Page 99 of Done with You

Aiden cleared his throat and stuck out his hand. “Aiden Lassiter, Mrs. Young. I’m Jordan’s brother.”

Mrs. Young nodded and took his hand in her soft papery one. “Nice to meet you.”

The front door opened and Jordan and Mr. Young returned.

“Well, I’m glad that’s all it was,” Mr. Young said, removing his gloves. “Hate to have to take the rental car back so soon. Don’t know why they gave us such a fancy one. A simple sedan is more than enough for me.”

“Just a loose spark plug. All better now. And I don’t think Camrys are fancy, sir. Just reliable.” Jordan zeroed in on Rayma’s sad face and the tequila bottle which she’d hidden behind herself on the counter, away from the eyes of their parents. His eyes widened, then he shifted his gaze to Oona who shook her head stiffly.

“I’ve got an idea,” Aiden piped up. He turned to Mrs. Young. “I’m new to town and would really like to explore it a bit more. It’s a lovely day, why don’t the three of us go explore? I’ve read about Butchart Gardens, Craigdarroch Castle, there’s a gingerbread house exhibit somewhere and a Christmas tree exhibit somewhere else. What do you say?”

Mr. and Mrs. Young exchanged looks with each other.

“Well, I thought Rayma would need more help, but—”

“I’m pretty much set,” Rayma said quickly, cutting off her mother. “It’s all good. You guys should go. Explore. Experience the magic and wonder of Victoria at Christmas. You’ll never get a more beautiful day to do it.”

Mr. Young shrugged and nodded. “I’ve heard there is a miniature world in town somewhere, maybe we can go check that out? Seeing that would be more than enough for me.”

“You bet,” Aiden said, flashing a smile to Rayma, to which she mouthed the words, “Thank you,” back.

In just a few minutes, Aiden and the Youngs were out the door and in the rental car.

Even though he didn’t necessarily want to spend any time with these people since he knew what kind of crappy parents they were, he looked at this as killing two birds with one stone. Or maybe even three birds. He was helping Rayma. He was showing Oona that he was capable of change, and he was proving to himself that he could be professional and courteous even toward people he didn’t care for.

Now, he just needed to find enough things to do with them to fill the day and keep them away from Rayma.

Maybe they could just go to the IMAX and watch back-to-back documentaries all day. Then he wouldn’t have to talk to them, they’d all learn something, and it’d pass the time.

He’d leave that as a backup plan. But first, to the castle! With any luck they would have an old timey stockade he could put Mrs. Young in for a little bit after how she made Rayma feel.

It was dark and well-past the dinner hour by the time Aiden and Rayma and Oona’s parents finished their day. They visited the tourist center and grabbed pamphlets to make sure they didn’t miss out on anything, then they went everywhere. Butterfly World, the Aquarium, Butchart Gardens, Craigdarroch Castle, Miniature World, the museum, the bug zoo and finished it off with the IMAX.

He was exhausted by the end of it. But so were Rayma and Oona’s parents. They even suggested that Aiden take their car home. That he just drop them off and pick them up tomorrow, considering that their hotel was only a ten minute drive from Rayma and Jordan’s apartment anyway.

He protested at first, but they were both yawning so much with weary looks about them, he didn’t think it’d be such a great idea to put either of them behind the wheel to drive home after dropping him off. So he agreed.

“I will text you tomorrow and we will coordinate a pickup time,” Mrs. Young said, stifling another yawn behind her hand. “Thank you for a very nice day, Aiden.”

“My pleasure, Mrs. Young. Mr. Young. You two have a wonderful night and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

They waved at him as they made their way to the front door of their hotel.

He pulled out of the hotel parking lot and stopped at the entrance onto the road to get his bearings.

All things considered, it hadn’t been a horrible day, but he could see flickerings of judgment and ridicule in Mrs. Young’s eyes. And the way she commented on children at the aquarium and Butterfly World who were not misbehaving but just having fun, spoke volumes of what kind of a controlling and unfun parent she must have been. She was the queen of dirty looks. And, unfortunately, quite a few weary-eyed parents who were just trying to get their kids out of the house for a little fun were the recipients of Yanna Young’s judgment-filled glare.

Mr. Young wasn’t so bad. He was pretty quiet for the most part and very plain. He wore brown and beige and a tweed brown pageboy hat, and by noon, Aiden had started a mental tally of how many times Mr. Young said, “More than enough for me.”

At the time he dropped them off at their hotel, Royce Young had said—and only since noon—“More than enough for me” twenty-three times.

When they had lunch and he ordered a cup of soup and half a sandwich, even though Aiden said he was paying and that Mr. Young should order the bowl of soup and full sandwich if he wanted it, Mr. Young said, “Oh no. I’ll be fine. Half a sandwich and a small cup of broth is more than enough for me.”

It was weird and something Aiden was dying to speak to his sister in-law and Oona about.

The GPS on his phone said he was only about ten minutes from Rayma and Jordan’s house, so he put on his indicator and was about to pull out, intending to head right and proceed to the highway on ramp when an SUV went zooming past him, going way, way over the speed limit.

“Jesus Christ,” he murmured, shaking his head.

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