Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,74

be OK.

“Mom?” Matty finally spoke up, muffled against her. “I kind of need to breathe?”

Stella released him, relief suddenly giving way to a white-hot, blinding fury. “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?” she demanded, her voice shrill in the night. “You could have been dead in a ditch somewhere. Half the town has been out looking for you!”

“I’m sorry,” Matty muttered.

“Sorry isn’t good enough!” she yelled. “Anything could have happened to you. Anything! How could you be so reckless and irresponsible—?”

“Stella.” Aidan stepped in front of Matty, cutting her off. “It’s been a long night,” he said, even. “How about Matty gets to bed, and you two talk about it in the morning?”

Stella felt tears stinging in the back of her throat. She’d been holding them back all night, but now, she couldn’t keep it together anymore. She didn’t know what she was feeling: panic, and relief, and anger all flooding through her veins in a messy, emotional rush.

Aidan must have seen she was unraveling by the minute, because he put an arm around her, and steered her towards the house. “Come on, it’s OK,” he murmured. “Everything’s OK.”

Stella let him lead her back inside. She sagged onto the couch, still reeling from everything that had happened that night. Had it really been just a few hours since she’d been sipping champagne at a fancy restaurant? It felt like a lifetime ago.

And a cautionary tale.

Stella exhaled. She could hear Aidan talking to Matty down the hall, his voice low and friendly.

“She’ll be calmer in the morning,” he was saying.

“Will you talk to her?”

“I’ll try.”

She heard the sound of his bedroom door closing, and then Aidan appeared in the living room. “Are you feeling OK?” he asked, looking at her with obvious concern. “I can make us some tea.”

“I don’t want tea.” Stella said, still tense. “I want to know what took you so long. You called a half-hour ago!”

“We were talking,” Aidan explained. “He didn’t mean to upset you. He wasn’t thinking.”

“Damn right he wasn’t.” She swallowed back her tears. “That kid is grounded for the rest of his life.”

Aidan came and sat beside her. “I know he put you through the wringer, but go easy on the kid. He just wanted some space to think.”

Stella looked at Aidan incredulously. Did he even know what he was saying?

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” she said tightly. “You aren’t a parent.”

“Maybe not, but I have four younger siblings,” Aidan replied with a wry smile. “I know what it’s like to worry.”

“Worry?” she repeated in disbelief. “That wasn’t worry, that was full-on, end-of-the-world terror.”

“And it’s over now.” Aidan took her hand and squeezed it, reassuring. “Nothing bad happened, he’s safe. So maybe cut him some slack, he’s a kid, he messed up.”

Stella shook her head, frustrated. “I don’t need you defending him,” she said, getting to her feet again, and clearing some dishes to the kitchen. But Aidan followed.

“Well, someone has to,” he said evenly, leaning in the doorway. “Look, he’s been trying to talk to you about this Hillcrest thing. He already applied, and he got in.”

“He did what?!” Stella gaped, wondering what else he’d been hiding from her.

“Clearly he’s got his mind set on it, so maybe hear him out,” Aidan urged, but she shook her head.

“Listening won’t make a difference, we can’t afford it.”

“He says there are scholarships—” Aidan began to argue, but she cut him off.

“I already decided! He’s not going. Even if I did have the money, I’m not sending my kid away out of state for half the year!”

“But are you keeping him here for his sake, or yours?” Aidan paused, watching her. “I know you love him, but… He can’t be everything to you. Trust me, you don’t want to put that kind of responsibility on a kid.”

She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Aidan looked reluctant. “He said… He said he feels like you depend on him. Like he’s the center of your world. He’s trying so hard to live up to that, to make you proud, but maybe he shouldn’t have to.”

Stella shook her head. “It’s not true. I’ve protected him! He has no idea what I’ve sacrificed to keep him safe and happy.”

“Or maybe he does know,” Aidan said quietly. “And it feels like a burden to him, too. Look, I know how it feels to be stuck playing the adult, too soon. When my dad was in the hospital, I thought I had to be the man of the

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