“She’s gonna get lonely without me.”
“I’m sure she will, but when you’re at school, she’ll be at the firehouse during the day with me and the other guys. We need a mascot, and she’ll make an awesome mascot.”
Aidan’s face brightened. “Really? You’ll take her around to all your fires and stuff?”
“Only if we can train her to stay at the fire engines when we go into a burning house. We wouldn’t want her to get hurt.” Sean patted Jewel. “She’s young and she’ll be easy to train.” I hope. “You’re going to do that, aren’t you?”
“Train her?” Aidan beamed. “Yes, sir.”
“Sean. It’s just Sean.”
“Okay.” The flashing smile suddenly faded. “Are you going to take her now?”
“No, not right now. I’ll come to your place this evening, after your mom is home. I think she would want to know that Jewel has a good temporary home.”
Aidan shook his head. “No, you can’t tell Mom you’re the pretend home. She’s not going to like that.”
“You want me to lie to your mother?”
“Just for a little while.” Aidan looked up pleadingly. “You need to tell her you’re the real home, and that you’re coming to hang out with Jewel because you like me, or something.”
Sean chuckled. “Okay, that’s easy. I can do that.” He ruffled Aidan’s hair. “I’ll be done with my shift at the firehouse before dinner, and I’ll come over to your place. Why don’t you head home and hang out with Jewel until this evening?”
“I can totally do that.” Aidan heaved his backpack onto his shoulders and raced down the street, Jewel loping alongside him.
Footsteps sounded behind Sean. Jack’s voice cut through Sean’s thoughts. “Whatever fast-talking you did to send that kid home obviously worked. Debra would be devastated if Aidan ran away. No one else would miss him though.”
“Really?”
“Kid’s a troublemaker at school. You know the type: chip-on-the-shoulder.”
“What’s the story on his dad?”
Jack snorted. “Guess it ain’t gossip if it’s true. About nine years ago, Debra slept with her best friend’s fiancé and got pregnant with Aidan.”
Sean’s eyes widened. “Really. So that’s how she…?” He shook his head sharply.
“Got her name—The Other Woman? Yeah.”
“So what happened to the fiancé?”
“Landed up with neither. Peter’s an arrogant prick. Always thought he was too good for Havre de Grace. He lives in Baltimore now, and he rarely shows his sorry face around here.”
“Must have been tough for Debra, raising Aidan here.”
“Where else could she go, but sure, it was tough. Everyone took Holly’s side.”
“The best friend?”
Jack nodded. “Holly got married a few months ago—”
“Not to Peter.”
“No. She married James, the principal of the elementary school, and they moved to North Carolina. In the end, I think the two girls made up. Holly was Aidan’s first grade teacher, and after Holly and James got together, Holly was always running over to Debra’s house like she used to, way back when they were still best friends.”
“Well, that’s something.”
“Not sure it was enough to make up for all those years, or for all the crap Debra’s still taking over that one thing she did that one night. Having the kid wrecked her life, that’s for sure.”
Chapter 4
Excited barks welcomed Debra home. She bent to stroke Jewel’s furry head and received wet licks in return. Guilt wrenched at her heart, but her drained bank account and overstrained credit cards anchored her when she might have wavered and given Aidan the dog.
Just because.
Just because children—her child—needed happiness, and she had run out of ways to provide it.
Aidan’s footsteps sounded on the stairs. His tousled blond head appeared moments later, his face set in neither a smile nor a frown. He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Sean’s going to take her.”
“Sean?” For several moments, Debra racked her brain, trying to think of who in Aidan’s class was named Sean. Had she misheard? Had Aidan said Sam—
“Sean the fireman.” Aidan scowled.
“Oh.” The image of the tall young man with the charming half-smile immediately came to mind. “I know Sean. He said he would adopt Jewel?”
Aidan nodded. “He’s coming over in the evening to pick her up.”
Debra felt her head nod even though her thoughts spun. Aidan had really found a home for his dog. It was the last thing she had expected. She had braced herself for days, even weeks of argument. She had even had the niggling fear that Aidan might try to run away with Jewel, but apparently, her fears had been unfounded.
How could I have so badly misread my son?
He’s growing up. Taking responsibility. The proud ache in her chest spread her lips in a smile. “I…I’m sure Sean is going to give Jewel a wonderful home.”
“He says she’s going to be the firehouse mascot.”
“That’s a big job for a little dog, though I’m sure she’ll grow into it. I’m going to get dinner started. Can you keep Jewel occupied till Sean gets here?”
“Sure, come on.” Aidan headed to the front yard, Jewel dancing by his heels.
Debra leaned against the kitchen window and watched her son play tug-of-war with his puppy. His eyes gleamed as he threw back his head and laughed, flashing white teeth and a broad grin. The unvarnished joy on his face made guilt coil into tight, hard knots in her stomach.
Had she tried hard enough to give Aidan what he wanted, or had she dismissed it out of hand—one more unwelcomed burden on top of all the others she carried?
If she hadn’t screwed up, her life would have been different. She would have been able to given Aidan a great deal more.
But if she hadn’t screwed up, she wouldn’t have had Aidan in the first place.
She would have missed out on eight years of joy—and frustration, admittedly, and lots of moments of despair—but in that moment, watching him laugh and play, she remembered the joy of
