He nods. "Been there. Luckily, my job pays well so I've been able to afford a bigger place but yeah, the early days were rough."
"You're not a New Yorker either?"
"I lived there as a kid, then we moved to Boston, which is where I went to college. My parents are still there. I moved back to New York for this job. I don't mind living there, but then I come to a town like this and think it'd be nice to live in a place that wasn't so crowded."
"I like it here too. I just wish I could relax and not have to work." I sip my drink, noticing it's even stronger than the first one.
"You two sticking around for dinner?" Charlie asks.
Aiden looks at me. "What do you think?"
"Oh, um, we don't need to have dinner. I can just take something back to my room."
"Or we could continue to talk business, which means dinner's on me."
That does sound appealing. The restaurant's expensive and I'd rather not add to my credit card bill. And I have to admit, I'm kind of enjoying Aiden's company.
"I guess I could have dinner."
"We don't start serving until five," Charlie says. "But feel free to hang out here until then." He walks off, going through the door to the kitchen.
Aiden swigs back his bourbon, then sets the glass down. "So tell me about yourself. What's life like in Kansas? All I know about it is what I saw in The Wizard of Oz."
I smile. "It's nothing like that. The houses don't lift off the ground and fall on witches."
He laughs.
"It's actually really nice there. Peaceful. Quiet. Clean air. Kind of like here, although Vermont's prettier with all the trees and the mountains."
"It is beautiful here. You really should consider going on that hike with me tomorrow. Let's just call it a walk. Less intimidating that way."
"I would, but my mom taught me never to go into the woods with strangers." I say it like I'm joking but it's true.
"Then let's make sure we're not strangers by tomorrow." He flashes that smile before finishing his drink.
Was he flirting with me or just making a comment? I can't tell with this guy. I'm tempted to ask if he has a girlfriend but if I do, he'll think I'm interested in him, which I'm not. Well, I might be if things weren't so dire right now. I don't have time for a boyfriend. I have to focus on work and getting that promotion. If I don't, I'll be kicked out on the streets and forced to leave New York, proving to everyone back home that I couldn't make it in the big city. There's no way I'm letting that happen. I said I could do this and I will, but it'll only happen if I get a raise.
"So tell me," Aiden says, his forearm casually resting on the bar, his body turned toward me. "Why event planning? Is that something you always wanted to do?"
"Not really. I didn't even know it was a job until one of my friends from college was getting married and hired someone to help her plan it. I was working in retail at the time and needed some extra cash. The wedding planner asked if I wanted to work for her on weekends, which I did, and ended up loving it. She was friends with Bianca, which is how I got the job in New York."
"Bianca owns the business?"
"No, she's my boss. She works constantly and expects me to do the same. This is the first day I've had off since I started a year ago."
"I work a lot too. I technically don't work weekends but I have to attend events for our clients so it's basically work, just a different kind."
"Are you married?" I blurt out, instantly regretting it. Why did I ask him that? We were talking about work, not our personal lives. But the thought keeps popping in my head and the words just slipped out.
"No, although my mother wishes I was," he says with a laugh. "Every time we talk she mentions how all her friends' sons are already married and having children. She makes sure to emphasize that they're younger than me."
"How old are you?"
"Thirty-three."
"Huh." I eye him. "You look younger. I would've guessed you were in your late twenties."
He smiles. "I'll tell my mother that. Maybe that'll get her to stop pushing me to get married."
"What's the rush? She wants a grandchild?"
"More than one. At least three."
"Wow. You better hurry up or you'll be a really old dad," I kid.
He chuckles. "I'm not worried about it. I keep myself in shape."
I glance down at his body, at his sweater that's pulled taut over his broad chest. It clings to the muscles in his arms, enough that I can see them flex as he picks up his drink.
I'm starting to rethink my rule about not dating. This guy is really hot and easy to talk to, and we live in the same city. Maybe we could go out sometime, just as friends, and see how it goes.
"Do you have a—" I was about to say girlfriend but Tom interrupts.
"I hope you're staying for dinner," he says, patting Aiden on the back. "Lois is making her famous pork roast with maple syrup glaze."
"That sounds wonderful," I say. "Is Lois the chef?"
"Best one around," Tom says, sticking his belly out and pointing to it. "This right here is proof. This is fifty years of her cooking."
"Lois is his wife," Aiden explains.
"Oh." I look at Tom. "I don't think I met her last time I was here."
"She was gone that week. Went to visit her sister in Pennsylvania. I'll go see if I can find her." He takes off.
"Tom, you don't have to do that," I call after him. "I can meet her some other time."
It's too late. He's already gone through the door that goes to the kitchen.
"Have you met his wife?" I ask Aiden.
"I met her at lunch." He catches Charlie's eye as he returns to the bar. "Could I get a water?"
Charlie nods and goes to get it.
"You had lunch with them?" I ask.
"I did," Aiden casually says. "You should've joined us."
"I had to work. Bianca called the minute I got to my room. So why were you having lunch with Tom and his wife?"
"Can't say." He takes the water from Charlie. "Thanks."
