She smiled, amused. “So sweet of you to think of me,” she teased. Matty looked at her, hopeful, and she felt her resolve waver. He hadn’t been excited about anything like this in months. “OK,” she agreed, and Matty lit up.
“Thanks mom!” he smothered her with a hug.
“Not so fast,” she warned him. “I want your room tidied, and you to eat a proper dinner, not just junk.”
“No problem.”
“And you can clean the bathroom, as well,” Stella added, spying a chance to get some extra chores out of him. “And on Sunday, I’m taking you to brunch at the diner. And you have to sit through the whole meal without rolling your eyes once.”
“Fine!” Matty exclaimed, he grabbed his mug of cocoa and made for the door. “I’m going to go tell the others. Night!”
“Goodnight.”
Stella cleaned up, and turned the lights out. Her bedroom was in the attic, up a rickety spiral staircase, under the eaves, and as usual, the bed was already full.
“Move over, Buster.” she said, shoving the German Shepard out of the way. He curled on the floor, instead, leaving only two cats, and the Poodle mutt on the duvet. “It’s no wonder I can’t find a man,” she said, looking around. “There’s already no place to put him.”
She tried to imagine Aidan in a room like this, smooshed in beside the ginger pussycat, with Buster drooling on his perfect jaw. She couldn’t picture it. He would probably leap out of the window at the first sight of her hand-crocheted blanket and mismatched pillow shams. That was a man used to sophisticated designer sheets – and sophisticated, designer women in bed with him.
Stella let out a wistful sigh. Despite all her protests to her friends, in the quiet of the night, she had to admit, Aidan’s rejection stung. Sure, she hadn’t actually been asking him on a date, but knowing he would react with such awkward panic to the idea…
It wasn’t exactly good for her ego, knowing she inspired such horror in a man. Especially the man who had taken up residence in all her most private thoughts.
But that was just the fantasy, Stella reminded herself. Her dreams had been of wild, consequence-free passion… with someone who wouldn’t be making awkward excuses the next morning, or find a way to let her down. Aidan’s only appeal had been the fact he wasn’t a part of her world – even if she could add a few more things to the list now.
Taut, tanned, muscular things…
Stella shook her head, and turned out the lights. Despite Aidan’s many assets, he’d made it clear that she was the last thing on his mind. He was well and truly off-limits, and she wasn’t about to disrupt the safe, steady life she’d worked so hard to build here. The sooner her subconscious got the hint, the better.
But maybe one more dream wouldn’t hurt…
4
The Sweetbriar Cove gossip tree worked fast. Aidan woke at dawn the next morning with a buzz of messages from his family already flooding his phone.
“You’re in town? Why didn’t you say?”
“Dude, what’s going on?”
“CALL ME!!”
He groaned, and rolled over in bed, wondering what had given the game away. He knew he would have to face the music eventually, but he’d been hoping for a few more days peace to figure out his answers to the questions that would no doubt be heading his way.
No such luck.
His family weren’t the type to respect things like ‘space’ and ‘boundaries’ and sure enough, he soon heard a determined banging on the front door.
He opened it, still yawning, and found his sister standing on the doorstep with her hands on her hips and an accusing stare on her face.
“You dirty, rotten liar!” she exclaimed, her choppy hair dyed pink at the tips this week.
Aidan stretched. “Great to see you too, kid.”
He padded barefoot down the hall to put some coffee on; he could already tell that he was going to need it. Cassie followed. “Save it,” she said. “We’re meeting the others for breakfast at the diner. Your treat, as punishment for all your dirty rotten lies.”
“Am I allowed to put pants on first?” he asked, teasing.
“Please do!” Cassie said, already investigating the contents of his fridge. ‘But I’m driving.”
She took the backroads like the Indy 500, nearly running a slow-moving tractor off the road. “Nice ride,” she said with a smirk, as they pulled up in the town square, tires screeching loud enough to draw attention from the group of old-timers doing Tai Chi under the trees.
Aidan slowly released his grip on the passenger seat, heart pounding from the speed. “God help Wes,” he swore, and Cassie laughed.
“More like God blessed him, you mean.”
They found the rest of the family at the diner, already sprawled across the corner booth: Jackson and Chase devouring a mountain of food, as Luke gulped coffee, and Grandpa Earl sat reading his newspaper, ignoring them all.
“There he is!” Jackson greeted him with a slap on the back. “I thought Alice was kidding when she said you’d taken the Stanley house.”
“Which one is that?” Chase interrupted, between massive forkfuls of pancake.
“The Death Star,” Luke and Cassie replied at the same time.
“Oh, right.” Chase gave a chuckle. “Seems about right.”
Aidan slid into the booth and politely gestured the waitress over. “We’ll need another stack of pancakes, thanks.”
“And extra bacon,” Cassie piped up.
“Make that two,” Aidan added, with an apologetic smile. The waitress whisked away, so he busied himself pouring coffee from the pot on the table, and stirring in sugar and cream. When he finally looked up, he found his family staring back at him, expectant.
“Well?” Jackson asked, raising an eyebrow. “You want to tell us what’s up with this incredibly uncharacteristic visit of yours?”
“Not that we aren’t happy to see you.” Cassie flashed a smile – and then promptly stole a strip of bacon from Chase’s plate.
“Hey!” he protested. “Get your own.”
“You mean, the way you got your own pizza at dinner the other night?”
Aidan met Earl’s eyes across the table, and shared a familiar smile as the others bickered. His siblings may have been full-grown adults, but they had a way of acting like a bunch of unruly kids whenever they got together without their better halves around.
“It’s no big deal,” he finally said, interrupting the argument. “I’m just taking some vacation time, that’s all.”
“How much time?” Jackson asked.
Aidan looked away. “I don’t know. A few months, maybe. I’m moving on from my job,” he added casually, “so I figured it was a good chance to reset. Relax a little.”
He took a gulp of coffee, and when he looked up, five incredulous faces stared back at him. “Who are you, and what have you done with my workaholic brother?” Cassie finally demanded.
“Very funny.” He tried to laugh it off.
“I mean it. Are you feeling alright?” she asked, reaching to check his forehead.