10. Aaron
Chapter ten
Aaron
The air is crisp and clear. My feet pound against the paved trail, splashing through puddles left by last night’s rain.
Mike jogs next to me. Normally, he isn’t much of a morning person, but I managed to convince him to wake early for a morning run. Though there’s the barn dance tonight, we don’t have much to do today otherwise.
I figure getting up early and then taking a nap mid-afternoon means we’ll all be ready to dance the night away.
We slow to a stop as we reach the mile marker indicating we’re almost back to the cabin.
“Can I ask you something personal?” Mike watches a seagull overhead.
I smirk. “About Ellen?”
“No, about your mother.”
I shove Mike’s shoulder. “Not cool.”
He laughs. “Yes, about Ellen. She’s just so awesome. We never run out of things to talk about and she’s always surprising me. She’s hilarious and just so warm.”
“You want to know why she and I didn’t work out?”
With a sheepish smile, he nods.
I consider the question. “We were good together. But that’s all we were, you know? If we had stayed together, it would only have been because we didn’t have a reason to break up.”
“So you didn’t love her?” Mike asks.
“I wouldn’t say that. It’s hard to say. We were good. Our relationship was open and we communicated great. When we disagreed, we didn’t fight. But we weren’t right. We both sensed it.”
Mike nods. “I get that. Not having a reason to break up, but realizing that you weren’t getting that je ne sais quoi .”
“Exactly. It was a mutual choice based on our mutual feelings, too,” I add.
“Right. Which is all to say, are you okay with me officially dating your ex-girlfriend?” Mike once again asks the question, looking up at the sky rather than at me.
His shoulders are tense, worried about what he’ll do if I say no.
I consider giving him a hard time because of that mother crack, but he looks too worried.
I laugh as I slap his back. “Not at all. You two are sickeningly cute together. Ellen is free to be with whoever she wants to be with. Although I will say that I expect you to treat her right. She deserves it.”
Mike releases a relieved breath. “Good. Because it turns out, we all live in the same city. I want to keep seeing her after Castleton. Beyond you and Bella setting us up, I mean.”
“Bella mentioned that you two knew,” I say ruefully. She had been unusually quiet during the few minutes we had alone this morning, but that was the one thing she made sure I knew.
“Ah, good. I’m glad that it’s all out in the open. Now Ellen and I can be just as obvious as we set up you and Bella.”
Surprise ripples through me. “Ellen wants to set me and Bella up together?”
“I was joking.” A devilish grin crosses his face. “But you want us to, don’t you?”
I chuckle. “If I want a relationship with Bella, I think I can handle it myself.”
“So you’re saying I couldn’t handle a relationship with Ellen by myself?” Mike challenges.
“Sure. If you say me and Bella playing matchmaker because I needed something to distract her from her jerk of an ex is indicative of you being unable to handle a relationship,” I ramble.
Mike’s expression drops. “That’s why you were doing it?”
“That, and the chemistry between you two is obvious.”
Mike runs a hand through his sweaty hair. “Ellen and I wondered why you were doing it. Guess I didn’t think too much about it.”
I study him. We’re nearly back to the cabin at this point. “Are you disappointed in my reasons?”
“Not so much that as annoyed Bella’s ex is here at all. Ellen and I could still spend time together if he wasn’t being a creepy stalker. Seriously, he’s like a raccoon that won’t leave the trash alone.”
I laugh, and the mood lightens. We get into the cabin and find Ellen and Bella in the living room. They have some old TV show on while Bella works in her sketchbook.
“Hello,” Ellen sings, as though it’s been days rather than a couple of hours since we last saw each other.
Mike’s entire face lights up as he greets her. They’re so twitter-pated that I can’t help but chuckle. I glance at Bella to exchange amused looks.
To my surprise, she doesn’t look up from her sketches.
“You working on your designs again?” I ask her as Ellen and Mike have a flirty exchange.
She nods without speaking.
I frown. What happened? She’s acting so cold all of a sudden. Did I do something wrong?
“Is everything okay?” I ask her under my breath. “Did Steven do something?”
