Page 121 of His to Cherish
Kate’s perpetually happy voice rang through the small bakery, interrupting us. “Aidan! You’re here! Come to whisk Chelsea away from me, huh?”
I turned toward her and smiled, and as I did, from my peripheral vision I noticed the announcement had grabbed Cory’s attention. He looked from Aidan to me before going back to his daughter.
“That’s the plan,” Aidan said. “But I think I need to stock up on treats first.”
“I’ll help you.” Kate bumped my hip with hers and flashed me a wink. “You go get ready.”
I turn back to Aidan, rolling my eyes with a smile. “I’ll be just a few minutes.”
While I was freshening up and reapplying a little bit of makeup in the small break room at the back, my mind spun with everything that had just happened and the concerned look on Aidan’s face when he’d first seen me.
He did care. And I was important to him.
Not that I’d doubted it, but it was still easy sometimes to worry about how important I truly was to someone. As much as I claimed to be over Cory and didn’t need his apology, old wounds easily surfaced.
I exhaled and tossed the strap of my purse over my shoulder. Someday, I was really going to start believing the words everyone told me instead of living in fear that I wasn’t enough.
Who knew? Perhaps today was that day.
With that thought, and a slight smile on my face, I headed back out to the front, where Aidan was holding a large white grocery sack. When I looked inside, I saw three large Styrofoam containers.
My grin spread wider and I burst out with a laugh. “Think that’s enough?”
He shrugged a shoulder and returned my smile. “With you? I thought it’d be safer to buy Kate out.”
Still laughing, I looked at Kate, who said, “Looks like the man knows you pretty well.”
“Yeah,” I sighed, flashing her a wink, and grinned back at Aidan. “I think he does.”
I swallowed, hoping Aidan knew I meant so much more by that statement than just my love of sugar and chocolate.
I caught Cory’s eyes as Aidan and I reached the door and I gave him a small wave goodbye.
He nodded once and I saw remorse flash in his eyes before he looked away. It was a simple look that said he knew how much he’d hurt me and was sorry. I returned his expression, accepting it, and let Aidan hold the door open for me as he guided me outside.
Once we were on the sidewalk, Aidan grabbed my hand and he tugged me flush against his firm chest.
“Are you really okay? That couldn’t have been easy.”
I rolled up to my toes and pressed my lips to his cheek. “I’m good, I promise. It was a surprise, but good to see him, I think. I don’t know, I didn’t really feel anything after I got over the initial shock.”
Aidan looked doubtful, but he still released me, sliding his hand up to the side of my neck and pressing his lips against mine. “All right, then.”
“Can we go now?” I nodded toward the bag. “I’m getting hungry.”
His easy laugh rumbled through the air, warming my stomach and making it flip as he helped me into the truck.
—
We’d been on the road for an hour, chatting while I ate the cupcakes and bagels he’d bought for me. I made him stop once to get me more coffee, and between the conversation and bursting Aidan’s eardrums with my horrible singing to the country music he played, it was the best road trip I’d ever taken.
“Tell me about Cory.”
His voice was quiet when the song “Burn It Down” ended. My bottom lip slipped between my teeth and I looked at him, wondering if he was upset or jealous or whatever.
But he wasn’t. He looked curious as he tossed me a quick look before refocusing on the road.
“We were high school sweethearts,” I said. “Started dating our sophomore year of high school and just…stayed together, I suppose. We both went to the University of Michigan and I lived in the dorms for the first couple of years with Suzanne, Camden, and Paige. Our junior year, Cory and I got an apartment together.” I trailed off, thinking about those years. How even then, Cory and I had said we’d always be together. I had believed him, too. Yet looking back, I could see how what we’d had wasn’t a real, deep love. Just a first love of young kids, wanting to hold on and not knowing how to let go when the time was right. “Anyway, we got married after graduation, and bought the house. I had always known it’d be difficult to have kids so we didn’t wait too long to start trying. And then…”
