Page 73 of Broken Chorus

At least she’d settled down. She was still hugging his neck, but she wasn’t trying to climb him like a tree, and she still had her narwhal and her book, the corner of which was digging into his shoulder blade, so no reason to backtrack, which he was grateful for. He carried her three aisles down before deeming it safe to continue shopping, though he kept a close eye out to ensure they weren’t sharing an aisle with the lady in the chair again. To say that he’d been relieved when they didn’t encounter one another again was an understatement.

It wasn’t until they’d finished shopping, and were on their way back home, that Aaron found himself wondering if he should talk to her about it or wait and tell Hawk what happened and let him talk to Dani? She hadn’t reacted that way around Declan on family day, only Hawk hadn’t told her a chair would eat her either, not until long after they got home.

Dammit.

The simplest solution would be to let Hawk unfuck the mess he’d made, but the moment he thought it, he realized what a bad idea it was. It hadn’t happened when she was out with Hawk, it had happened when she was with Aaron, which meant that Aaron needed to man up, learn how to adult properly, and ask her about it so it wouldn’t happen again. She’d been legitimately terrified, and he’d hated the helpless feeling he’d felt when he couldn’t figure out how to put her at ease.

Okay, so admittedly, he hadn’t exactly tried. He’d choose to flee instead, which in hindsight, might not have been the best course of action. Maybe he should have said hello to the woman so Dani would see there wasn’t anything to be afraid of, though how awkward would that have been?

Truthfully, even miles away from the grocery store he still didn’t have any more of a clue about what he should have done as he’d had inside the store. Maybe he wasn’t cut out to handle the hard stuff. Maybe hewasonly fit to be the fun-loving uncle who popped in and out of their lives, entertained them and taught them borderline inappropriate things Hawk would spend the months between visits hoping to get them to unlearn.

That wasn’t what he wanted though, or who he wanted to be in their lives. From the moment Hawk had started calling the cabinhome, that’s what he wanted it to be. A real home where he belonged and did all of the parental things that people who cared about the kids in their care were supposed to do. The last thing he ever wanted was to be as shitty as the people who’d raised him. Which meant he was going to have to suck it up and ask questions, even when he didn’t want to.

Blowing out a long breath, he turned the music down so he wouldn’t have to shout over it. “Hey Dani.”

“Yeah Unky Aaron?”

“You know how Uncle Hawk said that you couldn’t sit in the chair with the wheels because it might flip over and gobble you up?”

“Uh-huh. He said it was dangery when you’re little.”

“And it is,” Aaron said, not wanting to undoallof Hawk’s warning, but fucking hell, how was he supposed to explain one part without erasing the other. “It’s just that, well, chairs don’t really eat people.”

“Unky Hawk said it would if I climbed it,” Dani said. “He even made nommy nommy sounds and grabby hands.”

Aaron slapped a hand to his head and groaned. Hell, he’d have beat his head against the wheel if he wasn’t driving. “He was only joking with you, sweetheart.”

“Is jokin’ lyin’?”

“Ummm….no….not exactly….I-I mean….”

Washeabout to lie? It dawned on him then that talking to little kids wasn’t all sing song rhyming words and cartoon animals. This was…how was he supposed to talk about a subject that made him nervous and uncomfortable.

And yet, the moment he thought about how uncomfortable he’d been trying to get Dani away from all those prying eyes, it dawned on him that the woman in the chair had probably been mortified too. Everyone would have seen where Dani was pointing and turned their attention there. She’d have been forced to endure their stares simply for trying to come out and get her groceries. He tried not to wonder how that had made her feel or if it had altered the vibe of her entire day, but it was near impossible not too, especially when questions kept popping into his head. Number one on that list was if Declan had ever encountered anything like that, and if he had, how’d he handle the situation?

Another thought followed on the heels of that first one. The band would be there in less than a day and a half.

Motherfuckin’ shity shity shit shit!

When Hawk had sprungthatbit of news on him and Kelly, he’d been overwhelmed and broken down a little, because somehow Hawk had been the one to work out a way for them to have the relationship they’d been working towards for years, the family they’d inherited, and the music that they loved. For a moment, Aaron was thrown back several days, to the morning he’d followed his nose to the kitchen after a restless night of twisted dreams and memories of his mother’s face when she’d left him, and that old yellow house he’d hated, only to discover Kelly there and none too happy about the lack of his favorite morning beverage.

“Do I smell…. coffee?” Aaron grumbled, eyes still heavy lidded because he wasn’t fully awake yet. He rubbed at them, blinked, and rubbed them some more before stumble-staggering up to the counter. He’d have missed the stool he attempted to perch on if Hawk hadn’t caught his arm.

“It might smell like coffee, but it doesn’t deserve the name,” Kelly grumbled.

“Ohhh man, noooooooo, when did you switch to decaf?” Aaron moaned, glaring at the label while giving some serious thought to climbing back in bed and pulling the covers up over his head.

“I didn’t. Like I told Kelly, it was an accident, which I fully intend to rectify the next time I’m in town,” Hawk grumbled, pressing a kiss to Aaron’s forehead.

Sulking, Aaron crossed his arms. “When’s that gonna be?”

“Whenever the list grows long enough,” Hawk grumbled. “Until then, I’d appreciate it if you both suffer in silence.”

“But…” Kelly pouted, a droopy, hangdog expression on his face.

“If I’m gonna suffer, it’s gonna be while writing an epic song about the prolonged effects of coffee deprivation,” Aaron replied, sticking his tongue out at Hawk.

“What have I told you about that tongue of yours?” Hawk growled.

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