Page 48 of Heating Up (Nugget)
“How is doing what my family has done for three generations being selfish? Sue, you knew what I did when we started dating.” That was the thing; she wanted to change him. Wanted him to wear a suit and a tie, make a six-figure salary, hang out with Biff and Buffy, which no way, no how, would ever be in the cards.
“At least we should get married,” she said. “We’re not getting any younger and when we start having kids, you’ll want to have a nine-to-five job.”
“And if I don’t? You think that’s a good way to test a marriage?”
By the third year, they’d decided to live together so Sue could go back to school and get her teaching credential. She’d been a technical writer but was bored brainless. Aidan was trying to get promoted in the Office of Fire Investigation Division. The hope was that living under the same roof would give them more time together as their careers grew more demanding. Aidan knew that cohabitation before marriage was a big compromise for Sue, who subscribed to the whole why-buy-the-cow adage, but he wasn’t ready to take those vows. The honest truth was, he was having serious doubts about the relationship, which was effed up because Sue loved him and everyone loved Sue.
Anyway, he never got the chance to question those second thoughts because two months after moving in together, Sue’s mom died from a stroke. Aidan, and by extension his parents and siblings, were her only family now. She needed him more than ever, and he didn’t want to let her down, not when she deserved security. That was when she became obsessed with having a baby.
“As soon I move up in rank we’ll get married, Sue, and have a baby.” But at the back of his mind he knew he was lying.
Apparently, she knew too, because six months later she moved out and started seeing Sebastian at the school where she was finishing her teaching program.
“So if you don’t mind me asking, what’s going on with you and Dana?” Brady asked, pulling Aidan out of his thoughts.
“We’re just friends.” He cast an eye over the partygoers and found her standing by herself, reorganizing the salads. “Jeez. Hang on a sec, I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ve got it covered,” Brady called.
Aidan walked across the yard to Dana. “Are you not having fun?”
“I totally am,” she said.
“Then why are you here alone?”
“I just wanted to neaten the table up a little.”
He gently clasped her shoulders. “You don’t like parties, do you?”
Dana let out a breath. “It’s not that I don’t like them, I’m just not good at mingling and making small talk. The truth is, I haven’t had a lot of practice.”
“Why not?” He cocked his head to the side. “It’s not like you smell or anything.”
She tossed him a flippant smile. “I wasn’t that outgoing as a kid, and after my brother died my parents and I sort of became recluses. By the time I got to college, I kept to myself.”
“But you’re a friggin’ real estate agent, a salesperson. Don’t you have to be good with people for that?”
She shrugged. “It’s a job and I’m good at my job.”
“Hang with me, then.” He draped an arm around her shoulder.
“You don’t have to, Aidan. Go talk with your friends. I’ll be fine. I actually like watching people.”
They both heard a car door slam at the same time. A few minutes later, Harlee, Colin, a cop Sloane worked with, and a woman with red, white, and blue hair—no shit—strolled into the party. Harlee saw them huddled together and wandered over.
“I hope you don’t mind that we’re crashing your barbecue,” she said. “Sloane invited us.”
“The more the merrier.” Aidan grinned and watched the cop and Colin add more drinks to the cooler.
“I would’ve invited you,” Dana stammered. “We just decided to have something yesterday and I figured you were already busy.”
“We planned to bowl, but the place is packed with senior citizens. The Nugget Mafia is monopolizing two lanes.”
“The Nugget Mafia?” Aidan asked.
“They’re a group of old-timers who think they run the town,” Harlee said. “One of them is the mayor, Dink Caruthers. And Darla’s dad”—she nodded in the direction of the chick with the flag hair—“he’s Nugget’s never-going-to-retire barber.”
Aidan figured there was a story there. But before he could ask more, flag hair joined them.
