Conviction (Consolation Duet #2)(45)

Another two weeks pass.

Another two weeks of Liam being gone.

I hate deployments.

I look at the beach filled with happy couples, and I want to scream. Aarabelle and I are playing in the sand. Liam hasn’t called in a week, and I keep having horrible nightmares. I woke up last night and ran to the front door thinking someone was there to tell me he died. It was so real. I was already crying hysterically when I ripped the door open.

“Hey,” Aaron’s voice calls out from behind us.

“Hi.” I smile as he looks at Aarabelle.

In the last six weeks, Aaron has started to look like the man I fell in love with. We haven’t really spoken about anything deep, but he said he understands my need to move on.

“How are you?” he asks as Aara gets up and runs to him.

“Daddy!” Her tiny arms wrap around him and he kisses her.

“She just . . . !” I trail off as he smiles with his whole heart. We’ve been saying Daddy more and more to her in regards to Aaron. It warms me that he’s being such a great father to her. She’s lucky that she’ll know the love of two men.

“She did! Hi, my beautiful girl.” He lifts her into his arms and I hold my heart. Even with everything we’ve suffered, there’s a small measure of healing through Aara. She is the glue that holds us all together.

Aaron carries her over and sits next to me. “That was amazing.”

“Yeah,” I grin. “I’ve been working with her on Mommy too. I’m glad she said it with you here.”

“Me too. So, how are you?” Aaron asks and starts to play with Aara in the sand.

“I’m hanging in there. You?”

He looks at me and lifts his hand, but drops it before touching me. “I’m doing okay,” he admits.

“Good, I’m glad.” And I mean that. I don’t wish anything bad on him. Aaron has suffered enough in his life, and I know the man he was. He was happy, loving, and fun. I want him to find that again.

“I wanted to ask you if you thought we could have dinner this week? There’s some stuff I want to talk about and I owe it to you.”

My heart sputters and I’m not sure what to do. Aaron hasn’t done anything to make me wary, but I remember the last dinner we had.

“Is something wrong?”


“No, I just want to talk about going forward.”

“Okay, I can get a sitter for Aarabelle.”

“Great.”

We play with Aara for a while and talk about work stuff. Aaron has been working with Mark on a lead outside of the office on what’s been going on in Cole Security Forces. This will be the first time he’s back in the office for more than a day or two. They both have been steadfast in checking every clue as to who could be behind the issue that caused Aaron to go over there in the first place. Jackson is flying back this week and wants to have a staff meeting. It’s hard to believe anyone is intentionally messing with all of these guys, but it seems that way, and Mark is all too happy to work a little closer with Charlie in D.C.

After we discuss work, we transition into how he’s handling everything. Aaron’s been working hard in therapy and seems to be doing much better at opening up. His therapist has urged him to talk more about what he went through.

“Seeing Charlie this week was good I think,” he muses.

“Why is that?”

“She was able to fill in some of the gaps of time and how she was able to get me the hell out of there.”

Aaron looks off at the waves and I place my hand on his. “Can you tell me about the rescue?” I ask.

We start to pack Aarabelle’s toys and head to the house. It’s already getting dark and we’ve spent the afternoon talking and laughing. It was nice to spend time with him like two old friends. There wasn’t anything awkward or uncomfortable. We just enjoyed the day with our daughter.

“What do you want to know?”

“How did it all go down?” I really want to know how they knew where to find him and what happened.

Once we reach the deck, I can tell by the way Aaron stiffens and the way he keeps clenching his hands that this is difficult for him. I reach out and touch his arm. “You don’t have to tell me.” I offer him the out.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Do you want to stay for dinner? I have chicken in the crock pot.”

“Are you sure that’s okay, Lee? I’m not saying I don’t want to, but you need to be sure. I don’t know if I can really be friends with you like this. You chose him.”

My stomach clenches. “Aaron, I wasn’t trying . . .”

“I know. You asked me to leave. You asked me for a divorce. I don’t know how Liam or Brittany would feel.”

“You’re back with her? Even after all the shit you said to each other?” I ask.

“Do you hate it?” he asks and steps closer. “Do you wish I wasn’t?”

I shake my head. “No. If you were willing to ruin our marriage over her, I would hope you cared about her enough to try. You were planning to leave me.”

I thought we were making progress, but it seems not. I don’t know if he’s playing a game or what.

“I would’ve never done it.”

“You’ll never know that.”