Bella finally glances up at me. She forces a smile. “I’m fine. Perfectly fine.”
Her tone is measured and flat.
Clearly, not everything is perfectly fine.
I hesitate. She doesn’t want to talk about it, that much is obvious. But I still don’t know if she’s upset with me, upset with Steven, or just tired.
“It was quite the storm last night,” I offer. “It took me forever to get to sleep with that howling wind.”
Bella looks back to her sketchbook. “Yeah. I had a hard time sleeping as well.”
Ellen clears her throat, drawing our attention. “Bella and I have clothes shopping this afternoon, but Mike and I thought the four of us could get a nice brunch at the café. What do you say?”
“Sounds good to me,” I say.
Bella shakes her head. “I’m going to stay here. If all of you are out, I’ll take a bath and try to get some more sleep.”
That must mean she’s just tired, right?
“You want us to bring you anything back?” I ask her.
Bella forces a smile as she gets to her feet, tucking her notebook under her arm. “No, thanks. I’m good. You three have fun. Take your time. And Ellen, if you want to go shopping without me, that’s fine too. I don’t know if I want to go to the dance.”
Ellen’s expression falls, but Bella is already walking away and doesn’t see.
“I’m gonna grab a quick shower before we leave,” Mike says. He kisses Ellen lightly, and I avert my gaze.
When he’s gone, it’s just Ellen and me. The awkwardness of the situation crashes down on me abruptly.
“So, Bella tells me that you know about our… scheme,” I offer.
Ellen smirks. “We do. Thanks.”
I arch my eyebrows. “You’re welcome?”
“I mean for helping Bella get out of her head,” she clarifies. “I was worried when Steven showed up. I know she wants to just pretend like nothing happened and focus on work, but I needed her to see she could still have fun too.”
“Oh. So that’s why you brought her here.”
Ellen nods. “I wanted to make things better. She’s my best friend. I hoped she’d mourn so she could move on. Instead, she has done everything but confront her own feelings. But then you and Mike came along, and she’s started laughing again.”
I shuffle uncomfortably. “Well. I was only… er…”
“You were being yourself.” Ellen grins at me. “And that’s exactly what she needed.”
***
Brunch isn’t awkward, per se, but it’s clear that Mike and Ellen are making herculean efforts to include me. If Bella were here, it wouldn’t be so obvious.
I’m the third wheel. It’s not a great place to be. So once we’re all done eating, I slip away.
The town is vibrant and excited for the upcoming dance. I stroll the sidewalks, enjoying the clear air. Everything is still damp from the storm last night. It gives the town a fresh, clean look.
I duck into a hardware store. As I’m browsing, I hear something about another landslide. My stomach swoops—are we going to be stuck here even longer?
As much as I like this place, Mike and I need to start training soon, not to mention Bella and Ellen needing to get back to their jobs.
I head over to the two elderly men discussing the situation.
“Excuse me,” I say. “Did I hear right that there was another landslide?”
“Sure did,” the man to the left says. “As I was telling Billy here, the Colson’s house was completely destroyed.”
House? “It wasn’t on the highway?”
Billy shakes his head. “Joe lives near the Colson’s, and the slide came down the mountain and took out his barn, too.”
“Was anyone hurt?” I ask urgently. “Is anyone missing?”
“Thank God, no,” Joe answers.
I let out a sigh of relief.
“There were two houses and three barns all destroyed,” Joe continues. “Looks like some livestock were killed, but no people were hurt. It’s going to be difficult to rebuild, though.”
Billy nods, looking angry. “I’ve been saying for years that the mountain needs to be replanted. Damn, loggers ripped up all the trees, and now we have nothing to keep the dirt in place.”
“Gonna cost the town a fortune to stabilize it,” Joe agrees.
Billy scowls. “And how much you want to bet it won’t ever happen? Not in the budget or some such nonsense.”
They move on, but they’ve given me an idea. Castleton has offered the tourists trapped here so much. Perhaps we could give something back.
Some sort of fundraiser. An event I can help plan to raise money for the town and the people affected by the landslides.
I grin.
I can’t wait to share this idea with Bella.