Aaron: Casanova Club #7

by Ali Parker

  The trouble was, I hadn’t met him sooner. I’d met him now, after connections had already been established with other men—powerful connections.

  Logically, I knew Aaron could be the ideal match for me. He was passionate, driven, sophisticated, and charming as hell. He had all the qualities I wanted in a partner, down to the messy way he wore his hair. His kindness rivaled that of anyone else I’d ever met, as did his generosity.

  There was nobody like him.

  And here I was, holding his hand and leaning on him for support, knowing he loved me and knowing I wouldn’t be able to return the favor at the end of the year.

  I was going to break his heart.

  I swallowed and rested my cheek on his shoulder. Aaron shifted in his seat so I could get more comfortable. I drew myself up onto the chair so I could curl up against him and listen to the steady beat of his heart as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

  My eyes closed.

  Yes, I was an asshole.

  But I couldn’t bring myself to pull away from him now. I needed this closeness more than I needed anything else in these final minutes before my father came out of surgery. And the sound of Aaron’s heartbeat gave me something to focus on that wasn’t the relentless beeping of heart monitors or the swish of the nurses’ scrubs as they bustled from room to room.

  I breathed his scent in and focused on it instead of the sterile smell of the hospital. He smelled like citrus and rain after a hot summer day.

  Phillip closed the magazine in his lap and sunk down low in his chair like a moody teenager. “How much longer is this going to take? I can’t stand it.”

  My mother stirred from her slumber and sat up a little straighter, blinking bashfully back and forth between me and my brother. “Sorry? What did you say, sweetheart?”

  “He was complaining about how long this is taking,” I answered for my brother, who scowled at me.

  My mother nodded knowingly and patted Phillip’s shoulder. “Not much longer now. Everything will be all right, and we’ll get to see him soon.”

  I was afraid of that. Of seeing my father weak and hurting in a hospital bed.

  He was the strongest man I knew. The man who’d seen me through all my trials as a girl. The man who’d gone after Sarah Warwick’s father after she bullied me into tears on the playground at school. The man who’d taught me how to ride a bicycle and change a tire. The man who’d built his life from the ground up and carried our family on his shoulders for years and years.

  My dad was my world.

  And I hated that he was upset with me. It was eating me up inside. All I wanted was to hold his hand and tell him I was sorry and that I loved him.

  And to have him smile back at me.

  But in order to get those things, I would have to see him as I feared him to be: weak and hurting.

  It sucked.

  My mother gave me a tight-lipped smile. “You okay, Piper?”

  I nodded and swallowed past a new tightness in my throat.

  Aaron was there with his hand on my thigh. Then he cleared his throat and nodded down the hall. “Heads up. Here comes the doctor.”

  I was on my feet and moving forward. My family rallied around me, Aaron closing in behind me to rest his hands on my shoulders.

  The doctor gave us all a polite smile. She was in her fifties, with dark brown hair tied up in a secure knot on top of her head. She had smile lines around her honey-colored eyes that instantly made me trust her, and she reached out to me with warm hands. “Your father is in recovery now,” she said.

  My heart climbed out of where it had been hiding in my stomach for the last four hours and reclaimed its rightful place in my chest. I exhaled a sigh of relief, and my shoulders slumped as Aaron rubbed them encouragingly. “When can we see him?”

  “Not yet,” the doctor said, looking around at all of us. “We still need at least forty-five minutes. I wanted to come out and let you know the surgery went seamlessly. There were no complications at all. Your father will be monitored closely while he comes out of anesthesia, and when we are confident he can breathe on his own, we’ll remove the oxygen tube. Once he’s breathing independently and conscious, we’ll take him to his room where you can see him.”

  “We won’t be there when he wakes up?” I asked.

  “When he wakes, I’ll decide whether or not I can bring in visitors. There are other patients in the room recovering from the same procedure, so it would be a quick, quiet visit.”

