Page 132 of Forget

Not everyone enjoys living in a big city, and Whalan is a pretty, small town on the river.

The drive is spent in silence while Aisling plugs her phone in and works the entire time. She takes three calls as well, andI listen to her end of the conversation, feeling as if I’m getting a glimpse into her world.

“The food delivery wasn’t right?” Aisling asks, nose wrinkling as she takes her last call. “No. You’re kidding! I’ve never had any trouble with rotten food before. Let me call the delivery service.”

My brow furrows as I listen to her call the service, but they don’t want to budge. Round and round they go, but I can’t hear their side of the conversation.

“Phone,” I grunt, holding my hand out.

“Hayes, it’s not going to help,” she sighs, though she drops it into my palm.

“This is Aiden Hayes,” I bark, holding the phone to my ear. “The omega you’re attempting to fuck over without lube is Cian Sullivan’s daughter, are you aware of that?”

“I’m sorry, what?”the man asks, shocked. “I don’t want any trouble. I swear I don’t know about any rotten produce.”

“Great,” I say amicably. “Replace what you all fucked up, and credit her account. Aisling and Wren run an important organization. The last thing they need is for people to get sick. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Aisling looks mad as she looks down at her lap. I can tell by the way her fingers twist around each other that she’s frustrated. I would be as well if I had to deal with this bullshit. She’s more polite than I am, refusing to pull on her father’s name.

“Yes, Sir. I… swear I’ll make this right. I’ll bring her a new delivery myself,”the man says.

“Apologize to the lady,” I say, handing the phone back to Aisling.

She’s quiet for a moment as she listens, taking a deep breath as she nods.

“Thank you,” she says. “You don’t need to double our order, but I appreciate the?—”

Stopping, Aisling listens to the man as I guess he interrupts her.

“Yes, that’s fine. Thank you,” she says, tired as she hangs up. Dropping her head back, she glances over at me. “I don’t typically like to use my father in order to get my way.”

“I can understand that, but short of threatening him with another action that would take twice as long to resolve things, this works faster,” I tell her unapologetically as I pull into a parking spot.

The drive ended faster than I was ready for now that she’s actually speaking to me.

“I guess,” she murmurs, sending out a text message to someone else. “Well, that’s one disaster averted. Let’s see how many more this Monday morning will bring me.”

“A bit pessimistic aren’t we, Princess?” I ask, turning off the car.

“When you’re the point person for things, you hear more bad than good,” she says with a shrug.

“Isn’t Wren your partner?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“Yes, but she doesn’t leave her house very often,” Aisling explains. “Her office is there. She handles everything remotely that she possibly can, otherwise I’d be drowning.”

“That’s the agreement you two came up with?” I ask.

“Yep,” Aisling grunts, pushing open the door. Well, I guess that conversation is over.

I hate that she has so much on her shoulders, and she hasn’t thought of a way to shift the weight. As this organization continues to get bigger, I can’t imagine how much harder it’ll be for her to be able to do it all.

Jumping out of the vehicle, I slam the door closed as I lock it and follow Aisling to the tea room. There are a few cars in the lot, and I recognize quite a few of them.

Please pretend not to know me…

Some of these women have known me since I was in diapers. Evan’s mother’s face lights up as she sees me, but I shake my head with my eyes open wide to dissuade her from greeting me, because I’m worried that Aisling will refuse to speak to them otherwise.

Her lips thin in displeasure before she glances at Aisling.

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