by Reina Torres
It took a minute to compose her expression and her mother zeroed in on that like a mom with part bloodhound in her DNA.
“You can tell me anything, you know? We’ve always been able to tell each other everything.”
The words hit Aylin hard. Knocked her off-kilter.
Maybe it was just her mood. Or her lack of sleep because Kat liked to have friends over late into the night.
Or maybe it was because what her mother said hadn’t really been true. They hadn’t told each other everything. Her mom had kept a lot about her father a secret. Stories to plug the holes when Aylin had been struggling to feel whole.
Viviana had done it out of love. She’d done it to protect them both, but those holes in the dam were cracking.
Why? Aylin couldn’t put her finger on it. Maybe it was her father’s appearance at the coffee shop weeks ago. Maybe it was the note she got from school that her student loan had been paid in full. At first, she’d thought it was Ethan. He’d offered to pay for her school when she’d signed up to take classes and work for her degree in Finance and Accounting. Of course, she’d turned him down.
She was grateful. And humbled by his interest in helping her, but she’d also known that he’d done it because he loved her.
Love.
Had Stillman been right? Did she want her father’s love? She had her mother’s. There was no doubt of that. She had Ethan’s.
Why? He’d barely known her. Sure, he’d fallen for her mother, who wouldn’t?
Her father. Craig. He’d had Viviana’s love and he’d thrown it away. Why? Why did one man cherish and another toss them away?
“Sweetheart?”
The touch on her shoulder had her flinching away. Aylin saw her mother’s shock, but more than that she saw her mother’s open concern.
The last thing she wanted was to cause her mother worry. She was still in that Honeymoon stage of her marriage to Ethan and the last thing Aylin wanted to do was cause her mother pain or make her worry. “Sorry. I was thinking over some of the homework I need to get done tonight.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Viviana wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Why don’t you stay here tonight and get your homework done. I can drive you into town tomorrow morning for your class.”
Nope. Wrong tact.
“Mom, no. I’m fine. I was just going over this one problem and I think I found out where I was going wrong.” Aylin leaned against the counter and picked up another clove of garlic to peel. “I’ll be just fine, Mom. I promise.”
“Well,” Viviana took up her knife again and continued the prep for one of their side dishes, “cooking always helped to clear my head. Maybe you’re a little like me in that way.”
Aylin lifted her gaze to look at her mother standing beside her. “I take after you in every way that counts.”
“Knock. Knock.” They turned together and Aylin gasped first. “Harper!!” Dashing quickly over to the sink, Aylin washed her hands, scrubbing carefully with her mom’s super anti-bacterial soap that she had in every kitchen she worked in. Once she was washed and dried, she turned back to look at Blythe and her daughter. “Gimmie! Please, oh, please, Gimmie!!”
Blythe laughed as Harper mimicked Aylin’s grabby hands and before Aylin could take hold of the little girl, Harper giggled and shouted, “Gimmie Ayli!”
“Oh, that’s my girl!” Aylin took hold of the little girl who lit up the world with her smile and placed a score of kisses all over her face. “Kisses, kisses...”
“Kisses... kisses...,” Harper chatted back.
Blythe’s smile warmed Aylin straight to her heart and even the sloppiest of sloppy baby kisses felt like a top-notch salon treatment.
“Uh-oh!”
Harper sat back in Aylin’s embrace and clapped her hands together. “Uh-oh, Daddy!”
Squirrel pulled his wife into his arms and gave Blythe a noisy kiss. “Looks like I get Mommy all to myself.”
Blythe gave Squirrel a look and shook her head. “Don’t ruin it for Aylin. You keep saying those things and Harper’s going to get antsy.”
“You can’t really blame Harper.” He shrugged with a big grin for his daughter. “She’s a daddy’s girl, aren’t you, baby?”
Harper laughed and waved her hands. “Daddy. Daddy. Daddy.”
“See?” Squirrel grinned at everyone. “My girls love me.”
“Daddy. Daddy.” Harper didn’t stop so Aylin relinquished her even though Squirrel apologized after a rather imperious look from his wife.
