“Fuck off. Just explain what you mean. Your brain is working on Aiden wavelengths. We’re not all old dudes who think in hieroglyphics.” I laugh. Making fun of Aiden being an old man is one of my favourite things.
“I’m not old,” he says. “I’m aged, like a fine wine.”
“Yeah, whatever you say, gramps.”
“I’m saying, what if Denise tells him that the kid isn’t his? That she was mistaken? He already thinks the kid is yours. What if she let it slip ‘accidentally’ that it really is yours?”
“How would that work? Do you think he’d believe her? Better yet, what makes you think she’d even go for it?”
“Well.” He thinks for a second, tapping the pen on the notepad. “I guess not enough has happened for her to really consider it a viable option. She’s only seen the one incident from Andrew. You and I have had a bad feeling about him since the beginning. And I think we both know that this won’t be an isolated incident. And I’m sure you know I have no problem keeping an abusive father away from his child by whatever means necessary.”
I scrub my hand over my face and let out a sigh. Of course I know that it most likely won’t be an isolated incident, but for Denise’s sake, I wish it were. I wish Andrew would just be a decent human being about this and work something out with her. Whatever will make it easiest on her, that’s what I want.
“OK, that’s enough of that for right now, I think,” Aiden says, putting his notepad and pen down. “Let’s get some video games going and get our minds off this for a bit. What do you say?”
“Sounds good, I was just thinking how I’d love to play some Super Mario World.”
Aiden gets up and grabs both of our coffee cups. “Get us set up and I’ll grab more coffee.”
We play video games for a while, the time just draining away as we relive the games of our youth. Sometimes it’s nice to go back to what you know. And when it’s a nice straightforward game like Super Mario, it’s even better. It’s comforting in a way.
“Oh, shit!” I suddenly remember that Xena was only staying for a couple of hours. “How long have I been here?”
Aiden looks at the time on his phone. “A couple of hours, for sure,” he says. “Why?”
“I told Denise I’d be back before Xena left. I gotta go. Thanks for everything. I’ll see you later? Alex is still doing dinner, right? Or should I order something?”
“Not sure, man. She didn’t mention that in her text. I imagine she had a pretty late night with Connor, so she might not want to cook. I’ll get in touch with them and let you know. You go see Denise.”
“OK, that sounds good. I’ll talk to you later, then.”
I jog from his door to my car. I can’t believe I lost track of time. The chance of something happening to Denise after Xena leaves and before I’m back is minimal, but it’s not zero. I don’t think I’d be able to forgive myself if Andrew showed up while I wasn’t there, all because I was playing video games with Aiden.
No matter how much I love Super Mario, I love Denise more.
