by Brenda Novak
“That’s great,” Aaron said, but his lack of enthusiasm earned him a kick under the table from his brother. Tossing back the rest of his beer, he stood. “I’m going to get another drink. Anyone else want one?”
They indicated that their glasses were still full. “We’re good,” Mack said with a note of “What the hell’s gotten into you?”
“Gotcha. I’ll be right back.”
Once he walked away, Aaron felt a sense of relief. He wasn’t happy to see Presley in Riley’s arms, but at least he no longer had to watch them under the close scrutiny of his own party.
While he stood at the bar, waiting for the bartender to notice him, “In the Air Tonight” ended and “Have I Told You Lately” came on. Aaron hoped that Riley and Presley would sit down, preferably somewhere out of sight, but they didn’t. They continued to dance, turning in a slow circle until Presley was facing him and, in that instant, their eyes met.
Aaron knew he should glance away, act as if it was no big thing. But it wasn’t as easy to pretend as it should be.
She pulled her gaze away first.
“Can I help you?”
It was the bartender. Aaron nearly ordered another beer, but changed his mind. For the first time in a long while, he felt like getting smashed. “I’ll have a straight scotch.”
“Whoa, good thing I’m here to drive you home,” Mack joked when Aaron returned to the table and finished his new drink almost as fast as he had the beer.
“Bobbi, you’d better get him out on the dance floor while he can still walk,” Lana joked. Then she led Mack off, and Bobbi offered him a tentative smile.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said. “Why?”
“I get the impression you don’t really want to be here.”
“Sure I do.” It was a lie. To cover for it, he extended his hand to her. “Let’s dance.”
16
The dance floor wasn’t that big, but there was enough room that she and Aaron shouldn’t have had to dance next to each other. Presley could only assume that he was crowding her on purpose.
Riley ignored him entirely. And she and Aaron shot each other a few glances but didn’t speak.
Finally, she closed her eyes and rested her head on Riley’s shoulder. In response, he tightened his arms around her, but she wasn’t trying to send him any signals; she was merely trying to avoid the sight of Aaron with that curvy brunette wrapped around him like a boa constrictor. She could remember every detail of how it felt to be in his arms, how confidently Aaron swayed to the music, his body against hers as if they were made for each other. Riley was just as good a dancer. Some might even find him as attractive. But it wasn’t the same.
For a second, Presley even believed she could smell Aaron as if he, rather than Riley, was holding her. That was when she stepped away and said she had to use the restroom.
“Don’t let him chase you off,” Riley whispered.
She smiled. “He’s not. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Riley didn’t seem convinced, but he accepted the excuse without further argument. “Okay, I’ll be over at the table.”
With a nod, she fled to the deserted hallway behind the bar, where she dragged in a great gulp of air before hurrying into the ladies’ room. Fortunately, it was empty; she needed a few minutes to regroup.
She was leaning over the sink, trying to slow the pounding of her heart, when the door opened. She looked up, expecting a woman to head toward the stalls—and saw Aaron. “What are you doing?” she asked. “You can’t come in here!”
“I won’t stay long. I just... I wanted the chance to tell you...” He seemed to struggle for words. “I’m sorry about how I acted at your opening. I didn’t mean to ruin it for you.”
She curled her fingernails into her palms, afraid she’d reach for him. If she did, it would be all too easy to get carried away and end up making love in the bathroom. Even as the thought crossed her mind, her eyes flicked toward the dead bolt, and he seemed to register a similar impulse.
But she’d never do something like that to Riley, or any other date. Not these days, thank goodness.
With effort, she held up one hand in the classic stop position. “You didn’t ruin it. Besides, it wasn’t just you. I know that.”
He seemed relieved. “But you’re still seeing Riley? You like him, then?”
“Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“I don’t know who or what I like right now.” She forced another smile. “But it looks as if you’ve found a cute girl.”
“Who?”
Her eyebrows went up. “Aren’t you here with someone?”
“Oh, Bobbi. She’s a friend of Mack’s.”
“She seems eager to be your friend, too.” Weren’t they all? She’d seen it so many times.
He shrugged. “She’s too young for me.”
“There are a lot of other attractive women here tonight.”
“I haven’t noticed.”
“You’ll have to take a look around.”
“Why should I bother? I can’t keep my eyes off you.”
Lorna Mae, who worked at the bakery, charged in before Presley could respond, nearly hitting Aaron with the door.
“Oops!” A drunken giggle followed. “Am I interrupting?”
A muscle flexed in Aaron’s jaw, and Presley could tell he was frustrated that they’d already lost what privacy they’d had. “No, I was leaving, anyway,” he said, and stepped out.
By the time Presley returned to the dance floor, he was gone from the bar. But Riley was where he’d said he’d be, at the table, waiting for her.
He stood when he saw her. “You okay?”
She nodded.
“What’d Aaron have to say? I saw him go after you.”
