Until May (Until Her/Him #11)(50)

Without knocking, he opens the door, and as soon as we step into a simply decorated living room that is filled with people, it goes quiet before everyone swarms around us. I don’t know what I expected, but I never would have thought I would be enveloped in hug after hug as I was passed from person to person, each of them telling me their names with welcoming smiles.

“These are so beautiful,” Rebecca, who was the first to hug me, says once everyone is done making their introductions. “Come on.” She grabs my hand so she can drag me with her through the living room to the kitchen that is small but filled with everything someone who loves to cook might need. “While I put these in a vase, I want to know everything about you.”

She lets me go near the stove, where there is a giant meatloaf in a pan along with a huge pot of mashed potatoes and another with boiled corn on the cobs. I smile, seeing she made Aiden’s favorite meal tonight, then focus on her.

“Well, I grew up in Tennessee a couple of towns over, and now I’m a librarian at a high school nearby.”

“You’re a librarian?” Her eyes light up as she grabs a vase from the cabinet under the sink. “I love reading.”

“Me too,” I tell her as Noah and Aiden come into the kitchen, and Noah grabs a couple of beers out of the fridge.

“I know I raised you two better than to not offer a woman a drink before you get one for yourself,” she sasses them while clipping off the ends of the flowers so she can place them in the vase.

“Sorry, Mom. You’re right.” Aiden wraps his arm around her shoulders, then his eyes come to me. “Do you want something to drink, doll?” he asks while Noah takes off back into the living room when someone shouts for him.

“I’m okay for now.” I smile.

“So how did you and my Aiden meet?” Rebecca asks me, and my chest warms, because I love that she calls him her Aiden.

“We met in my subdivision.”

“She was pulling a kid out of one of the retention ponds when it snowed a couple of weeks ago, and I drove up just in time to see her sliding on her belly across the ice to get to him,” Aiden tells her.

“Oh my.” She looks at me. “Was he okay?”

“He was.”

“Thank God.” She rests her palm against her heart, then she looks up at Aiden. “How is your dad?”

“Doing better. I haven’t seen him in a few days, but I’ve been texting his nurse who’s there with him every day, and she seems hopeful. I should see him tomorrow.”

“Well, with any luck, he’ll be back up and about before long, so you can figure out what you’re going to do now that you’re here.” Her brows pull together. “Unless you don’t think you’re going to stick around after that.”

My stomach bottoms out at her statement, and it’s a wonder my knees don’t buckle. The thought of Aiden leaving isn’t something I’ve allowed myself to dwell on, but maybe I should have.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he says, and his eyes bore into mine. “I’m not sure what I’ll do when Dad’s able to take over, but I’m not leaving town again.”

“Good, it’s time for you to settle down and plant some roots.” She pats his chest, then looks at me. “We’ve missed him.”

“I’m sure you have,” I say quietly, knowing I would feel the same if he was suddenly gone.

“Well.” She clears her throat as she places the last flower into the arrangement she’s made. “You, place this on the table.” She passes the vase to Aiden. “Then let’s eat before it’s cold.” She looks at me. “Do you mind helping me get everything to the table?”

“Not at all. Just tell me what you want me to do,” I say, and she gives me a smile before showing me what she needs help with.

Once we’re done, I take a seat at the table with a family that reminds me of my own, and seeing Aiden so relaxed and at ease as dinner carries on, it makes me understand even more why every time he’s spoken about these people, it’s been with such love. These people are his family. They might not share the same DNA, but these are the people who have been there cheering him on and lifting him up when things have gotten hard.

And by the end of the evening, when Aiden and I are home and in bed, I don’t think about the craziness that has happened since the moment we met. But instead, as he makes love to me, I pray that I get a million more days just like today with him.





Chapter 15


Aiden

GETTING OUT OF the shower, I grab a towel off the hanger and start to dry off as my cell in the bedroom begins to ring. With May still at work, I walk out to grab it and shake my head at Blue as she attempts to get a reaction from Dozer, who never pays either cat much mind.

When I see my ex-team’s publicist Marsha’s number on the screen, my brows dart together. Except for a happy-holidays text at Christmas, I haven’t spoken to her, not that we talked much even when I was her client.

“Marsha, give me a second,” I tell her after answering the call and placing it on speaker.

“Okay, darling,” she agrees in her thick British accent.

I go to where my bag is on the floor in the closet, grab a pair of boxers, and put them on, before taking out a pair of shorts and doing the same. If things between May and I weren’t so new, I’d ask her to clear out a drawer, but I’m guessing that shit happens months after you start seeing someone, not weeks. Not that I have any experience with these things. She’s the first woman I’ve ever spent a significant amount of time with.