was typing again, and I stared at the screen, willing him to send a message that would make this all better.
But after a long moment—far too long for a two-word response—his message appeared.
I’m sorry.
That was all it said.
21
MIA
"Do you want to talk about last night?” Aaron asked, steering the car smoothly around a curve. It was the second time he’d asked in the twenty minutes since we’d left for Chattanooga.
“No. Little kids just aren’t really my thing, so I decided to go home.”
It was a lie, and Aaron likely knew it.
Fortunately, the windy mountain roads took up most of his focus, so he didn’t press. Much.
“Are you sure? Because—“
“I just want to focus on tonight. I’ve been looking forward to this for a week.”
“Me too. I can’t wait for my family to meet you.”
That part made me very nervous, but I didn’t want to show it. Instead, I focused on the part of the evening I was the most excited about, except for Aaron himself. “I can’t wait to put on that beautiful dress Tori lent me.”
“I can’t believe you wouldn’t let me see it.”
“It looks better on me than the hanger.” After the words came out, I realized they sounded boastful, but what the hell… they were kind of true.
“I’d bet a million bucks that it does.”
He drove on, his eyes on the road, but I could tell he wanted to say something else. “Would it sound corny if I said that I’d be glad you were there by my side even if you were wearing jeans and a hoodie?”
My cheeks heated as I flushed. “A little bit corny… but also nice.” I placed my hand over the back of his, and he immediately turned his around, squeezing mine. We drove like that for a few minutes before his hand returned to the wheel.
Then I laughed.
“What?”
“If you want a partner wearing jeans and a hoodie, next time invite Cody.”
He chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
The drive northwest was unfamiliar, but I couldn’t focus on the scenery. I just kept thinking about Diego, and the look in his eyes. How upset he’d been.
Aaron tried a few more times to engage me in conversation, and I realized I was being a bad date. Time to change that.
“So, your grandparents have been married fifty years, right?”
“Fifty years and four days, I think?”
He glanced over, one arm lazily resting on the wheel. He had on a tight white t-shirt and khakis. His suit and my dress were both in garment bags in the back.
“But they’re the ones who adopted you, right?”
“Right.” He gave me a wry smile. “I get asked this a lot.”
“Asked what?”
“Why I call them my grandparents rather than my parents.”
“Ah. Yes, I was wondering about that.”
“They couldn’t have biological kids of their own, so they took in a bunch of foster kids over the years. Adopted a lot of them. My oldest siblings are in their forties, and they call them mom and dad, of course. But now they have kids of their own, who all call them grandma and grandpa. By the time I joined the family, nearly everyone under thirty called them grandma and grandpa, so I did too.”
“How many siblings do you have?”
“A lot.”
“And how many of them are going to judge the girl you’re bringing with you?”
“None.” He paused. “Except maybe Cousin Dan, but who cares about him?”
“I sure don’t,” I said, and Aaron laughed. We were entering Chattanooga, and it was bigger than I expected.
Aaron drove confidently through the streets, making frequent turns. Finally, he pulled into a drive under a five-story building. He pressed a button on his sun visor, and a large door slid to the side, admitting us into an underground garage.