“It’s okay,” she waved him off when he tried to hand the baby back. “I need to help with dinner. You guys go in the living room with my... with the Chief.”
“Chief?” Ethan walked in the room and planted a kiss on Viviana’s cheek. “I thought I heard someone call me Chief?” He caught sight of Aylin and she couldn’t help the heavy flush of color in her cheeks. “It can’t be you, Aylin. You know in this house, I’m just Ethan. Or dad.”
The smile he gave her tore her apart inside, but because he’d never been anything but amazing to her, she managed a smile for him. “Sorry, Dad. For a second, I wasn’t sure if I’d confuse Harper or since Squirrel’s here, he’d think of you as the Chief.”
Squirrel waved off the idea. “The Chief has always been low-key outside of our shifts. We always respect him, and we literally follow him through burning buildings, but we also know he’s just a big ol’ gooey mess now that he has you and your mom in his life.”
“Gooey mess?”
Aylin could see the pained look on Ethan’s face.
Squirrel gave him a wink. “Don’t worry. Everyone still thinks you’re a total bada- hero,” Squirrel winced at his wife’s wide-eyed look, “but once you met Viviana you were caught. Yanked from the water like a trophy-winning trout and filleted for dinner.”
“Wow,” Aylin’s laughter caught in her throat, “you turned what I think was a compliment into a pseudo ‘Hannibal’ moment. Awesome, Squirrel.”
He dropped his head in a little bow. “Thank you, thank you. I’ll sign autographs later.”
“Or is that your way of volunteering for an extra shift?”
Squirrel looked like he’d swallowed something sour and Harper grabbed his face in her little hands and gave him a squeeze. “Silly Daddy! Silly Daddy!”
Blythe sighed with a big silly grin of her own. “Well, she’s got your number, Sawyer.”
Squirrel couldn’t argue with her. “She’s a smart girl, just like her mommy!”
The rest of the evening went well, the thoughts that were rattling around in Aylin’s head didn’t disappear. They did quiet down... a little.
When Aylin opened the door to her apartment, she instantly regretted refusing her mom’s offer to stay at the house. The living area was a party room. There were at least a dozen people taking up every surface, every cushion where someone could sit. The music was loud enough to make her wince. What hurt even more was Kat’s high-nasally tone when she waved at Aylin from her seat on someone’s lap.
“Shut the door before the neighbor’s complain!”
Aylin shut the door a tad bit louder than she should have, but she couldn’t seem to manage her strength at that moment. Maybe it was because her head was already aching. “Where’s Lissa?”
Kat was easily distracted at the best of times, but with an actual party going on, it was even worse. Aylin had to repeat her question.
“Where’s Lissa?”
Slapping away someone’s groping hand, Kat glared back at Aylin. “She’s with her brother. They’re spending the night at their parents’ house. I thought you were doing the same thing.”
“I just had dinner there-”
“If you’re hoping for dinner, I think we ate all the food.” Kat wasn’t paying her any attention, leaning in to kiss the man she was sitting on.
Shaking her head, Aylin moved away and headed for her room. She was almost there when someone called out to her. Okay. Well, at her.
>
“You’re Aylin, right?”
She stopped short, casting a longing look at her closed door before looking at the guy leaning against the wall. “That’s me. And you are...”
“I’m Wesley, but you can call me Wes.” He put out his hand and she had to shift the bag filled with leftovers to the opposite hand to give him a shake.
“Hi, Wes. It’s nice-”
“And I’m Sean.” The space at Wesley’s side was suddenly filled to bursting with a dark jacket and man with a dark look in his eyes. “Kat didn’t tell me that her roomie is hot as hell.”
Aylin gave him a weak smile. “That’s sweet of you to say.”
Sean reached over and took the bag from her and handed it to Wesley. “He’ll carry that for us, why don’t we go and sit down.”
Before she could even ask him where he thought they were going to go, he opened the door to her room and walked inside.
“Hey!”
Sean flopped down on her bed and gave the mattress beside him a pat. “Have a seat right here.”