"Wait." I turn to Aiden. "Are you buying the inn?"
"I wish. I don't have that kind of money."
"I meant the company you work for. Are they buying it?"
"I really can't say. All I can tell you is that I had lunch with the owners."
"Why would they sell the inn? Tom loves this place. I'm sure his wife does too."
"She does. They both love it but..." Aiden looks down at his drink, swirling the liquid around in the glass.
"But what?"
He shrugs. "Things happen."
"What do you mean?"
He takes a sip of his drink. "So you said you stayed here before?"
He ignored my question. I wonder why.
"I was here last summer for a wedding. I didn't know the couple. The groom was friends with my boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend."
"Was it serious?"
"No," I say with a laugh. "Not at all. We'd only dated a couple months. I met him on a dating app, something I'll probably never do again."
"Giving up on dating apps?"
"For now, yes. I've never had much luck with them. The worst was this guy who said he was thirty but when he showed up he looked liked he was my dad's age. When I called him on it, he admitted he was fifty, not thirty, but said he acts young." I roll my eyes.
Aiden laughs. "So how'd the date go?"
"It didn't! I left." I smile. "I've had some really bad dates."
"I haven't tried online dating. I meet enough people through work or friends."
I'm about to try again to find out if he has a girlfriend but then Tom appears, along with a short stocky lady with white hair wearing a blue checkered apron and a big wide smile.
"Lois, this is Sophie," Tom says. "The girl I told you about."
I stand up as she approaches me.
"Nice to meet you," she says, shaking my hand.
"You too. You have a beautiful inn. I was here once before and loved it so much I just had to come
again."
"We're happy you did. This time of year tends to be slow with summer vacations over and before the fall leaf peepers arrive. You pretty much have the place to yourselves." She looks at Aiden. "Why didn't you tell us you had a girlfriend? You could've brought her to lunch."
"Oh, no, we're not together," I say. "We just happened to show up at the bar at the same time."
"She was the girl who was here last summer," Tom says to his wife. "With a different young man."
"We're no longer together," I explain.
Lois looks between Aiden and me and smiles. "You certainly look like you're together. Perhaps love will bloom while you're here." She wraps her arm around Tom's. "Like it did for us."
"You two met here?" I ask.
"We worked here." Tom looks at his wife. "She tended to the flowers and I mowed the grass."
"We were just teenagers." Lois laughs. "High school kids wanting to make some spending money. Tom kept finding reasons to come over and talk to me when I was working. I found it very annoying," she says with a huff.
"But not annoying enough to tell me to go away," Tom says, winking at Lois.
She glances at him. "He was a very handsome young man. And persistent."
"Persistence is key," Aiden says. "If at first you don't succeed, try try again."
"Exactly," Tom says with a nod.
"It was lovely meeting you," Lois says to me. "I need to get back to the kitchen. Please say you'll stay for dinner. You may be my only two customers."
"We'll stay." Aiden looks at me. "Assuming you're okay with that."
"Yes. Of course." I smile at Lois. "I can't wait to try the pork roast."
"You're in for a treat," Tom says. "And for dessert she's making blueberry cobbler."
"With fresh picked blueberries from out back," Lois says. "Well, I better get to work. It was nice meeting you."
"Nice meeting you too," I say.
Tom watches her leave, then turns back to us. "I'll let you two get back to your date."
"It's not a—" I stop because he's already gone.
Aiden laughs. "They seem to want to play matchmaker."
"Yeah." I sit down on the barstool, running my finger over the rim of my glass as I ponder whether or not to ask Aiden if he's single. Maybe I should forget it. I don't have time to date. But I really like this guy.
"So, you never said. Are you—"
The ring of his phone interrupts me.
"Go ahead and get it," I tell him.
He silences his phone. "I don't like talking on my phone in a restaurant. I'll call her later."
"Her? You mean your girlfriend?"
"My mom. I'll call her after dinner." He checks his phone. "Now that you say that, I'm surprised it wasn't Celine calling. I haven't heard from her since this morning."
"Celine?"
He puts his phone down. "My girlfriend."
Chapter Four
Sophie
Of course he has a girlfriend. He's handsome. Smart. Funny. Dresses well. He's easy to talk to.
And here I thought he was flirting with me. He was just being nice.
"Why didn't you bring her along?" I ask. "This is the perfect place for a romantic weekend."
"She's a city girl. This place would drive her insane. She can't take all the quiet and the lack of shops. I wanted to take her up to Maine to show her where I used to spend the summers but ten minutes outside the city she made me turn around. She panicked at the thought of spending a weekend just relaxing on the beach."
"Sounds like heaven to me," I say, imagining it.
"To be fair, the beaches there aren't great. The shore is rocky and the water's cold but it's still really beautiful. It's a good place to just relax and get away."
"You said you spent your summers there?"
"When we were kids my brother and I would go there and stay with our grandparents. They owned an inn off the coast of Maine, just south of Bar Harbor. It was a small town where everyone knew each other. I could take off for the day and run around without my grandparents having to worry. I'd go down to the docks, talk to the fishermen. If they weren't too busy they'd let me help and send me home with whatever I caught." Aiden smiles, a faraway look in his eyes. "Sometimes I wish I could go back to those simpler times."