“Not much. What’d he do when he came back?”
“Whispered something to his brother. Then they all got up and left.”
“I’m sorry, Riley,” she said. “I should have been straight with you about Aaron before now, but...I’m not over him. After two years, I thought...I thought I’d be able to cope with the occasional sighting. That I’d keep my distance and there wouldn’t be much contact. But since I came back, it just... It hasn’t been the way I imagined it.”
Riley scowled. “Because he keeps coming around, showing you that he’s still interested. But there are other women he could see, women who don’t have as much to lose. Don’t let him use you, Presley.”
“He’s not the type to use people, Riley. He’s too sensitive for that, too independent.”
If anything, he grew even more skeptical.
“You might not believe this,” she added, “but when we slept together before, it wasn’t because he instigated it. It was me.”
“So he was doing you a favor?”
She heard the wry note in Riley’s voice. He’d never understand because he didn’t know Aaron the way she did. But she was telling the truth. She’d been both needy and desperate when she’d latched on to Aaron. He’d befriended her out of the goodness of his heart, and then he’d let her push that friendship further than he should have. She wasn’t dumb enough to believe he didn’t enjoy the physical pleasure. There was no question that he did, especially once they both became so good at fulfilling each other’s needs. But that didn’t change the fact that he hadn’t instigated a sexual relationship. She had, and she’d been the one to keep it going. When she showed up at his house the night of her mother’s death, he’d finally run out of patience, which was why she left Whiskey Creek. She’d been expecting it to happen some day.
“He cares,” she told Riley. “He just doesn’t want the same things I do.” And there was no self-respect in that type of obsessive love.
“I’m not trying to villai
nize him, Presley. But so what if he cares? It’s obviously not enough or your situation would be different.”
“You mean he’d want to marry me.”
“Why not? Why wouldn’t he want to spend the rest of his life with you? Be a father to your son?”
He was her son’s father, which made it even harder to let go. “Dylan used to be the same way,” she argued. “He was very noncommittal—until he met Cheyenne. That didn’t make him a bad person.”
“No, it didn’t. I haven’t wanted to marry every girl I’ve dated, either. I’m sure Aaron will fall in love eventually—when he meets the right woman. If he meets the right woman. But...”
He let his words trail off, and Presley guessed it was because he feared he’d taken honesty too far. “But if that woman was me, I’d know it by now,” she finished.
He sighed. “That’s what I think. It’s what your sister thinks, and it’s what Dylan thinks, too.”
“Did Cheyenne warn you that I might have some...residual feelings for Aaron?” She imagined them discussing her and her situation during any number of calls, and it rankled. Her sister was her confidante. She didn’t want to feel that Cheyenne was giving information to Riley.
“She did,” he admitted. “I didn’t come into this blind, so you have nothing to worry about there. If friendship is all you can offer me, I’m fine with that. Maybe our relationship will progress someday, and maybe it won’t. I’m not pushing you. But you’re going to have to get over Aaron sooner or later.” He winked at her. “Far as I’m concerned, it might as well be sooner.”
“Sometimes I fear I’ll never get over him,” she said.
He took her hand. “It might not be me, but you’ll find someone who can fill the gap. So–” he stood “–do you want to go back out on the dance floor?”
Slipping her fingers through his, she nodded.
* * *
“Wow, you were a barrel of laughs tonight,” Mack said once they left Lana’s, where they’d gone after Sexy Sadie’s. “And you were willing to stay out for what...a whole hour and forty minutes?”
Aaron threw his brother a disgruntled look. “I’m tired, okay?”
Mack slung an arm over the steering wheel. “You wouldn’t even talk to Bobbi!”
“She’s still in college! What was I supposed to say? ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Welding can’t be her future or she wouldn’t still be in school.”
“She didn’t care that you have a few years on her. She thought you were hot.”
“Ten years is more than a few,” he said dryly.
“Since when did you get so picky about who you party with? She wasn’t planning on marrying you. She was just looking for a good time.”
Aaron loosened his seat belt. “I guess I’m a little past the one-night-stand stage.”
Mack stopped at the light. “So that means you’re planning to get serious? You? The biggest partier in the family?”
He avoided the first question by answering the second. “In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t party all that much anymore.”
“Because...”
“After a while, it all begins to feel very...repetitive—as if you’re going to the same party over and over.”
“Great. That gives me something to look forward to.”
Mack would be married by the time he reached twenty-five. He always had a girlfriend. “Happens to the best of us.”
His brother scowled at him. “But did you have to grow up tonight?”
Aaron knew Mack was disgruntled that he hadn’t been a more enjoyable date for Lana’s friend, but he couldn’t help laughing. “Better late than never.”
When the light turned green, Mack gave the truck some gas and drove the rest of the way in silence. He broke that silence only after they pulled into the drive. “Is that why you’re still talking about moving away?” he asked. “You’re bored and searching for new experiences, new challenges?”
