Aidan and I can clear the air and work together.”

“Up to you to decide how to handle it, of course,” Mick said, for once not the least bit interested in inserting himself into the middle. He had a hunch the minefield was a lot more dangerous than his brother was envisioning. In his experience, women weren’t quite as predictable as Thomas clearly thought Connie to be.

“I need to go,” Thomas said, still looking shaken as he handed over the folder with the stunning information.

“You need me, I’m here,” Mick said.

“Thanks, Mick.”

Mick watched his brother walk away, shoulders slumped in a way he’d never seen before. Whatever Thomas said about this thing with Anna Mitchell being no more than a distant memory was a lie. It had been dragged right smack into the middle of the present. To his way of thinking that was never good.

* * *

Aidan had eaten cold, leftover pizza for dinner and was trying to settle down with a book when someone knocked on the door of his apartment, sending Archie racing in that direction to help announce the arrival of company.

Aidan laughed. “I heard it,” he told the dog, grabbing his collar to hold him back as he opened the door. He was stunned to see Thomas O’Brien standing there.

“Am I interrupting anything?” Thomas asked, looking uncomfortable.

“No, come on in,” he said, his tone polite, but hardly welcoming.

“Maybe we could go for a walk, instead,” Thomas said, hands jammed into the pockets of his well-worn jeans.

At the mention of a walk, Archie barked excitedly and ran for his leash.

“Well, one of us is clearly enthusiastic about that idea,” Aidan said, laughing. “A walk does sound good, though. I just finished way too much leftover pizza.”

He followed Thomas down the stairs and around the building to Main Street. The older man didn’t say a word as they turned onto Shore Road and walked along the waterfront. The restaurants seemed to be crowded with customers, but they had the walkway by the water mostly to themselves. The breeze off the bay was surprisingly chilly for June. Aidan was glad he’d thought to grab a jacket, but Thomas was shivering without one.

“Maybe we should stop somewhere,” Aidan said. “It’s cooler out here than I thought it would be.”

Thomas laughed. “You haven’t spent a day on the water when it’s freezing and the wind is whipping. Now, that’s cold. This is just a wee nip in the air.”

“Are you sure? You can have my jacket.”

Thomas shook his head. “I’m used to this.” He kept right on walking, his pace deliberate and steady.

When Aidan couldn’t stand it another minute, he glanced over at Thomas’s profile and took note of his troubled expression. “Is there something on your mind? It’s not about the school club, is it, because I have the time now to get some of those books from you. In fact, Shanna sold me one earlier today and I was just starting to read it when you showed up.”

“It’s not about that,” Thomas said.

The weariness behind his words had Aidan’s heart skipping a beat. “Then what?” he asked, filled with trepidation.

“Your mother,” Thomas began.

Aidan stiffened at the totally unexpected reply. “What about her?”

“She went to the University of Maryland, didn’t she?”

So, Aidan thought, Thomas had finally figured out the connection, or at least some of it.

“She did.”

“And we dated,” Thomas said flatly, no hint of doubt in his voice.

“I believe you may have,” Aidan said, choosing his words very carefully.

Thomas regarded him with a surprised expression. “She never mentioned me?”

Aidan shook his head. “Not really, no.”

“But you had some inkling we had a past, am I right about that?”

“Yes.”

Thomas regarded him impatiently. “Aidan, I’m trying to figure out some things. Help me out.”

“I’m being honest,” Aidan said, his defenses in place. “My mom mentioned there had been someone in her past, but she never mentioned you by name.”

His reply only seemed to leave Thomas more confused. “Then why the attitude when you got to town and we first met?” Thomas asked. “If she’d told you about me, it might make sense, but if my name never came up, then I don’t get it.”

“I found your name after she died last year,” Aidan explained.

“Okay,” Thomas said, still looking vaguely bewildered. He was silent, as if waiting for more.

“How well do you remember her?” Aidan asked to fill the silence. He decided to probe for a few answers of his own before giving anything more away.

“Very well,” Thomas said without hesitation. “When I saw her name and realized that’s who your mother was, so many memories came flooding back to me.” He met Aidan’s gaze. “They were good memories, Aidan.”

“Tell me,” Aidan pleaded, suddenly wanting to hear every detail about their time together. He had to wonder if Thomas would share his memories so readily once the truth was out there. “I don’t really know anything about that time in her life.”

Thomas’s expression softened. “She was beautiful, but I’m sure you saw that for yourself. Not just on the outside, but the inside, too. She was as idealistic as I was, so we had that in common. I don’t think she’d found a real focus for all that energy yet the way I had, but I knew she would eventually. She had such passion for anything that interested her.”

“She said the same about you,” Aidan admitted, drawing another puzzled look.

“I thought you said she’d never mentioned me.”

“Not by name, no. I put the pieces together after she died.”

“I’m so sorry you lost her,” Thomas said with apparent sincerity. “I wish we’d stayed in touch, that I’d kept up with her life, known about you before now.”

“Me, too.”

“What about your father?”

The charged words seemed to hang in the air. Answering that question was going to change everything. Aidan wondered if Thomas knew that, if he suspected, but his expression when he asked the question so innocently suggested nothing more than curiosity.

“I never knew him.” Aidan swallowed hard, then looked directly into Thomas’s eyes.

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