Aiden’s throat constricted painfully as he listened to Will reveal so much in that statement. Things he’d never want for his own kid to say. And again made him feel indebted to Janie. “Well, this will get sorted out soon. No matter what, I won’t leave you guys hanging. If you’re not my kid, I’ll still help Janie. If you are my kid…well, then we’ll take it one step at a time.”
Will’s eyes clouded over, like he was putting up walls. “I’m going to go take a shower if Aunt Janie is done.”
Aiden had no idea what he’d said wrong or if he’d somehow offended him. “Yeah. If you want, I can show you the barn later. I’ve got three horses.”
Will’s eyes lit up for a second before he gave him another nonchalant shrug. “Sure. But uh, Aiden? No matter what happens, you can’t hurt Aunt Janie,” he said, walking out of the room.
Aiden let out a long breath and leaned against the counter. As soon as he could get his thoughts together, he needed to pick up the phone and call Maxi and ask her what the hell she’d been thinking all these years.
…
Janie walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. She’d showered, her hair still damp and hanging loosely around her shoulders, and she’d changed into a sweater, which made curves he couldn’t help but notice even more noticeable.
“Hey,” she said sweetly, “any chance I can get another coffee? I don’t mind making it. I can make you a cup, too, if you’d like.”
“No need. I just made a fresh pot.” He grabbed two mugs from the cupboard.
She stood beside him at the counter, and he caught the fresh scent of his shampoo on her. “I need to ask you something,” she said, her voice dipping low.
He swallowed hard as he stared into her eyes. She had this way of looking at him that made him want to square his shoulders. “Go ahead.”
“We won’t be here for long, so I need a temporary job. Can I work in your bar?”
He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced out the window. Having her work for him didn’t feel right. He owed her. “I can give you a job, if that’s what you want, but…why don’t you take some time off? With everything you’ve been dealing with the last fifteen years, I bet you haven’t had much downtime.”
Her mouth dropped open, and he was drawn to it, again noticing her full lips. “I don’t really do downtime well. And I don’t want to just stay here and eat your food and use your shower for free. I also don’t have the option of not working for this long.”
Guilt stung him. If Will was his kid, the reason she could never take a break from working was his fault. “Why don’t you just take a break for a bit? Don’t worry about bills.”
“Why does it matter to you whether I do or not?” she said with a short laugh that didn’t have bitterness attached to it but pulled at his conscience nonetheless.
“If Will is mine, I owe you. I owe you more than I’ll ever be able to repay. Letting you stay here and not scramble to find a job right away would be the least I could do.”
She crossed her arms and turned to the window, not saying anything. When he poured them each a cup of coffee and handed her a mug, his fingers brushed against hers, and he felt something rush through him. It was silly. It was such an innocent touch that should have meant nothing.
“I appreciate your generosity, I really do,” she said, breaking the silence. “But I’ve never relied on someone else to provide me with food and housing, and I can’t just start now. A couple of free nights is more than enough. After that, I need to earn my own way.”
She was impressive. He looked down at his steaming mug of coffee, trying to find a way to convince her without dismissing what she’d just told him. “It’s not a problem for me to open my house up to you guys—even if Will isn’t mine. And I get what you’re saying about not taking handouts and earning your own way. But I can’t take money from someone who’s—”
He clamped his mouth shut before he said the rest. It wouldn’t go over well.
“Someone who’s what?” Her eyes glittered as she looked up at him. “I’m not Maxi. I don’t take advantage of the kindness of strangers. I’ve had a job since I was fourteen. Letting us stay here for free is all I can accept, but there’s food and other expenses that add up quickly. I’m a bit down on my luck right now, but I’ll be fine. Especially if you give me work.”
He ran a hand over his jaw. Hell, she was stubborn. Strong. “I can find you a better job than a waitress in my bar. It isn’t premium pay. You’ll have to rely on tips, mostly.”
She took a sip of coffee. “A job is a job.”
No, it wasn’t. He owed her more than that. “Janie—”
“Don’t,” she said firmly. “I’ve been Will’s sole guardian since he was four. Legally when I turned twenty-one. But now you might be his dad. You seem like a good guy, but I’ve never trusted any of the guys my sister has been with, and I can’t start now. What if you decide to take him away from me and I’m left with no rights? And how would I pay for a lawyer? How would I look, unemployed, without a home or a job? I can never put my guard down like that. I love Will like my own son, and while I’d want you in his life and would love for him to decide he wanted to live with you and have us both in his life, I don’t know what you’ll do. So, I need a job. I can’t be dependent on the man who might take my whole world away from me.”
Aiden felt like she’d ripped his heart out. First she thought he didn’t want his son, and now she thought he’d take Will away from her? And the only one to blame for it was Maxi, who was conveniently not here.
Janie kept her profile to him, blinking rapidly as she stared out the window. He caught the slight tremor in her hand as she lifted the mug to her lips, even though everything she’d said just proved she was made of steel.
She didn’t trust him. Will didn’t trust him. That had to change.
