Page 8 of Skylar

“So what are we having for supper?” he asked. “Our usual?”

“I’m good with my usual,” his mom said.

“Me, too!”

“Want to come with me, Willow?”

When she nodded, he held out his hand. With her tiny fingers tucked in his grasp, they walked to the counter to place their order. A big burger for him. A chicken burger for his mom. And nuggets for Willow. Each with fries and a drink.

After he had picked up the tray filled with their order, Willow skipped ahead of him to the table. His mom helped him clear the food off the tray. Then, knowing what was to come, he bowed his head and waited for Willow to pray.

It was a bit of an odd situation to find himself in. When he’d become a Christian as a teen, his parents hadn’t been interested in Christianity. They’d been great parents and hadn’t cared that he’d gone to church, but that hadn’t been something they’d wanted for themselves.

However, his own faith had faltered when he’d gone away to college. During those years, his parents had become Christians and had done a much better job of embracing their faith than he had his. But in recent years, he and his mom were on the same page.

He was somewhat surprised that his mom’s faith was still as strong as it was, considering the tragedies they’d suffered over the past couple of years. His dad’s sudden death had been a challenge to accept, but as time passed, they’d made progress in their grief.

The grief had intensified just ten months later when his sister had died tragically in a boating accident, leaving behind heryoung daughter. That had been much harder to accept and had resulted in a life focus change for him.

His mom had still been struggling with her grief over the loss of her husband, so she’d needed a lot of support as she assumed responsibility of her young granddaughter, since Willow’s father wasn’t in the picture. It hadn’t taken much thought for Aiden to decide to move in to help her.

The only thing he’d asked was that she consider a move to Coeur d’Alene so that he could get a job there and not have a long commute from Serenity each day. His mom had agreed, so he’d shopped around and bought a house with a suite in the basement. His Mom and Willow lived on the main floor so that he could have his own space while still being close enough to help them.

Thankfully, money had not been an issue as his dad had worked in finance and thus made sure to take care of all of them in the event of his death. His mom had refused to sell the house in Serenity, however. So it sat fully furnished but empty, with his mom going out every couple of weeks to check on it.

She’d hired a company to take care of the grass and snow, so Aiden didn’t have to go with her, though he periodically did, depending on his availability when she chose to go. But it was sad to see the property without the colorful flower beds in both the front and back yards, since she hadn’t planted anything there.

Thankfully, though, she hadn’t abandoned her passion for gardening entirely, so their home in Coeur d’Alene now had beautiful landscaping.

“Is everything okay, honey?” his mom asked with a gentle touch on his arm. “You seem distracted.”

That was very much an understatement. He was allowing his thoughts to go in the painful direction of the losses they’d suffered in order to not have to deal with the more pressing issue.

“Just had a meeting at work that is taking a lot of my attention.”

“Something serious?”

“Kind of,” he admitted. “But I’ll work through it.”

“If you want to tell me about it, I’m happy to listen.”

He looped his arm around her shoulders and leaned to touch his head to hers. “I know, and I appreciate that. For now, let’s just enjoy the evening.”

“Can I go play now, Nana?” Willow asked, lifting the paper container that had held her nuggets to show them it was empty. “I’m all done.”

“Yes, my darling,” his mom said. “You can play. Remember to be gentle and kind to the other children.”

Willow nodded, then ran off to the area next to their table where there was a tall structure with climbing ropes and slides. It was one of the places Willow liked to come to play. And that day, there were several other children her age already playing on the structure.

As his mom chatted about her and Willow’s day, Aiden found himself only half-listening. The other part of his focus was now on the situation with Skylar. He had a hard time trying to figure out what to do.

He could be honest with his mom about who the little girl that needed his help was.The little girl… he didn’t even know her name. But if he told her the truth about who she was, he’dhave to give her the details about what happened nine years ago. And then deal with her disappointment in him.

The other option was to make up a story. To lie to his mom. To spare her the pain of learning that she had another grandchild, one she could lose if the treatments didn’t help and the worst happened. She didn’t need more grief in her life. Neither of them did.

But lying to his mom didn’t sit well with Aiden.

So he was going to need to figure out how to reveal everything, and brace himself for the disappointment his mom was going to have in him because of his past actions.

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