Page 37 of Small-Town Secrets
The children looked at me curiously too.
"No," I said. "Why would anything be wrong?" Lifting my burger to my mouth I took a big bite. The truth was that this scene was way too domestic, eating burgers as a family, even though we weren't a family. At least, not really. It made me want things I shouldn't. Things that weren'trealistic.Aaron still hadn't told me how he felt about the fact that I'd manipulated him with heat inducers, and he wasn't just going to forgive me when he found out whatelseI'd done either.
He hadn't made a move on me since that one kiss in Gregory's living room.
I chewed on my burger until it tasted like nothing but cardboard in my mouth.
Honestly, I'd thought I was over my silly teenage crush.
As I swallowed, I watched Aaron grab a napkin, reach over the table and wipe some ketchup from the corner of Chris' mouth like it was the most natural thing in the world. Chris shot him a skeptical look, but didn't protest.
And just as I fooled myself into relaxing, Tyler spoke up and shattered any sense of calm I felt. "Can I call Paps later?" he asked "I want to tell him about the belt."
"Uh..." I blanked, scrambling for something to say. I really needed to sit them down and tell them the truth, didn't I? Or at least part of it. Looking around the table I realized there wasn't a single person with me I wasn't lying to. Awesome.
"How about you send your paps a nice email?" Aaron suggested, saving me. "Then you can attach some of the pictures your daddy shot today."
"Oooh." Tyler's eyes shot to me again. "Can I?"
"Of course. I'll help you later."
"Yay! Is Paps coming for Christmas?"
"I don't know yet," I lied. There was no way in hell Howard was coming to Oceanport.
"I'm having a puppy over tomorrow," Aaron announced, distracting both of my children from the conversation at hand. "Would you two like helping me work with it?"
Genius, he was absolutely genius.
"A puppy?" Tyler's eyes grew wide. "Can we have a puppy?"
Aaron laughed. "We're not keeping it. It's someone else's. I train dogs, remember?"
"And you get paid for that?" Chris asked with something like awe in his voice.
"I do actually. I know, it's amazing."
"What kind of puppy?" Tyler asked. He'd obviously forgotten all about his paps in light ofpuppy.
At least for now.
* * *
"Thankyou for helping me with the boys earlier," I said to Aaron after I'd put the boys to bed that night. It had gotten late. Tyler and Chris insisted on having two stories read to them since they were two boys—and for all their fighting, they worked really well as a team against me when they wanted to.
Aaron waved me off, sitting on the couch and petting the Chihuahua in his lap. "It was no trouble, your kids are great."
"They are," I agreed. "I don't often hear that from strangers, though. They can be a handful."
"I really don't mind. This house has been too quiet for too long. Even if Sarge doesn't agree." He chuckled and scratched his dog behind the ear when Sarge looked up at his name.
"I hope they don't bother your dog too much. I told them not to touch him without your permission."
"They've been good about that. Chris especially. Sarge doesn't normally like children, but he was shadowing your boy all evening yesterday." A warm smile took over Aaron's face. "He must be starting to accept you guys into the family."
I faked a laugh so Aaron wouldn't notice how much that statement rattled me. He couldn't know how much I secretly wanted us to be a family.
"I'm sorry for getting dog-hair on the couch," he said. "I keep forgetting that this is your bed now. We really need to get you an actual bed. We have the room."