She didn’t move from the doorway. “Uh, no thanks. I’ve got to get my homework done for tomorrow.”
Sean turned and looked at Wesley. “Did she say what I think she said?”
Aylin could tell by Wesley’s expression that he was just as amused as she was.
“She said she’s got homework.”
Sean didn’t move from his place, but he did manage a half-hearted shrug. “So, she can do her homework.” Stretching out on her bed, he put his hands behind his head, “It’s more comfortable to lie down in here than leaning up against the walls out here.”
Crossing the room to Wesley, she took the bag from him and set it on her desk. “Sorry about that.”
Wesley smiled and she found herself smiling back.
“It’s okay,” Wesley explained, his voice low. “That’s the easiest thing he’s thrown at me in a long time.”
Aylin looked back at him with curiosity shining in her eyes. “Thrown?”
He rubbed at his shoulder and sighed. “He’s got a good throwing arm. I just wish he’d use his powers for good.”
“Ah,” she nodded, absorbing the quiet warning, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Wesley waved off her caution. “Don’t worry. The only thing he throws at women are pickup lines past their prime.”
She couldn’t help the snort of laughter that answered his comment. “Really?”
His smile was broad and unguarded. “Sad, but true. Just don’t tell him. He thinks the ladies like it.”
Since Aylin hadn’t turned the lights on in the room, the only light was what came in through the open door. Sean hadn’t made much noise while they were talking, so Aylin kept her voice low and Wesley did too. “But he still gets the ladies?”
Wes’s expression spoke volumes. The long-suffering expression said that yes, Sean did manage to get interest from the ladies. “I think it’s the Jaguar convertible and the cash he likes to throw around.”
Nodding, Aylin slid a side-long glance in Sean’s direction before she spoke to Wes again.
“That must explain why I’m missing the appeal,” she shrugged. “He doesn’t have the car in my apartment and there’s no cash in sight. I’m just missing the magic.”
She could tell that what she said shocked Wes. He turned to look at Sean and the man hadn’t moved. When Wes looked back at her his smile was off the charts. “No one says stuff like that about Sean.”
“Then I guess I’m ‘no one.’” Aylin pulled a folding chair out of her closet and gestured for Wes to take the chair at her desk. “I don’t really pay too much attention to flashy cars. Our family hasn’t ever really had those things and it doesn’t affect me one way or the other if someone else does.”
Wes, even after he settled into the chair, kept looking back at Sean as if he expected him to sit up and throw something at them. “I’ve known Sean since we were in elementary school together. My dad works for his dad, so there’s a lot of history there.”
Aylin nodded. The way Wes described his relationship with Sean, she felt like she got a fairly accurate idea of what the dynamic was between them, but it never hurt to double check. “So, his Jag doesn’t impress you all that much?”
Shrugging, Wes made a non-committal sound in his throat. “It makes an impression on people, but no, it doesn’t impress me. I think it’s because of my dad. He makes good money. He could afford cars like that, but he’s always told me to save my money.”
Grinning at him, she nodded. “My mom says the same thing.”
The two had a moment of companionable silence before Aylin saw Wesley leaning toward the bag of leftovers that she’d set on her desk. She hadn’t wanted to open it up when she saw all the people in the living room, but in her bedroom? With Sean likely sleeping on her bed? Aylin reached into the bag, startling Wes who moved away from the bag with a flush in his cheeks. Taking out the top plastic container she slowly opened the top without a noise and held out the clear plastic box toward Wes. “Go ahead and grab a couple. They’re awesome.”
Craning his neck to look inside the box, Wes’ eyebrows raised in a curious look.
“They’re like trail mix bars. Not much of a crunch, but the peanut butter is amazing. Trust me,” she gave him a wink, “my mom’s a chef.”
The almost comical look of ‘Oh!’ on his face made her smile even more. And he picked up one of the little desert balls and popped one in his mouth.
“Oh wow!”
Wes clapped his hand over his mouth and Aylin hunched down with a finger placed over her lips. As Wes silently crunched away. He had barely worked his way through the first one when he reached into the box for another one.
