When he was finished, she ran her tongue over the tip and then pulled the waistband of his boxer briefs back into place. Aidan hauled her up and into his lap, holding her close and kissing her hair.
“Gimme a few minutes,” he said, still catching his breath, “and then we’ll see if I can make you beg.”
Now that was a game she could get behind.
* * *
DANNY TOOK A LONG and slow breath before he opened the front door of his parents’ house and walked inside. It felt weird to just walk in, even after years of doing it, but his old man had gotten pissed about having to get off his ass to answer the door, only to find out it was his son.
Neither his brother nor sister was around, which suited Danny just fine. He loved them, he supposed, and would always be there for them if they needed him. But he didn’t like them very much and all of them in the small house at the same time could be a bit much.
“Ma,” he yelled from just inside the door, since he still felt a need to announce himself.
“In the kitchen!”
Of course she was. It was a room her husband rarely ventured into, preferring to have his wife deliver anything he wanted to his recliner that had been parked in the living room for as long as Danny could remember.
His mom looked a lot older than the last time he saw her, even though it had only been five or six months. Or maybe she just looked that way to him because she’d lost some weight. He kissed her cheek, noticing she still smelled like cigarette smoke even though the doctor had warned her to quit at least a year ago.
“It’s good to see you,” she said in her raspy, chain-smoker’s voice.
“You, too, Ma. Where’s Dad?”
She sneered. “He went upstairs because he’s a moron and he had a frappe for lunch even though the doctor told him he’s lactose intolerant.”
Danny wasn’t sure why his parents even bothered seeing doctors. He couldn’t think of a single time either of them had ever listened to the advice they were given. “What is it you need me to do?”
He realized after he asked it that the question probably sounded abrupt, but he didn’t care. His mother had asked him for a favor and he’d do it, but he didn’t want to be in this house any longer than necessary.
“I need you to change the lightbulb in the laundry room,” she said. “I’ve been asking your father to do it for two months, but you know how he is. The only light I have is what shines in from the hallway.”
Danny just walked to the high cabinet over the fridge without saying a word. If there was anything that pissed his father off more than the existence of his youngest son, it was his youngest son having to come over and do the chores the old man should be doing himself. That meant this visit was going to be especially fun, he thought as he took a box of cheap lightbulbs down. Maybe if his mother spent more on the damn things, they wouldn’t need to be changed so often.
He was almost done when he heard the thump of his father’s feet on the stairs, and he sighed. He’d almost made it.
After flipping the switch to make sure the new bulb worked, Danny took the burned-out bulb into the kitchen to throw in the garbage. His dad was standing in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest.
“Fire department changing lightbulbs now?”
As greetings went, it wasn’t exactly warm. “I stopped by. The light needed changing.”
“So you’re here taking care of my house, but you can’t keep your own in order?” Danny clenched his jaw, refusing to rise to the bait. “Heard Ashley threw you out. Guess you fucked that up.”
“Guess so,” he agreed in an emotionless monotone. His old man fed on emotions like some kind of mythological monster, and the more you fed him, the more ravenous and ruthless he got.
“I like Ashley,” his mother said. “I hope you didn’t cheat on her.”
“I didn’t.”
“Her old man’s an asshole,” his dad declared, even though the only time he’d met Tommy Kincaid was at Danny and Ashley’s wedding. “You’re better off without them.”
“I’m not better off without my wife,” Danny responded. He knew it was a mistake, but his dad dismissing his marriage so easily didn’t sit right.
His dad snorted. “So you’ll go crawling back to her, then, like the little pussy you’ve always been. You probably let her keep your balls in a jar instead of standing up for yourself like a real man.”
And that was his cue to leave, but before he could say so, his mother made it worse. “Shut up, Lou. What do you know about being a real man? We been married forty-five years and you still don’t know shit about how marriage is supposed to be.”
“Maybe if I wasn’t married to a bitch, always yapping at me. Yap, yap, yap, like a fucking Chihuahua.”
Danny felt himself shut down inside. He’d been listening to this his entire life, and he knew nothing he could say would make it stop. And, if he tried, they’d probably turn on him.
He was done. “I’m leaving.”
“You just got here,” his mother protested, as if he was skipping out on a fun family afternoon.
“Let him go,” his father said. “He’s probably going to go lick his wounds, like a little bitch.”
“Stay and have some coffee cake.”
If he hadn’t grown up in this house, he might have found her offer of coffee cake in the face of his father calling him a little bitch jarring, but this was how they communicated and always had. But this time, he couldn’t lock his emotions down like he’d always done.
He didn’t like these people. He felt absolutely nothing for them except disgust and a vague sense of obligation because they were, after all, his parents. They were toxic, and every time he was in this house, they poisoned him a little bit more.
After glancing at each of them, he shook his head and walked to the front door. And when he passed through it and felt the rush of fresh air as he walked down the stairs, he swore it was the last time he’d ever step foot in that house.