  “That’s fine,” I said hurriedly.

  She gave me another curt smile. “All right. Sit tight. I’ll be back out in half an hour or so, and I’ll see if I can bring you in.”

  I deflated like a balloon as she walked back down the hall toward the recovery room. Then I spun into Aaron and wrapped my arms around his waist. He hugged me back while my mother and brother exchanged words of enthusiastic relief.

  I tilted my head back and smiled up at Aaron. “It’s all going to be okay.”

  He stroked my hair off my forehead. “Of course it is. Now, you stay here with your mom and brother. I’m going to get everyone sandwiches.” Aaron looked at my mom and brother. “What do you two want?”

  My mother started to protest, but Aaron shook his head.

  “Nope, I won’t hear it. Piper here hasn’t eaten anything in over twenty-four hours, and I’m going to rectify that. Right now. If you two don’t tell me what you want, I’m bringing you a mystery lunch.”

  I watched as my family caved and told Aaron what they wanted. He nodded along, taking mental notes, and then turned toward me.

  “I’m good with a mystery lunch.” I smiled. “Just no ham. Please.”

  “You got it.” He grinned, kissing me between the eyebrows before turning and following the signs for the hospital cafeteria.

  I stared after him, unaware of my mother and brother taking up residence on either side of me.

  “He’s a catch,” my mother said.

  “A good one,” Phillip added.

  “Stop it,” I said.

  “What’s wrong with him?” my mother asked, gesturing after Aaron before he took a sharp right and disappeared from view.

  I sighed and dropped back down into my chair. “Absolutely nothing, Mom. He’s perfect.”

  Chapter 22

  Aaron

  We all had just enough time to scarf down the sandwiches I’d brought up before the doctor returned and invited us to follow her to the recovery room. Despite Piper’s insistence that I join them, I hung back in the waiting room to give the family their time together. If I were in her father’s shoes, the last thing I’d want was a man I barely knew standing at the foot of my bed when I came to after a very intrusive surgery.

  While I waited, I reveled in how good it felt to know Piper’s father was out of the woods.

  I’d kept my game face on throughout surgery and done my job reassuring her that everything would be all right. But on the inside, I was worried that he might not be. Things like this, despite how far modern medicine had come, didn’t always end well, and I was terrified that Piper might lose her father.

  It was a slim chance. I knew that.

  But the fear was very real.

  I knew how fiercely she loved him and how devastated she would have been—especially considering the last conversation they’d had was one based on anger and frustration.

  Now they had the time to rectify things. A lot of things.

  Like who paid for his surgery.

  That was a matter for another time.

  Piper and her family were escorted back into the waiting room after being gone for about twenty minutes. She came and sat beside me.

  “How is he?” I asked.

  Piper shrugged. “All right. He’s groggy. Tired. Sore. They gave him something for the pain and are going to move him to his room in fifteen minutes. Then we can all go in and sit with him.” She eyed me suspiciously. “Apparently, someone hooked him up with his own private digs. You wouldn’t happ
en to know who was behind that, would you?”

  I chuckled nervously. “I might have had a hand in it.”

  She leaned into me. “Thank you, Aaron. Seriously. I don’t know what I can say. It means a lot. It means everything.”

  “Don’t say anything. I just wanted to help.”

  When the nurse came to bring us to her father’s room, I was a little paranoid and hesitant. Piper tugged on my arm, insisting I join them, while Phillip and her mother joined in like backup chorus singers.

  “Come on, Aaron.”

  “Come with us.”

  A hospital room was the social situation of my nightmares.

  But I went anyway.

  The room was nice, simple, and clean. It didn’t smell as sterile as the waiting room, and it was equipped with a flat-screen television, as well as a cot and two lounge chairs with plush cushions and blankets draped over the back. The cot was done up for Piper’s mother, who had requested to spend the nights there to be with her husband.

