Page 33 of Trusting You
“Just fine?” Mom smiled as she nudged me.
“Un huh,” I murmured as I refused to look up.
“Most college girls go to the beach for spring break to meet a guy,” she chirped.
“I’m not looking for a guy. You know I can’t do that,” I huffed as I set the book down. “The trip was nice. The water was too cold to swim, but we had fun on the beach. Happy?” I snapped.
“Melinda,” my dad warned but before he could finish, there was a knock at the door.
“Who could that be?” Mom glanced at her watch and scrunched her brow like it was odd that someone would stop by at 8 at night.
“I’ll get it,” I jumped up before they could stop me. I just wanted any excuse to get away from the conversation. I didn’t want to talk to them about Aaron, and I knew if my mother kept pressuring me, I’d soon slip up or begin crying again.
Aaron
“Coming,” I heard the voice through the thick door and knew it was her. She was talking to someone, but I couldn’t figure out who. Her tone said that she was happy though. When the door opened, I watched as the smile on her face dropped and sheer panic seemed to washed over her. “What are you doing here?” she swallowed and shifted a toddler on her hip.
“I came to see you,” I smiled weakly and held out the flowers I’d brought her.
“You need to leave,” she started to close the door, but I reached out and grabbed it, stopping her.
“I just wanna talk to you. Can’t your parents watch your brother,” I motioned to the little boy that was grinning and clinging to her.
“No, they can’t,” she glanced around like she was worried that someone else was going to ambush her.
“Mama,” the little boy giggled before stuffing his fingers in his mouth and bringing me to a screeching halt.
“Mama?” I gulped.
Mel’s shoulders straightened before she looked at me with a hollow stare, “This is Brooklyn, my son. You can leave now,” she pointed at where my Jeep was parked before she pushed the door shut in my face, leaving me standing there dumbfounded.
Holy shit! She had a kid.
Chapter 15
Melinda
I pressed my back against the door, and tried to control my breathing. Why was he here, and what the hell did I ever do to deserve this?
“Mel?” he pounded on the wood. “We need to talk!”
“Go home, Aaron,” I shouted back just as my mom came around the corner.
She wrinkled her brow as she stared at me sitting there on the floor with Brooklyn happily clapping beside me. He thought it was a game of some kind, and between the three of them, I was ready to break down again.
“Who’s at the door, honey?” she reached down and picked up Brooklyn.
“It’s nobody,” I muttered as I kissed my son goodnight. I nodded a silent ‘thank you’ before watching as she carried him up to bed.
“You should deal with ‘nobody’ before the neighbors start to notice,” she tipped her head toward the door just as Aaron pounded again.
“Melinda! Please?” his voice became muffled like he was leaning against the door, and my heart cracked a little more as I ignored it. Nothing good would come of us talking. He had to see. Now that he knew about Brooklyn, how could we ever work?
Aaron
What just happened? How did we go from one of the best weeks I have had in a long time to me begging her to open her door and talk to me? How did I not know that she has a son? How did Emma not know this? I thought they talked about everything. I thought girls didn’t keep secrets from each other.
I stood there like an idiot, staring at the door to her house. I could hear muffled voices on the other side, and then the porch light went out. I cursed as I backed up and looked up at the house. Lights from inside slowly went out until I was bathed in darkness. She really wasn’t going to let me in, and what little hope I’d been clinging to was slowly slipping away.
