I liked it, but I also hated that he had lost people he was close to.
“Viv?”
A heavy sullenness had settled over me, making it hard to talk. “Yes? I’m sorry about your friends.”
“Thank you. Grab some water and drink a lot before you go to sleep. But, trust me, I really want to see where we can go. I’m leaving tomorrow, okay. Good night, my midnight call girl.”
“Night, Aaron.” I disconnected and dropped my phone.
Aaron
She’s a girl, one hundred percent female.
I glanced back at Ireland, who was seated in my backseat in the most uncomfortable position possible. Her face rested on the strap of the seatbelt that was strung across her chest, which forced her head to tilt in a weird way. My neck hurt just watching her.
Toys were stacked and crammed into every nook and cranny around her in the tiny backseat of my Porsche Cayenne. The girl had no problem agreeing to all new clothes and shoes but absolutely refused to leave any of her toys.
Kids.
Once we’d taken care of what we could at her parents’ house, we got on the road. I had no idea how many hours having a kid in the car would add to a road trip. I think that I made a total of twelve stops for a twelve-hour trip, we ate at restaurants not fast food because that was what she wanted, and I would bet that Ireland saw the inside of every bathroom stall between Evansville and Orlando. The kid either had a tiny bladder or a freakish curiosity for toilets.
“Hey, boo, we’re here,” I whispered as I shut the garage door. “Wake up, let’s go inside.” I turned off the ignition, got out, and opened the house before returning and helping a sleepy Ireland out of the car. How she was sleepy was beyond me, since if she wasn’t hungry or in need of a restroom, she was asleep. “We’ll unpack your stuff tomorrow, let’s just go in, and you can go to bed.”
“But where?” Ireland grunted and yawned at the same time.
“I have five guest rooms, you can have whichever one you want.” That seemed to perk her up.
“Where’s your room?” she asked as we walked into the kitchen.
“Mine is right over there.” I pointed to the oversized double doors at the far end of the hallway. “The other rooms are down over there.” I pointed to the two side wings of the house. “You can choose any one you want.”
Ireland shuffled off to look and explore. I plopped down on the sofa and picked up the remote.
Flipping through channels, I paused when Ireland shouted, “Can I have this one?”
I followed her voice and found her in a spacious room. It was beige—okay, my entire house was beige, but still, this one lacked all color.
She was already up in the bed and had her shoes off.
“You can have whatever you want, you ready for bed?” I reached into her backpack that she had set by the door and pulled out her pajamas.
“I’m tired.” Her words were soft, and I couldn’t tell whether it was from sleep or sadness creeping in.
“Okay, get changed and brush your teeth. Tomorrow, we can make a list of everything you need and do some shopping if you want?”
“Yeah, okay,” she mumbled as she grabbed her bag and PJs, then headed toward the bathroom.
“There are new toothbrushes and some toothpaste in the drawer in there.” Okay, I wasn’t sure which drawer, but I knew they were there since my housekeeper kept it stocked with all the normal toiletries just in case some of the players crashed here. As I thought about that, I rushed to the nightstand and jerked the drawer open. Before Ireland had a chance to find them, I removed the unopened box of condoms that were also kept in each room. That’s the second I realized a lot of things were over for me, and for some reason, I wasn’t sad. It was almost a relief, as if I had done my part and I could move on to what I really wanted to do.
A few minutes later Ireland came back out dressed for bed. She climbed under the covers, and I moved to sit next to her. Gently brushing her hair back, I lowered a soft kiss to her forehead. “I know this is hard and that everything hurts so much, but we’re going to get through this together. You and me, okay?”
“Okay.” She rolled over onto her stomach and turned her head away from me, a silent gesture that said so much. She wanted to be left alone.
Turning off the lights, I stood there for several seconds. “I love you.”
As I headed back out to the living room, an emptiness washed over me, and I found myself reaching for my phone. It wasn’t even ten yet, so she was still awake.
Vivian
“Hello?” I answered even though I wasn’t sure how much I was willing to hear him out.
“Hey, Little One, I just got home, and I was wondering if you wanted to come over.”
“It’s late, if you just got home go to bed, we can talk tomorrow,” I assured him, keeping my heart guarded.
“It isn’t that late, plus there is so much I want to talk to you about. What if I said please?”
The pleading in his voice changed something in me. Aaron was all man, but the softness in his tone had me giving in.
“Where do you live?” I asked, more resigned, and wrote down the Bayhill address as he rattled it off. “I’ll see you in about twenty-five minutes.”
I hung up and then quickly gathered my things from my office before waving goodbye to Danny and Mikki.
With the window rolled down, the cool night air blowing through my hair, and Billy Joel crooning “The River of Dreams,” I headed west toward the Bayhill area. I
