Page 22 of A Lifetime in 30 Days
He gave a little nod and pushed his hands into the front pockets of his dark-brown slacks. “Caleb invited me to a get-together he was doing for the brothers a while back, and I couldn’t come. But it had been some time since I’d heard from him, so I saved his number and address in my phone so we could get better at keeping in touch.”
She narrowed her gaze at him, forcing herself to watch him strictly as a friend of Caleb’s and nothing more. It occurred to her then that she’d done this on previous occasions.
Aden pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Do you want to see the saved contact?”
When she didn’t immediately respond, he swiped a finger over his phone, then leaned in closer to put his phone up to her face.
She read the entry for Caleb Carlson and relaxed her stance just a bit. “It’s still pretty late for a wellness check.”
“You’re right,” he said, pulling the phone back and slipping it into his pocket. “But like I told Granny, I was worried about you all day.”
“Why?” It was a clipped question, and she instantly felt weird about it, so she continued, “I mean, we haven’t seen each other since college.”
He hadn’t attended the big cookout-style reception Granny had thrown for them after the wedding. And Caleb hadn’t mentioned him at all during that time, so she was a little shocked that he’d reached out to Aden at some point. She remembered the get-together Caleb had suggested, and she’d done all the legwork for. It was during the summer, and she’d rented tents, tables, and chairs; hired a DJ; and helped Granny cook all the food. Two months later, she put Caleb out of her house.
“I know.” His expression sobered, but his gaze remained intent. “I’ve been feeling a way about that too. So I wanted to make sure you were good.”
She wanted to ask what that meant because it felt like it meant more than just those words. Was she serious right now? This was so out of bounds, from him being here to her even attempting to entertain that it might mean something more than what it appeared. She felt like the twenty-two-year-old she’d been when she first met him.
“I’m fine,” she said, and cleared her throat. “Just having a movie night to celebrate my birthday with Granny and my girls.”
“Oh, it’s your birthday?” He looked genuinely surprised.
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “Not today. At the end of this month, but I’m celebrating with activities every weekend.” And why had she just told him all that? “Look, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your concern, but like I said, I’m fine.”
“Good,” he said. “I’m glad to see you’re holding up.”
“She is because we’ve got pie and Moscato,” Jamaica said from the top of the stairs. “Why don’t the two of you stop letting the mosquitos in and come get some.”
Jamaica walked away as quickly as she’d seemed to appear, and when Vanna returned her attention to Aden, it was to see him grinning.
“Your people don’t play about you,” he said. “I like that.”
“Yeah,” she admitted. “I like it too.”
“So, I’d planned to ask if you wanted to go out and grab a cup of coffee, catch up or something. And before you say it, I know it’s late. I just ...” He shrugged. “I don’t know, I just really wanted to see you.”
And that was different. It was odd and she knew it; she just didn’t know what to do about it. Just like she hadn’t known how to handle it when they’d had these awkward interactions while she and Caleb were dating back in college.
“I don’t ... ah ... I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” she said.
“Well, he did pay for your lawyer,” said Ronni, who was now at the top of the stairs. “The least you can do is go get coffee with the man to say thank you.”
She didn’t know how she’d forgotten about that. Perhaps because he looked just as good as he had in that suit at the funeral—and the jeans in the parking lot of the police station—as he did standing here right now, dressed in shades of brown.
“Right, I should thank you for that. Even though I don’t know why you did it. I can pay you back. Just tell me how much it was and I’ll—”
“Have coffee with me,” he said. “That’s how you can thank me.”
Chapter 8
Twenty minutes later, Vanna reminded herself that it wasjustcoffee. She hadn’t even bothered to change out of the gray leggings and pink off-the-shoulder T-shirt she was wearing. She’d simply slipped her feet into a pair of Crocs, grabbed her phone, keys, and purse, and walked out the door. All while he waited in the living room with three women and a surly dog staring at him.
“I can’t believe it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other,” he said when they were settled in a booth toward the back of one of the few diners open at this hour.
“I know,” she replied. “And right about now, I feel like those nights after we’d hit the club and we were all starving, so we found a spot to eat.” The memory made her smile.
He chuckled too. “You’re right. It was usually IHOP, though, and you always ordered breakfast food.”
