12. Aaron
TWELVE
AARON
“Thanks for warming up a plate for me,” Mel said, coming to stand in the doorways of Allie and Chloe’s room. She leaned a shoulder against the frame, holding her plate with one hand and eating as she watched Aaron brushing Chloe’s wet hair.
“No problem.” He’d done so while Lars had finished up these two girls’ bath and Mel had come out of her cave to help put Maddie to bed. “How’d the work stuff go?”
She made a noncommittal noise. “Fine.”
He chuckled, understanding all too well. Setting the brush down, he wrapped his arms around the little girl on his lap. They sat on the floor next to her bed, Chloe flipping through a dozen books, trying to pick out a bedtime story. He leaned down next to her face. “Did you pick one?”
“Can I have two?” She turned to smile at him with rounded eyes.
He looked at her mom for guidance. Mel rolled her eyes but nodded. Kissing Chloe’s cheek, he said, “Yes. Tonight, you can have two.”
“What about me?” Allie asked from where she lay on her bed, book held up above her face as she looked at the pictures.
“Of course.” He was pretty sure he loved story time almost as much as they did. Getting to his feet, he had Chloe grab her two picks, then he lifted her into his arms. Allie put her own book down, sliding over toward the wall, and he took a seat next to her.
Chloe twisted around. “Braids?”
Aaron sighed playfully. “Fine.” Taking her books, he handed them to Allie before lowering Chloe to the floor. “Grab the brush and two ponytails.”
She giggled and did as he asked. Mel shook her head in the doorway with a grin. “You got this?”
“Yeah, go relax,” he said. Chloe climbed back up onto his lap, kneeing him in the stomach, and he let out an “oomph.”
“Sowwy,” she said, still laughing, sounding very not sorry.
Mel walked over, setting her plate on the dresser as she passed it. Leaning down, she kissed each girl on the forehead. “Goodnight, my babies.”
“Night, Mommy,” Allie and Chloe said simultaneously.
“I love you both.” Mel patted Aaron on the shoulder. “Thank you for helping out.”
“Thanks for letting me stay here as much as I do.”
With another round of goodnights, she left, grabbing her plate on the way out. She shut the door softly behind her. Lars was currently downstairs doing the rest of the dishes, but Aaron knew he would be up soon.
“Okay, you know the drill. Allie, you’re in charge of flipping pages while I braid her hair,” he said as he started parting Chloe’s blond locks.
“I want braids too…” Allie frowned.
“I’ll do yours in the morning before school.”
She grinned and nodded. “Okay.”
Settling in, she opened one of the books on her lap, and he began reading and braiding.
He’d learned how to do this with Charlie and Vi as kids, but it wasn’t until he started helping out with Allie when she was a baby that he really mastered it.
Now, it was second nature. He had Chloe’s two braids done before they even got to the second book.
Once finished, he set the brush aside and wrapped an arm around Allie.
He was halfway through the third book when Lars peeked in.
Allie was asleep against his side, Chloe against his chest. Lars quietly crossed the room and reached for Chloe, lifting her from Aaron’s lap.
Aaron gathered the books with his free hand and put them on the nightstand, then he slowly eased his arm out from behind Allie.
He laid her flat and tucked her in, brushing hair from her brow before pressing a kiss there.
Lars traded him spots. Smiling down at his sleeping monster, he wondered if he would ever have this himself.
Kissing Chloe’s temple, he backed away and checked that their nightlight was on before switching off the lamp.
Lars followed him to the hallway and shut the door. “Thank you for that. It’s a big help having you here for bedtime.”
“I love being here for it,” Aaron said with a shrug.
He shuffled awkwardly on his feet, knowing the conversation he’d been dreading was coming next.
Without a word, he headed for the staircase and made his way to the couch in the living room.
Presumably his bed for the night. Sinking down into it, he decided to jump right in. “I’m sorry about the other day.”
Nodding, Lars took the armchair next to him. “Me too.”
Aaron opened his mouth to ask about last night but realized that would be him making it about himself again. Clearing his throat, he instead asked, “What’s been going on? What did you need to talk about the other day?”
Lars hesitated, twisting his hands together. It took a moment for him to answer, and never in a million years would Aaron have guessed what he was about to say.
“Mel has a potential job opportunity… in London.”
Everything seemed to freeze around them. Aaron’s brow creased in confusion. “I… What?”
“Yeah, that was pretty much my response too,” he said with a dark laugh as he leaned back in his chair.
Aaron’s heart pounded in his chest, his stomach twisting. “She’s moving to London?”
“She’ll need to do an interview, which she’s still considering. They gave her the weekend to decide if she wants to go for it.” The misery in his gaze only amplified Aaron’s fear.
“But… I don’t understand.” Aaron shook his head and stood, needing to pace. “She can’t move to London. What about—” His words cut off, and he faced Lars. “Are you moving to London? What about the girls? I can’t… You can’t just—”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t want to leave them.”
“She can’t take them.”
