CHAPTER ELEVEN
Aiden couldn’t believe that it had worked out for him to spend time with Shiloh. Even though he’d asked Skylar to check with Charli about giving them a break for a couple of hours, he really hadn’t expected her to do it.
But thankfully, she’d spoken to Charli and had shown up herself, even though it had meant spending time with him. And she hadn’t even protested when he’d come bearing the meal he’d remembered as being her favorite from back when they were dating.
As he sat across from her, it became harder and harder to not remember the times they’d sat like that on their numerous dates. They’d often eaten fast food because it was what he could afford at the time on the pay he got from delivering pizzas or from one of the other part-time jobs he’d held.
Her smiles didn’t come as readily, and she didn’t laugh as easily, but she was still just as beautiful as she’d been back then. It surprised him that she didn’t have a boyfriend, because she’d always garnered male attention, even back when they were dating.
But even with all that male attention, she’d never given him any reason to think that he couldn’t trust her. Even after he’d left for college, he hadn’t worried. Unfortunately, he had been nowhere near that trustworthy.
Which was undoubtedly why there was a lot of wariness in her gaze whenever they interacted.
It was his hope that over time, she’d see that she could trust him to be a better man than he’d been nine years ago. He wanted her to know that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt Shiloh. And though he wished he could play a bigger role in her life, he was going to respect the roles and responsibility Charli and Blake had in Shiloh’s life.
Alongside Skylar’s beauty and wariness was a hardness that might be partly due to becoming an adult and the difficulties that could bring. Unfortunately, he had a feeling that what happened between them and with Shiloh had added to it.
“I think Shiloh is supposed to go home in the next few days, following her last treatment,” Skylar said, her gaze on Shiloh.
“I’m sure she and Charli and Blake are looking forward to that.”
Skylar nodded. “I would imagine so. Although, for me personally, I think I’d find being in the hospital reassuring, to some extent.”
“Yeah. Is there a concern with them being over an hour’s drive from the hospital?”
“I think they might have been more worried if we didn’t have so many medical professionals in the family to help them should something come up.”
“Will they be limiting visitors for her?”
“I don’t know,” Skylar said. “Are you thinking of your mom and Willow?”
“Yes. I know they’d love to meet her, but I don’t want to push.”
“I’m sure Charli understands that,” Skylar said. “And I’m sure that Shiloh would also like to meet them.”
He knew his mom was happy that, after losing two members of their small family, they had added one. Of course, his mom wished the circumstances were different. But at the end of the day, Shiloh was another grandchild for her, and she was thrilled about it.
Charli and Blake ended up coming back before the two hours were up. As soon as they came into the room, they both walked over to Shiloh’s bed. Charli bent to press a kiss to her head.
“How was everything?” Blake asked as they came over to the table. “Did she wake up at all?”
“Yes.” Skylar gave a brief recount of the time they’d been there, including the small amount of food she’d eaten.
“Oh, I’m glad she ate,” Charli said. “Hopefully, her appetite is returning a bit.”
“Aiden brought her some gifts from his mom and Willow,” Skylar said.
“That’s lovely.” Charli took the bag Aiden had picked up and held out to her. “She loves to color and read. Please thank your mom and Willow for us.”
“I’ll pass that on,” Aiden said.
“I know your mom and Willow would like to meet Shiloh,” Charli said. “And Shiloh would definitely like that as well. I’m hoping that once she’s home, we’ll be able to set something up.”
“Will you prepare Willow with information about Shiloh’s diagnosis?” Blake asked. “I would prefer that Shiloh not have to discuss it. She knows what’s going on, but I think it would be good if the two of them could just be a couple of kids hanging out together.”
“I’ll make sure she knows what’s going on,” Aiden assured them. He’d already talked a bit about it with Willow, and he’d make sure she had more information before she met Shiloh.
“Thank you for coming here, so Blake and I could go on a date,” Charli said as she gave Skylar a hug, then held out her arms to Aiden.
It felt a bit weird to hug Charli, as that had not been part of their dynamic when he’d last been around her. But he’d take a hug over a punch in the gut, which was what he was on the watch for whenever he was around Skylar’s family. Well, mainly her brothers.
“I’m happy to come back any time to babysit,” Aiden said.
As he said the words, a memory of his dad came to him. Bethany had asked their dad if he’d babysat her and Aiden a lot when they were little. His dad had said that he’d never babysat them. Bethany had been indignant, insisting that she remembered at least one time when he’d stayed with them.
He’d corrected her, stating that he hadn’t been babysitting them. He’d been taking care of them, as a father should.
