"You naughty boys," Kate said with a smile.
"Sonaughty.” I chuckled. “All we did was drive around town in my clunker car with the windows down, hoping we looked cool to any girls we might meet along the way."
"And did you?"
I snorted. "Sadly for us, no one seemed interested in a couple of gangly sixteen-year-olds." Yeah, we were about as far from high in demand as we could have been at that time. But we sure felt like studs back then. "Anyway, we totally lived things up that night. We went and toilet-papered Tansie Clemont's car since that's what you did back then when you liked a girl. Then we went back to my house to pull our first official all-nighter. Aiden promised he'd stay awake this time."
"Which we all know was a lie."
"He really tried this time, even going as far as to take a nap first. We had all our favorite energy drinks ready and everything, in case a moment of weakness found us. We started out strong, but around two a.m. I noticed Aiden was getting drowsy. So I came up with this awesome idea to wake us right up.
"We had this big closet under the stairs that my mom kept all our extra pillows and blankets in. I thought it would be a great idea to go in there and jump around for a while, fall in them…that kind of stuff." I shook my head and laughed at the memory. "It was surprisingly fun. But then, when we tried to get out of the closet, we couldn't get the door to open. It had somehow gotten jammed. That's when we started freaking out. My mom wasn't supposed to be home until Sunday night, so we had almost two whole days before anyone would even be in the house to hear us."
"I'm guessing since you're still alive, and since I've never heard this story before, you made it out okay."
"Great deduction, Sherlock." I grinned. "We did eventually kick the door open, but that surge of panic had really exhausted us. After that, we did a lap around the house and breathed in all the fresh air we could before going back to our video games."
"And let me guess, Aiden fell asleep fifteen minutes later?"
"I think he made it twenty." I winked. "But yes, eventually, neither of us could keep our eyes open. And we weren't about to try the awesome jumping closet again, so we turned off the TV, grabbed our pillows and sleeping bags, and zonked out. OurWeekend of Shameended with no all-nighter once again."
And we never had a full, honest-to-goodness all-nighter before Aiden was gone. Not even in college.
"Did Aiden really never tell anyone about that?" I asked.
"He never said a word." Kate shook her head, and I noticed that her eyes were moist.
Of all his siblings, Aiden had always been closest to Kate.
Yes, they fought all the time, and Kate sometimes drove her brother nuts, but they had loved each other so much. I felt the most sorry for her. That was why I knew I had to stay away after Aiden died. I didn't deserve to have her in my arms after everything that had happened.
"Thanks for sharing that with me." Kate wiped at her eye with her fingers. "It's been a long time since I've heard a new Aiden story."
It was then that I got a good look at her left hand. She seemed to notice my stare and immediately slid her hand between her knees.
But I'd already seen what I needed to see.
Her ring finger was naked.
My heart stuttered to a stop before running off like a racehorse. I watched as she squeezed her eyes shut, like she'd just been caught doing something wrong.
I cleared my throat and sat up straighter. "Is there a reason why you’re not wearing your wedding ring today, Kate? Is everything okay with you and Nolan?"
She bit her lip, but still wasn't looking at me. "Nolan and I—"
The door behind us opened. "Kate! Kate! Gramma said we can't eat dirt and worms until you and your fwiend comes inside."
Kate darted her gaze between the boy and me, as if she couldn't decide whom she was supposed to talk to at that moment.
"Kate?" I asked, urging her to answer my question."
"Please! I want dirt and worms!" Her little nephew jumped up and down, pouting his lip.
Kate looked back to me, but in the end, she stood up. She was taking her escape from the conversation. I wanted to snatch her hand back and force her to answer my question. But she was already inside before I could even move.