Aidan led her to his SUV and helped her in. She briefly considered protesting, but was sensible enough to know she was not in any shape to drive. And Aidan’s vehicle was much more comfortable than hers. That made sense when Mary recognized the classic Mercedes icon; she hadn’t noticed that before. Then again, when they were coming out of the restaurant that night she’d been preoccupied.
“Nice,” she murmured in appreciation of the dark, silvery SUV. She might not know a lot about cars, but this one literally screamed ‘expensive’. It was a far cry from the beat-up POS he’d had when she’d first met him. “You must make a pretty good living to afford something like this.”
“I do alright,” Aidan replied noncommittally.
Mary was just trying to figure out what she was going to do about the seat belt when Aidan handed her a small, oddly dimensioned pillow. “Here.”
“What’s this?”
“Michael said to put this in front of you. It’ll be more comfortable.”
“Who is Michael, and how does he know so much about me?” she asked as she held the pillow in front of her while Aidan reached around and secured the safety belt. It placed him close enough that his hair brushed against her cheek and jaw. Mary closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled, filling her lungs with his scent. She hadn’t realized how much she missed it.
“He’s a good friend and a brilliant doctor. He agreed to see you as a special favor to me.” The buckle snicked into place and Aidan moved back to his own seat. “How’s that?”
“It’s good, thanks.”
There was some pressure, but it was manageable and undoubtedly more comfortable than a belt alone against her swollen and tender breasts. Mary had too many other things on her mind at that moment to dwell on it.
Nothing about the situation made sense to her. When she’d arrived at the hospital yesterday, she had done so alone and without anyone else’s knowledge. Today she’d been released by a doctor she’d never met and was being driven home in a Mercedes by the man who’d walked out on her weeks ago without a backward glance.
Aidan pulled slowly out of the lot, being extra careful to avoid anything that might jar her or cause her discomfort. Of course, riding in the Benz was already like riding in a cloud. Mary loved her Jeep, but she could see the appeal.
They were halfway to Birch Falls when Mary finally spoke. She had lots of questions, but started with the most important one first. “Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but why are you doing this?”
Aidan gave her a quick glance, his eyes intense but unreadable. “Because I want to.”
As answers went, it was far from sufficient, at least in her mind. Why did he want to? Was he still trying to “repay the kindness” as he’d once put it? Or maybe he harbored some angst over the way he’d left so abruptly weeks earlier, and saw this as an opportunity to make amends.
She wasn’t even sure it mattered. Most likely he would take her home, see her safely inside, then be off again, his conscience adequately appeased.
No matter what the reasoning was, she was glad to see him. For the first time in weeks, the persistent ache plaguing her had lifted. Then again, perhaps some of that was due to all the things they’d injected her with over the last twenty-four hours. She felt a lot like a pin cushion that had been ripped open and re-stitched a couple of times.
Figuring that replying “why” to “because I want to” seemed childish, she shelved that for when she had a clearer head and moved on to a different question. “How did you know?”
*
Several minutes passed. Aidan eased the car to a stop at a red light. “I called your house last night. Andrew answered.”
She didn’t say anything immediately, but Aidan felt her watching him expectantly. “What?” he asked, glancing sideways to confirm that she was, in fact staring at him while her hands gripped the pillow and hugged it close.
“I’m just waiting for you to ask me how often I let men stay overnight in my house.”
He winced. Of course she would expect him to ask that. It was the next step in a logical progression of such questions, following So, Mary, do you make a habit of picking up strange men in bars and bringing them back to your house? and the stunningly brilliant Get a lot of male visitors, do you? But at least he had learned from his mistakes.
“I don’t need to ask. I already know the answer.”
“Do you?” she mused, so softly he barely heard her.
They were quiet for the remainder of the ride. Mary already had the seat belt undone and was opening the door by the time Aidan got around to her side of the car. “Let me help you, Mary.”
She took his hand only until she was out of the car, then released it quickly. “I’m good, thanks.”
Aidan found that disappointing, but was somewhat encouraged when she didn’t protest his hand pressing supportively against her lower back.
Andrew was waiting inside with Max, who was beyond happy to see Mary. His tail wagged so hard he stumbled several times in his attempts to get to her. She petted him and kissed him as if they had been separated for much longer than one night.