Page 73 of Skylar

Aiden drove with his mom and Willow back to the Halversons’ home the next afternoon. Charli had said she’d bring Shiloh over so the two girls could hang out together a bit more. His mom would stay there for a couple of hours with Willow while he headed to the high school gym with Cole.

Jay had let them know that—at Cole’s request—he’d invited a group of guys to play some basketball there. Apparently, he’d recruited enough people for two teams, including one made up of any high school varsity players who were currently around Serenity. They had all agreed without knowing that they’d be playing with Cole.

Aiden hadn’t played basketball in awhile, so he was probably going to be a bit rusty. Hopefully, it all came back once he had a ball in his hands. Back in the day, he and Cole had been a team within the team.

Every team they played knew that if Aiden got the ball, it was going to end up in Cole’s hands. That meant that they tried to make sure they were guarding them both closely throughout the game. But the funny thing was that it didn’t matter. He and Cole could read each other on the court without having to say anything.

“I can’t wait to see Shiloh again,” Willow said.

“I think you’re going to make cookies with her and her grandma,” his mom said.

“My grandma too,” Willow reminded her. “She said that since I call you Nana, I can call her grandma.”

“That’s right, she did,” his mom said. “So now you have a grandma and grandpa and a nana and papa.”

“Except my papa is gone. Just like my mom.”

There weren’t a lot of times that Willow talked about their passings. She’d been quite young when they’d each died, so their memories were rather fuzzy for her. However, they’d shown her pictures of both of them, and she’d seen from those photos how much they had loved her.

“Yes. They’re both gone.” His mom’s voice was soft. “But they’ll always live in the memories in our heart.”

“Which is where all our special memories are,” Willow said.

“Exactly.”

Aiden hoped Willow wouldn’t have to say goodbye to yet another person in her life, but Shiloh’s diagnosis meant there was always that possibility. It was a possibility he tried his best not to think about.

When he got to the house, he discovered Cole and Skylar were both waiting to go to the gym. He hadn’t thought that Skylar would join them, but he couldn’t say that he was disappointed that she was.

“Hi, Shiloh,” Aiden said as he bent down on one knee so he was closer to her level. “How are you doing today?”

“I’m fine,” she told him, then stepped forward to wrap her arms around his neck.

Emotion rushed through Aiden as he carefully put his arms around her. He should have memories of a lifetime of hugs from her. But instead, the number of hugs they’d shared could be counted on one hand.

When the hug ended, Willow joined them and gave Shiloh a hug as well. Aiden got to his feet, then turned to greet Charli and Cathy.

“We gotta go, bro,” Cole said as he dropped his arm on Aiden’s shoulders.

“I would have thought you’d want to hang around and make cookies with the girls,” Aiden said to Skylar as the three of them made their way to Cole’s car after saying goodbye to the others at the house.

“I already spent some time with Charli and Shiloh,” she said as they neared the car. “Now I’ll let Willow and your mom have some time with her.”

Aiden would have liked to hang out with her himself, but this weekend had been more about his mom and Willow spending time with her. He welcomed the chance to hang out with Cole and others, playing a sport he loved.

“You drive, Aid, and you sit in the front, Sky,” Cole said as he opened the front passenger door. “I think there’s more room for me in the back seat.”

Skylar gave him a skeptical look but didn’t say anything, just angled herself into the front seat. Cole grinned at Aiden across the top of the car before disappearing inside.

Aiden glanced back at him as he slid behind the wheel. His friend didn’t look super comfortable, but then his height meant that most normal vehicles didn’t have a lot of leg room for him. Of course, he’d had no problem with the front seat of Aiden’s car when they’d gone out for dinner a couple of nights ago.

As he drove to the high school, Aiden was reminded of all the times the three of them had arrived together for basketball games, whether they were home or away. Since Skylar had beena varsity cheerleader, she’d travelled with the team to most of their games.

They’d celebrated many of their wins by going for ice cream afterwards. Her parents hadn’t protested them hanging out together because Cole was often with them. Those had been wonderful times, and as he parked the car, Aiden felt a strong yearning for the past and the innocent joy he’d had then.

As they walked toward the large doors of the high school, Cole’s long strides took him out in front of them. Aiden kept his pace slow as he walked beside Skylar. Her walking boot gave her a bit of a limp.

Cole was waiting at the doors, holding one of them open for them. “Being back here is a bit crazy.”

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