At the end of the day, I hop into my car and head downtown to hit up the grocery store. I pick up all sorts of appetizers, hoping Dillion, Allie, and Tawny will want to get together for drinks and snacks sometime this weekend. Although Tawny has been dating a guy from the next town over, so there’s no guarantee she’ll be available.
I park in the public lot and rummage around in my purse. I need to withdraw some cash since I’m down to my last five-dollar bill. I try not to use my credit card at the local stores since they charge a fee to the store owners every time. Except I don’t have my wallet with me.
For a moment I panic. Until I remember that my purse tipped over last night at Aaron’s, and the thunk I heard must have been my wallet hitting the floor. It’s probably under his bed. I don’t have a key to his house, but I know where he keeps the spare. I’m not sure when he’s planning to leave for the weekend or if he’s already gone, but if I stop by now and grab my wallet, I can steal a goodbye kiss to tide me over for the weekend.
My stomach does flips and somersaults on my way to his place. I shouldn’t be nervous, but I am. Worried he’s not being honest with me about this weekend. That’s how it started with Troy. Canceling plans last minute, showing up late to pick me up. I shake off the fears. Aaron isn’t like Troy. He wouldn’t do something like that.
I pull down the gravel road that leads to his house and consider sending him a message, but if he’s already left, he probably won’t see it until later. I pull up to his driveway.
It’s long and tree lined, but I can see his house at the end. There’s also a blue SUV that I don’t recognize parked behind his truck.
I pull forward, park on the side of the road, and walk up the driveway. The car has an Indiana license plate. Which is where he went to college. The sound of voices filters up from the lake.
My stomach feels like a lead weight has been dropped into it as I step up onto the deck and his dock comes into view. Sitting on the edge of the dock is a woman in a bikini. She turns her head, and I get a glimpse of her profile. She’s close to the same age as me. I fight the urge to jump to baseless conclusions. He’s been introducing me as his girlfriend for weeks. She has to be a friend of his. Maybe a cousin.
The woman laughs and ducks her head as Aaron cannonballs into the lake, splashing her and a little boy wearing a life jacket. When he pops back up out of the water, the little boy jumps in after Aaron, shrieking excitedly.
Aaron picks him up by the waist and holds him out of the water. “That was a perfect ten, little man!”
When he brings him back down, he kisses the boy on the cheek, and the boy wraps his arms around Aaron’s neck. Even from here I can see the resemblances.
He has the same smile as Aaron.
When he sets the boy on the edge of the dock and pulls himself out of the water, I can also see that he has the same nose.
Which can only mean one thing. Aaron has been keeping a big secret.
And that secret is a family I know nothing about.
I don’t stop at the grocery store on the way home, mainly because I don’t have my wallet. In fact, I don’t even remember the drive home, period. I think I’m in a state of shock. I keep going over and over the scene in my head.
How comfortable he was with them. The way that little boy wrapped himself around Aaron, like he never wanted to let him go. How bright Aaron’s smile was. The way he called him little man.
It could be family. Or a family friend. But then why wouldn’t he tell me that? Why not explain that friends from out of town were coming for the weekend?
Because he didn’t want you to know.
Because he has something to hide.
My hands are shaking as I slip the key into the lock. My mind is going a million miles a minute, to the point that my thoughts are jumbled and all I can see is Aaron hugging that little boy on a loop. He was Aaron’s spitting image.
Not once has Aaron said anything about having a sibling. And I can’t imagine that Dillion wouldn’t mention something like that. It seems too important a piece of information.
I head straight for the bathroom and open my medicine cabinet, pulling out my prescription. The antianxiety medication is a take-as-needed prescription, but I try not to use it too often. If there was ever a time I needed a little assistance to calm down and think rationally, it’s now.
I pop the tablet under my tongue and let it dissolve on my way to the kitchen. I open the freezer door and pull out my bottle of vodka. I need a good stiff drink. Probably more than one. I also need my head to stop spinning and my worst-case-scenario button to stop going off.
I manage to make myself a martini without spilling half the vodka on the counter. I drop into my reading chair, sipping my drink, staring at the wall, trying to make sense of what I saw.
My phone pings with messages, but I don’t check to see who it is. I’m contemplating making another martini when there’s a knock at my door. I’m calmer than I was when I first got home, my worries covered with a soft, fuzzy, protective blanket of serenity.
I push out of the chair, find my balance, and cross the room. Dillion is standing on the landing, phone in hand. “Hey. I thought you were out with Aaron tonight.”
“I was. He had to cancel.”
She looks me over, brow pulling together, and her gaze darts past me, to the kitchen counter, where the vodka and shaker are sitting. “Did something happen? Are you okay?”
“Aaron’s an only child, right?”
“Uh, yeah, why?”
I tap my lip and blow out a breath. “I think he’s keeping something from me. Or someone.”
“What do you mean, someone?”
I step back, allowing her to enter. While I make us both a drink, I tell her what happened, starting with Aaron canceling our plans and ending with me forgetting my wallet and stopping by his place, only to find he had company.
“That boy looks like him, Dillion. Exactly like him. Same mouth, same nose.”
“I honestly don’t know what to think, Teagan. I’ve known Aaron my entire life, but I spent the better part of a decade living in the city, so there are a handful of years where we didn’t see much of each other. I’d like to think I’d know if he had a kid, though.”
“And I’d like to think the same, but if it’s not that, then why wouldn’t he tell me he had friends or family coming to visit? The only reason to omit something like that is because he’s got something to hide. And maybe that something is a someone. What if he has an entire family I don’t know about?”
Dillion rubs her temple. “I just can’t see it, Teag. I guess it’s possible, but he’s so loyal. I don’t know. In some ways it would explain him coming back when he did. Maybe him and the mother aren’t involved anymore? Do you want me to ask Tawny or Allie if they know anything?”
“No. I don’t want to start gossip.”
“That’s fair.” Dillion raps her nails on the counter. “Then I think the only thing you can do is confront him and hope he has a good explanation.”