Sadie nodded.
“That happens,” Crickitt said carefully. She and Ronald got together several times after their split, either to discuss division of property or exchange items mixed up in the boxes when she moved out.
“Do you think he still loves her?” Sadie asked.
Crickitt would do anything to comfort her friend. Anything except lie to her. Aiden and his former spouse could be reconciling right this minute for all she knew. Marriage inextricably linked two people. As much as she hated to admit it, if Ronald begged her back during the painful and emotionally draining separation, Crickitt would have said yes. At the time, the familiarity of even an unhappy marriage would have been more appealing than the great unknown. Now she couldn’t even imagine being with him, knowing what she knew.
“I don’t know,” Crickitt said softly.
The waitress brought a pitcher of beer and filled two glasses. Sadie studied her lap until she was gone.
“You really like him, don’t you?” Crickitt asked.
“We have a connection.”
Wow. That was almost…romantic. And coming from her tough-talking friend, a little frightening.
“I don’t want to lose him,” Sadie said, her voice cracking.
Crickitt reached for her friend’s hand over the table. The gesture must have snapped Sadie out of her melancholy. She blinked several times as if coming out of a trance.
Sadie raised an eyebrow. “I think I need a drink.”
They hoisted their mugs and, in a tradition years old, banged them together and agreed, “Toasts are lame.”
Half the contents gone, Crickitt refilled both their glasses.
“Is that shirt…pink?”
Crickitt tucked her chin to examine her wardrobe. “Um…peach. I think. Why?”
“You usually wear neutrals. You look really pretty. Girly.”
Crickitt shrugged. “Thanks.”
“Okay, Kitty-cat,” Sadie said, the only person on the planet allowed to call her by that ridiculous name. “You called me. Spill it.”
Well, bringing up Shane now would just be insensitive. Sadie was uncharacteristically torn up over his cousin. Before she could speak, their food arrived, a BBQ chicken pizza and plate of fries smothered in cheese sauce. Crickitt moved a slice of pizza to her plate to cool.
“I’m waiting,” Sadie said.
She’d have to tell her something…and she knew just what. With a wince, she blurted, “Ronald called me today.”
“What the hell did he want?” Sadie spat. “Lose his balls again?” She snorted and munched on a fry. On anyone else it would have been unattractive.
“He—uh…” Wow. She didn’t expect this to be so difficult to say out loud. “He told me he missed me and said he made a mistake.”
Sadie sat slack-jawed, half of a French fry in one hand. And that wasn’t the worst of it.
“He wants us to get back together. And start a family.”
* * *
Aiden took a slow sip of his beer, taking care to line it up on the square cardboard coaster on the bar.
Shane stared down at his own, unable to take a drink. “When did you find out?”
“On the way over. They don’t know for sure. But all of her symptoms are like they were.”
Aiden’s mother had been suffering from cancer on and off for the last five years. Until now, she’d been in remission for eight months.
“She’s going to see her doctor tomorrow.” He shrugged.
“Maybe it’s not back,” Shane said carefully.
“Yeah. Maybe.” Aiden took another drink of his beer.
Shane wasn’t buying his own empty reassurance. If Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy told Aiden, chances are they already knew the worst and were planning on breaking it to him in person tomorrow.
“If Mom’s sick again,” Aiden said, “Harmony’s coming back.”
The walls of the bar practically shook from that bombshell. “What do you mean ‘coming back’?” Shane asked. When Aiden had divorced, Shane had been tempted to throw a parade in his honor. He hoped his cousin wasn’t contemplating getting involved with her again. If he did, he’d be setting himself up like a ten pin.
Aiden angled a glance at him. “Mom doesn’t know we’re divorced, Shane.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because we didn’t want her worrying herself sick. Literally.” Aiden’s eyebrows slammed together.
Shane worked to process the new information. Aunt Kathy may have cancer again, and still believed Aiden and Harmony were lawfully wedded? Worse, Harmony might actually worm her way back into Aiden’s life?