Unfortunately, in Aiden’s reality, he wasn’t a parent taking care of his child. He was a babysitter.
“I’m going to head for home,” Skylar said as she shuffled onto her crutches.
Charli gave her another hug. “Thanks for coming, sis.”
Aiden followed her out of the room, then kept his stride short as they made their way down the hallway, maneuvering around people and medical equipment. When they reached the elevator, they didn’t have to wait long.
Thankfully, there was only one person on it when the doors slid open. However, it stopped on the next floor down and several people joined them. Aiden positioned himself between Skylar and the others in the elevator car so that no one bumped into her or her crutches.
When they reached the main floor, he let the others exit before placing his hand on the door to keep it open so Skylar could leave the elevator.
The sun hadn’t completely set yet since the summer days were long, and warm fresh air embraced them as they stepped from the air-conditioned building.
“Thank you again for setting this up,” Aiden said. “I’m sure it wasn’t what you wanted to do.”
Skylar leaned on her crutches as they stood off to the side, out of the way of the doors. Last time they’d had a more emotionally intense moment standing there, and Aiden hoped there wouldn’t be a repeat of it. He wasn’t sure he could handle it.
“I did it more for Charli, Blake, and Shiloh.”
“I know,” Aiden told her. “But I still appreciate it.”
“I don’t suppose we’ll be doing it again,” Skylar said. “If they’re going to be going home soon.”
Aiden wanted to be able to spend more time with Shiloh, but he had a feeling that if he did, Skylar would not be part of it. That made him sad because it felt like they should be building this relationship with Shiloh together. He was well aware, however, that she didn’t feel the same way.
“Why don’t you give me your car keys,” he said, holding out his hand.
“Why?”
“I’ll go get your car and bring it around so you don’t have to use your crutches all the way to the parking lot.”
“It’s not that far.”
Aiden lifted his eyebrows and kept his hand out. He remembered how she’d been in high school when she’d ended up on crutches, so he was sure that she would actually like to not have to walk on the crutches any further than necessary.
“C’mon, I know you don’t like walking on those things,” he said. “I suppose I could carry you like I used to, or… I could just take the keys and bring the car around to you.”
She glared at him. Her expression was so familiar that it brought a smile to his face. “C’mon, Sky. Hand them over. You know you want to.”
“Fine.” Rolling her eyes at him, she dug into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a key ring with a fob. Holding it above his hand, she sighed, then dropped it into his palm.
After telling him what she was driving and approximately where she’d parked, he turned and headed for the parking lot. The smile over the exchange didn’t fade as he walked away from Skylar.
The exchange… her reactions… it had all been so familiar and a poignant reminder of the past. Not just of the time when they’d dated, but also of all the years they’d known each other. Which had basically been their whole lives.
He and Cole had met in kindergarten, and it hadn’t been long after their meeting that he’d met Cole’s little sister. She’d had long, wavy brown hair and big brown eyes, just like Shiloh had, and she’d become a fixture in his life as well.
As he neared the area where Skylar had said she’d parked, he pressed the fob and listened for the chirp. Soon, he found the vehicle and slid behind the wheel.
It didn’t take long to circle around and pull up to where he’d left Skylar. There were other cars there also picking up people, so he quickly hopped out and waited by the door for Skylar to circle around the car.
“Thank you,” she said, leaning in to put her crutches on the passenger side, then she hopped around to angle herself to slide into the driver’s seat.
“Talk to you later,” Aiden said, then closed her door and moved out of the way of the vehicles.
Once she’d pulled away, he headed for his own car to make the short drive home to his mom and Willow.
Over the next few days, Aiden found himself revisiting the exchange he and Skylar had had. And along with the exchange, memories of their time together growing up and dating.
There had been a time in his life when he’d believed that he’d do anything to protect Skylar. First as his best friend’s sister, then as his girlfriend.
They’d grown up together, sharing many moments of laughter and joy. Even when he and Cole had found her to be a pain sometimes, especially when they were newly turned thirteen years old. Skylar had just been eleven, but they’d still tolerated her and let her tag along.
The two years’ difference in their ages hadn’t meant as much when he was seventeen and noticing that Cole’s little sister was actually a beautiful young woman. When he’d asked her out on a date, her parents had made it clear the only reason they were allowing her to date him at fifteen was because they knew him and trusted him to treat her well.
He’d promised that he would take care of Skylar and be a good boyfriend to her.
Only he hadn’t been.
He’d been terrible to her.
