Aiden tried to smooth his features. “No.”
“You look worried.”
He gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s just a little rain.”
“You can’t fool me.” A frown pulled her mouth down.
“All right. It’s more rain than I was expecting, but we should be fine.”
She pulled out her cell phone and messed with it a second. “I don’t have any bars.”
“You won’t. Not here.”
The rain pelted harder. She unzipped her backpack and slid the phone inside. After a moment, she turned to him. “Have you dated at all since we broke up?”
Where had that question come from? Aiden took in a breath and tried to act like the question didn’t bother him. “No.”
She played with the zipper on her backpack. “Why not?”
He didn’t want to talk about his lack of dates. What would he say?I was so upset about you leaving that I couldn’t imagine myself with anyone else?He’d rather get out and swim than tell her that. “Just haven’t had the time.”
Her expression hardened. “I see.”
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He didn’t want to know. Shouldn’t even be thinking about asking, yet the words came out anyway. “And you?”
She looked down at her lap. “I dated a man for a while. It didn’t work out.”
Right. And that’s why he should have kept his mouth shut. Now all he could think about was Felicity with another man. He suddenly wanted to punch something. The boat sped up and he made a conscious effort to slow it down. “How long did you date him?” And another stupid question flew out of his mouth. What was wrong with him?
“About a year.”
Dang. Now he really wanted to know who this guy was. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from asking more about him. The last thing he needed was the image of another man kissing Felicity stuck in his head. He couldn’t handle that. He maneuvered the boat around a bend. “How’s your father?”
“He’s doing well. I try to get back there to see him a few times a year. It’s been harder lately.”
Aiden studied her. “Why?”
“Jobs haven’t exactly been all that steady. I’ve sold some prints to a gallery, but I don’t have as much time to take fine art shots when I’m pounding the pavement, looking for the jobs that pay the rent.”
“Oh.” Her mentioning her fine art prints made him a bit self-conscious. He’d purchased some of her prints online and had them hidden away in his attic. He hadn’t even shown Grams. He wasn’t even sure why he’d done it. Maybe because having them made him feel like a part of Felicity was still with him. But that was stupid, so they still sat in his attic, untouched.
Aiden stared out at the rain pelting the river. It was an odd feeling, knowing Felicity had walked away from being a billionaire’s wife and was now struggling financially. He’d worked so hard for them...for her. And she’d left just hours before the fruits of his labors were realized. Did she resent him for it? Even as the words came to mind, he knew that she didn’t. She wasn’t like that.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll survive.” She flashed him a smile, but it seemed forced.
“I know you will.” Felicity was a strong person. He knew she’d reach her goals.
Lightning streaked across the sky, and a second later, thunder boomed. Felicity jumped. “Wow, that was close.”
Aiden didn’t want to alarm her, but he was getting very worried about the storm. “We’ll be fine,” he said, although his voice sounded weak to his own ears.
“What made you choose Belize?”
Aiden was glad she was changing the subject, but it caught him off guard. “What?”
Felicity shifted in her seat. “Why did you decide to move to Belize and start up a resort?”
Aiden turned his attention back to the water. That was a complicated question, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to talk to her about it. But, if he didn’t answer, she was going to keep asking. “After I sold my technology, I kind of fell into a depression.” He swallowed. Admitting that was difficult, but Felicity just sat there, politely waiting for him to go on. “Grams tried everything to get me to snap out of it. One of the things was a vacation in Belize. We stayed at a resort.”