“Maybe.” He had to admit he was looking for...something, whatever was supposed to come next in his life.
“I don’t see how Reno will be any improvement over Whiskey Creek, not when we’ll be here.” Mack had lobbied against the idea of Aaron moving from the start. Mack held those he loved very close. But he was also Dylan’s favorite, and that had once caused Aaron a bit of jealousy. Aaron had always been the odd man out. Not that he’d ever held it against Mack. He couldn’t. He loved Mack too much himself. But he couldn’t expect Mack to understand.
“Chances are it won’t be,” Aaron admitted. “But I’ve decided I will move. I’ve got to strike out on my own at some point.”
“Why?”
“It’s...time.” He’d finally made up his mind, he realized. The uncertainty was gone. With their father returning, and his stepmother badgering Dylan for the opportunity to be welcomed into the family—he preferred to sidestep all of it.
Mack frowned at him. “That sucks.”
“I won’t be far.”
“Three hours isn’t exactly close. Everything’s gonna change.” Mack didn’t even know he had a stepmother. There was some change. But he and Dylan hadn’t told anyone about that yet. They were hoping to put Anya off long enough that J.T. would be released by the time they had to meet her. Actually, they were hoping she and J.T. would divorce before then, but if they couldn’t have that...
Of course, there was the slight possibility that Anya might help improve J.T. That would be the best of all scenarios, but the way they’d met—the fact that they didn’t really even know each other—didn’t give them a lot of hope.
Mack shoved the gearshift into park and cut the engine. “How much longer will you be here?”
Aaron opened his door. “Maybe two months.”
17
Presley was much happier by the time Riley took her home. She’d always feel sad that she couldn’t be with Aaron. But having that candid conversation with Riley, admitting she was still in love with Aaron, had helped to lower her guard. Now Riley couldn’t expect anything from her that she wasn’t prepared to give, including her heart, and that made her far more open to his friendship. Maybe she could be friends with him just like Cheyenne was. She’d always been envious of the closeness within her sister’s group.
They went to Just Like Mom’s after leaving Sexy Sadie’s and had a late dinner before the place closed. Then they picked up Jacob and Wyatt and brought them to her house, where they watched a movie. All was going well until midnight.
Then Aaron began to call....
Although Presley stopped her phone from vibrating three or four times, Riley never commented on it. Perhaps he’d said all he was going to say about Aaron while they were at the bar. Or he was pretending not to notice because they had Jacob with them. Whatever the reason, Presley didn’t volunteer who was trying to reach her. She didn’t want to ruin the evening.
Once Riley and Jacob had gone home, however, she felt the same old compulsion to see Aaron, to touch him, to hear his voice. But she didn’t call back. She remembered Riley telling her that she had to get over him sooner or later and agreed. She saw so many couples break up and get back together in what seemed like an endless cycle. She and Aaron had never been “official,” but why let the undertow of her emotions drag her backward? Seeing him would only risk her precious secret and make her look foolish in front of Cheyenne and Dylan and everyone else in Whiskey Creek. So she closed her bedroom door as if she was shutting him out and went to bed.
But just before she fell asleep, her phone vibrated again and this time she couldn’t stop herself. She answered it, using the excuse that she needed to find out why he was so determined to reach her.
“It’s about time,” Aaron said, obviously exasperated.
She pulled a pillow over her face. “Time for what?”
“Time Riley went home. Doesn’t he have to work in the morning like the rest of us?”
“As a matter of fact, he does. He and Jacob will be building a garage in six or seven hours. I hope they can get enough sleep.” She tossed the pillow aside. “How’d you know he was here?”
“I’m assuming you would’ve taken my call otherwise.”
She’d just proven him correct. “What do you want, Aaron?”
“To tell you that I’ll be moving to Reno the first of June if I can make the arrangements that soon. I’m going to settle on a location and go ahead and sign a lease.”
That was only a little over six weeks away. “I’m sure your brothers will hate to see you go.”
“And you? How will you feel about it?”
She hated the thought of his leaving. But it would be easier to quit obsessing over him if she didn’t have to run into him all over town, so she figured it was for the best. “I’ll miss you.”
“I want to make a suggestion,” he said.
Suddenly wary, she scrambled out of bed and crossed to the window, which looked out on her narrow side yard. “What?”
“I’d like to date you while I’m still here.”
“No.”
She spoke fast but he came right back at her. “It’s just for a few weeks!”
“I can’t.”
Silence. Then he said, “You’ll date Riley but you won’t date me? Are you guys exclusive already?”
“Of course we’re not ex—”
“So you can see other men.”
“Yes, I—”
“Then why can’t I take you out once in a while, too?”
Because she’d just recommitted herself to getting over him! And Riley was going to help her by giving her someone to talk to and do things with. She planned to take the hand she was being offered.
“It wouldn’t be a good idea.”
