Page 55 of Skylar

“She came home with Zane for Christmas one year, though, didn’t she?” Skylar seemed to recall meeting her on one of her quick visits home over the holidays.

“Yes, but you know how chaotic that time of year is,” her mom said. “They were only here for a couple of days, so I didn’t have any chance to get to know her.”

“So you didn’t treat her well?”

“I wasn’t as welcoming as I should have been, and God really convicted me of my attitude. I’m just grateful that Kelsey was gracious and accepted my apology.”

“So what does that have to do with Aiden?”

Her mom didn’t answer right away as she took a sip of her lemonade, then held the glass between her hands in her lap. “I know he did some wrong things in the past. I know he hurt you… badly. But I see the man he is now. Someone who seems regretful and apologetic for what he did.”

Skylar couldn’t argue with that. Aiden did seem to regret what had happened.

“I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt,” her mom said. “Charli and Blake are willing to give him a chance to prove he’s changed. So I am too.”

In order to not have to respond, Skylar put a strawberry in her mouth. Her mom hadn’t told her anything she hadn’t already known. Because they were Christians, she’d been aware that they would be more likely to give Aiden a second chance if he seemed apologetic for what happened than to condemn him.

“How do you feel about Aiden being back?”

“You know I’m not happy about it,” Skylar said. “I might have been the one to tell him about Shiloh, but I didn’t want him to come back into our lives. I’d really hoped that he’d take the blood test but keep his distance.”

“But he didn’t.”

“Nope. He didn’t.” She took a blueberry from the bowl, but didn’t eat it right away. Rolling the smooth fruit between her fingers, she said, “And now everyone thinks we should be friends.”

“I’m sure that wouldn’t be easy, darling,” her mom said, her tone gentle. “And no one thinks you have to be close like you once were. But a friendship of even a casual nature would make things easier.”

Skylar tried to picture how that might work with Aiden. So far, when they’d been around each other, she’d made a concerted effort to keep her negative feelings about him under wraps. Some times more successfully than others.

There was a part of her that worried that if she let go of the hurt and pain of the past, what would take its place would open her up to more hurt.

“Maybe you should start praying for Aiden,” her mom suggested.

Skylar managed not to laugh at the suggestion.

Prayer hadn’t been a part of her life for a long time. Though she prayed for Shiloh, it was hard to imagine praying for Aiden.

“When you pray for someone, it becomes more difficult to hold onto your anger or hate towards them.”

Skylar figured that that was probably true. Because of that, she wasn’t sure she wanted to pray for Aiden, even if she had been a praying person.

There was a light touch on her arm. “Have I told you how glad I am that you’ve stuck around?”

Looking at her, Skylar covered her mom’s hand with her own. “It’s not been as difficult as I thought it might be.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Her mom smiled. “Are you going to stay until your ankle is better?”

“Probably. No sense in going back to Vegas just to sit in my apartment.”

“Maybe you’ll decide that Serenity is a great place to live.”

“I already know it’s a great place to live,” Skylar told her. “It just doesn’t work for my job. There’s no airport here.”

“There’s one in Coeur d’Alene,” her mom said. “And I know private jets fly in there. Hudson flies in and out of there whenever he uses one of Alexander’s planes.”

Skylar didn’t know that she’d be able to get a job there as a flight attendant, but she could probably find a job doing something else. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do that, however.

She liked her job. Though she wasn’t thrilled about living in Vegas, she liked her apartment and the opportunity to visit lots of places around the world. Moving back to Serenity hadn’t been part of her plan for her life.

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