Page 14 of Finding Happily Ever After
Their conversation had flowed and with the exception of one moment when he’d been sure he’d said something wrong that had put her off, everything had gone perfectly. Even that moment, when she’d seemed to have gone off in her own thoughts, had passed quickly and it hadn’t taken long for them to get right back on track. He wanted to see more of her. A lot more.
But when they’d finished their coffee and honey buns, and Natalie told him she had more errands to run before her shift started at the station house, Aiden had reluctantly agreed to part ways for the day. After all, every minute he’d spent away from his kitchen table and the piles and piles of unmarked papers he had to make his way through before Monday meant another minute he’d be up into the wee hours of the morning.
His workload certainly wasn’t decreasing by spending time with Natalie.
But for the first time in his teaching career, he didn’t care. Something felt more important than the work that waited for him.
Still. He had to be responsible, and the kids were depending on him getting their marks back to them in a timely fashion. So, after reluctantly saying good-bye to Natalie, with the promise of her not backing out of their hike on Tuesday, he ordered another coffee to go and headed home to start marking.
Aiden was about halfway through the pile when his phone rang.
He grabbed it without looking at the caller ID. A move he regretted the second he heard her voice.
“Aiden, thank God.”
Brenna.
Shit.
It wasn’t the end of the month. He hadn’t missed a payment. But still, he knew exactly why she was calling.
“Hi, Brenna. What’s going—”
“I’m so glad you answered your phone. I’ve been thinking about all the things you could be doing and where you might be and—”
“You know where I am, Brenna. I told you I moved to Glacier Falls in time to start the fall semester.” He tried to keep his annoyance at bay. It was all part of Brenna’s act. She liked to play the victim. An innocent who needed as much help as possible. Which turned out to bea lot.It was an act he’d fallen for once. Okay, more than once. And by the time he’d woken up to who Brenna really was, a lazy woman-child who’d rather play games and manipulate other people than do anything for herself, they’d already been married six months.
He still didn’t know how she’d done it, but for a woman who spent her whole life trying to do as little as possible, Brenna had gone to work when it came to their divorce. Despite their short marriage, somehow she’d managed to wrangle a ridiculous amount of spousal support from him that he had to pay her monthly, for two years. A term he could have fought harder against. But at the time, Aiden just wanted to be done and put that chapter of his life behind him. It didn’t do much for a man’s self-esteem to have a constant reminder of his own poor choices around.
Besides, he’d reasoned that two years would go by quickly and it had. He only had one more payment left in their agreement and then he’d be free from her forever.
Which was exactly why she was calling now.
No doubt, Brenna had spent the last two years trying to line up her next meal ticket—aka an unsuspecting man who couldn’t see past her bright-blue eyes, sinful smile, and equally sinful curves that had been the source of all his poor decisions. But if she was calling him now, it was because she either hadn’t secured her plan B, or she was just getting greedy.
Either way, Aiden didn’t want anything to do with it.
“I know you ran away to the mountains,” she crooned, her voice dripping with insincerity. “I bet you’re doing the whole sexy mountain man thing, aren’t you?”
“What’s up, Brenna?” He refused to engage. “I’m working. I need to—”
“Working? On a Saturday? You work too hard, baby.”
“Not your baby.”
Dammit.He was falling into her trap.
“You know you’ll always be my—”
“Seriously.” He needed to get her off the phone. “What can I do for you? I need to get back to work.”
“Fine.” Her voice was clipped. Her attitude shifted quickly and dramatically. “I need to extend our agreement.”
“No.”
“Aiden.”
“No, Brenna.” He shook his head. He wouldn’t fall for it. “It’s over. The last payment will be in your account next month and then we’re done. It’s what we agreed on.”
