“All good things,” I mumbled to myself in the bathroom mirror. I took a deep breath and blinked back tears, not wanting Aiden to notice how upset I was about going home.
The past week with Aiden had been both thrilling and terrifying. There were so many things I never would have considered doing in the past and still hardly believed I had done—riding on the back of a motorcycle, skydiving, sex in the back of a car and on the beach. If anyone had told me a week ago that this was what I’d be doing, I would have laughed at them. I didn’t do those things.
Now, I wouldn’t have traded my experiences for the world.
The idea of returning home to my steady job and lackluster life was downright depressing. I could hardly imagine myself returning to my office and sitting at my desk all day, dealing with Chia Head’s ridiculous demands and spending my evenings with my collection of superheroines.
Routine had lost its appeal.
If Aiden had ended our beach encounter by asking me to stay with him, I would have agreed immediately. In that moment, I would have ditched my entire existence back in Ohio and stayed in Florida to experience life, real life, with him here on the beach.
But he didn’t ask, and I hadn’t suggested it.
With my bag packed, I walked to the front door and glanced around for Aiden. At first, I didn’t see him, but then noticed movement out on the patio and went to find him. He was standing at the edge of the sand, looking out over the water.
“You had a good time, right?” he asked. He fiddled with the edge of his cap nervously.
“I did,” I confirmed. “It was the best.”
“I should have booked your flight back for Sunday,” Aiden said as he looked at me sadly.
“It’s all right,” I said. It wasn’t. It wasn’t all right at all, but I was willing to make excuses. “I kind of need a day to recuperate.”
He chuckled and then glanced at his watch. He sighed.
“I guess it’s time to head to the airport,” he said.
“I guess it is.”
We piled in the jeep, and Aiden drove slowly out of the driveway. I kept my purse with my driver’s license and boarding pass, wrapped around my right wrist. I was always a little paranoid about losing important documents when traveling and kept checking to make sure they were in there with my credit cards and a little cash.
Aiden didn’t say much, just stared at the traffic as he followed signs to the airport. I alternated between looking out the window to glancing at his profile but didn’t have any more words than he did.
We’d talked about making plans to see each other in three weeks, when Aiden would be back in Ohio. He didn’t have an exact date but promised to let me know as soon as his flight was booked. It seemed like a lifetime away.
I reached over and placed my hand on his thigh. Aiden glanced down, smiled slightly, and covered my hand with his. I watched him move his fingers over my knuckles, trying to burn into my mind the image of the intricate flower on the back of his hand and the tribal marks covering his fingers. Memories of his hands on my breasts, my legs, and holding my face as he kissed me invaded my mind and threatened to cause me to break out in a flood of tears.
I was trying to be strong.
I wasn’t ready to go. I wanted more time. There were still so many things about him I didn’t know and desperately wanted to learn. I had no idea what would happen after we parted ways, and something deep in the pit of my stomach warned me that long-distance relationships rarely worked.
Sure, we’d keep up over the phone for a while, but that wouldn’t last. We both had lives outside of the week we had spent with each other, and those were going to take precedence. Phone calls would change to text mess
ages, and even those would eventually decrease and end.
This could be the last time I see him.
What could I do? My friends were in Ohio, and Aiden’s in Florida. Despite my post-coital thoughts, it wasn’t like I was in the position to just pack up and move to Miami, and I wouldn’t dream of asking him to move closer to me. I had my career to think about, and he had his…well, whatever it was.
Despite everything I felt, I knew he was hiding something big.
I had to come out and ask him. I had to bite the bullet, as it were, and demand he tell me exactly what he did for a living. Without knowing for sure, I couldn’t even begin to think about what the future might hold. If my initial suspicions were right, and he was a criminal, it would make any decision easier.
Just as I had gathered up enough courage to open my mouth, Aiden’s phone rang. He released my hand and grabbed the phone from the center console.
“Yo, Mo,” Aiden said in monotone.
I pulled my hand back from his leg and placed it in my lap. Outside the window, tall, white birds poked their long necks into puddles in the roadside ditches, looking for their breakfast. I swallowed hard, thinking about the grilled tomatoes Aiden had made to go with our omelets that morning.