“It’s nice to meet you, Loretta,” Aiden said as he forced a deep breath into his lungs and then stood up from his chair, leaning forward to hug her. Granted, it wasn’t the sweetest hug in the world, but it was the right thing to do.
I could see Edward let out a breath, and I noticed Loretta relax as well. I guessed I was the only one of the four of us who didn’t really know what was going on.
Loretta spoke first. “Aiden, it’s very nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you from your dad.”
Aiden’s eyes briefly shot to his father, but he remained silent, and as he sat back down, he reached his leg out to press against mine under the table.
Edward looked at Aiden for several long seconds, his eyes pained. Aiden continued to refuse to make eye contact with him. The older man seemed to get the silent message because he cleared his throat and murmured, “I’ve been trying to reach you, Aiden. I was hoping we could talk.”
Aiden’s eyes stayed on me as he merely said, “Been busy.”
There was no discounting the unbridled anger behind his words. I shot Edward a glance and saw him drop his eyes. His wife patted his hand. I didn’t think it possible, but the man seemed to shrink before my very eyes.
“Honey,” Loretta said softly. “We should let them get back to their dinner,” she suggested.
Edward managed a nod and forced himself to straighten. “Yes, of course.” He glanced at Aiden again and said, “It was really nice seeing you, son. I’ve heard great things about the agency. You and Chase seem to be doing really well for yourselves. I saw you even signed Bomber Flynn as a client. That’s quite an accomplishment…”
I didn’t hear anything else he said because a dull roaring started in my ears that continued to grow and grow.
Bomber Flynn. NFL superstar, hotshot quarterback, NY Jets up-and-comer— Bomber Flynn. Aiden’s big client.
And my ex-boyfriend.
William “Bomber” Flynn.
Billy.
White noise garbled together in my ears and I felt a kind of numbness steal over me. I was barely aware of Edward and his wife awkwardly leaving the table and Aiden’s continued silence. It wasn’t until I felt his hand on mine a few moments later that I realized he was trying to get my attention.
“Huh?” I stammered.
“You okay?” he asked with concern.
“No, no. I’m fine. What?” I squinted at him as if that would fill me in on what I’d missed. “I’m sorry. What?” I said again.
“Baby, you okay?” he asked again as he picked up my hand and began rubbing it between his fingers as if to warm it up. I hoped like hell he didn’t notice how clammy and sweaty my hand, or the rest of me for that matter, was.
“Yeah, no, I’m fine. Sorry,” I said. “Are you okay?”
Aiden followed the direction of my gaze. Edward and his wife were long gone.
“Yeah,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean for that to be weird for you. I’m really sorry.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.
I could tell he didn’t want to, but instead of telling me no, he nodded, then steeled himself, drew in a breath and took a sip of his wine. “He blamed me for what happened to Danny. I mean, I knew he would since I didn’t ever tell anyone what really happened, but…”
“You still needed him to assure you it wasn’t your fault,” I offered.
Aiden let out an ugly laugh. “Fucked up, isn’t it? Even though I felt like it was my fault, I didn’t want him to think so.”
I was thrilled that he’d referenced being at fault in the past tense, but I kept that thought to myself and said, “No, Aiden, it’s not,” as I began playing with his fingers. “You guys never talked about what happened that night?” I asked.
“We never talked again.”
“What?” I asked.
“He stuck around long enough after the funeral to tell me it was my fault Danny was dead, then he was gone. Only time I ever saw him after that was in the society pages when he found a new trophy wife to replace the previous model.”
“Was it always like that between you and him?”
Aiden shook his head. He remained silent when the waitress appeared with our meals. He picked at his food, but didn’t eat right away. “We were actually pretty close when I was young. I mean, he was really busy and stuff, but he did his best to make time for me and Danny. But after he found out my mom was cheating on him, things just kind of went downhill.”
“He didn’t stick around?” I asked.
“He tried, but I think it was hard for him to be around my mom and Keith— he was the guy she left my dad for. He just kind of threw himself more and more into work. Things were still okay when we’d see him on weekends and such, but he wasn’t the same. Then Danny died and…” Aiden shook his head, but didn’t finish the sentence.