He took a sip of coffee, hoping it would ease the sudden ache in his throat. “I would never rip that boy away from you. We’ll find a way to make this work for all of us. I won’t screw you over, Janie.”
“If that turns out to be true”—she shifted her gaze from the window to Aiden—“then besides Will, you’d be the only person in my life who hadn’t.”
The ache in his throat dropped lower, into his chest, into his gut. Probably without realizing it, she’d given him one more reason to prove he was trustworthy—not just for himself, so she would see him as a responsible parent; and not just for Will, so he would know the truth about his father; but now, also, for her. Janie needed someone to come through for her, and that someone needed to be him.
Chapter Five
“Where the hell have you been, man?”
Aiden glanced in the direction of the voice at the barn door and saw his best friend, Logan, walking in with two to-go cups of coffee from Tilly’s Diner. He wasn’t surprised to see him; there was only so long he could disappear without Logan getting worried. Aiden would have done the same for him.
He still didn’t know how to articulate everything he was feeling, let alone everything that had happened in the last two days. His middle-of-the-night conversation with Janie had left him reeling. Everything she’d revealed about herself; everything she had done for Will. His life choices had impacted her life.
Logan had been his best friend since first grade, and there was no one in the world he trusted more than him. But that didn’t mean he knew everything about Aiden’s life with his dad. There were some things he had never brought up. Some things, even as a kid, had been too embarrassing for him to voice. He knew as an adult that maybe that hadn’t been the right thing to do, but the past was the past. He was fine now, and there was no need to go digging things up and talking about feelings and all the shit that went along with that.
“I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you,” Aiden said with a rueful grin and accepted the coffee.
Logan frowned. “Well, now y
ou have to tell me. What the hell is going on?”
Aiden took a sip of coffee, welcoming the heat. “Maxi Adams’s little sister showed up in my bar two nights ago with a kid who looks exactly like me.”
“Maxi? Never thought I’d hear that name again— Wait, hold up… Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Yep. He’s more than likely mine. They’re staying here until we get things sorted out, and yesterday we took a paternity test. I’m refreshing my email every five minutes to see whether or not I am, in fact, a father. A potential douchebag father who didn’t meet his kid until he was fifteen.” He blew out a long breath. “So, that’s what’s up with me. How about you?”
Logan’s mouth hung open. His typical deadpan stare was replaced by eyes as wide as a kid at the county fair for the first time. “What day is it? What year? How long have I not seen you?”
Aiden almost laughed. “Believe me, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it, too. Actually, you might get to meet them. They’re walking around the property and should be coming back soon to see the horses again.”
Logan spun around, checking every open window and door, clearly not concerned about looking obvious. “Where are they?”
Aiden frowned. “You’re going to have to get your shit together before they walk back in or I’m going to be embarrassed for you. Or worse, you’re going to embarrass me.”
Logan took a deep breath and nodded, collecting himself. “Okay, okay, I’m fine. It just took a minute to process. So first—you actually believe her sister? I mean, I wasn’t around during the whole Maxi saga, but from what you told me…there isn’t a lot to trust.”
“I know.” Aiden nodded grimly. “But he’s the right age, and he looks like a younger version of me. That kind of resemblance would be a pretty wild coincidence. And it’s my word against Maxi’s. She told them I knew she was pregnant, then broke up with her and said I wanted nothing to do with the baby.”
Logan let out a low whistle. “They don’t believe you?”
He shrugged. “They don’t know me. And Maxi won’t call anyone back.”
“Uh, a clear sign of guilt, I’d say.”
Aiden snorted. “Yeah. Because you know me.”
Logan took a sip of coffee and leaned against one of the beams. “Man, I have a busy few days at work, and you go and become a dad.”
Aiden took his cowboy hat off and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Not exactly anything I could have predicted. It was a normal night at the bar, and then this gorgeous woman walks in with a cat on a leash, and then I’m being told I have a teenage son.”
“Wow, she brought you a whole family, huh? What kind of cat?”
“Maine Coon. It’s like having a fluffy panther prowling around my house.”
Logan laughed. “Hell, Saturday nights at River’s are always the same. The one night I miss…” He shook his head, sobering. “What are you going to do? If that test shows he’s yours?”
Aiden leaned against the door of one of the empty stalls. “I have no idea what happens next. Hell, I don’t know what the kid will think if I really am his dad. He might not want anything to do with me. Or if he does at first, he might not like me once we get to know each other. He’ll probably ask about my relationship with his mom, and how the hell do I tell him about that train wreck? He might just want to visit every now and then and not actually live with me, you know? And they’re only here for a week, because it’s spring break. But there’s no way I can just let them take off if I’m his dad. They live in Chicago. They could just disappear if they wanted—”
“Whoa. Back it up. That’s way too much to be stressing about at this point. He may not even be your—” Logan stopped talking, and his gaze went somewhere beyond Aiden’s shoulder.
Aiden turned around to see Janie and Will standing there. He cleared his throat, hoping like hell they hadn’t been listening in. “Hey, come on in, guys. This is my friend, Logan.”