“Aaron—”
“No, no, no.” Aaron shoved his fingers through his hair. “She can’t. It’s too far. I—”
His best friend appeared in front of him, gripping him by the shoulders. “Stop. Breathe.”
“I’m breathing fine,” he hissed, even as his throat threatened to close. “This is…” Realization struck. His eyes snapped up to Lars. “Oh God, this is why you called. You were freaking out about this.”
Lars nodded, and Aaron felt even worse. Unable to stop himself, Aaron stepped closer and pulled him into a hug. Lars only hesitated a second before returning the embrace. “It’s been a rough few days.”
“I’m so sorry.” Releasing Lars, Aaron flopped onto the couch once more. “She needs to make a decision soon?”
“Tomorrow.”
Aaron ran a hand down his face. It felt as if his entire world was imploding, but right now, he had to focus on Lars. On his friend who was suffering more than Aaron had even realized. “God, I really am a shitty friend.”
“No, you’re not,” Lars said, this time sitting on the couch next to him. “You have your own stuff going on.”
Scoffing, Aaron angled his body toward his friend. “My sexual crisis is not important compared to this.”
Lars nodded and lowered his gaze. “I don’t know what I’ll do if she goes, or what that’ll mean for the girls. If she tries to take them…”
Aaron had dealt with a lot of crap in his life.
His father walking out on them when he was a kid.
The fallout with his friends after the wedding fiasco.
But nothing, nothing compared to the pain he felt now just at the possibility of them moving overseas.
Of losing those three girls who meant the world to him.
And the man who was right up there with them on the list of most important people in his life.
“We’ll figure it out,” he whispered, more to himself than Lars. “Would… would you go too?”
His friend shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. If it came down to it.”
Aaron could lose this whole family… Clenching his jaw, he took a slow, deep breath.
Nothing was decided yet, so he tried to lighten the mood just slightly.
“Well, if you do, I’d like to request that you find a place with an extra spare room so I don’t have to sleep on the couch.
Because you know I’ll fly over there just to get space from my problematic roommates. ”
Lars let out a soft laugh.
“And because I seem incapable of going more than a few days without seeing the girls.”
“Just the girls?” Lars asked.
With a smirk, Aaron acquiesced. “Fine, I’m kind of attached to you too. And Mel.”
They settled into silence for a moment. With the girls asleep and Mel in her room upstairs, it was utterly quiet. A rarity in this house.
“So,” Lars started. “Last night…”
Aaron’s pulse quickened. “We don’t have to talk about it.”
“You were making out with some dude against, presumably, his car, oblivious to the world,” Lars said with another chuckle. “We absolutely do.”
Unable to look at him, Aaron tapped a finger on his leg. “I… didn’t know anyone was out there.”
Perrington was a small town. It wasn’t exactly brimming with people walking around, especially on a cold night.
“Clearly.”
Aaron winced. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Hey,” Lars said in a gentler tone. “It’s not a big deal on my end, but if you two… slept together, it is kind of a big deal for you.”
Brow furrowed, Aaron finally looked up. “What?”
“You’ve only slept with Charlie and that other woman last week, as far as I know.” Lars crossed his arms and leaned back. “So, sleeping with anyone right now is kind of a big deal, let alone if it was the first guy—”
“He wasn’t the first guy for everything.” Aaron narrowed his gaze on his friend.
The friend who just grinned and said, “Obviously. But you know what I mean.”
Sighing, Aaron nodded. “Yeah… and yes, he was the first.”
“And?”
“And it was better than the woman last week.” Needing to move, he stood and started pacing again.
“It led to a lot of questions, which is why I went to Charlie to ask if I was horrible at sex.” He was rambling now but couldn’t stop.
“And that’s when she said I could be selfish in bed, which honestly just made me spiral more because last night I realized how much I liked that man taking control. I mean, he really fu—”
Aaron froze, realizing he was going into more detail than necessary. His best friend didn’t need to hear about how Evan had fucked the hell out of him. Turning, he found Lars watching him with a look in his eye he couldn’t read.
Clearing his throat, Aaron said, “My point is, last night, things were… reversed, and not only did that let me experience things from the other side, but for the first time in my life, I felt a tiny bit of that sort of heat everyone else talks about. And it terrifies me because I…” He turned away once more.
“I never had that with Charlie, and if I could feel that with a stranger… what could it be like with someone I love? Which just makes me wonder if I’ll ever even find that. ”
When Lars didn’t speak right away, Aaron wanted to disappear. He forced himself to stop rambling and wanted to sink into the ground.
“Sorry,” he whispered, running his fingers through his hair for what had to be the fifth time in as many minutes. “I’m just… going to go find some blankets for the couch.”
He started toward the stairs, but then Lars was there, grabbing him by the arm. Lars pulled him into another hug. “Sorry. I was processing.” Letting go, he stepped back with a smile. “You’ll find that. Just give it time. You’ve only been single for like eight months.”
Aaron nodded, but he still didn’t feel reassured. To find that sort of love seemed impossible. Especially when he had a history of not being chosen.