  I was glad to see splurging for the private room was well worth it. Piper’s father was in good hands here.

  I took a seat in the far corner, not wanting to be too close to Piper’s father, who was awake but still not really himself. The anesthesia took some time to wear off, but he looked around and watched all of us as we settled into our seats.

  Piper sat by his right side and took his hand. “Hi, Daddy. We’re all here. How are you feeling?”

  Talking was difficult for him, so Piper stopped him by resting a hand lightly on his shoulder.

  “It’s okay, Daddy. Don’t talk. The doctor says in another hour or so, you’ll be feeling even better and you can talk as much as you want.” She bit her bottom lip. “I think now is the time to tell you I’m sorry for what I said the other day. I never meant to hurt your feelings. I just love you so much, and I was scared. And it’s kind of nice that you can’t talk back right now.”

  I could have been wrong, but I could have sworn her father smiled.

  Piper squeezed his hand and leaned down to press her cheek to his knuckles. “I love you, Daddy.”

  We sat for the hour it took for her father to be able to talk. He didn’t say much, as he was in serious pain, and I could tell all he wanted was to sleep, but the nurses were in and out constantly, checking his numbers, his heart, and his lungs tirelessly.

  He did ask how Piper had been able to step away from school again, and she assured him she had it handled and that her professors approved her time away. For such a sweet girl she was a pretty smooth liar. She told her father there was no way she wasn’t going to be here for him, even if it cost her a letter grade.

  Phillip left to take a shower and change, and we were about to head out when there was a knock on the door.

  Piper got to her feet and turned toward the young woman framed in the doorway. She was very pretty, with dark hair and a slender frame. Her cheeks were rosy, and she looked familiar. I realized I’d seen her a couple of times at the Casanova Club last year.

  “Hey, Pipes.” The young woman in the doorway smiled.

  Piper threw herself forward and hugged the girl, who hugged her back, nearly dropping the flowers she held in one hand.

  Then Piper pulled the newcomer into the room and pushed her in front of me. “Aaron, this is my best friend, Janie. She works for the Casanova Club.” Piper gave me a wide-eyed expression that said, ‘play it cool’.

  Janie smiled at me, holding out her hand. “Nice to meet you Aaron.”

  I got to my feet and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you too.”

  I had flashbacks of seeing Janie sitting behind the receptionist desk at the Casanova Club. She always greeted me with a friendly smile and a chipper attitude, and saw to all my needs whenever I needed to stay at the hotel. She was a beautiful young woman and I had no idea she and Piper were friends.Janie peered around Piper and waggled her fingers at Mr. James. “Hi there. I brought you something.”

  Piper’s father watched Janie set the flowers down and then pull a bunch of DVDs out of her purse. Most of them were action flicks, and there were a few comedies peppered in, as well as some old classics. “I thought you might get bored sitting around all day, and a little birdie told me you had a nice flat-screen TV in your room to watch movies on. Must be nice to know people in high places.” Janie shot me a mischievous smile.

  In between shallow breaths, Piper’s father thanked Janie for looking out for him, and I recognized the signs of a man who wished to be alone with his wife.

  So, I turned to Piper and Janie. “Would you two like to slip out and grab a bite to eat? I’m sure your father would like to rest. We can come back again tonight before we head back to Kingston.”

  Piper nodded and so did Janie, and we stood back as she kissed her father on the cheeks and told him goodbye.

  Mr. James watched his daughter leave and nodded at me as I paused in the doorway. I might have been wrong, but it felt like he was saying, “Thank you.”

  * * *

  “So how has the month been?” Janie asked as she sat across the table from me and Piper.

  Piper glanced at me. “Good. Great, actually. Aaron has been a wonderful host, and he’s even let me read some of his work.”

  Janie grinned. “What a PG-thirteen response.”

  I chuckled, and Janie rewarded me with a dazzling smile of her own.

  Piper shook her head at her friend. “It’s our business, Janie. Butt out.”