Aylin’s ‘I Told You So’ look made Wes nod in agreement.
“We had one of my dad’s firefighters over for dinner with his wife and daughter. These are healthy and easy for the baby to eat.”
Managing to swallow, Wes whispered a question to her. “Your dad has firefighters? Does he run some kind of a foreign country?”
She managed to laugh silently, well, as silently as she could. “No, no... my dad’s the Fire Chief at Station Seven. Now that he married my mom, they like to have the firefighters and EMTs from the station over there for meals to get to know everyone better.”
Aylin knew that she’d made a muck of things when the skin between Wes’ eyebrows pinched into furrows.
“Your dad... just married your mom?” He backed off the question almost immediately. “Sorry, I know it’s none of my business.”
Swallowing down a bite of her own treat, she shrugged. “It’s no big deal to ask. Chief Blaise met my mom when she was catering the wedding of one of his firefighters. They fell for each other like gravity on Jupiter and when they got married, the Chief told me I could call him whatever I wanted.” She took another bite and savored the flavor for a long moment. “I asked if I could call him dad. Honestly, I don’t really know much about my bio-dad and what I do know... sucks. And Ethan feels like I’ve always imagined having a dad would feel like. He’s super sweet with my mom and he’s always there for me.” Aylin couldn’t help the little niggle of guilt in the back of her mind. She really owed both Ethan and her mom an apology even if they hadn’t known where her thoughts were.
She’d let herself get wrapped up in her own doubts. Even if she worried about all of those things, she didn’t need to have her emotions make things difficult for them. Her problems were just that... HERS.
“He sounds like a great guy.”
Wesley’s comment made her smile. “It’s true,” she gave him a big smile, “he is. He’s done so much to support my mom. I’m not just talking about money. He’s really a big help to her and he treats her right. It’s so nice to see my mom really happy.”
“There are nice guys around, you know.”
She flushed at his words and tried to cover over her embarrassment throwing a look over her shoulder. “You mean Sean?”
The look o
n Wesley’s face was telling. “I was talking about guys in general.”
Her smile had the skin on the bridge of her nose crinkling up. “Nice cover.”
“Seriously though,” Wesley took a deep breath and leaned a little closer before he spoke again, “since you fed me, I’d like to return the favor.”
“You mean,” Aylin felt her heart fluttering in her chest, “you want to take me out for dessert?”
Wesley smiled at her words. “That would work. Or maybe a whole meal with dessert at the end? I think we could manage to find things to talk about during a meal.”
Wow.
Aylin wasn’t sure how to react to that. Since she’d had that mini meltdown at Stillman’s apartment he really hadn’t said much to her. Sure, he answered her texts and they’d even had a phone call about her classes after her first week, but he never initiated anything with her.
And he certainly hadn’t asked her out... for anything. Not even coffee.
Wesley seemed to take her hesitation for a no.
“I’m sorry,” he sat up and almost knocked the box of dessert bites from her hands, “you probably already have a guy. I didn’t mean anything-”
“Wes, breathe.” She reached out and took his hand to get him to focus. “I don’t have a guy. At least not in the way you’re probably thinking. There’s a guy that I’m interested in, but he’s been... less than enthusiastic about talking to me lately, so I’m guessing he doesn’t feel the way I do.”
Well that was an understatement. But it was true. There was that.
“So, how about we have dinner,” he asked again, “as friends. Kind of a ‘getting to know you’ kind of a thing.”
“Oh!” She almost forgot to keep her voice soft. “King and I.”
He gave her a strange look for a moment and then smiled. “Yeah. ‘Getting to Know You.’”
“You know that?”
Wesley nodded. “My mom is a huge fan of musicals. Every time one came into town or if the movie was on TV, we’d watch together.”
She felt the rest of the tension in her shoulders fall away. “That’s like me with my mom. So awesome.”
Reaching into his pocket, Wesley pulled out his phone and used the face recognition to unlock it. He opened the phone app and handed it to her. “I know you’ve got homework, so I don’t want to take up more of your time.”
