The Wall of Winnipeg and Me

“I made food. There’s leftovers in the fridge if you want the rest of them,” I offered, like he would say no to food.

I swore on my life he brightened up every time I ever told him there was food leftover for him. It was cute and sad at the same time, and that idea only had me shuffling my socked feet on the floor even more. “Thanks for telling Trevor… what you told him,” I blurted out, immediately making me want to smack myself in the face. What the hell was that?

His face was even and open, not at all embarrassed that I’d just admitted to eavesdropping on his conversation. “Don’t thank me. I only said the truth.”

I lifted up a shoulder and smiled down at him. “I appreciate it anyway.”

He blinked those slumbering brown eyes, his nostrils flaring just enough for me to notice. “You have no idea how terrible you make me feel sometimes.”

Wait. What? “Why?”

He sat forward, setting the puzzle pieces in his hands aside. “You’re thanking me for defending you, Van. You shouldn’t have to thank me for something like that.”

I didn’t have to tell him that, once upon a time, he hadn’t and wouldn’t have defended me. If I hadn’t agreed to marry him, he wouldn’t be in my debt. At this point, I had no house. He hadn’t paid any of my student loans yet. The scale wasn’t exactly balanced between the two of us. Yet I refused to believe he’d simply done it because of that reason.

Some part of me recognized that Aiden did care about me… now… in his own way. I just wasn’t going to overanalyze why that was. It wasn’t like I took it too seriously, just seriously enough to appreciate it. To know it meant something—just not everything.

“Well, I just want you to know I don’t take it for granted. That’s all.”

He hummed, his face flat and expressionless, barely tethered and thoughtful.

“You can watch television down here if you want,” he added suddenly.

What the hell? “You sure? You don’t mind if I keep you company?” I asked, a little more shyly than I would have thought.

That had him rolling his eyes, blowing out a breath, and shaking his head. “Stop talking and sit down.” He nodded, getting to his feet and heading into the kitchen without another word.

Suddenly uncomfortable, I cleared my throat and took a seat on the opposite end of the couch, crossing my heels as I placed my bowl in my lap. Grabbing the remote, I turned on the television and started flipping through the channels before settling on one of my favorite movies. If Aiden thought it was weird when he came back and found me watching Wall-E, he didn’t say a word.

He also didn’t get up and go sit in the kitchen.

Chapter Nineteen

The next day, my phone rang in the late afternoon.

Aiden flashed across the screen. He’d called me twice before, and that had been when he’d been standing outside my door back at my apartment and to bail on me.

I hit the ‘answer’ button. “Hello?”

“Vanessa.” He didn’t ask if it was me; he just sort of said my name, as if demanding it to be.

“Yes?”

“My car won’t start,” he said in a tone that sounded accusatory, but couldn’t have been. What did he think? That I went and booby-trapped his starter? If I hadn’t done it when he used to piss me off, why would I do it now when he hadn’t recently?

“Is your battery dead?” I asked, confused. He had leased it brand new only a year ago, there was no way it needed a new battery so soon.

He muttered something under his breath, his tone abrupt. “I’ve already taken care of it. There’s a tow truck on its way.”

Uh. “Okay. What do you need then?”

“Can you pick me up?” he just went right out and asked.

I blinked, surprised that he was calling me and not taking a cab. “Oh. Sure. Where are you?”

“I’m at the main building. Where the team trains,” he replied, fully aware that I knew what place he was referring to. I’d been there a few times in the past. “I need to go pick up some papers from the immigration lawyer’s office today, too.”

Eyeing the thunderstorm going on outside through one of the windows in my room, I sighed. I hated driving in the rain, but he rarely asked for any favors… unless they were major, life-changing ones. Whomp, whomp. “Sure. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He grunted out a “Thank you” that was as forced as it sounded and hung up.

Some things never changed, did they? I smirked, saved my work, grabbed my purse, and headed downstairs to nab my keys. In a little more than no time, I made it to the facility I wasn’t sure I’d ever come back to and showed the old pass Aiden had gotten me to get in through the security gate.

My phone’s ringtone going off scared the hell out of me as I steered my car toward the correct building and parking lot. Half expecting it to be Aiden, I was surprised when Diana’s name flashed across the screen.

“Her—”

“How could you not tell me?” the familiar voice on the other end of the line yelled.

Shit. “Hello to you too.”

“Don’t you ‘hello to you too,’ cabrona.”

Okay. She’d gone with cabrona. That was how pissed off she was. Fair enough.

“Do you want to know how I found out?” I didn’t, but she didn’t bother waiting for me to confirm an answer she should know. “Rodrigo told me!”