  The two of them were very playful together. They poked fun at one another until our food arrived, and then they fell quiet as they inhaled the order of spinach dip they’d agreed to share. We sipped amber ales after we ate, and Piper filled Janie in on the surgery and how well everything had gone and how the doctors expect her father to make a speedy recovery—as long as he follows their instructions and takes it easy.

  “Phillip will be on him to do as they say,” Janie said.

  Piper sighed. “I hope so.”

  Janie sat back in her seat and took a long swig of beer. “Oh, he will. I have no doubt. He wants your dad on the mend as badly as you do, and he won’t shy away from telling him what’s up. Especially since your dad can’t chase him down or give him shit right now.”

  Piper smiled. “Fair enough.”

  Janie turned her warm stare toward me. “Before I forget, I must say, that was a nice room Mr. James was set up in.”

  I felt myself turning a bit pink. “I wanted to help where I could.”

  Janie grinned. “Of course, you did. How generous. It’s definitely better than having to share a room with four other patients.”

  “I hope so,” I said. “He deserves it. Ideally, he won’t have to spend much time in that room at all, and they’ll send him home soon.”

  Janie nodded. “Ideally.”

  I turned to Piper. “Should we head back to the hospital to sit with your dad a bit longer before we head back to Kingston?”

  She nodded. “Yes please.”

  “You coming with us, Janie?” I asked.

  Janie nodded and drained the rest of her beer. “I’d love to. I have more questions for you, Aaron the writer.”

  “Oh dear.” I chuckled, feigning worry.

  Janie winked at me. “Don’t worry. They’re all good questions.”

  Piper rolled her eyes as she got to her feet. “Ignore her. She’s a pest.”

  “I find it amusing,” I said.

  Janie laughed victoriously. “See, Pipes? Some people appreciate my humor.”

  Chapter 23

  Piper

  Aaron frowned down at the bowl of guacamole he’d been poring over for the last fifteen minutes, trying to get it just right. I sat perched on the stool at his kitchen island with my phone pressed to my ear.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked, looking from him to the bowl filled with green glorious goodness. The phone rang with no answer on the other end, and I set it down on the counter. My brother hadn’t answered my calls all afternoon, and I was ge
tting impatient. I wanted to know how my dad’s first day home from the hospital had gone.

  “Something is off. It needs a little kick, but I don’t know what.”

  I reached for the spoon in Aaron’s hand and scooped a bite of guacamole into my mouth. I savored the morsel. The texture was just right. The flavors mixed well. But he was right. Something was missing.

  I swallowed and licked my lips. “More lime juice.”

  “You think?”

  “Yep. Has to be. Everything else is just right.”

  Aaron sighed and cut into a fresh lime, and I picked my phone back up and dialed my brother for the fifth time within fifteen minutes.

  Aaron eyed me across the island. “He’s probably busy.”

  “Not too busy to answer a call from his sister, the little—”

  “Piper?” Phillip’s voice filled the tinny speaker of my phone.

  “Phillip,” I said as Aaron burst out laughing at my graze with offending my baby brother. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you all day.”

  “Sorry, Pipes, but I kinda have my hands full over here. You know, taking care of Dad and all?”

  I winced. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. How is he?”

  “He’s all right. Real sore. It was a bitch just getting him down to the car this morning and then from the car into the house. It’s a good thing we don’t have stairs. Although they had him going up flights at the hospital for the last couple days.”

  “Really?” I asked, a little surprised.

  “Yep. Turns out after open-heart surgery, they put you through the wringer. Dad said it was a new kind of Hell. They had him walking the hall and up out of bed about an hour after you and Aaron left that first night. Then every day, they’d take him on walks, have him breathe into this little contraption to get his lungs back inflated, and make him take these classes with other patients in recovery. Don’t tell him I said this, but it was kind of funny watching him sitting in that class with a bunch of old geezers.”