Page 25 of Heart Strings
Dressed in a simple white shirt and dark pants that somehow look absurdly expensive, Aidan’s distractingly hot—but I still have a hard time shaking the fact that this isn’tmyAidan.
“Hey. Nice place. My bed is huge,” I say. His mouth pops open. He probably thinks I’m trying to make a pass at him. “I mean, it’s large. Good for bouncing.”
“Bouncing?” Aidan repeats.
Lark delightedly elbows Callum. There is no way the side-by-side placement of our rooms is a coincidence.
“Jumping! Jumping on the bed,” I correct. What am I saying?
This meeting has already gone off the rails; I’ve got to regain control. I turn to Lark. “Can you give us a second?”
Lark smiles knowingly. “Meet you downstairs.”
There’s an openness to Aidan’s expression, and I feel even worse now for what I’m about to say.
“Hey, before I forget: I just wanted to ask that you not mention…us…to my mom when you meet her. Please.”
Hurt flashes across his face.
I’d wanted to tell her about him a dozen times, but every time I started to work up the nerve, she’d remind me of just how neurotic she could be. His parents are so easygoing, he just doesn’t understand that there is no way to impress my mom. I’d simply wanted to keep him to myself for a little longer. Then it all ended anyway.
“You know how she is,” I explain. “She only wants me with some cardiologist or a stock trader or a lawyer.”
Aidan raises a brow and I pause to process the irony of that last one.
“Shall I tell her we met while I was practicing law? Might win her over,” Aidan asks with an almost melancholy smile. Here, you can sit for the entrance exam without a law degree. Before we met, he’d studied on his own for months in between busking, trying to balance his musical dream with a practical job when his parents needed help. I’d always admired his tenacity, his intelligence, his devotion to family.
“For my sanity’s sake, let’s just let her think we’re friends,” I plead. “I don’t want to get into my love life with my mom. There’s enough on my plate this weekend.”
“So, we’re friends now?”
My lips part, but I honestly don’t know how to reply. Could I learn to be friends with Aidan over the course of this weekend? Do I even want that?
“I won’t say anything to her,” he promises before I can answer. Layers of emotion shift across Aidan’s face. Hope and hurt and something else that I can’t quite identify.
My hand reaches out on its own accord, but before I touch his cheek, I pull my hand away and lift my index finger instead.
“One minute. I’ll meet everyone downstairs. I forgot something.”
I slip back into my room to compose myself. What about my comfort? My boundaries? I put them in place with good reason.
The mattress shifts under my weight as I plop down on the bed. Three days with my ex. I thought I was ready for it, but I’m far from over Aidan.
Chapter 13
Aidan
A terrifyingly intensemiddle-aged woman stomps down the ornately woven runner in the hallway. From the arch of her brows to her determined gait, the family resemblance is clear. Cielo’s mother, Tracy, I realize, just before she bangs on the door to Lo’s room.
My heart sank when she asked me not to mention our relationship to her mom. What hurt more was the realization that she’d never told her about us before. But apparently even back then, Lo had suspected we wouldn’t go the distance. No wonder she didn’t try to hold on to me when my career started to take off.
I pause at the banister and watch her mother slip inside the room.
Lo’s parents always exerted so much pressure on her, expecting her to be the perfect daughter and student. I may not be able to repair their relationship, but I’ll make this weekend easier on her in any way I can, even if it means pretending that we’re nothing more than friends.
Before I reach the banquet hall, my phone buzzes in mypocket. My manager’s contact photo lights up the screen. I step into the garden, where dahlias the size of dinner plates sway under rust-colored trees.
“Great news!” Martin says. “I have a last-minute gig for you.”
