‘I mean it?—’
‘I think she gets it,’ Astrid said, gently, dropping Blake’s hand so she could put an arm around Sienna’s waist. ‘You okay, love?’
Was she okay?Was she okay?Of course she wasn’t okay, but there was no way in hell she was going to let her best friend have that on her conscience. So she forced a bright smile. ‘Yeah, of course. Thanks for coming to tell me. Did you guys want to stay for something to eat? I’ve got cake in the fridge…’
‘Our car’s waiting,’ Astrid demurred. ‘We’re heading to the airport to catch a red eye to New York.’ She hesitated. ‘Don’t suppose you want to come with us?’
Sienna’s heart went into overdrive. Fly to New York? To see Aiden?
Everything exploded inside of her, like a whirlwind of colour and sound, but she shook her head, quickly dismissing the idea. ‘I can’t. But I’ll come visit soon, okay? We’ve got a baby shower to think about.’
Astrid’s face showed disappointment, Blake’s concern. ‘But you could?—’
‘She’ll work it out,’ Astrid said, turning back to her newly minted husband.
She could tell Blake wanted to argue but after a beat, he shrugged and said, ‘Okay, Twinkle Toes. If you say so.’
* * *
When Chuck came to visit the next day, Sienna was still obsessing over every detail of her conversation with Blake and Astrid. It was almost impossible to push it out of her mind, but somehow, she managed to at least make a passable effort of doing so. When they ate a light lunch, they talked about their Harvey plan. And afterwards, when they watched a movie, she made a point of laughing at the right places, and looking like she was paying attention. But when they went for a run – which Chuck managed to talk her into after all – Sienna felt her mind falling back into a rut, going over everything Blake had said, driving her crazy with the insistent thoughts.
As they approached the old dam and evening began to wrap around them, they stopped running, and Sienna was glad. She needed a reprieve from the whirlwind of her mind. ‘I used to come fishing here, as a kid,’ she said conversationally; she just needed to saysomething.
‘Yeah? Catch anything big?’ He held his hands wide, and she laughed.
‘More like this.’ She held her forefinger and thumb up.
‘Mmm, tasty,’ he laughed.
‘Right?’
‘I can see you as a fisher.’
‘A fisher?’ She forced a grin. ‘I’m not so sure about that.’ She sat down on the long grass and rubbed the space beside her. Chuck collapsed onto it, reminding her, briefly, of Aiden. He was big and burly like Aiden, but with a lot more of the Silicon Valley suaveness about him.
Aiden was raw.
An unpolished diamond.
She knew which she preferred. Her heart popped. She ignored it.
‘I used to come here with him,’ she said, softly, almost to herself.
‘Aiden?’
She nodded, glancing across at Chuck. ‘A million years ago. At least, that’s what it feels like.’
Chuck rested his elbow on one knee, and gave her the full force of his megawatt attention.
‘What was he like back then?’
Her heart hurt.
‘He was…’ She sought the words that could do him justice. Words that encapsulated what she’d thought he was, and what he’d become. Words that captured the knight in shining armour she’d thought he was, and the heartbreaker he’d morphed into.
But none of it would form properly in her mind. Because Aidenhadbeen a knight in shining armour, just not for her. He’d put it all on the line to save his mom and Blake. And from his stupid, messed-up perspective, he’d even left her for her own sake. To save her from him. Having seen Blake beat their dad to within an inch of his life must have been terrifying for Aiden. Aiden who needed to believe they weren’t like their father, who needed to believe they could be different.
And then he’d had proof that maybe they weren’t.