"You could."
He breaks from the memory, his eyes going to mine. "What do you mean?"
"You don't have to do what you're doing. You could move to a place like this, live a simpler life."
He chuckles. "And do what? I'm guessing jobs in property investment are pretty scarce up here in Vermont."
"You could do something else. What did you go to school for?"
"Business. I was a finance major. I worked as a stockbroker for a few years but then this opportunity came up for the place I'm working at now and I took it, thinking it'd be fewer hours and less stress."
"And was it?"
"Not really. But I like what I'm doing. I feel like I'm making a difference in this job."
"What does your girlfriend do?"
"She's still figuring that out. She went to design school but didn't finish. She wants to go back, but in the meantime she's doing some charity work and working for her dad's company."
"How long have you two dated?"
"Just over a year."
"Do you live together?"
"No." He chuckles. "Why all the questions about my relationship?"
I shake my head. "Sorry. You're right. I'm being nosy."
"It's fine. And hey, I wasn't kidding about what I said earlier. If you're interested I know some guys in New York I could set you up with, although now that I've gotten to know you, they might not be good enough for you."
I smile, feeling my cheeks warm. "Thanks. That's nice of you to say."
"Give me your number and I'll text you next time I get together with the guys. You can meet them and decide for yourself if you're interested."
It's nice of him to offer. The only problem is I'm interested in him, not his friends.
"Thanks, but I really don't have time to date."
"Doesn't mean you can't hang out with us. I'd like to see you again. I don't want this weekend to be it." He looks at me as he says it and I swear I feel something between us, but I'm sure I'm just imagining it. He has a girlfriend.
I'm definitely feeling something for him. I felt it when I first saw him. It was a rush, a flutter in my stomach, a pitter patter of my heart. I thought it was a reaction caused by my anger at him for the trouble he caused but now I think it might've been something else.
"It's almost five," Aiden says. "Should we get a table?" He looks back at the empty dining room. "We better hurry before they run out."
I laugh. "Maybe we should just eat here. Save the tables for the other guests."
He stands up. "C'mon. Let's grab the one by the window." He takes his credit card from his wallet and sets it on the bar. "We're ready to settle up," he says to Charlie.
"Sure thing." Charlie takes the card and swipes it in the machine, then brings it back, along with the receipt.
Aiden adds a twenty dollar tip before signing the slip. The bill was twenty-five.
"Thanks!" Charlie says, his eyes widening when he sees the tip.
"Shall we go?" Aiden says, offering me his arm to help get down from the barstool.
I get up by myself and glance around the empty restaurant. "I think I'll just take mine to go. I could use some time to catch up on work."
He gives me a confused look. "I thought we agreed to have dinner."
"I changed my mind. I started thinking how much I needed to get done and realized I really don't have time to sit down and eat."
"Then you're in the wrong job." He smiles. "C'mon. We don't have to be here all night. We'll have a nice dinner and then you can go back to your room."
He's very persuasive. Knowing he has a girlfriend, I was determined to go back to my room but that smile of his and those gorgeous blue eyes are making me change my mind.
What's the harm? It's just dinner. And after tomorrow, I'll probably never see him again.
"You said the table by the window?" I ask, smiling back at him.
Aiden’s eyes pause on me a moment and I swear I get that feeling again. The feeling there's something between us.
I look away from him and walk quickly to the table, that flutter in my stomach returning. Maybe it's hunger. I did skip lunch.
"Do you think we'll get service?" I ask as we sit down.
"I'm not sure," Aiden says, looking around for a waiter. "They might just show up with our food."
"I hope the place is doing okay. I would've expected at least a few more people at dinner."
"It's probably too early."
"Yeah, I guess it is," I say with a laugh. "My parents are the only people I know who eat this early."
Charlie wanders over to our table. "Welcome to The Maple Farm Inn. Can I start you off with a drink?"
We all laugh.
"I'll just have water," I say.
"You sure you don't want wine?" Aiden asks. "We could split a bottle."
"Water is fine," I say, already feeling the two drinks I had at the bar.
"I'll have the same," Aiden tells Charlie.
"Coming right up." He turns to leave, then turns back. "Oh, our special tonight is pork roast with a maple syrup glaze, mashed sweet potatoes, and buttermilk rolls with maple syrup butter."
"I'm sensing a theme," Aiden jokes.
"I'll have the special," I tell Charlie.
"And for you?" he asks Aiden.
"I'd like to look at a menu."
"Oh, sorry, but the special is all we're serving tonight."
Aiden smiles. "Then the special it is."
Charlie walks back to the kitchen.
When he's gone, we both laugh.
"It's usually not the special when it's the only thing on the menu," I say.
"It's fine. I'd planned to get it anyway."
My phone dings and I see a text from Macie.
Made it home! Sorry I missed our weekend.
We'll try again later, I text back. Glad you made it home safe!
Are you still there or did you leave?
Falling for Aiden Page 3
