Aidan’s whole life, it had been “Jump,” from his dad and “How high?” from Aidan. Now that the tide had turned, there was a strange mix of freedom and emptiness in his core. Some days it felt invigorating. Other days…not so much.
A sudden, painful twinge hit Aidan’s knee. He gasped and nearly tripped over his own feet. Coming to a stop on the sidewalk, he placed his hands on his waist and bent over, gathering his breath.
He’d pushed himself too hard. He needed to be careful or else he’d injure himself all over again. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to be running anyway. His physical therapist had warned against anything other than a light jog.
He needed to clear his head, though, and getting his feet moving had always been the best way to do that.
Using his T-shirt to wipe his sweaty face, Aidan straightened up. It was time to walk back to the beach house before he pushed himself even harder and ended up in the hospital.
He took one step and something caught his eye. A ‘For Sale’ sign in the yard next to him.
The house was relatively small, compared to what he was used to. It was white, with a porch and a red front door. A picket fence went around the front yard and the palm trees near the street provided some shade.
Aidan stayed where he stood, staring at the house. For some reason, it drew all of his attention. He wouldn’t have been able to look away from it if he tried.
The front gate was open and he could tell from the big windows with no curtains that no one lived there. Going down the little walkway, Aidan climbed the front steps and peeked in through the windows.
The front room was light filled, with a wooden floor and a kitchen beyond it. If he had to guess from the size, he’d say the place likely had three bedrooms.
Perfect for a married couple. And one little baby, or two.
Aidan stepped away from the windows. Where had that thought come from?
It’s what you want, that voice from deep inside told him.
His heart beat faster. He stepped off the porch and went around the house. As he’d hoped, there was a spacious, fenced-in backyard. The place was idyllic. He hadn’t lived in a house this small since he was a kid, and he missed it. For a good while, he’d felt his Malibu place too large. This house could be what he looked for: a chance to start over.
Excitement rose in his chest. What if he really did this? Bought the house? He wouldn’t necessarily have to live there. If he changed his mind, he could always rent it out and stay in Malibu. What would he do in Haven Sound? How would he occupy himself? He didn’t have a career. Other than the athletic wear shoots—the next one being months away—and working out, his life held very little structure.
He looked up to the sky, inhaling the warm, salty air. Until recently, the idea of moving to a small town and embracing a simpler lifestyle might have seemed to be the solution to his problems. But he was suddenly aware that no matter where he moved, his happiness couldn’t be complete if Nicole weren’t there, too. In his eyes, the house with the red front door didn’t simply symbolize a change of place, but a whole new life.
Taking an easy walk home so as not to hurt his knee, Aidan let himself into the rental beach house and ran a cold shower. He soaped up, his thoughts still on the house. Would he still want it if Nicole’s internship ended and she never set foot in Haven Sound again? He closed his eyes and rinsed the shampoo out of his hair. He knew the answer. He wanted to be wherever the lovely, empathetic girl he’d fallen head over heels for was. Florida. New York. Antarctica. If she named the place, he’d have a ticket booked that day.
Grabbing his towel, he stepped onto the bathmat.
“Hey.” Aidan yelled and covered himself with the towel.
“Sorry.” Mikey cringed. “I was going to shout at you over the water spray, but you got out first.”
Aidan wiped water from his face and turned around to turn off the shower. “What are you doing sneaking into the bathroom?”
Mikey lifted the tablet in his hand. “Do you know what the wifi password is? It kicked me off.”
“It’s written on the pad next to my bed.”
“Right. Cool.”
Aidan walked past him and into the walk-in closet at the other end of the bedroom, where he pulled clothes from the shelf. The bed creaked from Mikey sitting on it.
“I’m going out tonight with Nicole,” Aidan called, pulling a T-shirt on. “Is that okay?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry about me.”
Dressed, Aidan rubbed the towel through his hair and went to the closet’s entrance. “Are you sure? You’ve been spending a lot of time alone.”
“Yes.” Mikey looked up from the tablet. “Writers are introverts. And guess what? I’m starting the first draft tomorrow.”
“What? That’s awesome.”
“Yeah, I know. I finally finished the outline.” Mikey waggled his eyebrows. “You’re going out with Nicole again. Nice.”
“Yeah.” Aidan tossed the towel into the laundry bin. “It’s going really well.” He crossed his arms, debating whether or not to share the other thing on his mind.
“Spill it,” Mikey said.
“That obvious, huh?”
“You have that serious look on your face that says you’re thinking about something hard.”
“I saw this house while I was jogging, and I want to buy it.”
“Oh. Cool. This is a great vacay spot.”
“No, I mean to live at. Maybe full-time.”
“Ah.” Mikey put the tablet down on the bed next to him. “Wow. Does this have anything to do with—”
“Her internship is going to end.” Aidan walked over to the window and stared out at the ocean. “There’s no reason for her to stay here unless they give her a permanent position. And she won’t live with a man until marriage. It wouldn’t make sense to buy a house for the two of us right now.”
