“I usually have breakfast after I work out. I’m gonna head to the gym, then grab breakfast on the way in. I have the shittiest metabolism ever. I skip a day and this all starts going to shit,” he said, patting his flat abs that stopped being so flat the minute he quit playingsports.
“Ah, I see. You did work off a good bit of that trifle lastnight.”
“It was totally worthit.”
He finished getting dressed, then leaned over the couch to kiss Shae. If he had morning breath, she didn’t say anything aboutit.
“When can I see you again?” heasked.
“I have a standing engagement with my friends and my cousin tonight and I’m gonna be slammed this Friday andSaturday—”
“And Sunday is your Christmas Eve gettogether.”
“Yeah and you should definitely come to that. My cousin’s fiance is a fireworks expert. He’ll probably blow up somethingcool.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Aidan replied, chuckling a little. Christmas wasn’t exactly a fireworks holiday. “Wednesday night sound good? You can come to my place and I’ll make you the one thing I’m sure I won’tburn.”
“That soundsgreat.”
“Bring a change of clothes just incase.”
“Oh. Sure.” Shae stood and walked Aidan to the door when he turned to her one lasttime.
“I had a great time last night, even though you’re a terrible ice skater,” hejoked.
“Hey! I kinda got the hang ofit.”
“I’ll see you.” He leaned and kissed her one last time before walking toward the elevator. Lovesick punk that he was, he couldn’t help but turn around to just take the sight of her in one last time before he had to get on with his day. Aidan didn’t know what he expected when he turned to get a glimpse of her, but he caught something before her million-watt smile spread across her cheeks and she tossed up her hand in a little wave. Shae had that look on her face again. Something was bothering her again. Something was holding herback.
6
Dear Santa,Am I doing thisright…?
Aidan slammedthe door to his car shut, then switched his phone to his other hand so he could get a better grip on the box of bagels he was carrying. His sister, Emily, answered with her typical cheerygreeting.
“’Sup punk. It’s early for you, isn’tit?”
“Hey. You’re not busy, are you? I need advice. About a girl. A woman. This woman I started seeing.” Aidan had made it through his workout and miles of bullshit Los Angeles traffic just fine. That didn’t keep the image of Shae’s anxious face from playing over and over in his head. He’d had such a great night with her, he should have been skipping and whistling his way out of Shae’s apartmentbuilding.
He could have sworn she’d had just as good a time, but that tell-tale look was there and he couldn’t ignore it. Yeah, it felt too early in whatever was going on between them to look for problems. It was also never early enough to take notice of something, a tiny red flag that Aidan knew could turn into a full-on disaster zone surrounded by lights and sirens if it wentunchecked.
“Oh, seeing awoman? We’re maturing. Well done,Aid.”
“Shutup.”
“I’m just messing with you,” Emily laughed. They were only three years apart, but she’d taken the plunge into aspects of adulthood that he couldn’t wrap his mind around when he was still in college. Now she was a working mom with three kids and a husband who she actually communicated with really well. If there was anyone he could get relationship advice from, it was his sister. “Okay, what’s thedeal?”
“Her name’s Shae. She owns a pretty successful bakery,” he said with a bit of pride that he had absolutely no claim to. “We used to work together. She was married, now she’s divorced and we ran into each other onMATCHED.”
“Okay. What seems to be the problem—shit!” his sisteryelped.
“Youokay?”
“Yeah. I just stepped on a lego and then stubbed my toe. Shit.” Aidan waited, trying not to laugh as his sister rattled off another string of curses, mumbling to herself about his slob of a nephew. “If you ever have kids, make cleaning up their toys a part of their play time. At least once a week, I almost break my neck stepping on something or tripping over somethingelse.”
“I need to get past a third date before I consider what to do about my future children, but I will keep that inmind.”
“Sorry. Woman troubles. You have them. Goon.”