During the years since he’d last seen her, thoughts of that time had come to mind more than he would have wanted. There had been times he’d wanted to ask Cole how Skylar was doing, but he’d bitten his tongue.
Cole had stuck to Aiden’s request that they not talk about Skylar, and Aiden hadn’t been sure how to change that. Or if he wanted to open that door for Cole to ask for more details about the breakup.
Initially, when guilt had tried to edge its way into his emotions, he’d managed to tell himself that the breakup had been for the best. But as he’d matured, and then experienced the trauma of losing his dad and sister, the guilt had surfaced more and more.
However, he hadn’t known what to do with it.
Would he have ever contacted Skylar if she hadn’t appeared in his office?
Maybe when their paths had crossed, which he’d assumed would happen at some point. Though he hadn’t known exactly when or where that would be, it had seemed inevitable because of their connections to Cole.
But that’s not what happened. And now she’d had to accept him back into her life when it seemed to be the last thing she wanted. Which wasn’t a surprise at all. And he also couldn’t blame her for how she might feel.
Now that he’d spent some time with her, Aiden really wanted to find a way to make things up to her. Unfortunately, absolutely nothing came to mind.
That evening, after he’d spent time with Willow before she went to bed, he decided to call Cole again. He was hoping that his friend had talked to Skylar and could give Aiden some idea of where her mind was at.
“How’s it going, bro?” Cole asked when he answered Aiden’s call. “Guess Skylar hasn’t offed you yet, huh?”
“I don’t think she’s even tried,” Aiden told him.
“Well, I have a feeling she’s thought about it.”
“Have you talked to her?” he asked.
“I have,” Cole said. “And she is not your biggest fan.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“You don’t blame her for not liking you, do you?”
“Of course not,” Aiden said. “I deserve how she feels about me.”
There was a beat of silence before Cole said, “Do you wish that she didn’t feel that way?”
“Well, no one wants someone to dislike them, even if they do deserve it,” Aiden told him. “And it would make things easier, for Shiloh’s sake, if we got along.”
“That would be true if you were actually co-parenting, but you’re not. You don’t have to spend time with Shiloh together,” Cole said. “Unless that’s what you want.”
Aiden realized that he did want that.
“Dude…” Cole said when he didn’t answer right away. “Don’t tell me you think you have a second chance with Skylar. I hate to tell you that I’m not sure that’s even remotely possible.”
“I understand that.” Unfortunate, but true. “But if we could at least be friends again, I think it would be the best thing all around. It’s not going to be good for Shiloh if she thinks her birth parents hate each other or can’t get along.”
“I wish you the best of luck with that,” Cole said. “Truly I do, but you hurt Skylar pretty badly.”
Aiden slumped forward in his seat. “I am aware of that. I just want to know if there’s anything I can do to help make it easier for her to get along with me.”
“I have a feeling she’d say you staying away from her would help her get along with you.”
Not exactly what he wanted to hear, but completely understandable. “Don’t suppose you’d care to go to bat for me.”
“You want me to play matchmaker?” Cole asked, skepticism heavy in his voice.
“No. Not a matchmaker. Just maybe help her to see that a friendship between us isn’t the worst thing in the world. I’m not even asking for us to be best friends. Just… friends.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Cole said. “But I make no promises.”
“Any chance you’re going to come home anytime soon?”
“Serenity isn’t home to me anymore, bro,” Cole said.
“You know what I mean. Family is home for us, regardless of where we might actually live.”
“I am kind of curious about everything going on with the family at the moment,” Cole said. “And you’re not the only one trying to get me back to Serenity.”
“Who else?”
“Jay and Will have both told me I should come home for a bit. Maybe get myself tested for Shiloh.”
“That’s an excellent reason for you to come back,” Aiden said.
“Yes, it is,” Cole agreed. “I’ll see.”
Conversation moved—as it often did with them—to basketball. It was the off-season, so Cole wasn’t actively practicing, but he was never one to slack, even then.
It was hard to believe that he’d been playing pro for almost six years already. They’d both ended up with the careers they’d hoped for.
Early on in his teen years, Aiden had thought that he wanted to play pro as well. However, it soon became clear that he could never play at the level Cole did.
Aiden had been good, but Cole had been amazing. So by the time he made it to college, Aiden had known he needed another career path. Which was how he’d ended up in architecture, and he was happy with that.
By the time their call ended, Aiden thought maybe he had a chance of Cole helping him with Skylar.
But he could also help himself by going places where she might be, to see if she could get used to him being around, even in just a peripheral way.