“I never said it was for you and Nicole.”
Aidan turned to look at his friend. “Oh.”
Mikey’s eyes were big. “Man, you’ve got it bad.”
Aidan pushed his fingers through his damp hair. “She’s it for me, Mikey.”
“Really?”
“I know it may sound crazy. I didn’t believe it was even possible to think about a woman in this way after knowing her for such a short time. But the truth is that I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”
“After all the running around she put you through, you’ve proven it.”
Aidan’s phone rang. Mikey picked it up from the bedside table and checked the screen.
“It’s your dad.”
Aidan let out a harsh breath as Mikey held the ringing phone up, the question on his face.
“Yeah,” Aidan said on his exhale.
Mikey tossed him the phone and Aidan swiped the answer button.
“Hey, Dad.” He turned to look out the window as Mikey picked his tablet up and left the room.
“Aidan.”
“How are you?”
Rick cleared his throat. “I’m fine. Been better. Look, I’m calling because I figured you’ve had some time to think about what we both said.”
The choice of words got under Aidan’s skin. What was his dad suggesting? When Mikey announced the call, Aidan had half-expected there would be an apology headed his way. Now it didn’t seem like that.
“About the reality show?” Aidan checked.
“It’s the right move for you and it’s come at the perfect time.”
Aidan shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Hurt and anger pressed down on him, each equally suffocating.
“Aidan?”
“Yep. Here.”
“Look, I’m not—I’m not doing this to be hard on you. It’s my job to take care of you, all right? You see what kind of position I’m in here?”
Aidan opened his eyes and looked back out the window. He and his dad were on two sides of the continent, standing near two different oceans. They could have been on two different planets a
nd still the metaphor wouldn’t have been illustrative enough of their situation.
“What position?” Aidan asked. A split second later, he got it. “Oh. The money.”
Of course. Rick made fifteen percent of whatever Aidan made. The Fresh Wear Athletics checks would be hefty, but if Rick had the opportunity to make more bills, why wouldn’t he? He only managed two other athletes, and neither one was as known as Aidan. They’d been clients Rick picked up after Aidan’s injury, once it became obvious Aidan would no longer be a money-making machine.
“The—the money?” Rick sputtered. “Do you hear yourself?”
“It’s your job, Dad,” Aidan said through gritted teeth. “I get it.”
“It’s not about the money. It’s about you. I may be your manager, but I’m your father first. This is about you getting everything set up. A man has to do something with his life, Aidan. He needs purpose.”
“And that purpose is to be found in a reality show?” Aidan asked sarcastically.
“There’s purpose to be found in doing. In making things happen.”
“How do you know that, Dad?” Aidan walked around the room, waving his hand through the air. “What if real meaning is to be found in slowing down? In working on yourself? What if running around and doing things all the time is nothing but a distraction?”
“I can’t talk to you when you’re like this. There’s clearly something going on. Being out of the game for so long has messed with your head.”
“It’s cleared my head.”
The finality of Aidan’s statement hung in the air. Rick cleared his throat, and Aidan could feel his father’s quiet anger.
“When are you coming back to L.A.?” Rick asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Call me when you do.”
The phone went silent. He’d hung up.
Aidan tossed the phone onto the bed. He started pacing the room, each breath burning his chest and nose. Did Rick really not get that not everyone cared about making money and getting attention?
Aidan dropped onto the edge of the bed and cradled his head in his hands. He’d told Nicole to forgive her dad for both their sakes, but he couldn’t even follow his own advice.
Anger and hurt pounded through him. His father was supposed to care for him, to support him no matter what. And Rick had done that—when Aidan did what he was told. But things were no longer that way. He’d strayed from the path his father had laid out for him.
Now he got to pay for it. Now he got to see just what mattered to the man who had raised him.
“I hope you work things out with your dad, Nicole,” Aidan whispered into the room. “Because it looks like I won’t.”
CHAPTER 19
NICOLE
As days went by, Aidan and Nicole established their simple but enjoyable daily routines. He would wait for her after work and they would take long walks along the beach, holding hands and talking about childhood, life, and God. Relaxing boat rides, candlelit dinners, and sweet kisses started melting away Nicole’s fears and insecurities and she felt that Aidan had been sent into her life for a good reason.
Before Nicole’s trip to Miami to visit her dad, Aidan invited her to see his rental house. Their footsteps echoed in the living room. She tilted her face upward as she walked, taking in the vaulted ceiling and the high windows.
“Here’s the back porch,” Aidan said.
He opened the sliding door and placed his hand on the small of Nicole’s back. A pleasurable shiver went through her and she smiled at him as she walked onto the deck.
“Nice,” she commented, looking out at the beach.
Aidan’s rental house was on the street she’d expected it to be, the one with all the mansion beach houses that millionaires and billionaires probably summered in a few weeks out of the year. He’d seemed embarrassed when she pulled her car up to check it out, even though he was the one who asked her to stop by on her way to Miami.
