Love on the Lake (Lakeside #2)(41)

“He was just flirting with me,” I point out.

Dillion rolls her eyes. “That’s my point. He’s only flirting with you, from what I can see. On Monday we were at one of the jobs across the lake, and they have a college-aged daughter. She was flouncing around in her bikini at nine in the morning, full makeup, following Aaron around like a lost puppy, and he wouldn’t give her the time of day. Eventually he told her she had to find something else to do because she didn’t have on the appropriate footwear to be around power tools.”

“Ouch.” Tawny makes a face.

Dillion shrugs. “He wasn’t wrong, but before you arrived, he would’ve at least flirted back.”

I glance over at the pool tables as Aaron heads toward the door with his phone at his ear.

“He’s kind of, like . . . mysterious,” Allie says.

He does disappear outside to take phone calls pretty often when we’re together. I just assume he needs the privacy.

“He dropped out of college in his final semester; do you know what happened?” I ask Tawny and Allie, since they’re local and Dillion lived in Chicago for almost a decade until she moved back to Pearl Lake last year. I haven’t tried to bring it up again since the last time we talked about it.

Tawny looks over her shoulder, checking to make sure no one is eavesdropping. She lowers her voice and shakes her head. “Not really. He came back a couple months after Christmas break in his final semester. He went through a rough patch. Had that little piece of land, and I think he lived in a trailer for a while. No one saw much of him. Got shit-faced drunk a few times here. Once I think he ended up in the hospital.”

“Is that why I always see him with root beer?” I ask.

Tawny shrugs. “Maybe? It was pretty bad. Something must have happened at college, but none of us know what it was. After the hospital thing, I think he stopped drinking altogether.”

“And then he started working for the Stitches,” Allie adds.

“And sleeping with the McMansion women,” I mutter.

“Yeah, but it’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything about that,” Tawny says.

“I think last summer was when he put a stop to things. Remember when he was at Harry’s and one of those women showed up and made a big scene right in the middle of the lumberyard?” Allie says to Tawny.

“Oh yeah, that was something else.” Tawny looks over her shoulder at the pool table, but the guys aren’t paying attention to us.

I lean in and lower my voice anyway. “What kind of scene?”

“She was day drunk,” Tawny says. “She started freaking out on him, saying she knew she wasn’t the only one and how dare he. Aaron’s mom works there, so that was . . . not the best.”

“What happened?” I ask.

“He told her she wasn’t making sense, and she needed to stop making a spectacle of herself,” Allie tells us. “I guess she wasn’t in any kind of state to drive, and he didn’t want her to keep making a scene, so he took her home. He was livid. I don’t think it was long after that he stopped whatever he was doing. But there are other stories. I don’t know if I’d believe them all, though.”

“He goes away for a weekend every month, too,” Tawny says.

“That’s right. He always disappears once a month, but I don’t know where he goes, apart from out of town.” Allie turns her attention to Dillion. “Do you know what he does?”

Dillion shrugs. “Beats me. He’s been doing it for as long as I’ve been working for my dad. Once he said something about going to see some friends, but I wouldn’t think that’d be every month.”

“See, this is what makes him such a mystery.” Allie gives me what looks like a reassuring smile. “Anyway, I don’t think it’s anything you need to worry about. It’s pretty clear Aaron is into you. I’ve never seen him kiss anyone in public. Unless you count when he gives his mom a peck on the cheek, which is super swoony.”

I glance over at the pool table again and find him leaning up against the wall, watching me, not the game he’s involved in, and I have to admit it seems that way. Which is good, because I feel a whole lot the same.

At ten we pay the bill because Dillion and Tawny both work early. I stop by the pool table on our way out to say good night to Aaron.

He leans on his pool cue, his expression holding a hint of nervousness. “I’m almost done here. I could give you a ride home if you want to wait.”

“It’s kind of out of your way, isn’t it?”

He shrugs. “I don’t mind.”

I glance over at Dillion, who’s chatting with her brother, Billy. The smart thing to do would probably be to go home with Dillion and take this night for myself. Not because I don’t want Aaron to drive me home. It’s honestly the opposite.

It’s only been a month, and I already like him more than I want to admit. My tendency is to jump in with both feet and look after I’ve taken the plunge. I fall hard and fast. I like being needed and wanted. But Van has a point: I do have a hard time saying no, even when I should. Only this time I don’t want to say no; I just think I should because I’m worried that if I stay, I’m somehow giving up the independence I’m working on. Or maybe I’m overthinking it.