She hangs up, and I stand up to stretch before I walk downstairs to find some lunch. I have a few hours of recording time left today, but I need a pick-me-up. Maybe I’ll even take a short walk and get some fresh air.
I can hear my guys in the kitchen, and it makes me smile. Ryker brings Aiden here almost every day for lunch. They’ve been doing this all summer, and I love that Ryker takes time to hang out with my boy.
“Why do you think that idiot says what he does about Willow?” Ryker asks, and I pause outside the kitchen, out of sight. I shouldn’t eavesdrop, but, well, I’m human. Sue me.
“Because he’s an asshole,” Aiden replies. I can hear the scowl on his face.
“It’s weird that it started out of the blue,” Ry counters. “Did something happen?”
Aiden’s quiet. I can hear him chewing from over here. “A couple years ago, I was doing summer league baseball, and we had a game. Miles—that’s his stupid name—was on the team, and his dad coached.”
I remember this.
“His dad’s single, and he asked me if Wills was single.”
He’s quiet again, obviously chewing his lunch.
I hated that guy.He always gave me the creeps.
“I told him I didn’t know about stuff like that with her. I was, like, twelve. How would I know? She never brought anyone home, but hell, I don’t know what she did when I was with friends, or whatever.”
“Sure, makes sense,” Ryker says.
“At first he let it go, but as the season went on, he’d ask me more. Finally, I told him to ask her himself.”
“What did he do?” Ryker asks.
“Don’t know. He didn’t ask me again, but he was also an ass to me after that. Liked to embarrass me in front of the other guys at practice.”
“So his kid comes by being an asshole naturally.”
Aiden snorts. “Totally. I don’t know what he said to Miles, but after that, Miles had it out for me. He’s relentless. I’d block him, and he’d figure out a way to change his number on an app or something to still get through. It was actually really creepy. Can I change my phone number?”
“We’ll make it happen,” Ry says, and those four words make me fall in love with him even more. I didn’t think that was possible. “Now, tell me about the girl you were with the night before you first came out here. The night school got out.”
Aiden’s quiet for a heartbeat. “She’s not important.”
“Important enough for you to have your hands on her.”
I cringe. I donotwant to think about that.
“I liked her. Her name is Hilary. She’s cool, but she moved to Texas after we got out of school for the summer, so I probably won’t ever see her again.”
My kid has had so much going on, and I knewnothing.
That breaks my heart.
I walk into the kitchen and force a smile onto my lips before I stop by and kiss Aiden’s cheek, making him cringe.
“How’s it going out there today?”
“It’s hot,” Aiden says.
I saunter up to Ryker, who’s sweating like crazy, and carefully kiss his cheek as well.
“And how are you?” he asks me.
“I’m great. I called the real estate agent, so Operation Sell My House is underway.”