“I’m not holding this against you,” Nicole teased, turning and leaning against the railing. “The house.”
Aidan rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s a big house. Silly big.”
“Why did you rent it?”
“My dad did.”
“Ah. Right.” A breeze drifted across the beach, making Nicole’s hair dance around her face. She nudged it out of her eyes and inspected Aidan. “It’s going to be okay.”
He forcefully smiled. “I hope so.”
Pushing off of the railing, Nicole went to Aidan and wrapped her arms around him. He accepted the embrace right away, pulling her in tighter and burying his face in her hair.
“This is selfish,” he said, “but I don’t want to let you go.”
“It’s just Miami. I’ll be back in a few days.”
She knew what he meant, though. Every time they said goodbye, it became harder. She hadn’t expected to be heading to Miami so soon—eleven days after she talked with her dad—but the office had told her the best time to take a few days off was right then.
Aidan pulled back enough to look down at Nicole. With a cupped hand, he pushed the last wild bits of hair away from her forehead. “I was thinking I might take a quick trip back to L.A. There are some business things I need to take care of.”
“For how long?” Nicole asked, not meaning to sound so mournful.
“A few days. I’ll be back here around the same time as you.”
“Oh.” Nicole smiled. “I like the sound of that, then.”
“I thought you would.” He grinned.
Taking one arm away from his waist, she ran her fingers down the front of his chest through his T-shirt. The excitement of such an intimate gesture made her pulse drum in her ears.
“How long is this going to go on for?” she asked. “How long are you going to stay here?”
Nicole bit the inside of her cheek, needing to hear the answer but being afraid of it.
Aidan’s face remained flat and determined. “I don’t want to scare you away, but I’m serious about you, Nicole.”
“Yeah?” she whispered with a smirk.
“Is that okay?”
“It’s more than okay.”
“Good.” Grinning, Aidan pressed his lips to hers. The heat on her mouth competed with the heat of his palms against her back. Lost in his embrace, she was melting, melting away.
Aidan stopped the kiss and took her hand. “It’s almost nine.”
“I know,” Nicole groaned.
“And you said you’d be in Miami before lunch.”
“Yeah.” Nicole pouted. “I wish you were coming.”
“Hopefully, I’ll be meeting both of your parents soon.”
The statement made Nicole’s heart swell.
He walked her to the car she’d rented for the next three days, gave her another kiss, and closed the driver’s door behind her. She was off, headed for Miami, headed for a reunion that made her palms sweat and her hands shake.
There had been too little traffic. That was Nicole’s first thought as she pulled up to the green, two-story house in a gated community. Stopping in the circular drive, she turned off the car and sat for a moment.
A three-door garage. Elaborate water fountain in the middle of a perfectly landscaped garden. Twelve windows on the front of the house alone. It seemed about right.
Nicole closed her eyes and shook her head. She was judging again. There was nothing to be gained from doing that. She’d come to Miami to set things right with her dad, not to criticize him for being material.
Grabbing her backpack, she approached the front of the house. Before she stepped onto the welcome mat, the door opened and a red-haired woman reached out for Nicole.
“You’re here!” Lizzie shrieked, pulling Nicole into a side hug.
Nicole stared at her, feeling dumbfounded. The two had never met before. She only knew this was her dad’s girlfriend because of pictures.
“Hi,” Nicole said.
“Get in here.” Lizzie
ushered Nicole in.
Nicole did a quick, surreptitious sweep of the foyer as Lizzie took her backpack. A staircase wound up to the second floor and several doorways went off to the left and right. The house was eerily quiet, with no signs of Nicole’s dad.
At the thought of him, her palms began sweating again. It had been almost a year since they’d seen each other. A phone call was one thing. How would she get through seeing him in person?
“How long are you staying for?” Lizzie asked.
“I’m not sure.”
Gordon had given Nicole several days off, but she didn’t know whether she’d use them or not. It all depended on how things went. It could be that coming to Miami had been the wrong thing to do.
“Nicole.”
Turning, she found her dad standing in the doorway to what looked like the living room. He pressed his hands against the door frame and surveyed her.
His hair had gotten more gray, but it was still thick, and everything about him was the same. Even the way he looked at her—studying her like she was some strange animal he was encountering for the first time.
“Hi, Dad,” she choked out.
“You came.”
“I did.” She held his gaze.
He took a few strides toward her, slowing down as he came closer. His eyes uncertainly swept over her face and the air crackled with anticipation.
Before she could second guess herself, Nicole wrapped her arms around her father and gave him a firm hug. He squeezed her back and she could feel him relax.
“We’re glad you’re here.” He stepped back and in his eyes shone something new. Relief. “How about some lunch?”
“Lunch sounds great.”
CHAPTER 20
AIDAN
Aidan stared out the plane’s window as it descended into LAX, the wheels rushing up to meet the tarmac. Next to him, Mikey squeezed the arm rests.
“I’ll never like this part.”
Aidan poked his arm. “Arriving is the best.”
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