Chapter 4 - Aiden
B efore leaving the market, Aiden turned back to take one last look at Olivia through the bustling crowd. She wore jean shorts, a tie-dyed tank top, and Birkenstocks, but all he saw were her lithe, muscular legs. Christ, was she always so tall?
When she’d turned her back to him, he’d wanted to reach out and touch her thick braid of dark red hair, which looped gracefully over her right shoulder. She was beautiful in the most natural, down-to-earth way Aiden could imagine.
Was this the same girl, er, woman, he’d gone to high school with? Sure, she was embarrassed about the whole Ethan thing, but she held her own. And her concern for his dad seemed genuine, which impacted him more than he’d have expected.
Now she stood talking to the older woman who had waited patiently for him to leave. As she spoke, Olivia gestured openly at her produce and flowers. She seemed so confident standing there under a tent banner that loudly proclaimed her vegetables were from the Olivia Olsen Farm .
Something Olivia said made the older woman laugh. Any wallflower tendencies she may have had in their youth seemed to have been washed away in the years since high school.
Realizing he was staring with a dorky smile on his face, he turned away and walked to his car. He gently placed the vegetable box and flowers in the backseat before climbing into the driver’s seat.
Even though he’d invited her to grab beers, hoping to see her once more before he went back to Saint Paul, it was for the best she'd blown him off. Did I just ask her to grab a beer when she went on a date with Ethan last night? Even if Ethan shrugged it off, it felt wrong.
When Ethan first told him he’d asked Olivia out, Aiden was convinced it was a different Olivia Olsen. But then Ethan sent Aiden a link to Olivia’s website bio, confirming it was the one person from high school with whom Aiden felt like he had unfinished business. Although the idea of Ethan dating Olivia made him uncomfortable, it was also downright laughable. What had she been thinking? There was no way that was going anywhere.
Yet, the night before, Aiden couldn’t stop wondering how their date was going. When Aiden finished having beers with his old high school buddy, Jake, he’d driven by Locals Only to see if he could spot Ethan’s truck in the parking lot. When his search came up empty, Aiden swung by his parents’ house, where Ethan still lived, and was relieved to find him sitting on the couch in the basement watching TV.
Aiden had tried not to laugh when Ethan told him about their date. “Well, it wasn’t great. She ditched me about fifteen minutes into it and has been ignoring my texts since. Anyway, I think Jennifer is going to be in town next week, so it’s probably for the best, timing-wise.”
Aiden truly appreciated his brother’s laid-back personality and rubber skin. Whatever life threw at him, he rebounded without a scratch. Not only did Aiden admire it, but at that moment, he was relieved. He had no claims on Olivia, but the thought of her sitting next to Ethan at their family dinners made something tighten in his chest.
Regardless, even if Ethan gave Aiden his blessing, Olivia was far too sweet to be messing around with. Some things hadn’t changed. The way she’d blushed when he’d teased her had boosted his ego, which ultimately made him feel like an ass.
But she’d acted confused when he’d alluded to their history.
Granted, calling it history might be a stretch. He rubbed his thumbs against the steering wheel as he thought back to that one night they’d hung out the summer after graduating high school. It was the first time Aiden had really seen Olivia, with her bright red hair, cute little freckles, and big, charming smile. Sure, they’d grown up in the same small town, but she had always been in his periphery, never in his line of sight. But that night, Aiden saw her for what she was—a hummingbird. She hovered directly in front of him for a moment before flying off to Seattle.
But if she wasn’t going to acknowledge it, neither was he. So he’d played it cool and made a joke about their time as kindergarten sweethearts instead. Did she really not remember, or was she messing with him?
Regardless of the past, they didn’t have a future.
He was telling the truth when he said he wanted to be around more to help out with his dad’s stroke recovery, but the two-hour drive between Gresham and Saint Paul was there for a reason. He had been so relieved to escape Gresham’s communal gaze after high school. Furthermore, he loved city life. He depended on having a coffee shop within walking distance of his bed.
Meanwhile, Olivia had put down literal roots in Gresham.
Even though he was closing the door he’d just cracked open, he pondered Olivia’s decision to move back to Gresham as he drove home. How could Olivia cope with Walmart being her closest option for browsing books? Or that both Mexican restaurants were owned and run by white people who'd never even been to Mexico? Or that her mom would know everything about her dating life?
Fifteen minutes later, Aiden opened the door to his parents’ house. When he set Olivia’s produce on the counter, he handed the flowers to his mom and leaned down to give her a kiss on the top of her head. His mom was still slender at sixty-four. Though most of Aiden’s siblings took after her in looks, her hair was slightly wavier than his and his siblings’. Her skin tanned deeply every summer, even though Aiden nagged her to wear sunscreen.
She narrowed her eyes at him, like she was trying to read his mind.
“What?” he asked, his tone flat and suspicious.
“How was your time with Olivia?” she asked, her hopeful voice giving her away.
Well, he supposed it wasn’t rocket science. Olivia was sweet, and his mom's friend’s daughter, Gresham-born, raised, and returned. What a fortuitous match, she must be thinking.
“Think again, Mom. Not happening,” he said aloud.
“What? What’s not happening?” she asked coyly.
“Mm-hmm. ”
“Okay, but you can’t deny it. She is darling.”
Then, opening the box, she said, “Will you help me put these groceries away?”
He reached over his mom’s shoulder and grabbed the lettuce. She was obviously stalling for time.
“Did you know Olivia bought a five-acre farm and started the CSA all by herself? She’s Gresham’s first CSA farmer, and she’s done it all on her own,” his mom said.
“Oh really? Good for her.” Aiden hoped he sounded uninterested, even though he was hanging on every word, hungry for more answers to his Olivia questions.
“Yup, and you should have seen all the work she’s done to help grow the farmers market this year. She even lobbied the City Council to change the market stall fee to an income-based sliding scale model to make it more equitable. In case you haven’t noticed, this young woman is very impressive.” His mom’s voice carried so much pride for everything Olivia had accomplished that it sounded like she was speaking about one of her own children. “Olivia is a needle in a haystack, Aiden. She is very special.”
“Well, Mom, maybe Ethan can give it another go since you’re obviously hoping Olivia will be your daughter-in-law someday.” He wanted to lower her hopes back down to earth.
His mom laughed exasperatedly and shook her head before lightly hitting him in the arm with the back of her hand as if she were scolding a teenager.
“Ouch,” Aiden teased, rubbing his arm. “Look, I appreciate the thought, but I’m not interested. Anyway, I gotta go. I told Ethan I’d help with the dock today. ”
He let his mom give him a kiss on the cheek before he walked toward the basement to find Ethan. They had been tasked with putting the dock in the lake, one of his least favorite chores, preceded only by the worse job of pulling the dock out of the frigid lake in fall before it froze over.
His family’s lakefront property was a privilege, so he’d vowed never to voice his complaints. But he was also coming to terms with his dad’s illness and that it meant he and Ethan would need to take the reins of caring for their parents' home indefinitely.