“That’s your kid,” Logan whispered under his breath as they approached. “He’s a giant Mini-Me of you.”
“Thanks, genius,” Aiden said, hiding his mouth behind the coffee cup as he lifted it.
Logan extended his hand to first Janie and then Will. “Hi, nice to meet you.”
“You, too. I’m Janie,” she said, smiling. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, and her long hair was windblown, all the waves in it making it look slightly wild. Her green eyes were alive and sparkled, and her smile was such a contrast to the gray day outside and the uncertainty they were all facing. She was beautiful. In so many ways.
And he wasn’t the only one noticing.
“Did you have a nice walk?” Aiden asked, trying to make conversation so that Logan’s gawking wouldn’t be so obvious.
Janie nodded. “It’s gorgeous out here. The view of the mountains. All that land. The fresh air. It’s a far cry from city living.”
Will looked over at the three horses in the stalls. “Do you ride those horses?”
Aiden straightened his shoulders, ridiculously pleased that Will seemed somewhat interested. “Yeah. They’re all rescue horses. When they first came here, they were really shy and scared. But in time, with the right care, they came around.”
“What was wrong with them?” Will asked, stuffing his hands in the front pockets of his jacket.
“They were seized by animal control. Logan helped me care for them and get them healthy again.”
Will turned his gaze from the horses to Aiden. “Why were they taken?”
Aiden grimaced. “The horses were trapped in stalls piled high with their own waste, in barns with no ventilation or light. They’d been unhandled for the most part and barely had any vet or farrier care.”
“It was the worst case of mishandling I’ve ever come across,” Logan said. “Because they didn’t get proper handling, they were wild and difficult to train. But your…uh, Aiden here is a bit of a horse whisperer. I keep trying to convince him to bring more horses out here. There hasn’t been a single horse he hasn’t been able to come through for.”
Aiden caught the surprise in Janie and Will’s faces, and he looked away. He wasn’t used to praise. Logan was a good guy, though, and Aiden knew his guilt was irrational over the fact that Logan did become a vet and Aiden was stuck at the bar after he’d left that dream behind. It was fine, though. He’d come to terms with it long ago—right after he’d hit rock bottom.
He turned to Will. “Have you ever ridden a horse?”
Will shook his head. “No. I always wanted to. We just didn’t have… I mean, there just aren’t a lot of places like that in the city.”
Aiden felt a pang in his gut. Will was going to say they didn’t have extra money, but he hadn’t wanted to embarrass or hurt his aunt. That…that was a good kid. “Well, you’re in the right place now. There are ranches everywhere. If you want to help me out here feeding the horses and brushing them down, cleaning their stalls, you’ll get used to being around them. I’ll teach you how to ride, too.”
Will’s face lit up, and it was the most animated Aiden had seen him since they’d met. “That’d be cool. Thanks.”
“Are you a rancher, too, Logan?” Janie asked, and Aiden turned his attention to her. “You’ve got the right hat for it.”
“No, everyone out here wears cowboy hats. You’ll be wearing one, too, before long.” Logan’s grin was bashful. Aiden had never seen bashful on him before. Though, with the image of Janie in a cowboy hat coming to mind, he couldn’t really blame him. “I’m a vet,” Logan said. “I have a practice just outside of Wishing River.”
Janie smiled at Logan like he just announced he was some kind of superhero. “Really? I have six months left of veterinary college.”
Aiden’s stomach dropped as he watched the exchange, as the weird coincidence sank in. One vet, one almost vet, and one…bartender who should have bee
n a vet.
Logan grinned wider. “That’s great. If you’re in town for a while, I’m always on the lookout for new people. Are you taking time off from your regular job?”
Her cheeks went a deeper pink, lifting one shoulder. “Sort of. But I plan to go back as soon as I can.”
“We’re always in need of some extra help at the clinic, so if you want a job in the meantime, it’s great experience. You, too, Will. If you want to come and hang out, we could always use someone to give a little attention to the animals staying overnight.” Logan pulled out his business card and handed it to her.
Janie’s eyes sparkled with excitement, and she accepted the card readily. And Will looked as happy as Aiden had ever seen him. “That is so generous of you,” she said, smiling.
A job at Logan’s was a hell of a lot better than a job in his bar. He should be happy about that. Instead he was watching Janie and Logan and Will bond over something that he also loved. That was juvenile, and he’d already dealt with that shit. Why was it coming up again now? Janie and Will deserved a break, and that’s what he should be focusing on instead of thinking like an ass. It’s just that he wanted to give them that break. “That’s great,” he said, forcing a grin. “Glad you guys were able to meet.”
There were only three stalls with horses in them, but Aiden’s dream was to have them all filled one day and have someone else manage the bar. The familiar, musky smell of the barn, the sound of horses shuffling in their stalls, the soft whinnying, almost made him believe he was living his dream. Until he was reminded that he hadn’t ever fulfilled his dream. But this was second best, what he had going on here. He had the land, the horses, the dedication to them. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have a “Dr.” in front of his name.
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