It was time to make some changes in his life. He wasn’t sure yet how he was going to fix his marriage, but instinct told him letting go of his toxic past was a step in the right direction.
Chapter Thirteen
LYDIA’S CELL PHONE ringing jerked her out of a really nice dream and she wanted to sink back into it, but it was already sliding away from her. A pickup truck, a dirt road and she and Aidan holding hands were all she could remember now.
Maybe she shouldn’t have let some friendly, money-spending customers talk her into changing the radio to a country station the night before, she thought as she reached for her phone.
The caller ID showed it was Shelly, her roommate in New Hampshire, and she groaned. She’d paid her rent in advance and Shelly hadn’t been upset, so hopefully this wasn’t an I’m evicting you phone call. It was too early. “Hello?”
“Hey, did I wake you up?”
Shelly was not only an incurable morning person, but one of those really chipper morning people that not-morning people wanted to smack upside the head with the toaster. “I’m awake. What’s up?”
It was almost thirty minutes before Lydia was able to extricate herself from the call because Shelly wanted to catch up. Lydia just wanted coffee. She would have gone down to the kitchen, since cell phones were nothing if not portable, but she really needed the bathroom before she had coffee and she couldn’t pee while on the phone.
When she finally made it to the coffeepot, Ashley had the fridge door propped open with the garbage barrel and was cleaning it out. Lydia was surrounded by morning people.
“Did I hear your phone ring?” Ashley asked her. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, but I need to go back to Concord for the weekend. Shelly wants to go see her sister’s new baby and she can’t take the cat.”
Ashley g
ave her a sideways look. “It’s a cat. You put down extra food and water before you leave and make sure the litter box is clean. A cat can handle a couple of days without a human. Knowing cats, it’s probably their version of a vacation.”
“Oscar’s kind of Shelly’s baby. She won’t leave the cat alone and she can’t find anybody else to stay with him because most people reacted like you did and she doesn’t trust them now.”
“Okay.” Ashley was quiet for a long moment, and then she took a deep breath. “So you need me to work for you? It’s okay if you do. I mean, I guess I have to go back sometime, but you know they like to play pool on Saturday nights and—”
Lydia held up a hand to stop her. “I already sent a text to Karen and she’s going to cover for me.”
Her sister’s relief was almost palpable. “Okay. Didn’t she and Rick break up, though? I thought I heard that from one of the other wives, who called to tell me about some sale at the secondhand store, but really just wanted to get the latest gossip about my marriage.”
“They’re not seeing each other anymore, but I don’t know if I’d say they broke up. They were really casual, I guess. She met somebody less casual and told Rick the dinner, movie and sex part of their relationship was over, but they’re still friends.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Not just because she’ll still cover your shifts at the bar. I like her, so I’m glad she’ll still be around.”
“I’ll probably grab some different clothes while I’m home,” Lydia said. “I’m getting bored with my very limited rotating wardrobe. I mean, half the time I’m wearing a Kincaid’s T-shirt anyway, but I miss my favorite fleece hoodie when it’s chilly.”
“You’ll come back, right?”
Lydia looked at her sister and saw the very real concern on her face. It worried her, because it wasn’t like Ashley to hide away like this and Lydia was starting to wonder if she should be enabling her. Maybe she needed to shove her sister back into the real world and tell her to suck it up.
But she also felt like things would be coming to a head between Ashley and Danny soon. They weren’t going to be able to keep on the way they were and there was either going to be an emotional breakthrough that brought them back together or an emotional breakdown that ended the marriage for good. Either way, Lydia couldn’t imagine not being there for Ashley.
“I’m coming back,” Lydia promised. “You know what would be awesome? If Aidan could go with me. We could get away from here and go out for dinner or something—like a real date—without worrying about anybody seeing us and telling Scott or Dad.”
“You should invite him. He can work it out with the other guys. I know he’s always willing to cover for them, so a bunch of the guys probably owe him a favor.”
“You don’t think both of us disappearing at the same time will be suspicious at all?”
“I guess if somebody picked up on it, it might seem a little weird. There has to be a way, though.”
Lydia gave her a hard look. “Weren’t you the one worried about this blowing up in everybody’s faces?”
“Yeah, but you’re an adult and you can do what you want. And I owe you big-time, so if you want to get out of town with Aidan for the weekend, I’ll help you make it happen.”
Lydia frowned. “So where could he say he was going? If his family lived farther away, he could say it was a family emergency, but he can take the T from his place, so disappearing wouldn’t make much sense. And he’s not close with them.”
“Maybe we’re looking at it the wrong way,” Ashley said. “Have you told anybody else at all you need to go back to Concord? Did you tell Karen why you need the time off?”
“No. Shelly just called a few minutes ago so I haven’t talked to anybody else yet, and I didn’t tell Karen why because it was a text and I can’t type that much before coffee.”
“So don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. We’ll say you’re wicked sick. Your car will be in the driveway and you’ll be in bed, right? You start laying the groundwork tonight, like you don’t feel so hot.”
