Time After Time (Sweetbriar Cove #14) - Melody Grace Page 0,87

mom gave him a look. “She happened to mention these other things.”

Aidan winced. “Then you know how it all turned out.”

Frances smiled sympathetically. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

He shrugged. “There’s nothing to tell. Not anymore. It’s fine,” he said shortly. “I thought for a moment that…” he trailed off, remembering those cozy afternoons with Stella, wrapped in each other’s arms. What had he thought? That they had a future together, a thousand more moments like that to share.

That he’d found everything he was looking for.

Aidan shook his head. Those afternoons were long gone. “It’s for the best,” he insisted.

His mom was silent for a moment, watching him. “You don’t have to be the strong one, you know.”

Aidan looked up at her words. “What do you mean?”

His mom let out a sigh. “I know you’ve always been different from the others. You’ve held yourself apart, and never asked for any help – you’ve never asked for anything at all.”

“Mom…” Aidan tried to cut her off, uncomfortable, but Frances pressed on.

“No, I’ve already waited too long to say this,” she said firmly. “All these years, I’ve been watching you live this life that doesn’t seem to give you any joy. I always hoped that you’d figure things out,” she said, looking at him with tenderness in her eyes. “Find your way in time, and when I heard you were taking a break, spending time with your siblings, I hoped this would be the moment… But here you are again,” she said, looking around the cold, empty penthouse. “And I can’t stay silent anymore.”

“What are you trying to say?” Aidan asked, feeling uncomfortable.

“I want more for you than this.” Frances said, taking his hand. “I want you to have love, and passion in your life. To do something you care about, instead of just making money. I know you like to play it safe, but I don’t want you waking up, years from now, and wondering how you let life pass you by.”

Aidan looked down. She was echoing the questions that had been running in his mind for months, giving a voice to that knot in the pit of his stomach.

“You’ve spent your whole life taking care of everybody else,” his mom added. “Isn’t it time you took care of yourself? Asked what would make you happy?”

“What if it’s too late to have that?” he asked quietly, thinking of the ramshackle farmhouse in the woods, filled with clutter, and chaos, and the most dazzling woman he’d ever known.

France gave him a warm smile. “Is it really too late? You are the most determined person I know. You built all of this,” she added. “I still don’t really know how. But I know that when you set your mind to something, you find a way. Like that birdhouse,” she added.

Aidan groaned. “That was twenty years ago!”

Back in high school, he’d needed a grade from shop class to keep his perfect GPA. He’d never been the practical one, so he’d worked day and night in their garage figuring out how to build the damn thing, making and discarding half a dozen failed attempts until he’d finally gotten that A.

“You were determined,” Frances said. “You could have gotten Luke to help you, he was already the maker in the family. But you had to do it alone.”

Aidan had always thought of that story with pride, that he had found a way to achieve what he wanted. But now, looking back, he wondered if it was a cautionary tale, instead. Why hadn’t he asked for help? It could have saved him a whole load of time and trouble, if he hadn’t been so proud; determined to do it all on his own.

He sat back, exhaling a long, weary sigh. The skies were dark, the lights of Manhattan spread glittering outside his windows. There was a time when this had been all he wanted: proof that he’d made it, that he was high enough to withstand any storm.

Now, he just felt far away from anyone, and anything he cared about.

“She said she couldn’t do it,” he told his mom at last, feeling like a kid all over again. “She didn’t want to take a chance on us, she was afraid…” he stopped.

“Afraid of what?”

“That I wouldn’t stick around.” Aidan admitted.

So of course, he’d gone and done exactly that. He’d proven her right. After all his protests and bluster that she wasn’t giving him a chance, he’d shown that he really would bolt the state at the