That might actually work. “But where’s Aidan going to say he’s going? It would have to be something that came up suddenly, since all they do when they’re not on a run is sit around and yap at each other and he wouldn’t have big plans they don’t know about.”
“I don’t know. He could still use his family as an excuse. Maybe they want him to remodel the bathroom or something and it’s easier if he just stays there. If he says his dad wants to use him for manual labor because he’s too cheap to pay a professional, the guys will believe that.”
“And probably offer to help.”
“His mom doesn’t want a bunch of firefighters running around in her house. She can barely tolerate the one she gave birth to, from what I’ve heard.” Ashley grinned. “It will totally work. And I’m excited for you. It’ll be fun.”
“I should probably ask him if he wants to go.”
“Hell yeah, I want to go,” Aidan told her several hours later, when he had a chance to return her call. “I can get the time off, but won’t it look a little weird if we both disappear at the same time?”
“There’s a plan,” she said, and she filled him in on the scheme she and Ashley had concocted. It was brilliant in its simplicity, really. Nobody was going to insist on going up the stairs and into her bedroom to see if she was really sick in bed, especially her dad or brother. They wanted nothing to do with sick women. And if anybody sent her a text, she could just text them back.
“You really thought this through.” There was a short silence, and then she heard him blow out a breath close to the cell’s microphone. “God, I hate lying.”
Lydia felt a pang of guilt. “I know you do. Look, it’s no big deal if you don’t want to—”
“I want to,” he interrupted. “I definitely want to.”
The eagerness in his voice made her smile. He sure was good for a girl’s ego. “I’m glad. I’m looking forward to it.”
“So did you and Ashley come up with a plan for a secret handoff in a parking garage with your hood pulled up, or will I just pick you up at her house?”
She laughed, trying to picture that scenario. “I think you can just pick me up at Ashley’s. Let me know when you’ve worked out your schedule and we can figure out a time.”
“Okay. Are you going to stop by after work?”
She shouldn’t. They were becoming too much like a real couple as it was, and now they were going on a couple’s weekend getaway. Their casual fling was in danger of becoming a lot less casual. But she wanted to see him. She always wanted to see him.
“I’ll be there,” she said, mentally kicking herself in the ass. “But I can’t stay long.”
“I don’t care if it’s only long enough so I can give you a hug and a hello. And a kiss. I’d stop by Kincaid’s for the hello, since I just want to see you, but the kissing would be awkward.”
“I’d rather kiss you without an audience.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
* * *
TO GET THE ENTIRE weekend off, Aidan worked the day tour on Friday, but it was a blessedly quiet day outside of some routine calls. At 6:30 Friday evening, he parked on the street in front of Ashley’s house and got out of his truck.
He’d warned Lydia he hadn’t been able to get out of his commitment to dinner at his parents’ house on Sunday, since he hadn’t been in a while, but she’d told him they could be back in plenty of time. The roommate would be back by Sunday night and Oscar the cat could survive a few hours of solitude.
He made it as far as stepping around the front of the truck and onto the curb when the door opened and Lydia walked out. She was walking fast, with a duffel bag in her hand and the hood of her sweatshirt pulled over her head. She gestured for him to get back in the truck, which made him laugh, even though he
did it.
“You’re kidding, right?” he asked when she’d hopped into the passenger seat and closed the door.
“Just go.”
He pulled away from the curb and started making his way toward the highway. Friday evening traffic could suck, and it would be a longer than usual drive north. “I was going to go inside and say hi to Ashley. I didn’t realize this was a covert mission.”
She pulled her hood down and smoothed her hair. “Ashley was on the phone with Danny. And you know how neighbors are. This way, if anybody says anything, Ashley can claim it was her and you were helping her out with something that required a pickup truck.”
Her neighbors must be idiots, then, because she and Ashley didn’t look alike, even with their heads covered. “You guys sure covered all the bases.”
She laughed, leaning her head back against the headrest. “I think we were bored, so we amused ourselves with this little adventure. The hood might have been too much.”
They stopped for coffee and a drive-through dinner once they were out of their neighborhood, and they made small talk as the miles passed. She always had funny stories about Kincaid’s over the years, and he shared a few sibling tales from his childhood. He didn’t dip into work stories because he wanted to keep Scotty and the fact he was a firefighter on the back burner this weekend, at least as much as possible.
“I haven’t seen a single cow yet,” he said when they were about twenty minutes into New Hampshire. “Where do they keep all the cows?”
She laughed, but when he didn’t, she quieted and looked over at him. “You were kidding, right?”
“I heard there were cows.”
“They don’t keep them in the highway median strip, dumbass.” When he grinned, she realized he was joking and slapped his arm. “And you’ve been here many times. You’ve been to Hampton Beach a few times, and you’ve been up here four-wheeling. And there was a big paintball thing you guys did. I remember Scott having a wicked welt on his face because one of the other guys accidently shot him when he had his face shield up.”
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